Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 06:20 PM in SIOA: Stop the Islamization of America | Permalink | Comments (40) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Look at this. Zuccotti Park gave us a permit and canceled it late yesterday. They are so inconsistent. They let the left protest anywhere, do anything, march everywhere. Cindy Sheehan and her band of America-hating freaks were never turned down. Code Pink their virulent anti-semitism and Bush-deranged mental patients are always accommodated. The 911 truth freaks protest on 911, every year. But the city dhimmis down when Islamic supremacists are involved. This will not stand. There must be a public outcry. Freedom of assembly is guaranteed under the Constitution. Even the left wing clowns at the Times wrote today in a stupefying pro-mega mosque piece: But they have a right to protest. It is guaranteed in the First Amendment, the same one that ensures freedom of religion, with no asterisk that says “*except for Islam.” It is the same amendment that allows a strip joint and a porno shop to exist a couple of blocks from hallowed ground. Demonstrators Denied Permit for WTC Mosque Protest at Zuccotti Park DNAinfo The anti-mosque rally was initially pitched as a gathering for 9/11 family members, DNAinfo has learned. By Julie Shapiro DNAinfo Reporter/Producer LOWER MANHATTAN — The organizers of a massive June 6 rally opposing the Ground Zero mosque are not allowed to protest at their planned location in Zuccotti Park, DNAinfo has learned. The NYPD has not issued a permit for the D-Day demonstration by the group Stop Islamization of America, a Police spokeswoman said. And Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zuccotti Park, generally does not allow political protests on the plaza across from the World Trade Center site. “A protest event will not be happening in Zuccotti Park,” said Melissa Coley, Brookfield spokeswoman. A person with knowledge of the permitting process told DNAinfo the anti-mosque rally was initially pitched as a gathering for 9/11 family members, and the city approved it several weeks ago. But once it became clear that the event would be a protest against Cordoba House, a 13-story mosque and community center slated to rise near ground zero, the city withdrew the permit, the source said. Pamela Geller, executive director of Stop Islamization of America, said the protest would go forward as planned. “We’ve cleared all the legal hurdles the city requires for a rally,” she said in an e-mail to DNAinfo. Zuccotti Park is a privately owned public space, so both the city and Brookfield Properties have jurisdiction over what happens there. U.S. Steel built the park back in the 1970s in return for a height bonus on One Liberty Plaza, an adjacent office tower. The park was then called Liberty Plaza. Brookfield now owns both the tower and the plaza. Several years ago, Brookfield renovated the space using private money and renamed it for John Zuccotti, the company’s chairman. Based on the online response to the rally so far, it appears that hundreds, if not thousands, of people could be planning to attend the June 6 rally. More than 400 people have RSVPed on Facebook so far. Stop Islamization of America is helping potential attendees connect via its website. A post on carpooling has drawn 54 responses since Monday, with people planning to come from as far away as California, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri and Michigan. Geller slammed the “insensitive” mosque plans at Community Board 1’s meeting Tuesday night. “This mega mosque is going up on sacred ground,” she told the crowd of several hundred people. “This is an insult.” Geller is the founder of AtlasShrugs.com, a conservative blog, and also launched a controversial ad campaign earlier this month on the city’s buses, purporting to help people who want to leave Islam. While the number of people who will turn up at the June 6 protest is hard to predict, hundreds of people are discussing it on Twitter, YouTube and other sites, and more than 85,000 people have joined a Facebook group opposing the mosque. Posted by Pamela Geller on Friday, May 28, 2010 at 09:54 AM in Mosque at Ground Zero: Takbir! | Permalink | Comments (35) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Iraqi-American columnist Khudhayr Taher published an article in the Arab online liberal daily Elaph.com on May 18, 2010 in which he warns against the desire to turn the U.S. into a Muslim country. Taher called upon the American administration to ban the building of mosques, and especially the Cordoba Mosque, planned for construction near Ground Zero in New York, because, he says, these mosques pose a danger to the security of the U.S. as they are centers for spreading extremist and terrorist ideas. Following is a translation of excerpts from the article: "In these days, the issue of the Muslim decision to build a mosque near the place where the crime of the cowardly September 11 terrorist attacks took place has come up. We must note that a hostile and provocative name [Cordoba] has been chosen for this mosque. It is well known that the first Cordoba Mosque was built by Muslims in a city in Spain, after they occupied this Christian country, killing its men and capturing its women to bring them to Arab countries as slaves and servants to serve their sexual pleasure. The Arabs and Muslims have never ceased to take pride and bask in the glory of this imperialist history, which they consider to be a symbol of their strength and power, and they are unashamed of the fact that the annals [of their history] are full of shameful crimes. "Today, it seems as though some Muslims in America are enamored of the dream of bringing back this ugly imperialist Muslim history, which is based on occupying peaceful peoples, on trying to force them to change their religious beliefs by the sword, on killing the men, and on abducting the women from their homes and bringing them to their own countries. Choosing the name 'Cordoba House' for the mosque to be constructed in New York was not coincidental or random and innocent. It bears within it significance and dreams of expansion and invasion [into the territory] of the other, [while] striving to change his religion and to subjugate him… "New York has many mosques, for Sunnis and for Shiites. Of course there is a significant infiltration of extremist terrorist ideology among some of the Sunnis, and likewise there is a significant infiltration of the Iranian intelligence [apparatus] among some of the Shi'ites. This infiltration, both among the Sunnis and among the Shi'ites, has spread across the U.S. New York Statehas many mosques, and doesn't need any more of them – not to mention that for work reasons Muslims do not attend mosque every day, but only on Saturdays and Sundays. Therefore, the Muslims have no real need for the construction of this mosque, which constitutes a provocation against the sensibilities of the Americans and a reminder for them of the Muslim imperialism in Spain and of the acts it committed against the Christians – such as murder, pillage, taking captives, and aggression against women. "As a Muslim and as an American citizen, I hope that the U.S. government will issue a decision to confiscate the funds designated for the construction of this mosque, and to transfer them to a budget for rebuilding the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, [and also to] ban the building of [additional] mosques in the U.S., because there is no real need for them. Also, [we must] take into account the danger that they [i.e. the mosques] pose because they are hothouses for extremist terrorist ideology and for hatred of the other, and because they carry out open missionary activities considered a violation of the freedom and religion of others." Posted by Pamela Geller on Friday, May 28, 2010 at 07:58 AM in Mosque at Ground Zero: Takbir! | Permalink | Comments (2) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! "This kind of campaign and Americans support of it could assure these frightened Muslims that they have the rights that every other American has, that they will be protected, not abandoned or exposed to their leaders should they act upon their desire to be free," the Dearborn teacher said. There is a story today in the Washington Times on the SIOA freedom bus ad campaign. This bus ad campaign has been covered by every major network, ABC, NBC, CBS (NY), the LA Times, FOX, CNN, Russian Television, UK fleet street, the Daily Mail ..........too many news outlets to list here. Today, in the Washington Times, Michal Elseth wrote a news story and actually did...... research. SHOCKA! The reporter sought out Muslims who might speak openly and honestly about and safe leaving Islam. No other media outlet thought to look at the desperate struggle of apostates. I asked Lou Young of CBS (whose news report CAIR is running), but he wanted me to turn over people. I would never do that. He is blissfully uninformed. It is shocking what Elseth, interning with the National Journalism Center, turned up about apostates, and what a liar unindicted co-conspirator, Hamas-tied CAIR's Walid is. But he knew my ads were rejected in Detroit and was confident that SMART transit would not be running them. I wonder who the thugs strong armed. Detroit transit sued for nixing 'Leaving Islam?' ad by Michal Elseth THE WASHINGTON TIMES A bus-ad campaign that seeks to offer resources to those considering leaving Islam already has stirred up controversy in Miami and New York, but its next city may create the most fireworks - Detroit, the U.S. metropolitan area with the heaviest concentration of Middle Easterners. The Detroit-area bus authority has refused to run the ads from Stop Islamization of America, an organization headed up by conservative activist and anti-jihad blogger Pamela Geller, prompting SIOA to file a federal lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Mrs. Geller said the transport authority's refusal to run her ads violates her First Amendment right of free speech, and she will take the lawsuit to the Supreme Court if necessary. "It is against the law, and I tell you, those ads will go up whether they like it or not," Mrs. Geller said. SIOA initially encountered a similar refusal in Miami, but Mrs. Geller said a lawsuit prompted the transport-authority there to relent in less than 24 hours. Several calls to the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, which operates the bus system serving Detroit and two surrounding counties, were not returned Thursday. Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan, said he expects that even if the ads do run in Detroit, they will not elicit any response besides puzzlement. The Detroit area, centering on Dearborn, is home to a quarter-million Muslims, whom Mr. Walid does not expect to react favorably to the presence of SIOA's ads in their city. "If she's planning to put those Islamophobic ads in Detroit, she's wasting her time," Mr. Walid said. The Detroit area also has a large Arab and Middle Eastern Christian population, centering on suburbs north of the city proper. Mrs. Geller said SIOA began its national city-by-city ad campaign in response to bus ads in Florida inviting people to convert to Islam. Part of the conflict centers on whether Muslims are free to leave Islam without retribution, and whether their families will punish or kill them for conversion. One such case that has made national headlines in the U.S. involves 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, who fled her parents' Ohio home to stay with a Florida Christian minister after she converted. In the ensuing custody and foster care disputes, her Muslim parents deny that the girl will be harmed if she returns home. Abdul Rahman, an Afghan citizen, was arrested in 2006 for converting to Christianity there, and members of his family asked prosecutors to seek the death penalty. But the international outcry over Mr. Rahman's case, and the fact that the Afghan government was installed by the U.S. invasion - plus doubts about the case and Mr. Rahman's sanity - combined to prompt the court to release him. The consensus view among Muslim jurists worldwide is that apostasy, unless mitigated by such factors as mental illness or duress, is punishable by death. Mrs. Geller cited a fatwa, or ruling point on Islamic law, issued by the authoritative Al-Azhar University in 1978, that said: "This man has committed apostasy; he must be given a chance to repent, and if he does not, then he must be killed, according to Shariah [law]." Mr. Walid denied Mrs. Geller's claims, though he provided no authoritative citations, and attacked Mrs. Geller's character. "She's a well-known anti-Muslim bigot," he said. "She makes no distinction between extremist Muslims and mainstream Muslims." Mr. Walid said that although there have been a few cases of violence against Muslims who convert away from the religion, there is no retribution for those who choose to leave Islam. "People are free to leave Islam or any religion at any time. This is the United States of America," he said. "The fear is palpable. I know there are things I am 'not allowed' to say. A discussion of religion with a Muslim person is often prefaced by the statement, 'Dont say anything about the Prophet [Muhammad].' In free society, open and honest conversation is not usually begun by a prohibition. Threats and intimidation are just part of life here." CAIR's denial of the dangers of apostasy are part of the reason behind Mrs. Geller's campaign, which she defined as a religious-freedom issue. "We're not encouraging people to leave Islam," she said. Whether or not the ads actually encourage apostasy, the furor elsewhere already have received a considerable amount of negative attention from American Muslims. "The ads are to serve a purpose - to incite Islamophobia," Mr. Walid said. "The average person here will see them for what they are." The Dearborn educator, however, said the ads serve a positive purpose. "This kind of campaign and Americans support of it could assure these frightened Muslims that they have the rights that every other American has, that they will be protected, not abandoned or exposed to their leaders should they act upon their desire to be free," the teacher said. Here is the fatwa, proof that death "is a very normal part of Islamic law for apostasy and for every muslim its an honor to CLEAN the umma if Rifqa is dead". Obama describes Al-Azhar University this way: "For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt’s advancement." Here is the actual fatwa issued at Al-AzharUniversity in Cairo, the most important institution of islamic law in the sunni world, and where Obama made his speech to the Muslim world. (More on Obama's speech here and here.) Fatwa committee concerning the case of a man who converted to Christianity: "Since he left the Islam, he will be invited to express his regret. If he does not regret, he will be killed pertaining to rights and obligations of the Islamic law." Update: Check out Newsmax Posted by Pamela Geller on Friday, May 28, 2010 at 12:47 AM in Apostates and "moderate" Muslims, SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (13) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Back on May 7, I reported the shocking news that the Academy of Pediatrics would sanction clitorectomies and begin to practice this barbaric mutilation in a multicultural, dhimmi effort -- a "nick," as it were. In a stunning capitulation to the islamization of America, the medical profession seemed to have lost its moral compass and any semblance of goodness and morality -- in the name of "tolerance and multicultural" poison. Of course, it would not have had the effect these nudnik do-gooders imagined. It would have just the opposite effect. Islamic misogyny will be given the seal of approval by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Whatever their twisted intention, such consideration was unfathomable to decent, reasoned human beings (let alone ...........doctors). These do-gooder butchers responded to public outrage (first do no harm!) and withdrew their decision. Equality Now Welcomes Decision by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to Withdraw its 2010 Policy Statement on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) that Endorsed Pediatricians' 'Nicking' of Girls' Genitalia (via Nancy Stanek ) hat tip Suki International human rights organization Equality Now welcomes the AAP's decision to withdraw its ill-conceived revised policy statement on female genital mutilation issued on April 26, 2010.... The new policy statement essentially promoted Type IV FGM, as categorized by the World Health Organization, and suggested that federal and state laws might be more effective if they "enabled pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a 'ritual nick.'" In a release issued today, the AAP stated that it has "retired" its 2010 revised statement on FGM, is opposed to "all forms of female genital cutting" and "does not endorse the practice of offering a 'clitoral nick.'" Immediately following the announcement about AAP's new policy statement on April 26, 2010, Equality Now launched a global campaign, which called on its membership of over 35,000 individuals and organizations from 160 countries to put pressure on the AAP to revoke its statement. The outpouring of deep concern demonstrated by several women's rights advocates, human rights organizations, health care providers, and individual members around the world in response to this campaign has been inspiring and overwhelming. A significant outcome of Equality Now's campaign was also a statement jointly signed by WHO and United Nations agencies, UNICEF, UNFPA, and UNIFEM, that challenged the AAP's contentions about FGM and the harm any of its forms, including 'nicking', cause girls and women. The WHO/UN statement also confirmed the importance of looking at all forms of FGM as a form of violence and discrimination against women and girls. "This is a crucial step forward in the movement to continue raising awareness about FGM, especially in the U.S., where it is practiced by some immigrant communities. This campaign has brought to light the importance of identifying FGM as a harmful cultural practice that together we must and can end. The work of the African anti-FGM grassroots movement has finally reached our shores and we hope to move forward and ensure the protection of girls in the U.S. and elsewhere from the practice," says Taina Bien-Aime, Equality Now's Executive Director. Ironically, news reports today indicate that the AAP is not isolated in its misunderstandings about FGM and the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians is now planning to discuss backing "ritual nicks", a modified form of genital mutilation, next month. Taina Bien-Aime further warned, "Before heading in the wrong direction on this issue, the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians must learn from the experience of the international campaign against AAP, and from the resounding clarification provided in the WHO/UN joint statement." Equality Now hopes that the momentum built around discussions about FGM continues in the US with the swift passage of The Girls Protection Act (H.R. 5137), a new bipartisan legislation introduced by Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) that would close the loophole in the federal law prohibiting FGM by making it illegal to transport a minor girl living in the U.S. out of the country for the purpose of FGM. The bill will hopefully also call for the launch of culturally sensitive outreach programs in FGM-practicing immigrant communities in the U.S. to educate parents about the lifelong harms of FGM. UPDATE: Australia pathetically considers the same. Where are the those disgusting feminazis? Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 10:07 PM in Creeping Sharia: American Dhimmitude, Women and children | Permalink | Comments (21) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Jamal Jivanjee was kind enough to send me the following update on the recent tragic news of Rifqa Bary's cancer diagnosis: Rifqa Bary has been released from the hospital after this morning's surgery. Cancerous growths were removed and further action will be determined upon pathology tests. Chemotherapy treatments are expected in the near future. Rifqa is thankful for the prayers and support that she has received. Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 09:38 PM in Rifqa Bary: Teenage Apostate in America | Permalink | Comments (25) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! The caliphate in the White House. It makes you wonder what the Obama administration would have called the 19 jihadis on 911. Frustrated illegal alien ......pilots? Direct from the "you can't make this stuff up" department: Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam' FOX The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies. During a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan described violent extremists as victims of "political, economic and social forces," but said that those plotting attacks on the United States should not be described in "religious terms." He repeated the administration argument that the enemy is not "terrorism," because terrorism is a "tactic," and not terror, because terror is a "state of mind" -- though Brennan's title, deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and homeland security, includes the word "terrorism" in it. But then Brennan said that the word "jihad" should not be applied either. "Nor do we describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children," Brennan said. The technical, broadest definition of jihad is a "struggle" in the name of Islam and the term does not connote "holy war" for all Muslims. However, jihad frequently connotes images of military combat or warfare, and some of the world's most wanted terrorists including Usama bin Laden commonly use the word to call for war against the West. Brennan defined the enemy as members of bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and "its terrorist affiliates." But Brennan argued that it would be "counterproductive" for the United States to use the term, as it would "play into the false perception" that the "murderers" leading war against the West are doing so in the name of a "holy cause." "Moreover, describing our enemy in religious terms would lend credence to the lie propagated by Al Qaeda and its affiliates to justify terrorism -- that the United States is somehow at war against Islam," he said. The comment comes after Brennan, in a February speech in which he described his respect for the tolerance and devotion of Middle Eastern nations, referred to Jerusalem on first reference by its Arabic name, Al-Quds. "In all my travels the city I have come to love most is al-Quds, Jerusalem, where three great faiths come together," Brennan said at an event co-sponsored by the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Islamic Center at New York University and the Islamic Law Students Association at NYU. Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 06:15 PM in Jihad in America: Enemy in our Midst, Obama's Submission Tour to Muslim Countries, President Hussein | Permalink |Comments (11) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! The thirty little buses that could..... have gone transatlantic. The Freedom buses hit the UK. Ask yourself, why is this such a giant story? Perhaps because the UK suffers an epidemic of Islamic honor killings, as well as apostate issues. Check out the fear that devout Muslims "might bomb buses." Got that? Religious freedom might incite Islamic violence. 'Fatwa on your head?' Controversial adverts that help Muslims abandon Islam appear on New York buses Daily Mail, UK A conservative activist has sparked controversy after running a series of adverts on New York buses offering information to people who want to leave the Islamic faith. The adverts, entitled Leaving Islam?, points readers to a website called RefugefromIslam.com and will run on at least 30 city buses for a month. Pamela Geller, who leads an organisation called Stop Islamization of America, said the adverts were meant to provide resources for Muslims who are fearful of leaving the faith. Adverts: These posters are appearing on at least 30 buses which travel through all five of New York's boroughs She said: 'It's not offensive to Muslims, it's religious freedom. 'It's not targeted at practicing Muslims. It doesn't say "leave", it says "leaving" with a question mark.' Ms Geller said the adverts cost $8,000 (£5,500), which was contributed by the readers of her blog Atlas Shrugs and other websites. Similar adverts have run on buses in Miami and she said more were planned for other cities. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) officials said the adverts were reviewed and did not violate the agency's guidelines. Spokesman Kevin Ortiz said: 'The religion in question would not change the determination that the language in the ad does not violate guidelines.' All adverts which feature on New York buses are screened by the MTA. Last month, Miami-Dade Transit removed them from 10 buses after deciding they 'may be offensive to Islam', according to the Miami Herald. But the agency decided to reinstall them after a review by the county attorney's office. Religious freedom: The posters are appearing on New York buses but critics say they are based on the misconception that people are coerced into remaining in Islam Transit spokesman Clinton Forbes said: 'Although they may be considered offensive by some, they do not fall under the general guidelines that would warrant their removal.' Courts have ruled that the First Amendment requires Americans to put up with 'a lot of unenlightened and objectionable messages', according to Glenn Smith, a professor at California Western School of Law. Eugene Volokh, an expert of constitutional law at UCLA School of Law, said the adverts could leave some Muslims reluctant to ride the bus. There could also be a risk that some extremist groups might bomb the buses, although that possibility wouldn't limit free speech rights, he said. The agency has received no complaints since the adverts went up on May 14, the MTA said. The buses with the posters on pass through all five boroughs of the city. Council member Robert Jackson, himself a Muslim, said: 'I think this is a campaign by the extreme right, those that are against the Muslim religion. 'Quite frankly I would think the average New Yorker would take it for what it's worth.' Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said they were based on a false premise that people face coercion to remain with Islam. She said Muslims believe faith that is forced is not true belief. 'Ms Geller is free to say what she likes just as concerned community members are free to criticise her motives,' she said. Ms Geller has a history of speaking out against Muslims, and the adverts are 'a smoke screen to advance her long-standing history of anti-Muslim bigotry,' she added. Ms Geller denied she had a problem with Muslims, and said she was working to 'maintain the separation of mosque and state'. She is among those speaking out against the building of a mosque and Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero. Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 02:42 PM in SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (17) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! This is still America and we mean to keep it that way. Hat tip to our founding fathers. Stop Islamization of America is filing suit against SMART, the government agency that handles advertising for bus ads in Detroit, for refusing to run our religious liberty bus ads. SMART's guidelines guarantee the freedom of speech, and it is clear that our ads were refused because of politically correct dhimmitude and self-censorship for fear of the Muslim community in the Detroit area. We'll be posting the complaint soon. Robert has more. This is Strike a blow for religious liberty: make a donation to SIOA now, to help us pay for the costs of defending religious freedom in Barack Obama's America. UPDATE: Here is a pdf of the complaint prepared by the inestimable David Yerushalmi and courageous Thomas More Law Center, keeper of the flame. Read the lawsuit - I posted it after the break. It is a beautiful case for freedom of speech. The language sounds like music Continue reading "SIOA FILES RELIGIOUS LIBERTY LAWSUIT AGAINST GOVERNMENT" » Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 02:21 PM in SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (9) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Thirty little NYC buses.....my, how they roll. Funny how the LA Times says that "Muslims are calling the ads a smoke screen for an anti-Muslim agenda." It was CAIR that said that. So is the LA Times saying that the unindicted co-conspirator, Hamas-linked CAIR is representative of all Muslims? Is the LA Times actually saying US Muslims are haters, extremists and terror tied? Wow. Islamic (sharia) law is very clear: apostasy is punishable by death. Why does CAIR equate being pro-freedom with being anti-Muslim? Leaving Islam? Bus ads in New York are offering help LA Times Muslims are calling the ads — paid for by a conservative activist and the organizations she leads — a smoke screen for an anti-Muslim agenda. Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the ads were based on a false premise that people faced coercion to remain with Islam. She said Muslims believe faith that is forced is not true belief. Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 10:23 AM in SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (12) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! "Pamela Geller uses the same tactics as tobacco companies, hiding the cancerous nature of her agenda behind a smokescreen of feigned concern. Unindicted c0-conspirator CAIR More from our moderate Muslim brothers who want an Islamic flag of conquest planted at Ground Zero and abhor religious freedom for all, especially Muslims. I am a cancer for human rights activism, free speech advocacy and religious liberty protection. New York (CNN) -- "Fatwa on your head?" a new series of provocative ads on New York City buses asks. "Is your community or family threatening you? Leaving Islam?" The ads, sponsored by an organization called Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), direct viewers to refugefromislam.com, a website designed "for people who are thinking of leaving Islam or are leaving Islam and need resources" to protect them from harm. Practicing Muslims who find the ads offensive should "ignore it," SIOA leader Pamela Geller told CNN. "It's not directed to them." Speaking on conservative Sean Hannity's radio show recently, Geller said, "it's time for Americans to stand up against the evil of Islamic jihadi terrorism and Islamic supremacism." The SIOA, which is funded by its online readership, is currently lobbying to block a mosque proposed near the World Trade Center site. The Council on American-Islamic Relations in New York says the ads are nothing more than "Islam bashing." "Islamophobes are notorious for their cheap tactics that seek to marginalize American Muslims and divide communities," CAIR Community Affairs director Faiza Ali said in a statement. "Pamela Geller uses the same tactics as tobacco companies, hiding the cancerous nature of her agenda behind a smokescreen of feigned concern. Geller is free to say what she likes, just as concerned community members are free to critique her tactics and motives," Ali said. Speaking at a Tennessee "Tea Party" convention earlier this week, Geller called CAIR an "unindicted co-conspirator Muslim-brotherhood front Hamas-tied" organization. Although the same campaign caused controversy when SIOA bought ad space on public buses in Miami, New York Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Aaron Donovan told CNN that no one has asked the MTA to remove the ads yet. "We have not gotten complaints on it, to be honest," he said. Like most ads seen on MTA subway cars and buses, the campaign will run a month. Last April, Donovan remembered, the MTA ran ads for whyislam.org -- an organization which encourages visitors to explore the Quran and seeks to "challenge popular stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam" -- on the subway system. All subway and bus ads seen on New York City public transportation are handled by a contractor who vets ads with MTA officials before running them, he said. Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 09:55 AM in SIOA: Stop the Islamization of America | Permalink | Comments (21) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! They take us for idiots, infidels and kuffar. Every word out of the imam's wife last night on Behar was a lie. Islamic supremacists like Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan rely on the willful ignorance of liberal clowns like Behar and Roy Sekoff (of the Puff Ho), while they call those who make it their life's work to study Islam "ignorant." Got that? Over at Pajamas Media: on March 24, 2010, Abdul Rauf is quoted in an article in Arabic for the website Rights4All entitled “The Most Prominent Imam in New York: ‘I Do Not Believe in Religious Dialogue.’” Yes, you read that correctly and, yes, that is an accurate translation of Abdul Rauf. And Right4All is not an obscure blog, but the website of the media department of Cairo University, the leading educational institution of the Arabic-speaking world. In the article, the imam said the following of the “religious dialogue” and “interweaving into the mainstream society” that he so solemnly seems to advocate in the Daily News and elsewhere: This phrase is inaccurate. Religious dialogue as customarily understood is a set of events with discussions in large hotels that result in nothing. Religions do not dialogue and dialogue is not present in the attitudes of the followers, regardless of being Muslim or Christian. The image of Muslims in the West is complex which needs to be remedied. But that was two months ago. More recently — in fact on May 26, one day after his Daily News column – Abdul Rauf appeared on the popular Islamic website Hadiyul-Islam with even more disturbing opinions. That’s the same website where, ironically enough, a fatwa was simultaneously being issued forbidding a Muslim to sell land to a Christian, because the Christian wanted to build a church on it. In his interview on Hadiyul-Islam by Sa’da Abdul Maksoud, Abdul Rauf was asked his views on Shariah (Islamic religious law) and the Islamic state. He responded: Throughout my discussions with contemporary Muslim theologians, it is clear an Islamic state can be established in more then just a single form or mold. It can be established through a kingdom or a democracy. The important issue is to establish the general fundamentals of Shariah that are required to govern. It is known that there are sets of standards that are accepted by [Muslim] scholars to organize the relationships between government and the governed. [emphasis added] When questioned about this, Abdul Rauf continued: “Current governments are unjust and do not follow Islamic laws.” He added: New laws were permitted after the death of Muhammad, so long of course that these laws do not contradict the Quran or the Deeds of Muhammad … so they create institutions that assure no conflicts with Shariah. [emphasis in translation] In yet plainer English, forget the separation of church and state. Abdul Rauf’s goal is the imposition of Shariah law — in every country, even democratic ones like the U.S. But these attitudes are nothing new for the (alas, few) people who have been paying attention. Way back on September 30, 2001, Faisal Abdul Rauf was interviewed on 60 Minutes by host Ed Bradley. Their verbatim dialogue from this CBS News transcript concluded: BRADLEY: Are- – are — are you in any way suggesting that we in the United States deserved what happened? Imam ABDUL RAUF: I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened. BRADLEY: OK. You say that we’re an accessory? Imam ABDUL RAUF: Yes. BRADLEY: How? Imam ABDUL RAUF: Because we have been an accessory to a lot of — of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, it — in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA. This is the “anti-terrorist” of the Daily News article? The Faisal Abdul Rauf who spoke to 60 Minutes in 2001 is the same Abdul Rauf who, in the last couple of months, espoused the spread of Shariah law on Arabic websites and said the opposite in the pages of the Daily News. He is the man New York City authorities are about to allow to build a mosque on Ground Zero. UPDATE: Pamela Hall has more here. Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 08:19 AM in Mosque at Ground Zero: Takbir! | Permalink | Comments (28) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! It's in the Koran. Period. Why aren't the Rabbis, the ADL and Jewish leadership as vocal and vehement about this as they are in support of 911 mega mosque? Shame on you. When moderate Islam is anything but Seraphic Secret provides detail: Egyptian cleric sheik Ahmad Al-Johainy soberly instructs his audience that if you want to learn how to properly and vigorously hate Jews, well, just study the Koran. It is the authoritative text. Unlike others who claim that modern day Muslim Jew-hatred is derived from Nazi ideology, Seraphic Secret maintains that normative Islam is the source of Arab Muslim Jew-hatred. Nazi propaganda is just the icing on the cake. The video is quite refreshing. The imam does not even try and pretend that he's “merely anti-Zionist.” He's wonderfully candid and proud of his Jew-hatred. And make no mistake about it, the hatred of Jews has nothing to do with so-called occupation or so-called settlements, just as the Arab-Israeli conflict has nothing to do with national boundaries. It's codified Islamist intolerance that goes back to the times of Mohammed, a doctrine that sees the annihilation of the Jewish people as a religious duty. Ironically, Egypt is considered a moderate Muslim country. If this is the face of moderation imagine the barbarism of Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, and Iran. The racist views of this genocidal yearning imam are the norm in the Arab Muslim world. Arab TV is saturated in this kind of filth. Finally, the so-called peace process is and will remain a dangerous delusion until the Arab Muslim world frees itself from the malignancy of Jew-hatred. We must enlighten the younger generation about our cruel enemy. We must show them who the enemies are, who the Jews are. This must be done in several respects. First, there is the family. The parents must take an interest in their children, and teach them who the Jews are. This must be achieved by means of the Koran, by studying the raids of the Prophet Muhammad, and how he treated the Jews of the Nazir, Quraiza, and Qaynuqa’ tribes – how the Prophet dealt with the Jews, how he signed a treaty with them, only to be betrayed by them, and what he did to them, after they had violated the treaties. We must teach these things to our children. We must plant in our children’s hearts the truth about the Jews — that oppressive and cruel enemy. We must teach our children who the Jews are. We must get our children accustomed to hating the Jews. We don’t want our children to grow up knowing nothing. Go to MEMRI to view the video. And speaking of defenders, will any member of the Religious Left stand up and denounce this? Anyone? -- Rick Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 07:23 AM in Islamic Jew hatred | Permalink | Comments (4) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Why doesn't Khan stop calling me names, and start calling out the jihadists? The Jewish star in her office (on the bottom of the picture at right) was rich. And while she calls me ignorant, she didn't refute, either here or on the Behar show, my charge that her husband, Feisal Abdul Rauf, said that our children and grandchildren would all be Muslim. And that was OK with everyone. WPIX TV: CONTROVERSIAL ISLAM ADS NEW YORK (WPIX) - There is a controversial message on about 30 New York City buses that imply Muslims are forced into their religion and face serious retribution if they try to leave their faith. Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 12:13 AM in SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (26) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! "It's just a place for apostates and people leaving Islam to go. It's not meant to offend anyone. It's an issue of religious freedom." They don't even know they are dhimmis. What I resent is all the misinformation: Pamela Geller Has Had Enough With 'Violent Ideology' Of The Religion, Launches Bus Ad Campaign; ADL Concerned Posted by Pamela Geller on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 11:11 PM in SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (22) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Look at the media frenzy a couple of ads on a bus generates. That, in and of itself, indicates how far down the rabbit hole we have gone. The religious freedom bus campaign is the lead story on every local New York TV station. I did five interviews today, with CBS, NBC, WPIX, and FOX, and will be on FOX and Friends tomorrow morning. AP – In this undated image provided by Pamela Geller, the artwork that her organization 'Stop Islamization … NEW YORK – The questions on the ads aren't subtle: Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you? A conservative activist and the organizations she leads have paid several thousand dollars for the ads to run on at least 30 city buses for a month. The ads point to a website called RefugefromIslam.com, which offers information to those wishing to leave Islam, but some Muslims are calling the ads a smoke screen for an anti-Muslim agenda. Pamela Geller, who leads an organization called Stop Islamization of America, said the ads were meant to help provide resources for Muslims who are fearful of leaving the faith. "It's not offensive to Muslims, it's religious freedom," she said. "It's not targeted at practicing Muslims. It doesn't say 'leave,' it says 'leaving' with a question mark." Geller said the ad buy cost about $8,000, contributed by the readers of her blog, Atlas Shrugs, and other websites. Similar ads have run on buses in Miami, and she said ad buys were planned for other cities. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Geller's ad was reviewed and did not violate the agency's guidelines. "The religion in question would not change the determination that the language in the ad does not violate guidelines," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said Wednesday. All ads are screened, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. Most are reviewed by the company that handles the MTA's advertising opportunities, but some are sent to the MTA for ultimate approval. Last month, Miami-Dade Transit pulled the ads from 10 buses after deciding they "may be offensive to Islam," according to The Miami Herald. But the agency decided to reinstall them after reviewing the ads with the county attorney's office. The county decided "although they may be considered offensive by some, they do not fall under the general guidelines that would warrant their removal," Transit spokesman Clinton Forbes told the newspaper. Glenn Smith, a professor at California Western School of Law in San Diego, said discriminating against the ads could result inFirst Amendment issues for the city. While people may find the content objectionable, courts have ruled that the First Amendment requires Americans to put up with "a lot of unenlightened and objectionable messages," he said. "It's sort of the price of keeping government out of the marketplace of ideas," he said. Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment expert at UCLA School of Law, said the ads could leave some Muslims reluctant to ride the bus. There could also be a risk that some extremist groups might bomb the buses, although that possibility wouldn't limit free speech rights, he said. The agency had received no complaints since the ads went up on May 14, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. The 30 or so buses with the ads pass through all five boroughs of the city. Council member Robert Jackson, a Muslim, said he had not seen the ad. But he questioned the criteria the MTA uses in determining what is appropriate. He also takes issue with the content. He doesn't believe anyone is being forced to stay in a religion, especially in America, which was built on religious freedom. "I think this is a campaign by the extreme right, those that are against the Muslim religion," he said. "Quite frankly, I would think the average New Yorker would take it for what it's worth." Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the ads were based on a false premise that people face coercion to remain with Islam. She said Muslims believe faith that is forced is not true belief. "Geller is free to say what she likes just as concerned community members are free to criticize her motives," Ali said. Geller has a history of speaking out against Muslims, and the ads are "a smoke screen to advance her long-standing history of anti-Muslim bigotry," Ali said. Geller said she had no problem with Muslims, but was working to "maintain the separation of mosque and state." She is also among those speaking out against the building of a mosque and cultural center near ground zero. Posted by Pamela Geller on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 10:37 PM in SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (8) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! GABRIEL: The imam who is basically spearheading this, is his father came out of Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest terrorist organization in the world. He was with the Muslim Brotherhood with Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second man of Al Qaeda. GABRIEL: So there are radical links we know. Anti-terrorism experts I talk in my books about the Muslim Brotherhood project for North America. This is the Muslim Brotherhood act work (ph) and they are using our laws and our open-mindedness against us. GABRIEL: His father — the father of the imam who's going to head up this mosque came out of the Muslim Brotherhood along with Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second man of Al Qaeda. The Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest Islamic terrorist organization in the world. His father Mohammed left to Kuwait where Faisal was born and then came to the United States in 1965 and built an Islamic center in Manhattan funded by 49 Muslim countries. So we are concerned about the links of the Muslim Brotherhood and its connection to this mosque. We know that the Muslim Brotherhood has a 100-year plan to dominate and infiltrate the west. We know that in the intelligence community. This is the Muslim Brotherhood's plan through and through. And they are using our open-mindedness. They are using the youthful idiots in the west who do not know about the Muslim Brotherhood project in order to advance the Islamic agenda in the west. Remember —this imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is a strong —adviser on Sharia. He is pushing Sharia law. He believes that the United States basically made Usama bin Laden up. And he believes that September 11th was not perpetrated by Muslims. GABRIEL: What is he going to be teaching in his mosque? HANNITY: Alright. Brigitte, let me go to Mr. Ghouse here. Mr. Ghouse, what about that connection that she's referring to here about the father of the imam that would run this mosque? GHOUSE: Let me ask you this. If I commit a crime do I go to jail? GHOUSE: Or my father, my mother or my brother. GHOUSE: Not at all. It has nothing to do with — if I do something good or bad, it is me. Nothing to do with my father, my sister or my kids. Jesus Christ was a Christian. His heritage was different. Look at every religious leader. The father was not the same as the son. They were different. He may have been related to him. His father may have been the chief of the brotherhood. But not him. Posted by Pamela Geller on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 10:08 PM in Mosque at Ground Zero: Takbir! | Permalink | Comments (39) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! The only thing missing from the AP report is "unindicted co-conspirator, Hamas-linked, Muslim Brotherhood front" CAIR. NEW YORK (AP) - The questions on the ads aren't subtle: Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you? A conservative activist and the organizations she leads have paid several thousand dollars for the ads to run on at least 30 city buses for a month. Pamela Geller says the purpose behind the ads is religious freedom. She says they're only aimed at Muslims who are already contemplating leaving the faith. Faiza Ali of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the ads are a smokescreen for an anti-Muslim agenda. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the ads don't violate any of its guidelines. They went up May 14 and are scheduled to come down in a couple of weeks. There are about 6,000 buses in the MTA's fleet. Posted by Pamela Geller on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 06:08 PM in SIOA: Stop the Islamization of America | Permalink | Comments (8) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Posted by Pamela Geller on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 02:16 PM in Critical Races | Permalink | Comments (6) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This! Posted by Pamela Geller on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 02:11 PM in SIOA "Leaving Islam" Bus Campaign | Permalink | Comments (7) ShareThis Reblog (0) | | Digg This | Save to del.icio.us | Tweet This!PAMELA GELLER ON FOX AND FRIENDS: SIOA FREEDOM BUS CAMPAIGN
Friday, May 28, 2010
FREE CITIZENS' PERMIT CANCELED TO PROTEST 911 MEGA MOSQUE
911 MOSQUE: IRAQI MUSLIM COLUMNIST IN ARAB MEDIA WARNS OF "CORDOBA INITIATIVE" -- "NAME CHOSEN FOR THE PLANNED GROUND ZERO CORDOBA MOSQUE SYMBOLIZES DREAMS OF EXPANSION AND INVASION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE OTHER"
Iraqi Columnist in Arab Liberal Online Daily Elaph: The Hostile and Provocative Name Chosen for the Planned Ground Zero Cordoba Mosque Symbolizes Dreams of Expansion and Invasion of the Territory of the Other
PIG FLYING MOMENT: JOURNALIST ACTUALLY ....... PRACTICES JOURNALISM, FINDS FEAR IN MUSLIM COMMUNITY
Thursday, May 27, 2010
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS WITHDRAWS APPROVAL OF CLITORECTOMY
POST OP: RIFQA BARY'S SURGERY
OBAMA'S COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER CALLS JIHAD "LEGITIMATE TENET OF ISLAM"
SIOA FREEDOM BUSES SAIL ACROSS THE OCEAN
SIOA FILES RELIGIOUS LIBERTY LAWSUIT AGAINST GOVERNMENT
Donate to SIOA
SIOA FREEDOM BUS CAMPAIGN HITS LA TIMES
A conservative activist and the organizations she leads have paid several thousand dollars for the ads to run on at least 30 New York buses for a month. The ads point to a website called RefugefromIslam.com, which offers information to those wishing to leave Islam, but some Muslims are calling the ads a smoke screen for an anti-Muslim agenda.
Pamela Geller, who leads an organization called Stop Islamization of America, said the ads were meant to provide resources for Muslims fearful about leaving the faith.
"It's not offensive to Muslims; it's religious freedom," she said. "It's not targeted at practicing Muslims. It doesn't say 'leave.' It says 'leaving' with a question mark."
She said the ads cost about $8,000, contributed by the readers of her blog, Atlas Shrugs, and other websites. Similar ads have run on buses in Miami, and she said advertisements were planned for other cities."Geller is free to say what she likes, just as concerned community members are free to criticize her motives," Ali said.
Geller has a history of speaking out against Muslims, and the ads are "a smoke screen to advance her long-standing history of anti-Muslim bigotry," Ali said.
Geller said she had no problem with Muslims, but was working to "maintain the separation of mosque and state." She is also among those speaking out against the building of a mosque and cultural center near the site of the former World Trade Center.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the ads had been in place since May 14 and were scheduled to come down in a couple of weeks. There are about 6,000 buses in the MTA fleet.
MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said all ads are screened. Most are reviewed by the company that handles the MTA's advertising opportunities, but some are sent to the MTA for ultimate approval.
Geller's ad was sent to the MTA for assessment, he said.
"We reviewed it and found that it did not violate the MTA's ad guidelines," he said.
The agency had received no complaints since the ads went up, Donovan said. The 30 or so buses with the ads pass through all five boroughs of the city.HAMAS-LINKED TERROR FRONT GROUP, CAIR, CALLS GELLER A CANCER
911 MEGA MOSQUE IMAM: ‘I DON’T BELIEVE IN RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE’ ....CUE UP THE DAISY KHAN LIES
MORE MODERATE ISLAMIC JEW HATRED
Did the Nazis have their defenders in the day? Anyone?"TOLERANT" DAISY KHAN ON THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM BUS ADS: "IGNORANT"
"It is always hurtful when your entire community is judged by an action of a few," Daisy Khan, executive director for the American society for Muslim Advancement, told PIX 11 News.
Kahn said it's ridiculous to think there is any threat of harm or death in this city, or this country for anyone who wants to convert from Islam to another religion.
Conservative Activist and pundit Pamela Geller is responsible for the ads. She spent $8,000 she raised on her blog to pay for them and defends her actions.
"Just as there are ads to invite people to Islam there are people that are leaving islam whose lives are in jeopardy and we wanted to provide this service," said Geller.
The ad even has a website for that service.
The MTA has no plans to pull the banners and told PIX 11 News quote. "The ads were reviewed by the MTA, and we determined they did not violate the MTA's advertising guidelines."
Khan says she believes in free speech, but thinks the ads are divisive and along with their creator are tasteless.
"I think Pamela Geller is ignorant of who our community is, and she should take the time to understand that there are 1.5 billion muslims majority that has nothing to do with extremism," said Kahn.
Geller says she is not ignorant, that this is her life work, something she became dedicated to after September 11th.
"Who would be hurt by it?" Geller said. "if its not applicable to you its not applicable to you."Wednesday, May 26, 2010
WHAT CBS'S LOU YOUNG CALLS A CRUSADE, WE CALL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
NYC Woman's Ad Crusade: Say No To Islam
They're controversial bus ads some say are flagrantly anti-Muslim.
An activist Manhattan woman is paying for the campaign detractors believe is bent on encouraging Muslims to abandon their religion.
CBS 2 HD took a look at the woman behind the controversy and the backlash it's generating.
"It's about the violent ideology of Islam. Yes, yes!" Pamela Geller said.
Geller is a woman on a mission.
With websites, blogs, and now bus ads she is campaigning against what she calls the poisonous ideology of one of the world's three monotheistic religions. On Tuesday night she was speaking out against the proposed lower Manhattan mosque near ground zero. On Wednesday she is defending the ad campaign offering help to Muslims who want to leave the Islamic faith.
Is it offensive? Is it intolerant? She says no.
"It's just a place for apostates and people leaving Islam to go. It's not meant to offend anyone. It's an issue of religious freedom," Geller said.
CBS 2 HD: "Would it be offensive if it were leaving Judaism or leaving Christianity?"
Geller: "No. Is Jews for Jesus offensive? I'm Jewish and I don't find that offensive. It's really all about religious freedom. I have nothing against Muslims. There's a problem with the violent ideology of Islam. Lou, there is."
Geller raised $8,000 through her websites for 30 of the leaving Islam bus ads -- a minuscule campaign in a city the size of New York, but certainly large enough, given the subject matter, to get some reaction.
"This is a combination of bigotry, hatred and an individual using the current climate we're in to advance their own cause," said Faiza Ali of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
And it isn't just Islamic groups who are worried about the ad campaign and the online anti-Muslim vitriol. The folks over at the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith also think they see a disturbing pattern.
"This kind of language, this kind of characterization has no place in our society. It muddies the waters rather than really allow us to move forward," said ADL regional director Ron Meier.
The ADL has not taken a position on the presence of a mosque in lower Manhattan, but it does reject any part of the debate that focuses on prejudice and generalities.
Geller said she will continue her campaign against the mosque and her ad campaign as funds become available.CAUSING A "STIR"
911 MEGA MOSQUE: THE JOY BEHAR SHOW WITH PAMELA GELLER AND DAISY KHAN
AP ON THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM BUS CAMPAIGN
"Leaving Islam?" ads on some NYC buses cause stir AP
KUMAR!
ROBERT SPENCER: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS SMEARS SIOA RELIGIOUS LIBERTY BUS ADS, PAMELA GELLER
New York Daily News smears SIOA religious liberty bus ads, Pamela Geller
A bikini-wearing blogger with Tea Party ties has placed ads on city buses aimed at outraging Muslims.
"Fatwa on your head? Is your community or family threatening you? Leaving Islam?" read the ads bought by rabble-rouser Pamela Geller and the New York-based Stop the Islamization of America.
They also direct Muslims to a Web site urging them to leave the "falsity of Islam."
Geller, 51, a leader in the fight against the proposed Ground Zero mosque, said she was "thrilled" that the ads were up - and doesn't care if they offend Muslims.
Similar bus ads have run in Miami - over the objections of local Muslims, who called them a "smoke screen for hatred" - and more are planned for Detroit.
An archconservative on the liberal upper West Side, Geller worked at the Daily News on the business side during the 1980s before moving to The New York Observer - a gig that apparently gave her access to City Hall, where she was photographed with Mayor Bloomberg.
Friday, 28 May 2010
Posted by Britannia Radio at 20:20