Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Another action alert ! |
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| Saleema |
| 12/22/00 at 17:09:14 |
| In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 12/22/2000 HEADLINES: * WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL: "TERRORISM AND FUNDRAISING" * US COMMISSION EXCUSES ISRAELI VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM * PUTTING A LITTLE FAITH IN DIVERSITY * HOW MOHAMMED BUILT WORLD RELIGION OF 1.2 BILLION PEOPLE WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL: "TERRORISM AND FUNDRAISING" Friday, December 22, 2000 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39446-2000Dec21.html SOMETIMES IT'S HARD not to sympathize with complaints by Arab Americans that they bear the brunt of anti-terrorism enforcement in this country -- especially after one examines the Web site of the Kahane movement. The site, www.kahane.org, is devoted to the teachings of the late Meir Kahane, the radical Jewish nationalist who advocated expelling Arabs from Israel...Kahane-linked groups such as Kach and Kanahe Chai have been designated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations for which domestic fundraising is prohibited...Its adherents have been responsible for serious acts of violence in the Israeli-occupied territories. Yet the Web site, run by Kahane followers in Brooklyn, openly invites viewers to "make a donation" and attend a dinner for the Kahane Memorial Fund, at a cost of $100 per person. Lest anyone doubt that the group is simply a front for Kahane Chai, Michael Guzofsky, one of the group's leaders, helpfully told the New York Times that "if we can't be Kach or Kahane Chai we will be simply Kahane." Unlike Arabs accused of raising money for foreign terrorist groups, who have been locked up for long periods based on secret evidence and faced deportation proceedings, Mr. Guzofsky seems entirely unafraid of the law: "We operate openly and have nothing to hide." The Times reports further that Israeli leaders of Kach and Kahane Chai have come and gone from this country freely in recent years. We have long had concerns about the constitutionality of the fundraising ban, which was passed as part of the 1996 antiterrorism law and which courts have upheld so far. Some groups that engage in terrorism also engage in other activities, many of which are protected by the First Amendment. The Kahane movement, for example, publishes a magazine and an e-mail newsletter, with which the government shouldn't interfere. But as long as the ban is law, there can't be different standards for Arab and non-Arab terrorist groups...The Justice Department owes an explanation. CONTACT: letters@washpost.com COPY TO: cair1@ix.netcom.com ----- US COMMISSION EXCUSES ISRAELI VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR JERUSALEM (AMJ) - American Muslims and other persons of conscience should contact the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to insist that the commission explain its permissive attitude toward Israel's violations of Palestinian religious rights. A letter sent from commission chair Elliott Abrams to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright asked her to denounce the targeting of holy places in recent weeks. In the text of the letter Abrams wrote, "The ongoing violence in turn has led Israeli authorities to limit access to religious sites because of security concerns." See: http://www.uscirf.gov/prPages/pr0059.php3 This statement is an irresponsible excuse for Israel's long-term interference in the freedom of worship for Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Abrams erroneously asserts that the "recent violence" led to restricted access. Since March 1993, the year of the Oslo Accords, Israel has maintained a closure of Jerusalem. Israel's stated reason for this closure has almost always been "security concerns." In its World Report 2000, Human Rights Watch points out the questionable nature of the 'security' assertion, "Despite Israeli claims that closure was a justified security measure, the arbitrary nature of the procedures and criteria for issuing permits and their indiscriminate imposition on an entire population made it an act of collective punishment." The long-term and arbitrary nature of Israel's interference in Palestinian's religious freedom undermines any argument that this interference is the result of 'security concerns,' said AMJ executive director Khalid Turaani. "This commission was established to investigate such actions, not excuse them." ACTION REQUESTED: Contact the commission to let them know that ALL violation of religious freedom should be challenged, not excused. Ask that they promptly and publicly address your concerns. CONTACT: Elliott Abrams Chairman United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 800 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite 790 Washington, DC 20002 TEL: 202-523-3240 FAX: 202-523-5020 E-MAIL: communications@uscirf.gov COPY TO: cair1@ix.netcom.com, amj@amjerusalem.org ----- American Muslims for Jerusalem TEL: 202-548-4200 E-MAIL: amj@amjerusalem.org URL: http://www.amjerusalem.org To subscribe to Jerusalem-net send an e-mail to jerusalem-net-request@lists.biglist.com with the word "subscribe" in the message body. ----- PUTTING A LITTLE FAITH IN DIVERSITY The smart manager sees the holiday season as an opportunity to inspire loyalty by accommodating the spiritual needs of all employees, whether they be Christian, Jew, or Muslim By Jill Hamburg Coplan, BusinessWeek Online http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2000/sb20001221_477.htm ----- HOW MOHAMMED BUILT WORLD RELIGION OF 1.2 BILLION PEOPLE By Ervin Dyer, Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 12/22/2000 http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20001222mohammed3.asp He was an illiterate shepherd who was orphaned as a child and then grew up to shun the world's materialism for a life of contemplation, prayer and religious activism. His name was Mohammed, and the revelations he said he received from God nearly 1,400 years ago, often preceded by painful trembling or severe sweating, would change the world. Muslims are now nearing the end of the monthlong celebration of Ramadan, which commemorates Mohammed's first visions, which formed the beginning of the Islamic holy book, the Koran. CONTACT: jcraig@post-gazette.com, edyer@post-gazette.com COPY TO: cair1@ix.netcom.com ----- CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003 Tel: 202-488-8787 Fax: 202-488-0833 Page: 202-490-5653 E-mail: cair1@ix.netcom.com URL: http://www.cair-net.org ----- TO SUBSCRIBE: Join CAIR-NET by sending the message "subscribe cair-net" (without the quotation marks) to majordomo@list.cair-net.org. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Leave CAIR-NET by sending the message "unsubscribe cair-net" (without the quotation marks) to majordomo@list.cair-net.org. NOTE: If you have difficulty unsubscribing, send a message to cair1@ix.netcom.com with the subject line "Manual CAIR-NET Unsubscribe." |
| Re: Another action alert ! |
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| Anonymous |
| 01/03/01 at 04:42:26 |
| CANADIAN TV COMEDY SKETCH DEFAMES MUSLIMS Network apologizes but says it will run sketch again (OTTAWA, ONTARIO) - The Council On American-Islamic Relations Canadian office (CAIR-CAN) is calling on Canadian Television (CTV) not to re- broadcast a "Comedy Now" sketch that it says defamed and stereotyped Muslims. While CTV management did apologize for offending the Muslim community, it refused CAIR-CAN's request to not repeat the segment. The Ottawa-based Islamic advocacy group filed a complaint about the sketch with the Council of Broadcasting Standards, a subdivision of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). During the October 14th episode of "Comedy Now," broadcast on the CTV comedy network, several inflammatory references to Muslims and Islam were made by comedian Linda Chavez. Chavez described to the audience how she got into a taxicab that was driven by a "Shiite," who was a "Moslem fundamentalist," and drove like "Shiite." He had "pictures of his seven wives" on his dashboard, and "they all looked like this!" (Chavez dramatically covered here face with her black shirt in order to mimic the face veil, to which the audience replied with laughter.) She then described how she was terrified for her life as the driver drove with "this crazy music", as she sang the words "Allah, Allah, Allah." CAIR-CAN contacted Ed Robinson, Vice President of Comedy & Variety Programming at CTV with a request for an apology to the Muslim community and a pledge not to rebroadcast the offensive skit. While Mr. Robinson did apologize for unintentionally offending the Muslim community, he refused to accept the request not to rebroadcast the sketch in question. Last year, CBC's "Air Farce" apologized to the Muslim community for airing &qqot;Terrorist Depot," a sketch that depicted Muslims as terrorists. In 1998, the Jay Leno Show apologized to Muslims for an "Iranian Disneyland" sketch that portrayed Muslims in a negative light. In both cases, management agreed not to rebroadcast the offensive items. "The sincerity of the apology extended by CTV is questionable," said Nancy Neville, Director of Communications at CAIR CAN. "While the network agrees that the sketch was offensive, it is ready to offend the Muslim community again by repeating the episode." CRTC regulations provide generally that a licensee shall not broadcast "any abusive comment that, when taken in context, tends to or is likely to expose an individual or a group or class of individuals to hatred or contempt on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability." |
| NS |
| Re: Another action alert ! |
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| Saleema |
| 01/03/01 at 16:16:01 |
| Here is the address and you can call an email about the comedy sketch. ACTION REQUESTED; (Be firm, but POLITE. Hostile comments will be used to harm the image of the Muslim community.) Please contact CTV and ask them not to repeat the offensive segment. Contact: Mr. Ed Robinson VP, Comedy & Variety Programming, CTV Television Inc. E-MAIL: erobinson@ctv.ca TEL: (416) 332-5000 URL: http://www.ctv.ca/Primetime/pent_comedy.asp COPY TO: programming@ctv.ca and canada@cair-net.org Residents of Canada are encouraged to file a complaint with the Council on Broadcasting Standards: CBSC P.O. Box 3265, Station D Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6H8 Tel: (613) 233-4607; Fax: (613) 238-1734 An online complaint form is available at: http://www.cbsc.ca/english/com-form.htm The details are: Comedy Now, broadcast on CTV October 14 between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. with comedian Linda Chavez. |
| NS |
| Re: Another action alert ! |
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| Saleema |
| 01/05/01 at 13:42:23 |
| In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful ----- AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 1/4/2001 HEADLINES: * BREAKING NEWS: FBI RAIDS JEWISH CENTER IN NEW YORK * BLOOMFIELD (MICH.) SCHOOLS PROBE ETHNIC INCIDENT * PRO-ISRAEL PUNDIT SAYS JERUSALEM NOT IMPORTANT TO MUSLIMS * NEW ACTION MOVIE GIVES MUSLIMS SOMETHING TO CHEER ABOUT ----- BREAKING NEWS: FBI RAIDS JEWISH CENTER IN NEW YORK FROM: Voice of Judea News and Commentary "The FBI is currently searching the Hatikva Jewish Identity Center in Brooklyn New York, in search for any records of the pro-Kahane Jewish Center. "The search is being conducted by 30 FBI agents who received a search warrant to search and sieze all computers and other records, videos, tapes and any Kahane materials..." SEE: TERROR LABEL NO HINDRANCE TO ANTI-ARAB JEWISH GROUP By DEAN E. MURPHY, The New York Times, 12/19/2000, Page 1, Column 2 http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/19/nyregion/19KAHA.html ----- BLOOMFIELD (MICH.) SCHOOLS PROBE ETHNIC INCIDENT By Janet Naylor, The Detroit News, 1/4/2001 http://detnews.com/2001/schools/0101/04/d01-171453.htm BLOOMFIELD HILLS -- Discussions among Bloomfield Hills school officials and representatives of the Jewish and Arab-American communities have begun after two fifth-graders threatened and insulted a Palestinian classmate. The district hopes for help from community groups to get the message out, to parents and others, to accept the diversity of one of Michigan's wealthiest communities and one of its best-performing school districts. "It's incumbent upon adults in Bloomfield Hills as well as the greater metropolitan area to join school officials in this effort," Supt. Gary Doyle said in a written statement. The district also will, with assistance from the Michigan chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations, look at giving additional diversity training to school staff. "I have confidence they will deal with all the allegations," said M. Kay Siblani, director of communication and civil rights with the council. The situation started Dec. 1, when two Jewish students asked a Muslim student if he was Palestinian. The boy answered that he was both Palestinian and Syrian. One of the boys then reportedly said, "That's even worse. We're going to take you all down," Siblani recounted. A week later, the same two boys approached the Muslim boy in the school's media center and one pretended to shoot him. He then grabbed the Muslim boy's clothes near his neck and insulted him, in front of other students... CONTACT: cair@cairmichigan.org ----- PRO-ISRAEL PUNDIT SAYS JERUSALEM NOT IMPORTANT TO MUSLIMS SLICE UP JERUSALEM? UNTHINKABLE By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Columnist, 1/4/2001 http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/004/oped/Slice_up_Jerusalem_Unthinkable+.sht ml ...To whom should Jerusalem belong? Arafat speaks of al-Quds, as it is called in Arabic, as if the Islamic attachment to the city is ancient, overwhelming, and self-evident. "Al-Quds is in the innermost of our feeling, the feeling of...all Arabs, Muslims, and Christians in the world," he said in August. "It is the essence of the Palestinian issue." Journalists routinely describe Jerusalem as Islam's "third holiest city," and identify the Temple Mount as "sacred to both Jews and Muslims." But the Jewish and Muslim claims to Jerusalem are not remotely comparable. ...To Muslims...Jerusalem is far less important. Mohammed never walked its streets, for the Arabs didn't conquer Jerusalem until six years after his death... ...Nowhere in the Koran is there anything like the 137th Psalm with its aching, love of Jerusalem. Indeed, nowhere in the Koran is Jerusalem even mentioned. For it is Mecca, not Jerusalem, that Islam venerates above all other places; Mecca, not Jerusalem, to which Muslims turn in prayer... CONTACT: letter@globe.com COPY TO: jacoby@globe.com, cair1@ix.netcom.com (As always, be POLITE. Jacoby has a history of such attacks and he is likely to use hostile comments to harm the image of the Muslim community and Islam. Make sure to include your full name, address and a telephone number for confirmation purposes.) TALKING POINTS: 1) Jerusalem is one of Islam's holiest sites. It was home to many prophets of Islam, including David, Solomon and Jesus. 2) The Quran, Islam's revealed text, states: "Glorified be He (God) who took his servant (Muhammad) for a journey by night from al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca) to al-Masjid al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), whose precincts we have blessed..." ("Masjid is the Arabic word for "mosque.") 3) The night journey referred to in this verse is that of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from the rock now located in the Dome of the Rock, to heaven. This event, known as "al-Isra wa al-Miraj," is noted each year by more than one billion Muslims worldwide. 4) The city is also mentioned in Islamic traditions. One of these "hadith" (deeds and utterances of the Prophet Muhammad recorded by his companions) states that prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque are multiplied 500 times. Another companion of the Prophet reported: "Once I asked Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) what was the first mosque established on earth; he said Al-Masjid Al-Haram. Then I asked him: Then which mosque? He replied: Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa..." 5) Jerusalem was Islam's first "Qibla," or direction to which Muslims turned in prayer. The very walls of the Old City were built by Muslims. Throughout centuries of Islamic rule, Jewish and Christian holy sites remained untouched, something that cannot be said about Christian and Muslim sites under Israeli rule. 6) Muslim and Christian Palestinians are routinely barred by Israel from religious sites in Jerusalem. They experience apartheid-like policies such as: forced expulsions, home demolitions, land confiscation, massacres, discrimination, humiliation, harassment, torture, ethnic segregation, and denial of basic human and religious liberties. The Christian population of Jerusalem drops daily. 7) Jacoby previously denied Muslim religious ties to Jerusalem and mocked the Islamic tradition of Muhammad's journey to Jerusalem. In 1997, Jacoby wrote: "Let (Palestinians) shout often enough...that Jerusalem has always been holy to Muslims, that the Western Wall is sacred because of a horse (that carried Muhammad)...and people will believe them." 8) Jacoby recently faced a four-month suspension "for passing off the nonsensical musings of an anonymous e-mail about alleged heroes of the American Revolution as his own research." (The Nation, 10/2/2000) ----- NEW ACTION MOVIE GIVES MUSLIMS SOMETHING TO CHEER ABOUT By Hebah Abdalla, iviews.com, 1/4/2001 http://www.iviews.com/ It has become an annual ritual in Hollywood. The best and the brightest films are released during the holiday season in the hopes that the millions who make it out to the shopping malls will rest their weary feet in the multi-plex movie theaters. This season's fare includes a pleasant surprise for Muslims who have become accustomed to seeing negative portrayals of Islam and its adherents in many Hollywood films. Vertical Limit, an action-packed movie set on the eastern border of Pakistan, includes perhaps the most positive portrayal of Muslims in a major studio production to date... http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/verticallimit/ ...Among them is Kareem, played by thirty-five year-old Sudanese actor Alexander Siddig, who is motivated to join the risky mission because it's his "duty". Kareem is characterized as a devout Muslim and experienced climber. Siddig says he accepted the role because "it was a rare opportunity to play a Muslim character who is genuinely good, rather than a stereotypical terrorist or religious fanatic." http://www.sidcity.com/verticallimit.html In one scene, Kareem rolls out his prayer rug and begins to pray when a fellow climber begins to mock him. Kareem patiently replies that he prays to Allah because everyone will eventually die and it is what one does before one dies that really matters... CONTACT: Mr. Blaise Noto Exec. VP, Publicity Sony Pictures Entertainment 10202 West Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 FAX: 310-244-1363 TEL: 310-244-4744 ----- CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003 Tel: 202-488-8787 Fax: 202-488-0833 Page: 202-490-5653 E-mail: cair1@ix.netcom.com URL: http://www.cair-net.org |
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