Islamophobia [Dedicated Thread]

[muse]

American officials have said that government types in Pakistan and elsewhere support extremism - this is undoubtably true, but what of the US? Do US govt types support extremism? We have pointed out that the US Dept of Justice is an especially hostile depart of government, as far as Muslims are concerned - Are there elements, especially religious types in the US who spread radical ideas posing as religious ideas? You decide for yourself - you decide if this is a good thing, bad thing, whether it's good for the US or whether US claims about others smack of hypocracy:


Wars of Religion
Posted: 31 Aug 2010


In his 30-year career with the FBI, Oliver "Buck" Revell dealt with all manner of transnational crime and terrorism and held numerous senior positions with the bureau. In mid-1985, he achieved the highest rank in career government service when he became the FBI director's deputy for counter-terrorism and counterintelligence activities.

All manner of awards and decorations came Revell's way. He was the go-to expert on all forms of international skulduggery both before and since his retirement where he continues to dispense advice in speeches, on television, in op-eds and as a consultant. So when he e-mailed his worldwide contacts last Friday about a "Subject" that said, "There are no words to describe the evil of the Islam cult," he had this reporter's undivided attention.

"The Rev. Dr. James Collins," wrote Revell, "is one of the most respected Christian Ministers in the South. We were classmates in high school and in the same Scout Troop where we received the Eagle award at the same time. He is a kind and loving person who has devoted his life to the betterment of mankind. His view of Islam came after years of study and direct involvement in the Holy Land."

Upon reading what the Rev. James Lee Collins, Jr. had to say, a prominent Republican commented privately, "This is going to prolong the 'long war' by another generation."

"If you have never studied the history of the murderer Muhammad and the evils of the cult of hatred and death that he began in the 7th century, you cannot fully understand who the Muslims are today," intoned this man of the cloth who, Revell says, "has devoted his life to the betterment of mankind."

"Muslims," Collins' hate-filled appraisal says, "continue the agenda of world conquest with lies, deception, terrorism, poverty, child molestation, enslavement of women, honor killings and ultimate death to all infidels who do not submit to Islam and the non-existent moon god they call Allah." And this from "one of the most respected Christian Ministers in the South," senior pastor of the Peachtree Christian Church of Atlanta.

The vituperation from a Christian religious leader who seeks the betterment of mankind gets worse: "Islam offers peace to everyone who surrenders their human rights and freedom to Sharia law. Islam provides discrimination, slavery, unjust taxation, imprisonment, and death to all others who reject Muhammad and his moon god. The media and (U.S. President Barack) Obama claim 'Islam is a peaceful religion.' This is correct for all who are devout Muslims. Islam is a sentence of death, like Sept. 11, for everyone else. Read the history for yourself and verify this truth."

Collins' anger against one of the world's great religions is followed by a series of photos that purport to show an 8-year-old having his arm crushed under a vehicle's tire for stealing bread. "Pass this on," urges Collins, "let the world know what's happening in the name of Islam … It must be sent worldwide! Even if this message is sent to you more than once, just keep on passing it on!"

The flip side of the coin of hatred was tossed in Israel by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of the religious Shas party in Israel's coalition government and who said in his fiery sermon last week that Palestinians and their president Mahmoud Abbas should "perish from this earth."

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu quickly distanced himself from the influential, 89-year-old rabbi. Netanyahu, said a statement from his office, is coming to Washington this week to start a new round of peace talks with the goal "of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians that will put an end to the conflict."

"We regret and condemn the inflammatory statements by Rabbi Yosef," said U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley and "we note the Israeli statement that the rabbi's comments do not reflect the view of the prime minister."

Crowley didn't condemn Collins' statement, presumably because he wasn't aware of it.

Clearly, Collins isn't concerned with putting an end to the conflict as he believes, like many fundamental Christians, that the bloodletting will continue till the end of time.

Absent from this attempt to stifle all dialogue is everything from nine crusades (1095-1291) launched by the Christian states of Europe against Saracens (Muslims) that engendered bloodbaths whose estimates range from 9 million to 17 million; the Spanish Inquisition; the burning of witches and heretics by Christians in (Western) Europe to the 19th century.

While a 15-story, $100 million Islamic cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan meets with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's approval, as well as the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission (9 to 0), public opinion polls indicate 52 percent against the project and only 31 percent in favor.

A young man asked a cab driver if he was a Muslim and upon hearing "yes, I am," he thrust a knife through the pay window and attempted to slit his throat.

There is plenty of religious fanaticism that lurks just below the surface. Millions buy in to Collins' religious convictions.

Bloomberg says: "Our doors are open to everyone -- everyone with a dream and willingness to work hard and play by the rules. New York was built by immigrants and is sustained by immigrants, by people from more than 100 different countries speaking more than 200 different languages and professing every faith. And whether your parents were born here or you came here yesterday, you are a New Yorker."

On 9/11, said Bloomberg, 3,000 people were killed "because some murderous fanatics didn't want us to enjoy the freedom to profess our own faiths, to speak our own minds, to follows our own dreams, and to live our own lives." The most important freedom is to worship as we wish.

Collins' paranoia sees this freedom torn asunder by murderous imams who brainwash teenagers to blow us up. But he's wrong to see radicalized fundamentalist Muslims as the majority. They are 10 percent of 1.2 billion. That's still 120 million. And those willing to undertake suicide missions -- about 1 percent, or 1.2 million -- still represent a big number.

Arnaud de Borchgrave, a member of the Atlantic Council, is a senior fellow at CSIS and Editor-at-Large at UPI

 

[Jungibaaz]

Jews in Europe during WW2 were similarly discriminated against consequently the holocaust claimed 6 million innocent lives.
People should learn from the past and eradicate not just islamophobia but racism before this escalates.

 

[Cloakedvessel]

British anti-Islam 'street army' wants to hold demo in Amsterdam

Published on 31 August 2010 - 4:18pm

The website EUobserver.com reports that the fiercely anti-Islamic movement English Defence League intends to hold a demonstration in Amsterdam on 30 October.

The EDL, of which most members are football hooligans, made headlines last year because of its often violent protests. The planned demonstration is intended to express support for Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, who just two days later will hear the verdict in a case filed against him for 'inciting racism'.

The Dutch equivalent of the EDL, the Dutch Defence League, says on its website that it will join the demonstration, as will the French Defence League. Other anti-Islamic groups from across Europe reportedly also want to join the demonstration.

A spokesperson for the Amsterdam city council has confirmed that the EDL has announced its intention "to hold a demonstration on 30 October in Museum Square". The spokesperson said it is not necessary to apply for permission, but the council must be informed about any planned protests. She had no information about possible additional security measures.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide

British anti-Islam 'street army' wants to hold demo in Amsterdam | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

 

[Cloakedvessel]

'German Wilders' sees Islam submerging his country | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

In Germany, he's being called the German Geert Wilders. He is Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician and bank director Thilo Sarrazin, and in a new book he argues that Muslim immigration is threatening German culture. Germany's response: uproar.

Thilo Sarrazin, member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, released his new book Deutschland schafft sich ab (Germany Is Abolishing Itself) on Monday. In it, in addition to his anti-Islam message, he also put forward a controversial genetic theory.

Outside the hall where he appeared to talk about his book, hundreds of people gathered to demonstrate. Inside, it was crammed with journalists. Cups, plates and saucers crashed to the floor as photographers and cameramen clambered onto chairs and tables to get a good shot of him. Then Mr Sarrazin stood up to speak.

Downfall
Thilo Sarrazin is not a talented speaker. It's hard to stay focused while listening to him, even though what he has to say is as clear as day. Certainly not in a Germany which, thanks to the crimes of its past, works so hard to honour the rights of minorities.

The essence of Mr Sarrazin's message is this: Germany, the country and its culture, is being ruined by the large-scale immigration of the past decades.

"The German people and the German state have reached a turning point in history, one whose scale and character is not yet clear to everyone. After a history of a thousand years the German race is, in a quantitative sense, on the road to abolishing itself."

He bases his claims on demographic studies that show the native German population shrinking and the immigrant population growing. And immigrants, Mr Sarrazin is convinced, will never be part of German culture.

The biggest problem
In addition, he makes a distinction between different groups of immigrants. Muslims, he says, don't integrate and are therefore the source of the biggest problems.

"The responsibility for these problems lies not with ethnic descent but with those descended from the Islamic culture. With all immigrants except Muslims the problems disappear so that differences between them and Germans are impossible to pinpoint."

But Mr Sarrazin goes further in his book, where he writes not just about cultural differences but also about genetic differences. He believes that Jews share a common gene, as do Basques, that sets them apart from others.

The war
In his book, Mr Sarrazin presents himself as the German face of the anti-Islam movement in Europe. While he is not the first person in Germany to attack Islam, he is certainly the most notable politician to do it so openly. And his pronouncements about immigrants and Jews are a source of extreme discomfort to a country so painfully conscious of its Nazi past. Mr Sarrazin says you must never forget the war, but adds that you must not become a hostage to history in solving the problems of the here and now.

Distance from Wilders
So is Mr Sarrazin with his anti-Islamism a German Geert Wilders? In their statements about Islam they're definitely on each other's wavelength. But genetics is not a theme Mr Wilders touches on. And Mr Sarrazin is careful to distance himself from Mr Wilders.

"I deplore the developments in the Netherlands quite as much as the majority of sensible Dutch people do. It was the job of the major political parties in that country to tackle the problem on time, so that it never ended in such an election result. I find the trend towards right-wing nationalist parties extremely dangerous."

This is why Mr Sarrazin has no desire to form his own party. Instead he wants to remain in the Social Democratic Party so he can bring the problems he sees, and his solutions, to the public's attention. But his party now wants him out. And the Bundesbank has invited him for a discussion about his future there.

 

[Cloakedvessel]

Wilders calls Islamic culture "retarded" | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

In an interview broadcast on Australian television on Sunday, far-right Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders has called the Islamic culture “retarded”.

“Our culture, which is based on Christianity, Judaism and humanism is better than the retarded Islamic culture,” says Mr Wilders. He also pointed out that Islam cannot be compared with Christianity. “It is a violent ideology, like communism and fascism.”

In response, Mr Wilders says the interview was recorded six weeks ago, when preliminary talks were being held between left-wing parties and the conservative VVD, to form a so-called purple-plus coalition.

Now he is participating in the negotiations for the formation of a minority government with the conservative VVD and Christian Democrats supported by his party.




© Radio Netherlands Worldwide

 

[Solomon2]

Jews in Europe during WW2 were similarly discriminated against consequently the holocaust claimed 6 million innocent lives.
People should learn from the past and eradicate not just islamophobia but racism before this escalates.

There is a huge difference between discrimination and genocide. Genocide can only follow discrimination if there is mass enthusiasm for it, as in Nazi Germany, Ottoman Turkey, and the Arab world today.

There is no enthusiasm for mass killings of Muslims in the West. I guess we can call such fears "Islamophobiaphobia".

 

[secularguy]

At a campaign event in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Lieutenant Governor and gubernatorial candidate Ron Ramsey (R) said that freedom of speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment, may not apply to Islam because it could be considered "a cult."

During a question and answer session, an attendee said that he was concerned with an "invasion" from "the Muslims." Ramsey responded that the uproar over a "mosque" (in reality, the expansion of an existing Islamic community center) is justified because Sharia law is "scary":

... I've been trying to learn about Sharia law. I've been trying to learn what it is: not good, if that's what's going on. You can even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, a way of life, or a cult -- whatever you want to call it -- and we do protect our religions. But at the same time, this is something that we are going to have to face.

Ramsey, who trails Rep. Zach Wamp in the Republican primary, said that he was "all about the freedom of religion," but "you cross the line when they start trying to bring Sharia law into the United States."
In an e-mail to Talking Points Memo, Ramsey elaborated on his thoughts on one of the world's oldest religions:

"My concern is that far too much of Islam has come to resemble a violent political philosophy more than peace-loving religion," he said in an email. "It's time for American Muslims who love this country to publicly renounce violent jihadism and to drum those who seek to do America harm out of their faith community."

More Here:
Ron Ramsey, Tenn. Lt. Gov: Islam May Not Be A Religion (VIDEO)

So this Video and it is confusing .
EDITED/

 

[Jungibaaz]

There is a huge difference between discrimination and genocide. Genocide can only follow discrimination if there is mass enthusiasm for it, as in Nazi Germany, Ottoman Turkey, and the Arab world today.

There is no enthusiasm for mass killings of Muslims in the West. I guess we can call such fears "Islamophobiaphobia".

right now its small, but just like anti-Semitism it may grow...

 

[muse]

September 5, 2010
American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN


For nine years after the attacks of Sept. 11, many American Muslims made concerted efforts to build relationships with non-Muslims, to make it clear they abhor terrorism, to educate people about Islam and to participate in interfaith service projects. They took satisfaction in the observations by many scholars that Muslims in America were more successful and assimilated than Muslims in Europe.

Now, many of those same Muslims say that all of those years of work are being rapidly undone by the fierce opposition to a Muslim cultural center near ground zero that has unleashed a torrent of anti-Muslim sentiments and a spate of vandalism. The knifing of a Muslim cab driver in New York City has also alarmed many American Muslims.

“We worry: Will we ever be really completely accepted in American society?” said Dr. Ferhan Asghar, an orthopedic spine surgeon in Cincinnati and the father of two young girls. “In no other country could we have such freedoms — that’s why so many Muslims choose to make this country their own. But we do wonder whether it will get to the point where people don’t want Muslims here anymore.”

Eboo Patel, a founder and director of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based community service program that tries to reduce religious conflict, said, “I am more scared than I’ve ever been — more scared than I was after Sept. 11.”

That was a refrain echoed by many American Muslims in interviews last week. They said they were scared not as much for their safety as to learn that the suspicion, ignorance and even hatred of Muslims is so widespread. This is not the trajectory toward integration and acceptance that Muslims thought they were on.

Some American Muslims said they were especially on edge as the anniversary of 9/11 approaches. The pastor of a small church in Florida has promised to burn a pile of Korans that day. Muslim leaders are telling their followers that the stunt has been widely condemned by Christian and other religious groups and should be ignored. But they said some young American Muslims were questioning how they could simply sit by and watch the promised desecration.

They liken their situation to that of other scapegoats in American history: Irish Roman Catholics before the nativist riots in the 1800s, the Japanese before they were put in internment camps during World War II.

Muslims sit in their living rooms, aghast as pundits assert over and over that Islam is not a religion at all but a political cult, that Muslims cannot be good Americans and that mosques are fronts for extremist jihadis. To address what it calls a “growing tide of fear and intolerance,” the Islamic Society of North America plans to convene a summit of Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders in Washington on Tuesday.

Young American Muslims who are trying to figure out their place and their goals in life are particularly troubled, said Imam Abdullah T. Antepli, the Muslim chaplain at Duke University.

“People are discussing what is the alternative if we don’t belong here,” he said. “There are jokes: When are we moving to Canada, when are we moving to Sydney? Nobody will go anywhere, but there is hopelessness, there is helplessness, there is real grief.”

Mr. Antepli just returned from a trip last month with a rabbi and other American Muslim leaders to Poland and Germany, where they studied the Holocaust and the events that led up to it (the group issued a denunciation of Holocaust denial on its return).

“Some of what people are saying in this mosque controversy is very similar to what German media was saying about Jews in the 1920s and 1930s,” he said. “It’s really scary.”

American Muslims were anticipating a particularly joyful Ramadan this year. For the first time in decades, the monthlong holiday fell mostly during summer vacation, allowing children to stay up late each night for the celebratory iftar dinner, breaking the fast, with family and friends.

But the season turned sour.

The great mosque debate seems to have unleashed a flurry of vandalism and harassment directed at mosques: construction equipment set afire at a mosque site in Murfreesboro, Tenn; a plastic pig with graffiti thrown into a mosque in Madera, Calif.; teenagers shooting outside a mosque in upstate New York during Ramadan prayers. It is too soon to tell whether hate crimes against Muslims are rising or are on pace with previous years, experts said. But it is possible that other episodes are going unreported right now.

“Victims are reluctant to go public with these kinds of hate incidents because they fear further harassment or attack,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “They’re hoping all this will just blow over.”

Some Muslims said their situation felt more precarious now — under a president who is perceived as not only friendly to Muslims but is wrongly believed by many Americans to be Muslim himself — than it was under President George W. Bush.

Mr. Patel explained, “After Sept. 11, we had a Republican president who had the confidence and trust of red America, who went to a mosque and said, ‘Islam means peace,’ and who said ‘Muslims are our neighbors and friends,’ and who distinguished between terrorism and Islam.”

Now, unlike Mr. Bush then, the politicians with sway in red state America are the ones whipping up fear and hatred of Muslims, Mr. Patel said.

“There is simply the desire to paint an entire religion as the enemy,” he said. Referring to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the founder of the proposed Muslim center near ground zero, “What they did to Imam Feisal was highly strategic. The signal was, we can Swift Boat your most moderate leaders.”

Several American Muslims said in interviews that they were stunned that what provoked the anti-Muslim backlash was not even another terrorist attack but a plan by an imam known for his work with leaders of other faiths to build a Muslim community center.

This year, Sept. 11 coincides with the celebration of Eid, the finale to Ramadan, which usually lasts three days (most Muslims will begin observing Eid this year on Sept. 10). But Muslim leaders, in this climate, said they wanted to avoid appearing to be celebrating on the anniversary of 9/11. Several major Muslim organizations have urged mosques to use the day to participate in commemoration events and community service.

Ingrid Mattson, the president of the Islamic Society of North America, said many American Muslims were still hoping to salvage the spirit of Ramadan.

“In Ramadan, you’re really not supposed to be focused on yourself,” she said. “It’s about looking out for the suffering of other people. Somehow it feels bad to be so worried about our own situation and our own security, when it should be about empathy towards others.”

 

[Kompromat]

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

What’s in a name?

A whole lot more, it seems, than William Shakespeare ever imagined.
For one, take a look at the UK National Statistics report on the most popular baby names in the UK this year. It reeks of a cover up. Don’t believe them when they tell you it’s Oliver. Spell it any way you like it but Muhammad, Mohammed or Mohamed is now the most popular name in England.
Clearly all those nice, fearful voters mumbling about a Muslim takeover of the UK during the elections earlier this year were right. At the rate we’re multiplying, the Mohammeds, Ayeshas and Hussains are going to take over the Isles without any need for chapatti flour bombs. Whatever else you cannot rely on, you can always rely on Muslims to make babies.
You can also rely on them to get all excited about conversions. No, not the kind that involve converting a beautiful old building in Karachi into ugly, high-rise flats (though there are many who have made a happy career out of doing just that). I’m talking about ones that involve the sisters-in-law of famous men having religious epiphanies at a shrine in Qom. One British news report, thinking that Hinduism and Islam were reasonably interchangeable, mistakenly called it Om. It’s sort of like renaming the Babri Masjid the Ram Janabhoomi. It only works if you have a rioting crowd to go with it.
So Lauren Booth became a Muslim, so what? What’s all the excitement and exultation about? She’s still on page 60 of the Quran or thereabouts. She hasn’t chosen Islam because she thinks it’s a way of life that works better than any other. She doesn’t think it’s the answer to all her prayers. She just had, a moment. Well actually she called it “a shot of spiritual morphine.” Ironically not quite realising the deadening effect of the drug.
Yet yards of web space have been spent on welcoming Ms Booth to the fold. “well com in islam dear sister!” says Nazim generously on the Tribune website. “nice! We have a mole in white house and now in 10 downing street!” enthuses Anonymous, who obviously hasn’t heard of Prime Ministers Brown and Cameron, let alone the death of New Labour and the rise of welfare cuts.
But it’s the name. Well, more Tony Blair’s than Lauren Booth’s. Somehow we like to see this as divine justice. A sweet revenge. The headline is telling: ‘Tony Blair’s sister-in-law converts to Islam.’ Or less nicely: ‘Tony Blair’s Shiite Sister-in-Law.’ Tit for tat, and all that.
To be honest, Ms Booth makes this equation easy with a history of frequently criticising her well-known brother-in-law in public, most famously after visiting the West bank cities of Rafah and Nablus: “Do you recognise these place names, Tony? As Middle East envoy, you really should. Israel has massacred children in all of these cities. Didn’t you know?” But she was chiding Mr Blair long before she became a Muslim. Didn’t seem to have much effect then either. In his recent memoirs, the war-mongering prime minister doesn’t really seem to regret his decision to spend billions of his country’s pounds in the war effort or indeed sending off ill-equipped teenage soldiers to hunt out imaginary weapons of mass destruction. It might be a bit much to expect him to cry crocodile tears over the immeasurable death, destruction and political destabilisation caused to Iraq by western occupation. In any case, I doubt he’s thinking too much about Lauren Booth’s revelations right now. He’s probably wondering more about his wife’s eBay addiction. Taking a bit of the attention away from her newly converted sister, Cherie Blair got caught out trying to flog her husband’s signature for a profitable £10 this week on the popular auction website.
But back to Lauren Booth, who has been gainfully employed by Iran’s state-owned news channel Press TV for the past year and is currently busy attending to, well you know, the most important things about Islam. Apparently she has stopped eating pork and hasn’t had a drink in nearly two months. Plus she’s wearing a hijab and doesn’t think the burqa would be out of the question. Her estranged father Tony Booth (isn’t it interesting how that name keeps turning up?) doesn’t seem to think much of all this. “I honestly don’t know what her motivation is… Is she after a job with Al Jazeera?”
Unlike her father, I don’t question Lauren Booth’s sincerity. Maybe she did have a spiritual epiphany and she is within her rights as much as anyone else to become a Muslim. What I do have issue with is Ms Booth’s short-sighted (almost blind) view of Iranian politics and the limited interpretation of what being a Muslim woman entails. A quick adopting of the outward rules of the faith without a deeper study of varying, yes even liberal or feminist interpretations, will leave her unaware of the inner debates of her new religion. Plus I find it disappointing that while she deems it fit to applaud Iranians for their commitment to supporting the Palestinian cause, she noticeably ignores their own struggle against a repressive regime which has used the bullet almost as freely as the Israeli state to suppress dissent. If she must use her name, or rather Tony Blair’s, to be heard then she should speak out unanimously, not selectively, for freedom in the Muslim world.

What?s in a name? – The Express Tribune

 

[SMC]

Well like I have said before, muslims will eventually have to start moving out of the west. This is really the beginning of things and from hereon it will only get worse. Even though I am not technically a muslim -I do have a muslim name and I identify myself very closely with Islam and Muslims - I am making plans to move out of Canada in the coming years since this is only the beginning of this. I think people may call me paranoid or whatnot, but let's see where we are in a decade or so.

 

[Jigs]

Tea Party target's congressman's Muslim faith

Tea Party target's congressman's Muslim faith - National populist | Examiner.com



The Tea Party may need to divorce itself from another crackpot: Judson Phillips, the founder and leader of Tea Party Nation, the country's third-largest tea party network.

In a post on the group's website, Phillips calls for the defeat of Rep Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, because Ellison is a follower of Islam.


He accuses the congressman of "lunacy," writing that "there are a lot of liberals who need to be retired this year, but there are few I can think of more deserving than Keith Ellison." Why? Because Phillips considers him "one of the most radical members of congress. He has a ZERO rating from the American Conservative Union. He is the only Muslim member of congress. He supports the Counsel for American Islamic Relations, HAMAS and has helped congress send millions of tax dollars to terrorists in Gaza."

 

[Jigs]

Tea Party Express Leader Mark Williams says Muslims Worship a ‘Monkey God,’ and Islam is ‘A 7th Century Death Cult Coughed Up by a Psychotic Pedophile’

http://www.antifascistencyclopedia....eath-cult-coughed-up-by-a-psychotic-pedophile



Mark Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express, blogged about the 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center planned at Park Place and Broadway, calling it a monument to the 9/11 terrorists.

“The monument would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists’ monkey-god,” Williams, a frequent guest on CNN, wrote on his Web site.

His statements drew a sharp rebuke from City Hall and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group.

“It’s appalling,” a spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg said of Williams’ comments, adding that the land is private and is zoned for a number of uses including a religious facility.

“It would be shocking if such ignorant comments failed to elicit a strong response not only from Tea Party leaders, but from other parties throughout the political spectrum,” said Corey Saylor, the Muslim rights group’s national legislative director.

The downtown project is being spearheaded by the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement. Neither group had any immediate response to Williams’ comments.


In an e-mail to the Daily News, Williams was unapologetic – saying his comments were specifically aimed at the terrorists, which he described as “the animals of Allah.”

“If CAIR equates terrorists with Muslims then they apparently have a little [political correctness] problem of their own now don’t they?” Williams said.

The Tea Party Express headed by Williams has organized nationwide protests in recent months, drawing in angry voters who feel ignored by Washington. The Tea Party backed outside-the-Beltway candidates like Rand Paul of Kentucky, who won the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Muslim rights group, pointed out other offensive statements Williams has made about Muslims on his Web site, including calling Islam “a 7th Century Death Cult coughed up by a psychotic pedophile.”

At the Community Board 1 committee meeting May 5, Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, defended the project as a plus for the community.

“Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community,” she said.

“Religious intolerance, demagoguery and fear-mongering have no place in the discussion about development on and around the World Trade Center site,” State Sen.

 

[SMC]

^ Well in the US, it already seems to be heating up quite significantly. Anti-muslim sentiment is at an all time high will only get higher as more time goes. Sad times for muslims, but they have to get ready to pack their bags and get ready to leave the west in the coming years and decades.