* Verse: Faith Leads to Generosity
* Racist Group Linked to PBS 'Moderate Muslims' Documentary
* Video: CAIR Rep Welcomes Announcement on OIC Envoy (FOX News)
            - CAIR: Poll Finds Mistrust of Bush Abroad
* CAIR: MD Police Trained in Israeli Techniques (Balt Sun)
* CAIR-CA Releases Bay Area Muslim Civil Rights Report
* MA: Groups Call for Religious Tolerance at Mosque Site (Globe)
* DC: Art Reception - 'Islamic Art in America' (Wash Post)
* Afghanistan: Attack that Killed Kids Missed Target (NBC)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: FAITH LEADS TO GENEROSITY - TOP

"Indeed, man has been created with a restless disposition. When misfortune touches him, he becomes despondent. But when blessed with good fortune, he becomes stingy; except those who are devoted to prayer, remain steadfast in their worship, set aside a share in their wealth for (the needy), accept the truth of the Day of Judgment, and who fear the displeasure of their Lord."

The Holy Quran, 70:19-27

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RACIST GROUP LINKED TO PBS 'MODERATE MUSLIMS' DOCUMENTARY - TOP
CAIR calls on producers to repudiate group's 'hate-filled agenda'

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/28/07) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the producers of a PBS-sponsored documentary on "moderate Muslims" to repudiate their alleged ties to a racist group that seeks to impose prison terms for "adherence to Islam" and that questions whether women and African-Americans should be allowed to vote.

David Yerushalmi, the president and founder of the Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), recently published an online article in which he claims to be the attorney for Frank Gaffney, Alex Alexiev and Martyn Burke, the producers of the controversial PBS documentary "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center."

SEE: The Convergence Between the PC Elite and the Jihadists
http://www.saneworks.us/The-Convergence-between-the-PC-Elite-a

nd-the-Jihadists-article-457-11.htm

The taxpayer-supported documentary linked to the founder of SANE has been criticized as agenda-driven and biased. An article in the Arizona Republic newspaper quoted the executive producer for the PBS series that funded the documentary as saying the film had "serious structural problems (and). . .was irresponsible because the writing was alarmist, and it wasn't fair." (4/10/07)

In February of this year, SANE offered a policy proposal that states in part:

"Whereas, adherence to Islam as a Muslim is prima facie evidence of an act in support of the overthrow of the US. [sic] Government through the abrogation, destruction, or violation of the US Constitution and the imposition of Shari'a on the American People. . .It shall be a felony punishable by 20 years in prison to knowingly act in furtherance of, or to support the, adherence to Islam."

SEE: A SANE Act to Deal with the Islamic Threat to America's National Existence
http://www.saneworks.us/SANE-Immigration-Proposal-article-379-1.htm

Other articles on the SANE website make racist statements such as:
"There is a reason the founding fathers did not give women or black slaves the right to vote."

SEE: On Race: A Tentative Discussion, Part II
http://www.saneworks.us/On-Race-A-Tentative-Discussion-Part-II-article-64-25.htm

Another SANE article states: "Is there something unique about the Black American (or, at least the Black New Yorker) that leads him to murder so disproportionately and to most often kill and victimize his own? Do we see patterns of Black culture that arise out of Africa and the wanton murder of blacks by blacks there? Why have the colonized blacks of the African continent, after having acquired their freedom and independence, so willingly slaughtered their own and live in despicable disease and squalor despite a land of enormous riches while Indians of the Indian sub-continent have successfully moved from British rule to democracy and relative civility even in a country that still maintains social inequalities as a fact of their culture?"

SEE: Murders in New York City and the Race Card
http://www.saneworks.us/Murders-in-New-York-City-and-the-Race-Card-article-53-9.htm

"The producers of 'Islam vs. Islamists' should cut all ties to this racist group and repudiate its hate-filled agenda," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "American taxpayers should not be forced to fund, even unknowingly, those who promote religious and racial intolerance."

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

CONTACT: 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, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

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VIDEO: CAIR REP WELCOMES APPOINTMENT OF U.S. ENVOY TO OIC - TOP

CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper on Fox's 'Special Report with Brit Hume' discusses President Bush's recent decision to appoint a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a world body made up of 57 Muslim-majority nations.

VIEW THE VIDEO:
http://www.cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=44416&theType=NB

PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:

Fox News: Special Report with Brit Hume, 6/27/07

HUME: President Bush today reached out to Muslims in the U.S. and around the world and urged them to speak out against terrorists who claim to represent them and their faith. To that end, Mr. Bush announced a creation of a new diplomatic post for a coalition of Muslim nations.

Chief White House correspondent Bret Baier reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRET BAIER, FOX CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Islamic Center of Washington, President Bush, shoeless while standing inside the mosque, announced he will create a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference that represents more than 50 Islamic states.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is an opportunity for Americans to demonstrate to Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship.

BAIER: The move marks the first time a U.S. president has made an appointment to the Islamic Conference. And it comes as the war in Iraq, now in its fifth year, continues to spark anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world. The president made a personal appeal for cooperation.

BUSH: I have invested the heart of my presidency in helping Muslims fight terrorism and claim their liberty and find their own unique paths to prosperity and peace.

BAIER: The president said while the principles of religious freedom have expanded elsewhere in the world, the Middle East has seen a rise of extremism.

BUSH: The enemy falsely claims that America is at war with Muslims, and the Muslim faith, when in fact it is these radicals who are Islam's true enemy.

BAIER: Ibrahim Hooper, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, an organization that often criticizes the administration, praised today's effort.

IBRAHIM HOOPER, CAIR: Our policies in the Muslim world are causing hostility and resentment and that we need to take a different tact to try and mitigate some of the problems that we are seeing in the Muslim world. And appointing an envoy to the OIC is a very positive first step.

BAIER: In his speech, the president called for moderate Muslims to speak out against radical extremists, suicide bombers, and organizations that use Islam to support and fund acts of terrorism. While it is clearly not evident across the Muslim world, Hooper insists more moderates are speaking up.

HOOPER: American Muslims have issued a fatwa condemning terrorism and religious extremism. So we are taking action. Sometimes these actions are not being noticed, but that doesn't mean they are not there.

BAIER: The president singled out Iran and Syria, accusing the leaders of the two countries of religious and political repression and choosing to address their citizens.

BUSH: You plea to silence no longer, the free world hears you. You are not alone. America offers you its hand in friendship. We work for the day when we can welcome you into the family of free nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAIER: The president called the Muslim Center the perfect place to deliver a message of freedom to the Iranians and the Syrians, because the mosque is just down the road from a synagogue, a Lutheran church, a Catholic parish, a Greek Orthodox chapel, and a Buddhist temple. Residents there can worship as they choose, he said, without intimidation -- Brit.

SEE ALSO:

CAIR: POLL FINDS MISTRUST OF BUSH ABROAD - TOP
37 of 47 countries express doubts
Bob Deans, Cox News Service, 6/28/07
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/06/28/poll_finds_mistrust_of_bush_abroad/

Fueled by the Iraq war and the perception that the United States acts without consulting others, anti-Americanism is on the rise across the Muslim world and much of Europe, while global confidence in President Bush has plummeted, a global poll released yesterday shows.

Confidence in Bush "continues to erode," the report states, noting that in 37 of the 47 countries surveyed, "majorities say they have little or no trust in Bush to do the right thing in world affairs."

The study, the latest in a series by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, revealed deep and mounting opposition to this country across the Muslim world. Of those surveyed, those who said they have a favorable view of the United States fell to 9 percent in Turkey, 21 percent in Egypt and 15 percent in Pakistan, all key players in US anti-terrorism strategy.

"The US image in Muslim countries is just abysmal," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan opinion survey organization in Washington.

Bush seemed to acknowledge as much, announcing that he would soon name a special envoy to The Organization of the Islamic Conference, a coalition of 57 majority-Muslim states, to try to improve the US image across the Islamic world.

"Our special envoy will listen to and learn from representatives from Muslim states, and will share with them America's views and values," Bush said in a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Islamic Center in Washington.

The move was welcomed by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper, said in a statement the special envoy signals US "recognition that positive and respectful dialogue is the best way to build bridges of understanding between our nation and the Muslim world." (MORE)

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LESSONS IN COUNTERTERRORISM: MD. POLICE LOOK TO ISRAELI EXPERTS FOR TRAINING IN SECURITY TECHNIQUES - TOP
John Murphy, Baltimore Sun, 6/28/07
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.israelpolice28jun28,1,1123671.story

On a steamy Mediterranean morning this week, Baltimore County Police Capt. Roman Zaryk stood on the spot where a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Dolphinarium disco in 2001, killing 21 Friday night partygoers, many of them teenagers.

Suicide bombers, of course, are not a threat Zaryk encounters in his work as head of the criminal intelligence section in Baltimore County. But in the six years since the Sept. 11 attacks, police departments large and small have awakened to the once unthinkable possibility of attacks in their communities.

"If you don't prepare before, you can't prepare once something does occur," says Zaryk, whose section investigates gangs, drug dealing and organized crime.

This week, Zaryk and a dozen other law enforcement officers representing police departments from Maryland to California are here to learn from their Israeli counterparts about methods and techniques for preventing bombings, securing airports and border crossings and performing mass rescue operations. The trip is sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, a U.S.-based, pro-Israel, Jewish advocacy group that has trained hundreds of law enforcement officials about domestic and international terror. . .

Rosenfeld said that since 9/11, Israel has received dozens of delegations from the United States -- including the CIA and FBI as well as local police officers -- who are interested in learning more about methods to combat terrorism. The New York City Police Department has one officer based in Israel full time who participates in investigations of bombings and attacks so he can train members of his own department, Rosenfeld said. The deepening security relationship between Israel and the United States has some Muslim groups worried that American police officials may begin adopting profiling techniques of Israel.

"It's always a concern that people return with a very negative impression of Muslims and Arab culture, and is that going to be translated into police work in the United States?" asked Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.

"We've always been concerned when these kinds of trips become exercises in political indoctrination in which everything Israel does is good and just and everything Palestinians do is perceived as evil and unjust," Hooper added. (MORE)

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CAIR-SFBA RELEASES BAY AREA MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS REPORT - TOP
Citizenship delays top issue for Bay Area Muslims

(SANTA CLARA, CA, 6/28/07) - The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) announced today the release of its local civil rights report, which shows that civil rights complaints from Bay Area Muslims more than doubled from 2005 to 2006.

According to the study, CAIR-SFBA processed a total of 246 civil rights report in 2006, up from 113 in 2005, constituting a 117.7 percent increase. Legal and immigration issues comprised 35 percent of all reported violations, with 57 naturalization delay cases placed in this category. Other top categories of alleged violations were due process (17 percent) and hate mail/propaganda (12 percent).

Bay Area numbers reflect CAIR's nationwide statistics, which indicate a 25.1 percent increase in the total number of anti-Muslim bias from 2005 to 2006, with citizenship delays being the major issue nationwide. The state of California accounted for 29 percent of all civil rights complaints.

CAIR-SFBA attributes the rise in reported complaints to better community awareness and willingness to report bias, growing anti-Muslim rhetoric in the media and by public officials, and the launch of its Citizenship Delay project in August 2006. The report includes recommendations such as awareness and repudiation of Islamophobia, anti-discrimination policies, sensitivity trainings and increased outreach by American Muslims to their fellow citizens.

"We're seeing a consistent rise in the number of reported violations over the years," said Azima Subedar, CAIR-SFBA Civil Rights Coordinator. "These findings underscore the need for greater collaborative efforts to prevent discrimination against American Muslims."

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 33 chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to promote justice, enhance understanding of Islam, and empower American Muslims.

CONTACT: Azima Subedar, CAIR-SFBA Civil Rights Coordinator, e-Mail: azima_cair@yahoo.com, 408-986-9874; Abiya Ahmed, CAIR-SFBA Media Relations Coordinator, E-Mail: aahmed@cair.com, 408-986-9874.

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MA: IN ROXBURY, A CALL FOR RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE - TOP
Interfaith groups at mosque site
David Abel, Boston Globe, 6/28/07
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/28/in_roxbury_a_

call_for_religious_tolerance/

Rabbis came in yarmulkes, priests wore their Roman collars, and imams dressed in knitted caps and the loose-fitting gowns called thobes.

About 300 people, from Jews in sandals to suited Christians to Muslims in sequined veils, gathered beneath the arched brick entrance of the city's newest mosque yesterday to mark completion of the first stage of its construction.

They also prayed for tolerance in the wake of controversy and a lawsuit that has raised questions about who paid for the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center and how it obtained the land in Roxbury.

"This mosque is intended to be a place that opens its doors and provides opportunities for all religions and all different ethnicities and different communities to find a place of dialogue," said Bilal Kaleem, executive director of the Boston chapter of the Muslim American Society.

The mosque -- scheduled to open in three to six months, depending on construction and fund-raising -- sparked a lawsuit that contended the Islamic Society of Boston bought the land from the city in 2003 at an unfairly low price. The lawsuit filed by a Mission Hill man was dismissed in February. Last month, the Society dropped its own lawsuit that contended that media outlets and others had defamed it in an attempt to halt construction of the 70,000-square-foot mosque on Malcolm X Boulevard.

At the evening event, which the Society called an Intercommunity Solidarity Day, local officials, activists, and religious leaders praised the society for finishing the project. (MORE)

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DC: ART RECEPTION - 'ISLAMIC ART IN AMERICA' - TOP
Washington Post, 6/28/07

RESTON ART RECEPTION, for the exhibit "An Alternative Space: Islamic Art in America." 5-7 p.m., Mizane Gallery, 11412-B Washington Plaza West, Reston. Free. 703-669-0035.

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AFGHANISTAN: ATTACK THAT KILLED KIDS LIKELY MISSED TARGET - TOP
Officials: Military knew children were present but considered risk worth it
Robert Windrem, NBC News, 6/28/07
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19463133

The U.S. special operations forces attack June 17 that resulted in the death of seven Afghan children likely missed its primary target, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

Abu Laith al Libi - one of al-Qaida's top commanders - was the primary target of the attack against a compound in the Paktika province of eastern Afghanistan. According to several officials, and contrary to previous statements, the U.S. military knew there were children at the compound but considered Abu Laith of such high value it was worth the risk of potential collateral damage.

Those same officials now tell NBC News that although six sets of remains besides those of the seven children were recovered, it's not clear whether Abu Laith is among those killed. (MORE)

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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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