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Chronology of Islam in America (2014)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
July 2014 Page Three
Over 1.5 million added to US terrorist watch list in past five years
July 20: More and more fliers are finding that they've been placed on the US government's terrorist watch list. Data revealed during a civil lawsuit shows that over 1.5 million have been added to the list over the past five years, reports the Associated Press. And more are being added each year: 468,749 were added in fiscal 2013 compared with 336,712 in 2012 and roughly 250,000 in 2009 and 2010. The terrorist watch list was first created back in 2003, and, according to the FBI, it allows officials at screening locations to "positively identify known or suspected terrorists trying to obtain visas, enter the country, board aircraft, or engage in other activity." The government calls the list "one of the most effective counterterrorism tools" it has at its disposal. But for the undoubtedly large portion of people on that list who are innocent, the watch list is a massive hindrance. That concern is what led to the civil lawsuit that revealed the number of people on the list. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a suit in Virginia on behalf of a Somalian US citizen named Gulet Mohamed who found himself unable to return to the US from Kuwait because of the list. The case challenges the constitutionality of the list itself. US government attorneys have sought to have the case dismissed out of fears of revealing state secrets. [The Verge]
Wall Street Journal runs op-ed claiming all Palestinians are worthy of death
July 22: While it is no secret that American mainstream media coverage is heavily biased in favor of Israel, rarely does the establishment media side with those advocating the genocide of the Palestinians. And yet, the Wall Street Journal decided to run an op-ed written by Thane Rosenbaum which claims all those in Gaza have lost their status as civilians because Hamas was elected. That the over 560 Palestinians in Gaza that have died so far had it coming. Rosenbuam is a professor of law at New York University and has written a book celebrating vengeance as virtuous. So it is not particularly surprising that he would find no fault in Israel striking targets in Gaza. Rosenbaum writes: On some basic level, you forfeit your right to be called civilians when you freely elect members of a terrorist organization as statesmen, invite them to dinner with blood on their hands and allow them to set up shop in your living room as their base of operations. At that point you begin to look a lot more like conscripted soldiers than innocent civilians. And you have wittingly made yourself targets. [Fire Dog Lake]
US citizens in Yemen accuse American embassy of confiscating passports
July 22: A coalition of nine civil rights and community organizations, including the Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus and the American Civil Liberties Union in California has submitted a report to the United States Human Rights Network. The report will then be forwarded for review by the CERD Committee at the UN in Geneva. The report alleges that American citizens have had their passports revoked without due process; many say they have been subjected to coercive interrogations. In most of the cases documented in the report, Yemeni Americans were visiting the US embassy in Sana’a to file routine travel paperwork. Some American citizens have been stranded in Yemen for up to a year. Fear within the Yemeni American community has made it difficult for groups to get an accurate sense of the scope of the problem. The civil rights groups claim there are over a dozen cases but probably many more; the State Department confirms that revocations have occurred, but claims that a previously cited number of 100 cases is a gross exaggeration, and will not provide numbers. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Consular Affairs said: “Passports have been returned to many individuals. In instances where an individual’s passport was revoked, the individual was notified in writing.” Since 9/11, Yemen has been as an important US ally, and the American embassy in Sana’a has been a nexus of controversy. In September 2008, the US embassy in Sana’a was attacked by rioters. Yemen was under travel warning for American citizens from August 6 2013 until January 28 2014. The country was also home to Anwar al-Awlaki, the first American citizen to be killed by an American drone. [The Guardian]
Letter-Writing Campaign for Gaza at Ramadan Events
July 22: The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) today announced the launch of a letter-writing to call for an end to the killing in Gaza. CAIR chapters across the country have launched similar letter-writing campaigns, including chapters in Maryland and Texas. The letters, directed at California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, are being circulated at Ramadan events across California by staff and volunteers of the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. Several thousand letters have been signed so far. The letters will be hand-delivered to the offices of both senators early this week. Some 600 Palestinians -- mostly civilians and children -- have been reported killed and thousands have been injured in Israel's most recent military campaign against Gaza. Gaza endured at least 100 casualties on July 20 alone. Numerous Palestinian Americans in California have reported deaths among their relatives in Gaza, including some 25 this past weekend. Israeli attacks targeting civilians have included the killing of whole families as they sheltered in their homes, attacks on journalists, the shelling of hospitals, the destruction of mosques, and even allegations that wounded civilians are being targeted by Israeli snipers. The letters read in part: "The U.S. government must not remain silent about Israel's unjust and disproportionate use of force against the Palestinians in Gaza. ...Because Americans taxpayers provide Israel with billions of dollars of aid each year, we have a right to demand that those funds not be used to take the lives of innocent civilians." [CAIR]
Palestinian-American Teen Held in Israeli Custody for 3 Weeks
July 28: U.S. officials are "gravely concerned" about a Palestinian-American teen who has been in Israeli custody for three weeks, the State Department said today. Another teen, Tariq Khdeir, drew headlines when he was arrested and allegedly beaten by Israeli authorities, but the State Department said another teen, 15-year-old U.S. citizen Mohamed Abu Nie, was arrested in Israel on July 3 during protests in the Shoafat neighborhood of East Jerulsalem. "Considering his age, we are calling for a speedy resolution to this case," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said today. "This 15-year-old has now been held for three weeks in Israeli custody and has seen his parents only once briefly during that night. And so we are certainly gravely concerned about the detention of an American citizen child." A U.S. consular official visited him on July 17 and attended a hearing on July 22, Psaki said, and the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv is in contact with his lawyer. He faces charges of "rock-throwing, attacking police, carrying a knife and leading protests," Psaki said. [ABC News]
Latino Muslims are one of the fastest growing populations in the US
July 26: Latino Muslims have been dubbed one of the fastest growing segments of Islam in the U.S., according to PBS. There were about 17 percent of the U.S. population was Hispanic. The latest number of Latino Muslims is estimated at about 250,000, according to PBS. The Islamic Circle of North America reports a majority of them are women. "Our language is nurtured by more than 4,000 words that come from Arabic," Wilfredo Ruiz, a Puerto Rican-born Muslim and a lawyer for the South Florida chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations told WLRN. "It's like rediscovering your past. That area of our past has been hidden from us." " Islam, what brings to most of the people is peace. People feel at peace first with themselves, of who they are and their way they have chosen, and a peace knowing what is, what is the purpose of life? " Ruiz told PBS. [Latin Post]
Palestinian-American Teen Held in Israeli Custody for 3 Weeks
July 28: U.S. officials are "gravely concerned" about a Palestinian-American teen who has been in Israeli custody for three weeks, the State Department said today. Another teen, Tariq Khdeir, drew headlines when he was arrested and allegedly beaten by Israeli authorities, but the State Department said another teen, 15-year-old U.S. citizen Mohamed Abu Nie, was arrested in Israel on July 3 during protests in the Shoafat neighborhood of East Jerulsalem. "Considering his age, we are calling for a speedy resolution to this case," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said today. "This 15-year-old has now been held for three weeks in Israeli custody and has seen his parents only once briefly during that night. And so we are certainly gravely concerned about the detention of an American citizen child." A U.S. consular official visited him on July 17 and attended a hearing on July 22, Psaki said, and the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv is in contact with his lawyer. He faces charges of "rock-throwing, attacking police, carrying a knife and leading protests," Psaki said. [ABC News]
NYPD Investigates Anti-Muslim Fliers In Brooklyn
July 29: Muslim residents in a Brooklyn, NY, apartment complex are on edge after anti-Islamic fliers were posted there. Residents of the sprawling Shore Haven apartment complex in Bensonhurst called police after finding the fliers in some lobbies and hallways. One flier reads in part: “ISLAMISTS! GO TO YOUR COUNTRY!!! USA HATES YOU!!! YOU ARE TERRORISTS AND BASTARDS!!!” The NYPD Hate Crimes Unit has been working to track down whoever left the hate-filled fliers. As of Tuesday night, there had been no arrests. The fliers were posted at a time when tensions are high between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The last sentence of a flier reads, “YOU ARE THE SECOND HOLOCAUST!!!!” [CBS]
Jewish leaders urged to repudiate NJ Rabbi's call for mass Killing in Gaza
July 29: The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today called on Jewish leaders in that state to repudiate what amounted to a call for mass killing of civilians in Gaza. At a recent rally in support of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza that has so far resulted in more than 1000 dead – the vast majority of whom are civilians - Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner said that that the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who voted for Hamas in Gaza's democratic elections in 2006 are "combatants" who deserve to be targeted by Israel. He is the Vice President of the New York Board of Rabbis and is the secretary of the NJ Board of Rabbis. "It is unconscionable for any American religious leader to designate hundreds of thousands of civilians as 'combatants' who deserve to be killed using weapons paid for by American taxpayers," said CAIR-NY Director of Operations Sadyia Khalique. "In New York, we don't tolerate hateful violent rhetoric and call on responsible leaders in the New Jersey and New York Jewish communities to repudiate this apparent call for violence."? [CAIR]
Sweden denies asylum for US citizen who claims torture at U.S. govt request
July 29: Sweden has declined to grant asylum to an American who fears his own country will have him tortured—again. In June 2011, Yonas Fikre, a Muslim American from Portland, Oregon, was visiting the United Arab Emirates when he was suddenly arrested and detained by the local security forces. For the next three months, he claims, he was interrogated and tortured—grilled with questions that were nearly identical to those the FBI had posed to him just a few months earlier. He believes the US orchestrated his detention, and his allegations are similar to those of other young Muslim Americans who have been locked up abroad and interrogated, often about matters they have already been questioned on by American authorities. In May 2013, Fikre sued the US government for violating his constitutional rights. Fikre, whose story I broke in 2012, was eventually released and deported. He traveled to Sweden, where he had family, and sought political asylum there, saying he fears he will be detained and tortured again if he leaves the country. SVT, the Swedish public broadcaster, reported on Tuesday that, after mulling his case for three years, Swedish Migration Board denied Fikre asylum. Fikre's lawyer plans to appeal the decision. Though the Swedish Migration Board ruled that there was insufficient evidence of US involvement in Fikre's alleged torture, what's clear is this: The FBI had a strong interest in Fikre prior to his detention in the UAE. In 2011, he was visiting family in Sudan when he was contacted by FBI agents. Internal FBI documents confirm that agents met with and interviewed Fikre at the time. He says they asked him to become an informant. When he refused, they told him he was on the no-fly list and couldn't travel unless he cooperated. "The time to help yourself is now," one of the FBI agents wrote him in a follow-up email obtained by Mother Jones. Fikre took this as a threat. Though he was told he was on the no-fly list, he was later able to fly to the UAE without incident. But when UAE security forces nabbed him, he concluded that he had been arrested at the behest of the United States. He alleges that he was beaten whenever he asked whether the FBI was involved in his detention. When his story broke in 2012, Fikre became the latest in a series of American Muslims—including Naji Hamdan, Amir Meshal, Sharif Mobley, Gulet Mohamed, and Yusuf and Yahya Wehelie—who claim they were detained, questioned, and (in some cases) abused by local security forces at the behest of the US government. Many of these men say they were asked to become FBI informants. (I revealed the story of yet another alleged "proxy detainee," Naji Mansour, in the May/June issue of Mother Jones.) It's unclear how soon Fikre could be forced to leave Sweden. Meanwhile, he also has a case pending against the US government, seeking $10 million in damages for the alleged abuse he endured in UAE custody and the removal of his name from the no-fly list. [Mother Jones]
American opinion of Arabs, Muslims is getting worse: poll
July 29: How Americans view Arabs and Muslims has gotten worse in recent years, with negative feelings strongest among Republicans and senior citizens, according to a poll released today. Only 27 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Muslims, down from 35 percent in 2010, according to the Zogby poll, commissioned by the non-profit Arab American Institute. Favorable attitudes toward Arabs dropped to 32 percent from 43 percent in 2010. Dr. James Zogby, the President of the Arab American Institute (AAI), said What we found was that there has been a continued erosion in the favorable ratings Americans have of both Arabs and Muslims, posing a threat to the civil rights and political inclusion of both Arab Americans and American Muslims. For example, in 2010 favorable ratings for Arabs were 43 percent. They have now declined to 32 percent. For Muslims, the ratings dropped from 36 percent in 2010, to 27 percent in the 2014 survey. A direct consequence of this disturbing downward slide can be seen in the substantial number of Americans (42 percent) who say that they support the use of profiling by law enforcement against Arab Americans and American Muslims and a growing percentage of Americans who say that they lack confidence in the ability of individuals from either community to perform their duties as Americans should they be appointed to important government positions. Thirty-six percent of respondents felt that the decisions made by Arab Americans would be influenced by their ethnicity, while 42 percent of respondents felt that American Muslims would be negatively influenced by their religion. [AMP Report]
Arab, Muslim groups vigil at the White House to mourn the victims in Israeli assault on Gaza
July 30: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) sponsored a candlelight vigil at the White House tonight among nearly 500 community members to honor and mourn the innocent lives taken by Israel's indiscriminate attacks on Gaza. ADC was joined in the vigil by Arab American Institute (AAI), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), American Federation of Ramallah Palestine, Bethlehem Association, Coalition of Palestinian American Organizations, and Network of Arab-American Professionals-DC (NAAP-DC). Several other social justice groups such as Code Pink and the Answer Coalition also participated in the vigil. As participants gathered holding candles, ADC staff, members, colleagues and volunteers read the list of names of the people who were killed in Gaza since Israel's current massacre began on July 8th, 2014. Due to the large number of victims, many of the candles burned out before participants were able to finish reading all of the names. As of this morning, over 1,300 Palestinians have been killed, with thousands more wounded or unjustly arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces. In a report, the United Nations estimates that 80% of those killed were civilians, women and children. [ADC]
GOP urged to repudiate official's remarks belittling U.S. Muslims, Sikhs
July 30: CAIR today called on the Republic Party of Virginia to repudiate remarks by one of its officials belittling the contributions of American Muslims and Sikhs.Bob FitzSimmonds, GOP treasurer in Virginia posted anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh remarks on Facebook in response to President Obama marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan celebration Eid al-Fitr. CAIR called on the party to denounce the anti-Muslim, anti-Sikh comments and asked for an apology. "Anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh bigotry should have no place in the Republic Party and those expressing such intolerant views should be held accountable," said CAIR Government Affairs Manager Robert McCaw. {CAIR}
Oklahoma School Film Blames Muslims For Oklahoma City Bombing
July 30: Jenks Freshman Academy, an Oklahoma school, has shown students in history class a “History Channel” film titled “Conspiracy: Oklahoma City Bombing.” Adam Soltani, director of CAIR-Oklahoma, was tipped off to the showing by a concerned parent. Soltani viewed the “documentary” which largely blames Muslims for the 1995 bombing perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, Soltani writes. Unfortunately, the film that is an approved selection in Jenks schools’ media library was little more than a hate-filled video that goes to extreme lengths to drag the blame for one of the most tragic events in Oklahoma history onto Islam and Muslims. The idea that Muslims were the real masterminds behind the Oklahoma City Bombing mirrors what disgraced journalist turned “terror expert” Steven Emerson claimed at the time, when he infamously stated that it had “a Middle Eastern trait.” Since then conspiracies claiming Iraqi secret agents covertly sent by Saddam Hussein used the easily duped, poor little McVeigh and Nichols for the attack have infested Far-Right Tea Party sites, such as Accuracy in Media and the ironically named American Thinker. In the recent past we have seen concerted campaigns by right-wing, Islamophobic organizations such as ACT! For America, The Eagle Forum and Charles Jacobs’s Americans for Peace and Tolerance attempt to challenge, expunge and or edit-in their prejudiced views of Islam and Muslims into history and social studies texts. The case in Oklahoma, while not directly related to those campaigns, highlights what may be a serious problem and requires further investigation. What exactly are schools teaching their children about Islam and Muslims? How many are teaching them, as in this instance, that Muslims are nefarious evil-doers who are behind all acts of terrorism? Hopefully this glaring issue is resolved quickly and children can learn real, solid history and not be indoctrinated by just another sensationalist History Channel documentary that doesn’t deserve the dignity of being watched in a school classroom. [Loonwatch]
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