American Muslim Conference On 'Intolerance' Is A Vehicle For Jew Hatred

Omri over at Mere Rhetoric has the story on an Islamic Summit in Chicago that was billed as a conference to promote peace and tolerance, condemn terrorism and combat the increasing radicalization of Muslim-American youths. Not unexpectedly, since CAIR, The Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)were the chief organizers, it turned into something different:

Rafiq Jaber, former president of the Islamic Association of Palestine, described Jews to the audience as "the worst kind of people," who came to Jerusalem "with false pretenses."... The ADL cited Hamed Ghazali, chairman of the MAS Council of Islamic Schools and professor at the Islamic American University in Michigan, as telling the audience in Arabic that "Allah gave us the Jews"... Other speakers -- specifically Egyptian Sheik Raghib Al Serjani -- argued that the eradication of the state of Israel is a religious duty... Materials sold... included books and CDs by anti-Semitic sheiks such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a leading Muslim Brotherhood leader based in Qatar who is known for terrorist connections. Another radical cleric whose wares were available... was Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born Muslim cleric who has encouraged American Muslims to wage jihad against the U.S. He has been tied to Fort Hood shooting suspect Maj. Nidal Hasan and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

The MAS folks, for their part, are shocked anyone thinks their speakers were being specifically antisemitic. At first I thought they were being absurd but from a certain perspective they kind of have a point. The stuff about waging anti-American jihad was a running and prominent theme throughout the conference - apparently we're on Allah's land - but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Jews.

And the stuff about destroying Israel can't be "over the top" either. Sure it might sound antisemitic to de facto advocate the massacre of millions of Jews, a vital prerequisite to destroying the Jewish State. But "Palestine from the river to the sea" has been a staple of MAS organizing for years, and MAS is committed to combating intolerance, so that can't be intolerant. QED.

This is right in line with the standard Muslim Brotherhood ideology, the group behind the MAS and CAIR. And CAIR of course is an unindicted co-conspirator in a number of terrorist trials including the Holy Land Foundation, so no surprises here. Rather than fighting the increased radicalization of American Muslims, these people are facilitating it.

Not that there aren't a number of peaceful Muslims. A fairly brave group of them in Detroit held a rally outside the courthouse after the Christmas Crotch Bomber was arraigned to show that Islamist terrorists don't represent Islam, and in the words of their leader to show that "We're going to take our religion back."

Between 12 and 50 people showed up, depending on who was counting.

Between 12 and 50 people, in the largest Muslim community in America, with an area Muslim population estimated at about 300,000.