Opinion Editorials, June 2014

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, June 19, 2014

CAIR-OK: Muslim Family Says School Not Taking Discrimination Seriously

The group of parents and students has partnered with CAIR-Oklahoma and is hoping to reach its goals of promoting religious tolerance and mitigating Islamophobia in all forms through continued advocacy.

Great Resume, Too Bad You're Muslim A pair of studies by University of Connecticut researchers have discovered that employers are demonstrably less likely to respond to a job application if that resume includes evidence of membership in a faith group. And far and away, the faith group employers least want to engage is Islam.

Apply: CAIR's 2014 Sharifa Alkhateeb Scholarship CAIR's Sharifa Alkhateeb Memorial Community Service Scholarship honors the life and work of local and international community activist Sharifa Alkhateeb.

CAIR-LA: Casey Kasem Mourned, Remembered as 'America's Voice' Kasem, who was born in Detroit to Lebanese Druze immigrants, was very active in various Arab-American organizations and also supported the work of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said CAIR-LA's Hussam Ayloush.

CAIR-MN Joins Campaign to Renew Voting Rights Act

NY Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill Head of Muslim Civil Rights Group

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/16/14) --

A prominent Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization said today that a man was arrested Saturday in New York for allegedly threatening to kill its national executive director, Nihad Awad.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, said Bernhard Laufer allegedly sent a number of death threats to Awad and other CAIR staff over the past week.

He is currently awaiting arraignment in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Laufer was arrested last year and charged with attempted murder as a hate crime for allegedly stabbing a Muslim at a New York mosque in 2012. He reportedly shouted "I'll kill you, Muslim (expletive)" during the attack two years ago.

"We thank all the state and national law enforcement authorities whose swift and professional action made this arrest possible," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "This is yet another incident demonstrating the actual, imminent harm that can result from Islamophobia."

Hooper noted that CAIR recently launched a campaign promoting interfaith unity to counter anti-Islam ads placed on Washington, D.C., area buses by a hate group led by Pamela Geller.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CAIR Director to Speak at Screening of 'Newburgh Sting' at American Film Institute Festival

The documentary will playing at The National Portrait Gallery on Thursday, June 19 at 4 p.m.

CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad will be part of a panel discussion after the film. Watch the Newburgh Sting trailer (55 seconds). For tickets and more information, go here.

 Islamophobia Watch: Heritage Foundation's Ugly Anti-Muslim Panel (Wash. Post) What began as a session purportedly about "unanswered questions" surrounding the September 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Libya deteriorated into the ugly taunting of a woman in the room who wore an Islamic head covering.

Video: Heritage Panelists Mock Muslim Student (Media Matters)

Heritage Benghazi Panel Descends Into Islamophobic Freak Show (Salon)

CAIR Islamophobia Backgrounder: ACT! for America and 'Brigitte Gabriel'

Iowa GOP's Anti-Sharia Plank Offensive, Unnecessary (Daily Iowan) ...The most disturbing aspect of the plank is the stated opposition to "Sharia law," which we believe is a clear dog whistle to the racist, Islamaphobic trend in American politics and is itself a threat to the religious liberty the party claims to care so much about.

Video: NY Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill CAIR Director Nihad Awad (NY1)

Suspect in NY Mosque Stabbing Arrested Again for Emails Threatening to Kill CAIR Director (Village Voice)

A Queens man awaiting trial for allegedly stabbing a Muslim man in 2012 has been arrested again. Bernhard Laufer, 56, was arrested on Saturday after an investigation by the FBI's Civil Rights Squad revealed that he sent a series of emails threatening the director of CAIR.

CAIR: Anti-Muslim Maniac Busted for Sending Death Threats (NY Post)

CAIR: New York Man Charged with Emailing Murder Threats to Muslim Civil Rights Leader (AP)

Action: Fight Islamophobia and Receive a CAIR 'We've Got Your Back' T-Shirt

CAIR-St. Louis Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium Future leaders will engage in debates, understanding modern media, participate in public speeches, meet elected officials, and much more.

CAIR-Philadelphia: Spain's Mosque-Cathedral (NY Times) The Great Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba is a symbol of an amazing time in human history that can still inspire us today with its multicultural and interfaith legacy.

CAIR Named as One of 100 Religious Groups Doing Good in the World Today

CAIR Seeks Ethnic Intimidation Charge for Harassment of North Carolina Muslim Children, Mother

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/17/14) -- T

he Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on North Carolina law enforcement authorities to charge an individual who allegedly harassed a Muslim family in a grocery store with ethnic intimidation.

The mother, who wears an Islamic headscarf (hijab), reported to CAIR that she was shopping with her three young children at a Harris Teeter store in Raleigh, N.C., on the evening of June 9 when she heard a man shouting "We speak English here, do you speak English?" "Hey, I said we speak English, do you hear me?" and "Get out of my damn country."

According to the mother, the white male in his late 40s or early 50s allegedly knelt down to the level of her four-year-old and shouted "Go on, get out of here" and "We speak English here" while raising his arms and pointing in the direction of the door. He repeatedly shouted statements like, "Hey, did you hear me, get out of here, go on, go back to your damn country."

[NOTE: The child's father is of Middle Eastern heritage.]

She said several Harris Teeter employees failed to protect the Muslim customer and her children from the man's verbal assault. The mother called police, who arrived on the scene but failed to take any action against the harasser.

CAIR has asked Harris Teeter to preserve any video surveillance of the incident.

Since the incident, the four-year-old child told his parents that he is scared that the "bad man" is going to yell at him again. He keeps asking his father, "You're not going to let the bad man hurt me, right, baba (father)?"

We believe any four-year-old child would have a reasonable fear of immediate bodily harm by this individual," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "Local and state law enforcement authorities must investigate this incident and consider bringing a charge of ethnic intimidation against the alleged perpetrator."

Application of North Carolina's ethnic intimidation statute (14-401.14) depends on whether a "reasonable person" would interpret a communication to be a threat. That law states: "If a person shall, because of race, color, religion, nationality, or country of origin, assault another person, or damage or deface the property of another person, or threaten to do any such act, he shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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NY Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill Head of Muslim Civil Rights Group

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/16/14) --

A prominent Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization said today that a man was arrested Saturday in New York for allegedly threatening to kill its national executive director, Nihad Awad.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, said Bernhard Laufer allegedly sent a number of death threats to Awad and other CAIR staff over the past week.

He is currently awaiting arraignment in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Laufer was arrested last year and charged with attempted murder as a hate crime for allegedly stabbing a Muslim at a New York mosque in 2012. He reportedly shouted "I'll kill you, Muslim (expletive)" during the attack two years ago.

"We thank all the state and national law enforcement authorities whose swift and professional action made this arrest possible," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "This is yet another incident demonstrating the actual, imminent harm that can result from Islamophobia."

Hooper noted that CAIR recently launched a campaign promoting interfaith unity to counter anti-Islam ads placed on Washington, D.C., area buses by a hate group led by Pamela Geller.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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Video Alert: Help CAIR Challenge Pamela Geller's Anti-Islam Hate (Fox)

CAIR Fights Back Against Pamela Geller's 'Hitler' Bus Ads (NY Daily News) CAIR has responded to the American Freedom Defense Initiative's anti-Muslim ad campaign with a message of peace and interfaith unity.

CAIR-FL Thanks School Board for Captioning Meetings CAIR-Florida today thanked the Hillsborough County School Board for answering our request to accommodate the hard of hearing by providing closed captioning of official school board meetings. Qurans Burned in Front of Dearborn Mosque (Press and Guide) Several Qurans were burned in front of a Dearborn mosque yesterday in possible connection with anti-Islam Pastor Terry Jones' visit to the city on Saturday.

Police: Attack on Iraqi Woman in Albuquerque Home Motivated by Hate (AP)

A Muslim Reporter's Icy Welcome from Texas GOP: 'Where are you from?' (Dallas Morning News) UT Arlington senior Heba Said, opinion editor of The Shorthorn, wrote Wednesday about the disgusted looks and comments of "you people" and "y'all Muslims" directed her way as she covered the Republican state convention.

Southern Baptists' Paige Patterson Apologizes for Muslim Student (RNS) The head of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offered an emotional apology to Southern Baptists for accepting a Muslim student into his school's Ph.D. program.

CAIR: Hijab Ban Threatens Basketball Phenom The case of young Bilqis has won support for the leading American Muslim advocacy group, CAIR, which called for allowing hijab in basketball matches. "Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, an American Muslim woman who wears an Islamic head scarf (hijab), is unable to pursue a professional career as a basketball player at the international level due to Article 4.4.2 of the FIBA Official Basketball Rules banning 'headgear.' We believe this rule violates Ms. Abdul-Qaadir's religious rights and contravenes international human rights norms," CAIR wrote in a letter to FIBA President Yvan Mainini.

CAIR Asks International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to Allow Hijab Muslim Basketball Star Gets Slam-Dunked by Prejudice

Awareness Event at UC Davis Combats Hijab Misconceptions

Non-Christian Believers in Alabama? Chances are, they're Muslim. So, as the mapped results show, if you are not a Christian and you live in Madison County, Ala., like most of Alabama, you are Muslim.

Utah: Islam is Second to Christianity in Salt Lake County

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CAIR to Counter D.C. Anti-Islam Bus Ads with Inclusive Message

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/10/14) --

On Wednesday, June 11, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, will hold a news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters in Washington, D.C., to announce the launch of a campaign with an inclusive message to counter anti-Islam ads placed on area buses by a hate group led by Pamela Geller.

Christian and Jewish interfaith leaders will participate in the news conference.

[NOTE: Photos and video of the CAIR ad will be available at the news conference.]

WHAT: CAIR Launches Campaign to Counter Anti-Islam Ads on D.C. Buses WHEN: Wednesday, June 11, 10:30 a.m. WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com

Geller's ad falsely claims that the Quran encourages Muslims to hate Jews.

"This advertising campaign is an opportunity for people to learn about Islam's commitment to freedom of religion, diversity and peaceful coexistence encouraged by the teachings of the Quran," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

Awad said Geller's organization, Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). SPLC also named Geller as a member of the "anti-Muslim inner circle."

Her hate ads have been repudiated by interfaith leaders.

In 2012, a broad-based coalition of 127 organizations sent a letter to the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority (WMATA) expressing concern about Geller's previous anti-Muslim advertisements.

A CAIR ad placed to counter Geller's 2012 campaign featured a verse from the Quran stating: "Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." (The Holy Quran, 7:199)

Video: D.C. Metro Riders React Positively to CAIR Quran Ad Text (Fox5)

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CAIR-Texas: School Board to Discuss Official's Anti-Muslim Comments

Backgrounder: CAIR-North Texas Calls for Resignation of Lynn Haussmann Over Anti-Muslim Remarks

Ga. Muslim, Christian Leaders Slam Pamela Geller's Hate Ads This is a propaganda campaign designed to incite hatred against American Muslims, and has been based on false information, taking things out of context from the Quran. Her SIOA group recently was denied a trademark after an appeals court ruled that the name disparaged Muslims.

'Islamic Jew-Hatred': It's NOT in the Quran Md. Faith Groups Protest Anti-Muslim DC Bus Ads

'Inventing Terrorists' Study Offers Critical Examination of Preemptive Prosecutions Nearly ninety-five percent of individuals on a Justice Department list of "terrorism and terrorism-related convictions" from 2001-2010 included some elements of preemptive prosecution, according to a study by attorneys which they say is the first to "directly examine and critique preemptive prosecution and its abuses." NY Man Charged in Firebombing of Mosque Fit to Stand Trial (NY Daily News) Ray Lengend, 43, is accused of hurling a Molotov cocktail at the Imam Al-Khoel Islamic Center in Jamaica, Queens, in December 2011 and carrying out five firebombings using Starbucks Frappuccino bottles filled with gasoline that targeted Muslims. He faces federal hate-crime and arson charges.

NV: Shooters in Ambush That Left Five Dead Spoke of White Supremacy and Desire to Kill Police (Review Journal) Report: Swastikas Found in Apartment of Las Vegas Cop Killers (Washington Post)

NY: Man Named Osama Wins $4.7M Lawsuit Because Co-Worker Punched Him, Called Him 'Bin Laden' Newly Renovated Islamic Center of Greater Miami Is a Striking Sight (Miami Herald)

Scribe Presents Muslim Voices of Philadelphia Muslim Voices of Philadelphia explores the rich histories and contemporary experiences of Philadelphia area Muslim communities through documentary film. Maine Muslim Students' Team Keeps the Faith, Shows Its Talent (Press Herald) Founded in 2002 by a group of students at the University of Houston, the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament, or MIST, has a dual purpose: cultivate a wide range of talents that some students may not even realize they have, while at the same time deepen their understanding of Islam and the ever-growing Muslim population across the United States.

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David Horowitz, the Godfather of the Modern Anti-Muslim Movement (SPLC)

In the last decade, Horowitz has become a respected elder of a growing movement of hawkish neoconservatives, conspiracy theorists and former federal officials united in their twisted fears that Islam is on the march -- a movement he describes in Orwellian terms as a "counterjihad."

Through his David Horowitz Freedom Center, a wealthy nonprofit based in Sherman Oaks, Calif., he has financed leading Islamophobes driving public opinion and attacked universities as leftist "indoctrination" programs. He leads several conservative publications, all dedicated to tenaciously defending Israel and viciously attacking Islam as a religion of "hate, violence and racism."

A report from the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, "Fear, Inc.," exposed Horowitz as a prominent member of a "small network [that] produces talking points and messages relied upon and repeated by every segment of this interconnected network of money, grassroots leaders, media talking heads, and elected officials." The report's author, Wajahat Ali, chastised Horowitz as a self-serving and toxic presence in a field of anti-Muslim pundits.

Virulent Muslim-basher Robert Spencer, director of the website Jihad Watch, is on his nonprofit's payroll, and Horowitz's online FrontPage Magazine publishes the work of Daniel Greenfield and Daniel Pipes, both of whom add to right-wing fears that Muslims are infiltrating the West. Horowitz also works closely with Pamela Geller, collecting money for her anti-Muslim hate group, Stop Islamization of America.

Fed. Circuit Upholds Refusal to Register Pamela Geller's Stop The Islamisation of America on Disparagement Grounds

The Board found the mark disparaging to a substantial composite of American Muslims under both meanings.

Bill O'Reilly, Muslim-Hunter

CAIR: No-fly List Discriminates Against Muslim Travelers

CAIR receives numerous calls and reports on the issue of being wrongfully placed on the no-fly list, but many people do not even know how to report it. That is why having statistics on this issue is near impossible -- no one knows who is on the list, meaning you can be on the list without knowing it until you try to board a plane.

CAIR-CA: Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama Dies at 93 (AP)

"Her tireless dedication to civil rights helped inspire generations of activists, including within the American Muslim community," the California chapter of CAIR. "She will be fondly remembered by all those of us who continue to defend civil liberties and promote justice."
Matanov Charges Look Like Vindictive Overreach (Boston Globe)

If the authorities believe Matanov was in any way involved in the bombings, these charges might make sense. But they aren't saying that -- not even by implication. Otherwise, this is just the kind of overly aggressive prosecution that gives the wrong impression of America's commitment to freedom, civil liberties, and proportionate justice.
CAIR-OK: Okahoma Muslim Group to Host Blood Drive

CAIR-Chicago: Save the Date for Our 6th Annual "Taste of Ramadan" Iftar
Woman: Security Didn't Want Her Waving Palestinian Flag During Israel Game in Houston

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CONTACT:

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Manager Amina Rubin, 202-341-4171, arubin@cair.com 

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