Hanania wins the 2010 National Sigma Delta Chi Award for Column writing defending a Chicago suburban Arab Muslim grocer

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Ray Hanania wins the 2010 National Sigma Delta Chi Award for his series detailing and defending the rights of a Muslim Arab American grocer who alleged that he was being victimized by racist policies in his suburban Chicago location. Naim Massad was arrested and handcuffed, and his wife and son were arrested and handcuffed after a year of battling the local health and village building inspectors.

Hanania researched the charges and discovered documentation and 911 Police audio files that confirmed that Massad was being targeted because of his Arab and Muslim heritage.

end

US Attorney vows to protect American Arabs as indecision continues on critical anti-Arab hate crime

US Attorney vows to protect American Arabs as indecision continues on critical anti-Arab hate crime

By Ray Hanania

U.S. Attorney Eric Holder told the opening meeting of the 30^th Annual American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington D.C. Friday that “the prosecution of hate crimes is a top priority” of the Obama administration.

Yet for nearly one year, the Justice Department has not acted to intervene in one of the most heinous hate crimes against a Palestinian American tourist, Husien Shehada, shot and killed last year on South Beach by a Miami police officer with a history of problems.

Police had responded on June 14, 2009 to a 911 call from a caller who said he saw a suspect carrying an AK 47 under his shirt. But when Miami officer Adam Tavss confronted Shehada, no weapon was produced and he had his hands raised in the air and was being compliant. Tavss shot Shehada three times in chest, after, according to his attorney, Shehada had pleaded with the officer several times.

Tavss was suspended but was returned to duty days later after he was “cleared” by an internal probe. Hours after returning to duty, Tavss was involved in another shooting in which a suspected was reported to have hijacked a taxi cab at gunpoint.  Tavss is suspected as the possible shooter but police have never identified which officer fired the bullet that killed the African American cab driver.

Tavss has had a history of brutality complaints that were dismissed by police but he was eventually fired when police discovered he was running a marijuana grow in a home.

The Shehada’s filed a civil suit against the Miami Police and Officer Tavss. The police have refused to release their records on the case, and the attorney for the Shehada family, John Contini, a criminal lawyer based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida,  said he was hopeful that Holder’s office would intervene.

That request was repeated by Contini on Friday after Holder delivered his remarks and then departed the ADC luncheon at the Marriott Wardman Hotel at the start of the weekend convention. But Contini, who was honored by ADC at the luncheon, handed over his materials to one of Holder’s deputies who was seated next to him.

Holder made no mention of the case but Contini offered details of what he called a “frightening event.”

Contini accused Miami officials of a cover-up and called on the U.S. Attorney to intervene.

“When this case was first brought to me I have to admit that I reacted with the same kind of racism and bigotry than many Americans react with when they hear an Arab or Muslim name like Husien,” Contini confessed. “I am ashamed of that but after looking at the case I am more ashamed of what was done to Husien Shehada, who was on vacation in South Beach with his brother, and what the City of Miami is doing today.”

With American Arabs angered by the recent Israeli assault on a flotilla of ships carrying food and aid to the 1.5 million besieged residents of the Gaza Strip, and with President Obama consumed by the international uproar and call for an investigation in to Israel’s assault which resulted in the killing of 9 activists including one America, Holder focused instead on the fight against profiling and hate crimes.

“The Justice Department’s commitment to civil rights has not been stronger,” Holder insisted.  “Racial profiling is wrong. It can leave a lasting scar on communities and individuals. And it is quite simply, bad policing whatever city, whatever state.”

Holder revealed that he had been the victim of racial profiling when he was in college, calling it a humiliating experience.

Holder said that heart wrenching stories of misguided racial profiling continue. “The Justice Department will not stand idly by as the discrimination by the few unfairly tarnishes the outstanding work being done by so many. Nor will we stand idly by as isolated law enforcement departments engage in discriminatory practices of any kind. Our nation is better than that.”

Contini said he was moved by Holder’s speech but he said that like American Arabs, he is also waiting to see the administration put their muscle behind their promises.

“We haven’t seen anything yet but I am hopeful,” Contini said.

“The era of us versus them that some have experienced must end. Together we can make sure that era does end. … Regardless of our faith and regardless of our background, we are all Americans,” Holder said.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist and Chicago radio talk show host. He can be reached at www.RadioChicagoland.com.)

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize and that puts world's evil on notice

President Obama’s genuine desire for peace earns Nobel Peace Prize

By Ray Hanania

President Obama’s first call in coming to office was to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He then made an epoch speech to the Arab and Muslim world to repair the damage caused by his rightwing and narrow-minded predecessor President George W. Bush.

Obama has pushed the Israelis to force them to accept peace based on returning Arab lands, even though the Israelis have surrounded the wagons and have allowed Israel’s most racist elected official, foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman to become their spokesman. In fact, Israel’s Lieberman is the new face of hate in the world.

He is shifting from the illegal American war and occupation in Iraq to the genuine fight against terrorism and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

And Obama has vowed to the American people that despite this country having wasted hundreds of billions on politically motivated wars driven by oil money greed, he will fight to make their own country a place where every American will be guaranteed the right to adequate healthcare, something most Americans now lack.

You don’t even need to read the announcement from the Nobel Committee explaining why they have given this year’s Peace Prize to President Barack Hussein Obama.

Obama is more than just a president seeking justice. His name has come to symbolize a movement of change. Change from a past driven by racist bigotry and hatred to a future of justice where the Rule of Law actually has relevance and justice is based on issues of principle and fairness, not on partisan political influence.

Israel is not just a “Jewish State” in Obama’s eyes, but a nation that must also abide by the Rule of Law. Hypocrisy has no place in Obama’s administration, which is why his words have placed special notice on Israel which has more nuclear weapons than any other power outside of the United States and Russia. And yet Israel refuses, like Iran, to abide by the International rules seeking to limit and monitor and inspect nuclear weapons.

Although Obama has not achieved any of his mighty goals, the fact that he has set them is what earns him the special honor. It takes a real courageous man in this world to stand up to the forces of hatred and bias to advocate for fairness for all.

Obama’s policies may or may not achieve their stated goals, but they have already changed the dynamics of one important region of the world in the Middle East.

The Nobel Peace Prize award will put a special pressure on Israel to stop pretending that it supports peace. It throws cold water on the face of Israel’s arrogant and reticent society that it cannot pretend to seek peace and embrace politics and politics of racism, apartheid, bigotry and war.

Israel cannot pretend to support peace and continue to occupy the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and continue to imprison 1.4 million civilians in the world’s largest and most oppressive prison system called the Gaza Strip.

Israel cannot claim the right of defense when it is in offense against justice, the Rule of Law and peace, and it cannot hide behind lies it perpetrated through the manipulation of a friendly international media to assert that Hamas started the Nov. 2008 war. In fact, everyone knows that Israel started that war for one reason, to exact punishment on Hamas before Obama could be sworn in as president.

For the first time in World History, the facts are clear and all of the crimes in this world have been placed together shoulder-to-shoulder. Israel’s phony claims of being the victim when it is in fact the aggressor and oppressor are exposed.

Barack Hussein Obama is what the late great President John F. Kennedy is said to have been but could never become. He is the light of hope that might open the door to a world that is genuinely at peace and where all men and women are created equally and where the concerns of the poor are as important as the concerns of the wealthy.

As an American and a Palestinian Arab Christian, I am proud of this year’s choice for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in a way I feel a special part in that award as if the peace prize has been awarded not to just one man, but to an entire world of people who have not completely given up on hope.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist and Chicago radio talks how host. he can be reached at www.RadioChicagoland.com.)

Arab delegates of the Olympic Committee can begin change in anti-Arab American foreign policies

Hanania column on International Olympics and American Arab empowerment

Arab World has opportunity to confront bigotry in America

By Ray Hanania

This week, the Arab World will be participating in a vote that on its face may seem insignificant to the many problems that plague the Middle East but could begin a process of changing the United States.

The vote will take place Friday in Copenhagen where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide which of four cities between Madrid, Tokyo, Rio and Chicago will win the right to host the Olympics in 2016.

Compared to the votes in the United Nations where the pro-Israel bloc continues to block peace, hold back the advances of the Arab World and continues to denigrate the rights of Islamic countries, the IOC vote Friday may seem insignificant.

In fact, though, the vote could begin a process not of changing the United Nations, but rather creating an opportunity to enact change in the United States, the one nation that holds the key to the future of the Middle East.

The IOC consists of 111 members, 12 of whom representative the Arab World  from Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Each country has one member on the IOC except Egypt and Morocco, which have participated the longest and most successful in past Olympic competitions, each have two members.

Those 12 Arab delegates can be the deciding factor in awarding the Olympics to Chicago.

Why is Chicago important? Unlike other nation’s competing for the Olympics, Chicago’s presentation is made by the city, not the country. Chicago officials beginning with its Mayor Richard M. Daley, have been lobbying to get President Barack Obama to make an appearance in Copenhagen to help swing the vote in Chicago’s favor.

As an American, I want the IOC to grant the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. But, as An American of Arab heritage, I also want the United States and Chicago to recognize their failure in respecting not only the principles of justice and fairness in the Middle East, but to end the practice and reality of the city’s discrimination against it’s citizens who are of Arab heritage.

In voting this week, the 12-member Arab delegation should use its power to condition their decision on how the winning city will respect its expatriate citizens.

That is a difficult thing to ask since none of the countries of the Arab World have ever recognized the real potential and the value that Americans of Arab heritage represent. The Arab World has always acted in a vacuum on Middle East issues believing that the decision-making process in American begins at the top levels of government.

The truth is, American power begins at the grassroots level. The “trenches” where American Arabs have been waging a long and difficult fight against discrimination for most of their existence in this nation.

Particularly in Chicago, one of three American cities with the largest population of Arabs, the American Arab community has been the most abused.

Local government officials like Mayor Daley have played a game with a double-edged sword. On the political level, Chicago has played a major role in strengthening the hand of the pro-Israel community in America giving them considerable voice in local and regional government.

At the same time, Chicago has gone out of its way to undermine the power of American Arabs who have been as much or even more American than their counterparts supporting Israel.

This vote Friday in Copenhagen can either permit the status quo where Arabs are disenfranchised in the American political system, or it can begin a new initiative to force American governments like Chicago to recognize and respect the rights of American Arabs.

Arabs in America have served in this nation’s military from the first day that they came to this country in the mid-19^th Century. They have been loyal American citizens and also loyal to their heritage.

Yet, they have been disrespected by this country and victimized by American racism, fueled by the politics of the Middle East.

Worse, they have been abandoned by the Arab World. Their ability to help the Arab World counter the discriminatory policies in the United States has never been recognized by the Arab World.

When Arab delegates vote this Friday, they should keep in mind that if they support awarding the 2016 Olympics to Chicago, they should view this as an opportunity to demand that Chicago’s Mayor Daley end his discriminatory practices against Chicago’s Arab citizens and treat them as equals.

That means that Chicago should empower American Arabs the same way Chicago has empowered other citizens of other ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds.

Chicago has been deficient in giving jobs to American Arabs. There are 230,000 Arabs living in Chicago – according to Mayor Daley speech to the Ruler of Dubai earlier this year. That is 7.6 percent of the city’s population. Yet, Arabs have less than 1 percent of the thousands of jobs in city government. They have been patronized disrespectfully by politicians like Mayor Daley who want our votes but do not want to jeopardize their ties to other groups like the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Chicago and America.

The Arab delegates at the IOC can force Mayor Daley to do what is right and put ethics and principle above partisan politics.

Mayor Daley should be told he must do more to empower American Arabs in his city. Mayor Daley must be told he must do more to empower American Arabs in Illinois, the state in Which Chicago resides which is a powerful state among the country’s 50 states.

Mayor Daley must be told that the campaign to undermine American Arabs in his city must end.

If that happens, we will see the voices and empowerment of American Arabs rise in the United States, and in turn give the Arab World a greater voice in helping this country develop foreign policies that are based on the rule of law, ethics, principle and morality, rather than on partisan politics driven by the pro-Israel lobby and its extremist leaders.

It’s an easy price to exact from the United States. The question is, do the Arab delegates and the Arab World recognize that influencing American foreign policy through Americans of Arab heritage is far more beneficial and rewarding than trying to lobby this country from their far away Arab capitols?

(Ray Hanania is an award winning American Arab journalist, author and Chicago radio talk show host. He can be reached at www.TheMediaOasis.com.)

Those pimping for the U.S. Census should be honest, its about their money not our community empowerment

The U.S. Government has done a great job hiring Arabs in our community to shill for their cause, to continue to oppress our community. The focus on the effort is the U.S. Census.

I want you to notice something. Everyone one pimping and pushing for the American Arab community to "participate" in the U.S. Census are all PAID by the U.S. Government to tell us to fill out the census form.

They lie that filling out the census form and "writing in our race" Arab in the little line at the bottom of the form is a way for us to be empowered. And when someone questions their lies, they slam and slander Arabs who argue that we have been misled by lazy, do-nothing Arab activists who have taken the short and easy route to money instead of fighting the long term challenge.

What is the long term challenge? Arabs should be listed officially on the census.

Here is who are now listed on the U.S. Census:

The census form asks for your Race, listing Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin. And they ask if you are Mexican, Mexican American (I didn’t know there were two categories of Mexicans), or Chicano? What kind of race is “Chicano?” What country do “Chicanos” come from? “Chicano-stan?”

They ask the same question again on the long form: Are you White? Black, African American or Negro? Are you American Indian or Alaskan Native and they even give you a place to write in your tribe name.

That’s not all. The form asks are you Asian Indian? Japanese, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Korean, Guamanian or Chamorro, Filipino, Vietnamese, Samoan or Other Asian where they give you a space so you can print your “race” like Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian “and so on.”

Oh, they don’t stop there. They ask are you “Pacific Islander” and ask you to print your race like Fijian, Tongan “and so on.”

Way at the bottom, in case they missed someone, someone not so important, they have the throw away line, to check here if you are “Some Other Race – Print Race.”

That is where I have to hand-write that I am “Arab.” And proud of it too, by the way.

Read the full original column that has Rashad al-Dabbagh, who works for the census, and some members of the Arab American Institute targeting me because I don't agree with their laid-back lack of activism against this problem. Click here to read the column?

The fact is that while these activists are cashing their checks and telling American Arabs, "Don't worry. You don't have to be listed on the census form, you can write it in so the AAI can complete their list," government agencies across America are discriminating against American Arabs specifically and directly because the U.S. Census DOES NOT list Arabs as "Arab" on the Census form.

The federal government requires police officers who pull people over for traffic stops to list the race of the person being stopped. But, they are required only to list those races AND ethnicities listed on the U.S. Census form.

Why is that important? If the race is listed on statistics, communities can easily see if they are being targeted for discrimination by police officers and then use that as "EMPOWERMENT" to demand that the police department hire American Arabs.

But American Arabs are NOT listed and police are not required to list us at all.

In every instance of EMPOWERMENT, not being listed on the U.S. Census means we are denied the ability to confront and stop discrimination, discrimination that is holding our community back.

And all that the activists who are PAID by the U.S. Census can do is attack me ands my argument and tell us little American Arab Sheep to "write your race on the form."

Well, writing your name on the form does not stop the discrimination and it DOES NOT force government agencies from the top of the Federal Government to the bottom of the local suburban government to recognize the rights of Americans Arabs.

When we ask school districts how many Arabs have they hired, the answer is "We are not required to list employees based on the race 'Arabs' and we only list race and ethnicity based on those identified in the U.S. Census."

I know what the problem is. It's easier for some in our community to take the handout from the government and keep the American Arabs in a stupor than to find the courage to stand up and change a system that needs to be change.

Arabs should and MUST be listed on the U.S. Census form and until we are, we will continue to be discriminated against, denied government grants, denied government jobs and marginalized in our society.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

New Book details secrets of overcoming mainstream news media bias

Secrets of New Media Networking; New book released by award winning journalist and author

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ray Hanania
July 26, 2009 rayhanania@comcast.net

Book details insider tips on using the Internet to
side step the biased Mainstream American News Media

(Chicago) Veteran Journalist and award winning columnist Ray Hanania has been battling bias in the mainstream news media since the day he picked up his first newspaper in the suburbs of Chicago.

An American Arab, Hanania believed that the media was unfairly covering the Middle east conflict and was intentionally portraying American Arabs as terrorists, always ignoring their positive contributions to American society.

That battle has become his lifelong avocation and this week he announced the release of his latest book, a battlefield manual to fight against the inherent bias in the mainstream American news media using Internet networking strategies.

“Too often people in my community blame media bias on another race or religion but this is mistaken stereotyping to excuse away their lack of understanding of how the mainstream news media really works,” says Hanania who entered professional journalism in the early 1970s.

“In the past, the only way to battle mainstream media bias was to enter journalism as a profession and balance the two goals of journalism professionalism against activism. But with the rise of the Internet and the collapsing mainstream news media, you do not need to go to the mainstream news media to reach the public.

“You can do it on your own. ‘Secrets of New Media Networking’ helps you understand not only how to set up an effective Internet Media Network to promote your community, views, activities, opinions and more. But it also walks you through a real understanding of communications in America and the principles that make message compelling.”

Hanania manages a network of four major web sites, 11 blogs, writes for more than two dozen newspapers in print and online, manages several online news organizations, hosts his own morning radio show and weekly cable TV show, and uploads his radio and video broadcasts to the Internet. Merging in social networking strategies and other online assets, his network reaches millions of people every year.

“The mainstream news media is biased and they won’t change. That bias more than any other factor is what is helping to undermine the media and force many mainstream newspapers to close,” Hanania says.

“You can still use the mainstream news media, but you do not need them to get your message out. You can create your own media and my book helps you do it in a professional and effective manner.”

For more information on Secrets of New Media Networking, visit www.TheMediaOasis.com.

Contact Ray Hanania at rayhanania@comcast.net

236 Pages, $34.95. Published by Hanania Enterprises Ltd., and CafePress.com

# # #

Take your 2010 U.S. Census form and shove it!

Take your US Census form and shove-it!

By Ray Hanania

The first question I always get from “Americans” is, “Why do you keep calling yourself ‘Arab-American?’ You are American!”

It represents the rock and the hard place where American Arabs have been pushed by the lack of education among most Americans.

It’s aggravated by what I also call the U.S. Government’s split personality when it comes to Americans Arabs. On one hand, they want to know us. On the other, they don’t. Here’s what I mean.

The only time the United States Government wants to know about Americans Arabs is when they are “profiling” us at airport and border security to “protect” the country from “the terrorist threat.”

But when it comes to counting people in the U.S. Census (so they can participate and share in government programs like grant funding awards, defining the borders of election districts like for congress, state legislatures or municipal councils) the U.S. Government pretends American Arabs don’t exist.

That is exactly what’s happening now in the massive 2010 U.S. Census drive.

The Government isn’t completely stupid, nor are they naïve. They are dishing out just enough money to American Arab organizations and PR agencies to do the outreach to the American Arab community.

The Government could do it but they don’t have a positive file on who we are. The Government only has “the negative file,” the one were American Arabs have been historically followed, investigated and probed by FBI agents repeatedly over the past 75 years.

The FBI investigated me over a two year period beginning in August 1975, right after I completed my active duty military service for this country during the Vietnam War. They said I must be a terrorist, because I was Arab; but they concluded the 45 page report by saying in small type, I’m just an American who is concerned about advancing his ethnic community.

During the two years, they talked to banks, employers, neighbors friends and anyone who had anything to do with me. It was all in the report, most of it blacked out with marker. When I finally received a copy in 1979, it pretty much explained the dismissal from jobs, why some neighbors and some friends had stopped talking with me or associating with me, and why several prospective employers had refused to hire me.

Hey, when the U.S. Government puts its attention on American Arabs, it’s usually not for a good reason.

That’s why I am upset -- no angry -- that the Government is pretending that they care for us American Arabs by reaching out and asking us to complete our Federal Census form for 2010.

There are these benefits that we will get from participating. Yea? Like what? What benefits do we as American Arabs actually get from supporting anything this government does?

For example, when I go through an airport, I am immediately identified as an “Arab.” I’m pulled aside and my bags and possessions are thoroughly searched. The friends I am with who are not Arab are made to feel like they are traveling with Osama Bin Laden. And strangers who pass through normal levels of security look at me like I’m going to cut their throats or blow myself up when I get on the plane.

It’s humiliating. But no one really cares. Better to be safe than sorry. If we have to make Arabs go through embarrassing and humiliating procedures that single them out solely because of their “look” or their “profile,” so be it.

Meanwhile, Caucasian murderers and killers walk through security thankful that the government is doing at least part of their job to remove the Arab scourge. More than 95 percent of serial killers are Caucasian. Some of the biggest terrorists in the United States historically have been White supremicists and members of hillbilly militias and Neo-Nazi organizations based in the so-called “American Heartland.”

But if you have Olive skin and look Middle Eastern – a profile that fits more than 200 nationalities and ethnicities mainly from Middle East and Asian countries -- you are the person they have to stop.

This is the “Negative Attention” we get from our government.

Then, this same government that spends a fortune screwing us as American Arabs, spends a fortune trying to convince us that if we participate in the 2010 Census this year, we’re going to benefit?

I ask again, what benefit? There is no benefit. And there is no benefit for a reason. Arabs are NOT included on the Census forms anyway.

The census form asks for your Race, listing Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin. And they ask if you are Mexican, Mexican American (I didn’t know there were two categories of Mexicans), or Chicano? What kind of race is “Chicano?” What country do “Chicanos” come from? “Chicano-stan?”

They ask the same question again on the long form: Are you White? Black, African American or Negro? Are you American Indian or Alaskan Native and they even give you a place to write in your tribe name.

That’s not all. The form asks are you Asian Indian? Japanese, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Korean, Guamanian or Chamorro, Filipino, Vietnamese, Samoan or Other Asian where they give you a space so you can print your “race” like Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian “and so on.”

Oh, they don’t stop there. They ask are you “Pacific Islander” and ask you to print your race like Fijian, Tongan “and so on.”

Way at the bottom, in case they missed someone, someone not so important, they have the throw away line, to check here if you are “Some Other Race – Print Race.”

That is where I have to hand-write that I am “Arab.” And proud of it too, by the way.

Now, the U.S. Government argues “Arabs” are not a race. So they can’t be counted. They consider us “Caucasian,” although the last time I looked it was the Caucasian hate groups in this country like the former Bush Administration that singled out Arabs for special mistreatment, harassment and discrimination.

Arabs are “not” a race, but we are a “people” that must be profiled at airports, security centers, thrown out of buildings in New York City, expelled from seats on Airplanes, and denied jobs and government grants and rejected by voters on election day.

“Not” a race, the Government insists? Really? Wow. Is that why they have taken the other “races” and broken them down into so many miscellaneous categories? It is not enough to know that someone is Asian. They want to know what kind of Asian? What kind of Native American? What kind of Mexican. Is “Chicano” a race? Are “Latino” or “Hispanic” races?

But not “Arabs.”

We’re not a race.

We’re just a bunch of people that ignorant Americans can step all over and use us as punching bags when the times get rough or some nut job we’ve never heard of before decides to declare himself the spokesman for all Arabs and Muslims.

So here’s the bottom line, U.S. Government. You don’t put “Arab” on the form, I don’t fill it out.

Either add the category “Arab” to the form or throw out all of the categories and stop lying to us American Arabs about how much you care.

(Ray Hanania is a Palestinian American Arab columnist, author and Chicago Radio Talk Show host. He can be reached at www.RadioChicagoland.com.)

ADALAH to file challenge to Israeli Apartheid policies favoring settlers

April 2009

Dear Colleagues,

Greetings to you from Adalah. Below please find a press release concerning a hearing tomorrow, Monday 27 April 2009 at 9 am before a Jerusalem planning committee on an objection filed by Adalah against the Eastern Ring Road. A short briefing paper on the objection is attached for your information.

ADALAH PRESS RELEASE
26 April 2009

Tomorrow, Monday 27 April 2009 at 9 a.m at Shlomzion Hamalka Street 1, Jerusalem:

Jerusalem Planning Committee to Hear Objection Filed by Adalah to the Eastern Ring Road

(Haifa, Israel) Tomorrow, Monday 27 April 2009 at 9 a.m., an investigator nominated by the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee, which is part of the Israeli Interior Ministry, will hear objections submitted by Adalah as well as other groups against the plan for The Eastern Ring Road ? Central Section. Following these arguments, a member of the Jerusalem Municipality will then respond to the objections. Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara will represent the objectors before the investigator and set forth the main arguments against the plan.

The objection submitted by Adalah on 2 March 2008 demanded the cancellation of the plan, which is essentially intended to create an apartheid road that, if implemented, would confiscate vast amounts of Palestinian private property, isolate Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem from one other, and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

Adalah filed the objection on behalf of Palestinian human rights and community organizations which are members of the Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians' Rights in Jerusalem (CCDPRJ); the mayors of Abu Dis, Izzariya, Suahara; and a group of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The objection was filed by Adalah Attorneys Fatmeh El-?Ajou and Suhad Bishara and Adalah?s Urban and Regional Planner, Hana Hamdan.

The plan is part of a broad project that encompasses East and West Jerusalem and contains two main sections, an Eastern and Western ring road. The ring road is planned on vast stretches of land (amounting to approximately 1,200 dunams), most of which would be expropriated from its private Palestinian owners. The planned route runs alongside the following Palestinian neighborhoods, to the west of the route: Sala, Jabis, Bashir, Sakriyat, Al-Qunbar, Hai al-Madaris, Umm Lison and Zur Bahar; and to the east the following Palestinian towns and neighborhoods: Abu Dis, Surhai, Sawahri Sharqiya and Sheikh Sa?ad. The Eastern Ring Road is the only remaining part of the project yet to be completed.
Adalah expects that the sub-committee for objections, which is comprised of representatives from the Ministries of Transportation and Justice, planners, and the head of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, will decide in the coming months on whether to accept or deny the objections or to make changes to the plan.

For more information including a short briefing paper on the objection, see: http://www.adalah.org/eng/pressreleases/pr.php?file=08_03_17.

Phone contact: Salah Mohsen, Adalah Media Coordinator, Mobile: 052-595-0922
Adalah ? The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel is an independent human rights organization. It works to promote and defend the rights of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Visit our website at http://www.adalah.org/eng/index.php

EEOC settles lawsuit on behalf of 7 Middle Eastern victims of discrimination by Hawaiian cruise line

EEOC SETTLES CASE INVOLVING DISCHARGE OF SEVEN MIDDLE EASTERN CREW MEMBERS FROM THE CRUISE SHIP PRIDE OF ALOHA

HONOLULU – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the settlement of a federal lawsuit against NCL America, Inc. for $485,000 to seven former employees and remedial relief.

In its lawsuit, filed in 2006 under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the EEOC alleged that NCL America discharged seven Middle Eastern crew members from various positions on the cruise ship “Pride of Aloha.” NCL America denied that it had acted improperly against these crew members in agreeing to resolve the lawsuit.

“We are very pleased with this outcome, and NCL America should be applauded for its commitment to prevent discrimination by agreeing to the comprehensive injunctive relief in this case,” said Anna Y. Park, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Los Angeles District Office, which includes Hawaii.

Los Angeles District Director Olophius Perry added, “We encourage all employers to utilize EEOC’s resources to ensure proper EEO training and compliance.”

As part of the two year consent decree resolving the case, NCL America agrees to pay the crew members $485,000. With respect to the injunctive relief, NCL America further agrees, among other things, to revise its policies to ensure a workplace that promotes equal employment opportunity, to hire an EEO consultant, and to provide training to its managers and employees on the company’s equal employment policy and complaint procedure.

The litigation and consent decree were filed by the EEOC in the U.S. Court for the District of Hawaii (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Almraisi, et. al., v. NCL America Inc., et. al., cv 06-00451 SOM BMK, cv 07-00372 SOM BMK).

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on the agency’s web site at www.eeoc.gov.

CAIR calls on racist Giuliani aide to resign

(WASHINGTON DC, 12/31/07) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called upon Republican presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, to repudiate anti-Muslim remarks made by one of his campaign workers in New Hampshire.

John Deady, co-chair of that state's Veterans for Rudy, told Britain's Guardian newspaper that Americans need to chase Muslims "back to their caves." When Deady was later asked if he was referring to all Muslims, he said: "I don't subscribe to the principle that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims." He added that he "wasn't necessarily referring to genocide." Deady later resigned his post.

SEE: Giuliani co-chairman quits after Muslim remark
SEE ALSO: Rudy Surrogate: "I Don't Subscribe To The Principle That There Are Good Muslims And Bad Muslims"

“There is no need to point out why these chilling comments have absolutely no place in the public or political discourse of a serious presidential campaign – that’s obvious,” said Ahmed Rehab, a spokesman for CAIR. “The troubling reality is they were made by a representative of Giuliani’s campaign and he has yet to repudiate them. His silence sends a terrible message.”

American Muslims have expressed concerns about the anti-Muslim views of several advisors on the Rudy Giuliani campaign. In September, CAIR criticized Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who is on Giuliani's Homeland Security Advisory Board, for claiming "we have too many mosques in this country."
SEE: NY Congressman Says 'Too Many Mosques' in U.S.

CAIR had previously called on Giuliani to drop Daniel Pipes, whose controversial discourse on Muslims is widely criticized as being agenda-driven.
SEE: Giuliani Advisor Supports Terror Group

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. 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.

- END - CONTACT: CAIR Media Relations Director Ahmed Rehab, 202-870-0166, E-Mail: arehab@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

Immigrants coalition criticizes Lou Dobbs for continued racist talk

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

36 S. Wabash, suite 1425 · Chicago, IL 60603 · 312.332.7360 voice · 312.332.7044 fax · www.icirr.org

For Immediate Release: Press Advisory
November 27, 2007


For more information contact:
Ashley Moy-Wooten, 773.987.7767 (cell)
Catherine Salgado, 312.332.7360 ext 235

Anti-racism activists join immigrant advocates to protest fear mongering by anti-immigrant TV pundit Lou Dobb’s anti-immigrant messages fuel fear and rancor, provide no solutions

What: Immigrant advocates join activists to protest anti-immigrant pundit Lou Dobbs. Lou Dobbs is on tour promoting his latest book and will be at Barnes and Noble bookstore promoting his messages of hate and lies. David Leonhardt of the New York Times calls Dobbs “the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans.”

Immigrant advocates will remind Lou Dobbs that this is a land of immigrants that have contributed with their work and culture. “We need to stop the fear mongering that he is promoting and stop the hate against the immigrant community,” said Tom Cordaro from Pax Christi.

When: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 7:00 PM

Where: Corner of State St. and Jackson Blvd. outside Barnes and Noble bookstore

Chicago, IL
Who: Anti-racism activists, immigrant advocates, youth and community leaders from the Chicago area and suburbs
Visuals: Participants will carry signs and will be chanting.

-END-





Catherine Salgado

Communications Coordinator

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

55 E. Jackson Blvd. Suite 2075

Chicago, IL 60604

312.332.7360 ext. 235

312.332.7044 (fax)

www.icirr.org

csalgado@icirr.org

CAIR Denounces Radio Talk Show Host Michael Savage

Contact: Ibrahim Hooper, +1-202-488-8787 or +1-202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; Rabiah Ahmed, +1-202-488-8787 or +1-202-439-1441, rahmed@cair.com; Amina Rubin, +1-202-488-8787 or +1-202-341-4171, arubin@cair.com, all of CAIR


Host does not 'represent the views of Citrix Systems or Citrix Online'


WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today thanked Citrix Systems, Inc. for agreeing to drop its advertisements from Michael Savage's nationally-syndicated radio program because of the host's anti-Muslim views.


CAIR recently reported that Savage, whose "The Savage Nation" airs on more than 300 radio stations nationwide, screamed attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran, Islam's revealed text, during his October 29, 2007, program.


To listen to Savage's bigoted statements, go to: http://www.cair.com/audio/savage_102907.asp


SEE: National Radio Host Goes on Anti-Muslim Tirade www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=23608&&name=n&&currPage=1&&Active=1


The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group called on radio listeners of all faiths to contact companies that advertise on Savage's program to express their concerns about the host's anti-Muslim bigotry. (He has since stepped up his attacks on Islam and Muslims in response to CAIR's advertiser campaign.)


In a letter to CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, a Citrix official wrote:


"Citrix Systems, Inc. and Citrix Online, LLC are in receipt of numerous communications from representatives, members and constituents of your organization.


"On behalf of Citrix Systems and Citrix Online, I want to share with you and your organization that free speech is a valued constitutional right that is respected by Citrix Systems and Citrix Online; however we want to make clear that the opinions expressed on the Michael Savage program -- or any other program we advertise in -- do not in any way represent the views of Citrix Systems or Citrix Online.


"Separately, please know that effective Monday, November 5, 2007, Citrix Online ended its advertising relationship with the Michael Savage program."


Citrix is a global leader in application delivery infrastructure, including www.gotomypc.com, www.gotomeeting.com, www.gotoassist.com, www.gotowebinar.com.


"We appreciate Citrix's principled action to disassociate itself from Michael Savage's hate-filled rhetoric," said CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin. "We urge other local and national companies running ads on Savage's program to follow Citrix's example in support of religious tolerance."


Rubin added: "Free speech is a precious right that we fully support and strive to protect. We are not seeking to curb Mr. Savage's freedom of speech, but to demonstrate that Americans and American companies will not tolerate hatred and bigotry."


CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. 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.


SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations

New York State Department of Health blocks US-Egyptian study on Hepatitis

PRESS RELEASE
November 17, 2007

New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Stops a World First U.S. - Egyptian Collaborative Study on Hepatitis C and Blood Ozonation

Recently coming to light is the involvement of the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) in stopping a world-first U.S. - Egyptian collaborative study on hepatitis C in Egypt. According to one of its principals, Dr. Gérard Sunnen, the study, bringing together the Egyptian National Research Centre (NRC) and Medizone International, Inc., a US - based company, sought to evaluate new therapeutic options for stimulating natural immune factors in fighting the disease. “Blood ozonation is an innovative technique of interfacing blood with minuscule amounts of ozone/oxygen mixtures that enhance natural cytokine and interferon production for purposes of viral clearing. This process, if successful, could greatly reduce the cost of current treatments for hepatitis C,” states Dr. Sunnen. In 2002, the NYSDOH stopped the study. “It is a sad day for the some estimated 5 million Egyptian patients, and some 170 million patients worldwide,” he added.

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a chronic affliction caused by a lipid-enveloped virus with a high mutation rate. All pathogenic viruses with high mutation rates are major threats to humanity because they are more likely to behave as they never had before. HCV's wide genetic spectrum and mutational thrust are responsible for its expanding prevalence base and its growing worldwide distribution. By some estimates, hepatitis C world prevalence will reach a quarter billion in a few years.

Hepatitis C preferentially invades the liver, but it can also affect other organ systems, including the bone marrow and the kidneys. Progressive liver destruction may lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Indeed, after 20 years, about 25% of hepatitis C patients develop cirrhosis, and another 5% liver cancer. Up to 20% of patients, however, conquer the disease, presumably due to the adaptability and creativity of their immune systems.

The hepatitis C virus is spread by body fluid transmission. Like many other viruses, its life cycle shows fluctuations of relative dormancy alternating with viremic episodes when blood is virally flooded. It is estimated that in any one viremic hepatitis C episode, up to 10 billion viral particles may be generated daily. The immune system in hepatitis C is thus perennially challenged.

Clinically, in the first few years, hepatitis C is often manifested by vague symptoms of fatigue, headache, and gastrointestinal malaise. Later on, the extent of organ damage determines the severity of its symptom profile.

Medications for hepatitis C include interferons, which are natural cellular products that activate neutrophils, macrophages, and natural killer (NK) cells, and drugs that inhibit enzymes responsible for viral replication (e.g., ribavirin). Success rate is variable and relapses are common. Frequently, these drug cocktails are poorly tolerated leading to discontinuation.

Blood ozonation may initially sound like a toxic process. It is not. Decades ago, German clinicians thought that ozonation could clear blood of pathogens, much as it does water. They devised methods of interfacing ozone with blood so that its cellular elements (e.g., red and white blood cells, platelets) retained their integrity. Immune models have surpassed this early notion of ozone's direct viral clearance. In the miniscule doses in which ozone is administered to blood, it is now firmly documented that blood ozonation stimulates immune system components to produce natural interferons and cytokines capable of initiating viral kill.

It may appear surprising--or even preposterous--to suggest that our own bodies utilize endogenously-generated reactive oxygen molecules, one of which is ozone, to destroy constantly invading microbes. A greatly underappreciated study from the Scripps Institute in California found that ozone is indeed created by our own white blood cells to function as a natural virucidal agent.

The prevalence of hepatitis C is variable in different regions of the world. In the U.S., about 1% of the population is affected, an estimated 4 million carriers. In Egypt, the prevalence rate is the highest in the world. Fully 20% of the population is or has been afflicted by hepatitis C.

In view of this hepatitis C emergency, the National Research Centre (NRC) in Cairo contacted Medizone International, a leader in ozone-based therapeutics. Egyptian health authorities were interested in new therapeutic approaches for hepatitis C, one being innovative technologies of oxygen/ozone administration.

With great enthusiasm, and hope, an NRC - Medizone investigative study was designed, and officially named "Safety and Efficacy of Ozone in the Treatment of Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C."

The study was to involve 66 patients. The main objectives of the study were to measure and evaluate, among other things, hepatitis C viral load reduction with blood ozonation, liver enzyme recovery, and clinical improvement, as measured by scales of health and well-being

Officially, the investigators for this study were:

Principal Investigator: Professor Dr. M.Y. Estefan, M.D., MRCP

Clinical Team:
Prof. Dr. Mouchira A-Salam, M.D.
Prof. Dr. Said Shalaby, M.D.
Dr. Hala Zaki Raslan, M.D.
Dr. Seif W. Morcos, MRCP
Dr. Ibrahim M. Kamal, M.S.
Dr. Yasser A. El-Houssary, M.S.

Laboratory Team:
Prof. Shadia A. Ragab, M.D.
Prof. Mostafa El-Awadi, Ph.D.
Dr. Azza A. Ali, M.D.
Dr. Hanaa R. Mohamed, M.D.

Chemical Engineering Team:
Prof. Gizeen El-Diwany, Ph.D.
Dr. Maaly Khedr, Ph.D.

Statistics:
Dr. Emad El Din Samala, M.D.

Research Designer:
Prof. Dr. Maher Y. Estefan, M.D., MRCP

Study Progress Monitor: The Egyptian and Foreign Committees

Patronage: Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population

The study was well under way as regard the selection of participating patients and the readying of NRC personnel and laboratory facilities where the study was to take place. In 2002, however, through various actions -- and for reasons that can, as of now, only be speculated -- the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) stopped this study. As a result, millions of patients lost a unique opportunity for better health care.

Furthermore, the fruits of this research would have extrapolated far beyond the treatment of hepatitis C. Immune function enhancement is a bonus for a host of diseases. In addition, it appears that those viruses that are lipid-enveloped have increased vulnerability to ozone exposure. Ozone-based therapeutics, administered via innovative technologies, could thus well complement current treatment options for viruses such as hepatitis B, HIV, and influenza, among others.

Promising future directions for ozone-based therapeutics also includes external ozone applications for the enhanced healing of diabetic skin ulcers, all types of poorly healing skin lesions, and war wounds.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Gérard Sunnen, MD
President, OZONICS INTERNATIONAL, LLC
200 East 33 Street, Suite 26J
New York, NY 10016-4831 USA
Tel. 1-212-6790679
Fax 1-212-6798008
Ozonicsint.com
GSunnen@aol.com

ADC Announces National Civil and Human Rights Center in Michigan

ADC Announces First National Civil and Human Rights Center in Michigan


Officials, Community Members and Supporters Gather for Unveiling of ADC’s Future Landmark Civil Rights Center

Approximately 150 guests, including local, national and international officials, gathered on the ADC-owned property on Chase Road in Dearborn on September 12, 2007, to witness the unveiling of what will be the location of the first-ever American-Arab Center for Civil and Human Rights (ACCHR) in the United States- an ADC project.

The press conference, included remarks from ADC Michigan’s special guest Mr. Fahad Mohamad Kafoud, Deputy Chief of Mission of the State of Qatar, along with Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani, ADC National President and Former Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar and ADC Senior National Advisor and Regional Director Imad Hamad. Speakers praised ADC Michigan for it’s commitment to enhancing the lives of Arabs in the United States and across the world and commended them on this initiative that will forever change the political landscape of America.

Additional officials included Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garret, Dearborn Police Chief Michael Celeski, Director of the Governor’s Office Kimberly Trent, Dearborn Heights Councilman Tom Berry, City of Dearborn Councilman George Derani, representatives from the congressional offices of John Conyers, John Dingell and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, and representatives from the offices of US Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, along with numerous congressional liaisons and community leaders. In addition, a number of media outlets were also present to document this momentous occasion.

Mr. Kafoud was presented with a special acknowledgement from Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly and Congressman John Dingell, for Qatar’s efforts to enhance the lives and protect the civil liberties of Arab Americans in Michigan. ADC is expecting to break ground on the Center in the next couple months. For more information on this event and the ACCHR, please read the Detroit Free Press feature at: www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.

end

CAIR on IslamoFacism Week of Hatred

‘ISLAMO-FASCISM’ WEEK SPEAKER MEETS WITH EUROPEAN 'NEO-NAZIS' - TOP
Robert Spencer is main speaker for upcoming Islamophobic campus tour

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/21/2007) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) revealed today that the main speaker for an upcoming series of "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" lectures at university campuses nationwide recently offered a keynote address at a European gathering that included representatives of racist or "neo-Nazi" political parties.

Author Robert Spencer, who is scheduled to appear beginning next week at universities such as Brown, DePaul and Dartmouth, is regarded by American Muslims as one of the nation's worst Islamophobes. His virulently anti-Islam website promotes the idea that life for Muslims in the West should be made so difficult that they will leave.

Spencer recently spoke at a so-called "Counterjihad Brussels 2007" conference in Belgium attended by those with links to far-right parties such as Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang (Belgium) and Ted Ekeroth of Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden). Both parties have been accused of either having a racist platform, a neo-Nazi past or having links to neo-Nazis and other racists.

Vlaams Belang is the successor to the Vlaams Blok party, which was banned in 2004 for being an illegal racist political faction. (Vlaams Belang's founders were Nazi collaborators in World War II.)

Of Sverigedemokraterna, the International Herald Tribune wrote: “Sverigedemokraterna, or the Sweden Democrats, have been part of this country's political landscape for almost 20 years, but they were considered too close to the Nazi-inspired far-right to contend for large numbers of votes.” (7/7/06)

SEE: European Organizations Gather in Brussels to Organize Resistance to Islamization and Shariah


SEE: Court Rules Vlaams Blok is Racist


Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch Board Vice President "Hugh Fitzgerald" wrote on that hate site: "Only one group, only one belief-system, distinguishes itself by appearing incapable of fitting in. And that is Muslims, and Islam ... if one really knew what Islam contained ... then how could any decent person remain a Muslim?"

He also recommended that western nations be "Islam-proofed the way a house is child-proofed," compared Muslims to Nazis and urged that they be boycotted: "[I]t should not be hard to find ways to limit the spread or practice of Islam. And if in addition to whatever local, state and federal government officials do, private parties simply conduct their own boycott of goods and services offered by Muslims, in the same way that they would have refused to buy, in 1938, a German Voigtlander camera..."

Other speakers on the "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" tour include Ann Coulter, who refers to Muslims as "rag heads," and Daniel Pipes, a supporter of the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II and of the views of French racist Jean-Marie Le Pen.

“All those who value religious tolerance and diversity should be concerned about the growing links between European racists and American Islamophobes,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.

Publicity for the tour got off to a bad start when it was revealed that the poster promoting the campus events used a photograph that purportedly showed a Muslim woman being stoned to death, but which was in fact an image from a fictional movie.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. 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.

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787 or 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

SEE ALSO:

WA: MUSLIMS UPSET BY CAMPUS EVENT - TOP
Janet I. Tu, Seattle Times, 10/20/07


A controversial week of events, billed as Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, launches at the University of Washington and some 100 other colleges next week — drawing condemnations from Muslim groups here and across the country.

The UW College Republicans, organizer of the local events, say the week is intended to foster awareness of the terrorist threat posed by a small number of extremists within Islam.

But some local Muslims say the week fosters Islamophobia and racism and attempts to paint all Muslims as terrorists.

Beginning Monday, the group plans to hand out information sheets describing what the week's activities are all about.

And it's hosting two events open to the public: a showing of "Suicide Killers," a documentary about suicide bombers, at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Smith Hall, and a talk by conservative author and talk-show host Michael Medved at 7 p.m. Thursday in Kane Hall.

Amin Odeh, a board member with the local Arab American Community Coalition, said he agrees that "radical anything is dangerous — radical Muslims, radical Christians, radical Jews. Education is needed."

But Odeh says Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week makes too general a link between extremism and Islam, and that the term "Islamo-fascism" links fascism with an entire religion.

"Unfortunately, when people hear the term they don't think of only a small group of extremists, but of Islam in general," he said.

Hala Dillsi, a member of the UW Muslim Student Association, believes Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week promotes fear and intolerance. She is distributing green armbands and encouraging people to wear T-shirts that are green — traditionally the color associated with Islam — on Wednesday in solidarity with local Arabs and Muslims.

The student group also is organizing a forum Oct. 29 in which professors and local Muslims discuss and answer questions about Islam.

Members of the Muslim Student Association, along with other organizations, also plan to hold protests outside Wednesday and Thursday evening's Awareness Week events.

Assistant Chief Ray Wittmier with the UW Police Department said his department is meeting with student organizers on all sides "to make sure everybody stays safe."

Statement issued by Debbie Almontaser in New York Arabic School controversy

This was released this week and published by several media including the New York Times:

Statement from Debbie Almontaser:

Good evening. My name is Debbie Almontaser. I am the founding principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which is known as KGIA. Over a two-year period beginning in 2005, I devoted my life to establishing a school that reflected not only my vision, but the ideas of a design team that included other educators, prospective parents, community members, and the Arab American Family Support Center.

In early August of this year, under pressure from The New York Post, The New York Sun, and right-wing bloggers, representatives of the mayor, the chancellor, and New Visions demanded that I resign as KGIA’s principal. They threatened to close down KGIA if I refused. The next day, I submitted my letter of resignation. Because I believe that I am the person to carry forward the mission of KGIA, I have today submitted my application to become the principal of KGIA. I have also asked my lawyer to begin preparing a lawsuit against the D.O.E. for violation of my constitutional rights.

When I first discussed with New Visions for Public Schools the creation of an Arabic dual-language public school in New York City, controversy was far from my mind. I was thrilled to create a unique school that would provide a rigorous regents-based curriculum with Arabic language and cultural studies, and that would equip students for work in such areas as international affairs diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding. As with the more than 60 other dual language programs in the city, KGIA was created to foster multilingual and multicultural education. It was also joining many New York City public schools that use theme-based approaches to inform and enrich curriculum across subject areas. As an Arab-American Muslim, born in Yemen and raised in the U.S., establishing KGIA was my American dream. It turned into an American nightmare.

On Feb. 12, 2007, the Department of Education announced the establishment of KGIA. In the days following, right-wing blogs began spinning KGIA as an Islamist school with a radical extremist jihad principal. And local New York City papers fanned the flames with headlines like: “Holy war! Slope Parents Protest Arabic School Plan,” “A Madrassa Grows in Brooklyn,” and “Arabic School Idea Is a Monstrosity.” From the day the school was approved to the day I was forced to resign, The New York Sun plastered my picture on its website with a link to negative articles about KGIA.

Leading the attack was the “Stop the Madrassa Coalition” run by Daniel Pipes, who has made his career fostering hatred of Arabs and Muslims. The coalition conducted a smear campaign against me and the school that was ferocious. Members of the coalition stalked me wherever I went and verbally assaulted me with vicious anti-Arab and anti-Muslim comments. They suggested that, as an observant Muslim, I was disqualified from leading KGIA, even though the school is rigorously secular, and its namesake, Khalil Gibran, was a Lebanese Christian. To stir up anti-Arab prejudice, they constantly referred to me by my Arabic name, a name that I do not use professionally. They even created and circulated a YouTube clip depicting me as a radical Islamist.

Then in early August, The New York Post and the Stop the Madrassa Coalition tried to connect me to T-shirts made by a youth organization called Arab Women in the Arts and Media. The T-shirts said, “Intifada NYC.” Post reporters aggressively sought my comment. Because the T-shirts had nothing to do with me or KGIA, I saw no reason to discuss the issue with the media. I agreed to an interview with a reporter from The Post at the D.O.E.’s insistence. During the interview, the reporter asked about the Arabic origin of the word “intifada.” I told him that the root word from which the word intifada originates means “shake off” and that the word intifada has different meanings for different people, but certainly for many, given its association with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, it implied violence. I reiterated that I would never affiliate myself with an individual or organization that would condone violence in any shape, way, or form. In response to a further question, I expressed the belief that the teenage girls of AWAAM did not mean to promote a “Gaza-style uprising” in New York City.

Although The Post story distorted my words, it accurately reflected my view that I do not condone violence. That should have been the end of the matter. D.O.E. officials should simply have said that it was clear that neither I nor KGIA had any connection to the T-shirts. They should have pointed out that I had devoted my entire adult life to the peaceful resolution of conflict and to building bridges between ethnic and religious communities. In other words, they should have said that the attacks upon me were utterly baseless. Instead, they forced me to issue an apology for what I said. And when the storm of hate continued, they forced me to resign.

In closing, permit me to explain why I am speaking out at this time. While I have been the victim of a serious injustice, the far larger offense has been to the Arab and Muslim communities of New York City. In the years since 9/11, our communities have been the object of the most vile and hateful attacks. The attacks on me are part of a larger campaign to intimidate and silence marginalized communities. Among other strategies, the right-wing is trying to get people from other communities to view Arabs and Muslims as threats to their safety and security. As a result, well-meaning people sometimes act out of fear—not just a knee-jerk anti-Arab, anti-Muslim response, but the fear that, if they do not succumb to right-wing pressure, they too will become targets.

Those seeking to harm our communities would like nothing more than for me to remain silent in response to their hate. For the sake of the Arab and Muslim communities and for all marginalized communities, for the sake of the families of KGIA, and for the sake of all of us committed to creating a society that we can be proud to leave to future generations, I stand here today to say that they will not prevail. I will continue to stand against division, intimidation and hatred; I will stand for a society based on mutual respect and understanding and dignity for all our communities. These are values to which I have devoted my entire adult life and career.

I am applying to be the principal of KGIA because, as its founding principal and the person who envisioned the school, I believe I am the person most qualified to be its educational leader. Throughout the planning process, I worked with a wonderful and devoted design team comprised of educators, parents, students, and community members. I would like to continue that work and to build KGIA into a model dual language school that, to quote KGIA’s mission statement, “helps students of all backgrounds learn about the world” and fosters in them “an understanding of different cultures, a love of learning, and desire for excellence in all of its students.”

END

CAIR Commentary: Smearing U.S. Muslim Groups is 'Un-American'

ISLAM-OPED is a national syndication service of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) designed to offer an American Muslim perspective on current political, social and religious issues.

ISLAM-OPED commentaries are offered free-of-charge to one media outlet in each market area.

Permission for publication will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis.

CONTACT: ihooper@cair.com
TEL: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726 (c)

Please consider the following commentary for publication. ---

Smearing U.S. Muslim Groups is 'Un-American'

By Parvez Ahmed
WORD COUNT: 765
[Parvez Ahmed is board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. He is also an associate professor at the University of North Florida. His e-mail address is pahmed@cair.com.]

In December 2001, the Department of the Treasury named the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation (HLF), at that time the nation's largest Muslim charity, as a terrorist organization. The government seized HLF's assets and shut down the organization, thus freezing millions of dollars in religiously-obligated donations offered by American Muslims and others to feed and clothe orphans and the needy.

After three years of investigation, the government "revised" its allegations against HLF and a federal grand jury issued a 42-count indictment against seven individuals associated with the charity. The indictment alleged that those individuals were part of a "conspiracy" to provide material support to organizations linked to Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department.

Almost six years later, the HLF officials are finally getting their day in court, as a trial is underway in Dallas. The government's trial brief argues that HLF gave donations to 12 Israeli-licensed Palestinian charities that were allegedly "associated" with Hamas.

This argument is made despite the fact that the U.S. government has not identified the Palestinian charities as supporting terrorism or banned them from receiving American donations. In fact, one of the charities has received aid from the U.S. government.

In an unusual, and some would say un-American, move prosecutors publicly named 306 individuals and organizations as "unindicted co-conspirators" (UCC) relating to the HLF case.

Among those listed are three major American Muslim organizations - the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the North American Islamic Trust and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Collectively, these groups represent the interests and viewpoints of the mainstream American Muslim community.

Listing a person or group as a UCC is not a legal designation of wrongdoing on the part of those named. The UCC designation merely allows for an exception to the hearsay rule, making "co-conspirator" statements admissible during trial.

A recent article in Newsweek stated: "According to one senior law-enforcement official. . .the listing of ISNA, CAIR and other groups as 'unindicted co-conspirators' was largely a tactical move by the government. By listing the groups, the official said, it makes it easier for prosecutors to introduce documents, tapes and other evidence mentioning them. . ."

This dubious practice, which offers the named parties no legal recourse, is quite controversial.

Professor Ira P. Robbins of American University recently wrote in the Federal Courts Law Review: "[The] practice of naming individuals as unindicted co-conspirators. . .appears to be an anomaly in United States law, in that it violates the Fifth Amendment guarantee that no person shall. . .be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

Three federal prosecutors asked by the Los Angeles Times about the practice of publicly naming unindicted co-conspirators called it "improper" and "unfair." This McCarthyite political move violates the Justice Department's own guidelines, which indicate that such lists are to remain sealed to prevent the unfair and un-American labeling of those who are not facing any criminal charges.

The Justice Department's manual for prosecutors says, "In all public filings and proceedings, federal prosecutors should remain sensitive to the privacy and reputation interests of uncharged third-parties."

The guidelines further state that when co-conspirator lists have to be filed in court, prosecutors should seek to file them under seal. In a recent Washington Post article, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski opined that the "war on terror" has caused America more harm than anything that the terrorists ever imagined. It has created a culture of fear in the U.S.

"The atmosphere generated by the 'war on terror' has encouraged legal and political harassment of Arab Americans (generally loyal Americans) for conduct that has not been unique to them."

Given the growing fear of Islam and Muslims among the American public (one-in-four admit to being prejudiced against Muslims), it has become easy to smear Islamic organizations. Without legal recourse to challenge such smears, the constitutional rights of American Muslims suffer through guilt by association and guilt by mere accusation. This chills the First Amendment rights of American Muslims.

It is our duty as Americans to demand that the due process rights of all citizens be preserved and protected. At a time when most experts are recommending the strengthening of American Muslim institutions to serve as bridges of understanding between America and the Muslim world, smearing these same institutions undermines the very cause that ought to unite us as Americans. Liberty and justice for all cannot be a mere slogan. I

n order to reclaim our global leadership, America needs to work with its Muslim citizens to prevent the downward spiral of misunderstanding and hostility that threatens to engulf our world.
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CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003 Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726 Fax: 202-488-0833 E-mail: info@cair.com URL: http://www.cair.com/
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