As you know, I went a lot of detail on the prospective Ground Zero Mosque, its imam, his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,and Rauf and the mosque's questionable financing.
Now this information is about to be revealed to the general public in an explosive form by none other than terrorism expert Steve Emerson...
Steve Emerson has unearthed 13 hours of audio tape of Imam Rauf. Emerson and his team of investigators has spent the past four weeks going through the newly found material. Rauf is a “radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep’s clothing.”
Among the shocking revelations Emerson’s team will reveal next week — they found Rauf:
Defending wahhabism – a puritanical version of Islam that governs Saudi Arabia
Calling for the elimination of Israel by claiming a one-nation state, meaning no more Jewish State.
Defending Bin Laden’s violenceDemonstrating that there is a lot more to this man than merely a cleric.
The American public now sees the “deception perpetrated by all these Islamic groups that claim they are against violence and terrorism and insist that their rights be respected but in reality are fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Listen to Emerson here on Bill Bennett.
I especially like Emerson's slapping around of the dinosaur media....as he compares their courage in unmasking of the KKK with their bending over for radical Islam.
Imam Rauf is going to have some 'splainin' to do...and the American public is starting to wake up.
Unfortunately this information will never get past the media filter. As it stands now, the Mosque will be built. The contractors, the unions, and others who would be needed to build the Mosque will be given an ulitmatum. Essentially you will build this Mosque and you will like it. As incentive, we will make you wealthy beyond your wildest immagination. Now should you attempt to oppose us on principle, you, your businesses, and your families will be targeted for destruction. In other words, as I see things now, the Mosque will be built.
ReplyDeleteNow, if we liken this to a game of poker, sometimes the player will overplay a good hand. Currently the builders of the Mosque have a good hand. They may over play. Islamists have done so in the past. For example, in Iraq, they had the Americans on the rope and pratically begging for mercy. Then they overplayed their hand and now the Americans may actually be able to engineer a face saving retreat and may actually be able to fight another day.
There are those on the Israeli right who are exploring the One-state solution right now, so soon the 2-state solution won't be a valid yardstick for measuring anti-Zionism.
ReplyDeleteYes,perhaps. But the idea in your words is 'seriously flawed'.
ReplyDeleteMy own terminology would be more along the lines of absolutely unhinged.
Also the 'Palestinians' are never going to voluntarily live next to the Jews in peace, let alone as part of the same country. Any hope of either was pretty much destroyed by Arafat and his right hand man, Mahmoud Abbas.
In any event,that's not at all what Rauf meant, as I'm sure you know.
While this will cover one base - It will not sway those who think Emerson sees a Jihadist under every rock.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know Imam Rauf, at all; absent clear, irrefutable proof that will buy into, we needn't rely on whether he is well-intentioned or not.
The simple, straight-forward point remains just this: If we believe the polls, it appears that over 60 percent of New Yorkers don’t want the mosque built near ground zero. Their spouses, brothers, sisters, parents and children were murdered en masse, not too long ago, in an unprecedented gesture of hate by crazy people. Don’t the survivors deserve our empathy at least as much as those who want mosque built _right_ there –? The survivors seem entitled not to have “community center” forced upon them – by anyone. Period.
One needn’t cast doubt on the Imam’s motives or integrity to make that argument.
In this context, though, it is worth noting an extended speech that the Imam made not long ago at Bnai Jeshurun in NY. There, Imam Rauf declared himself a Jew and a Christian and equated the declaration of La ilaha illallah Muhammadun rasulullah with the declaration of the Sh'ma and the profession of Christian love. These statements, even if courageous and well-intended– evidence a significant confusion of rhetoric with substance. The flourish glosses over latter part of the declaration, stating that Mohammed is The prophet of God, impliedly transcending and/or usurping both Jewish and Christian faith claims – and conflating moral principles that- while all “Abrahamic”- are significantly non-identical.)
Why focus on this? Because it precisely the point at issue, here. In the name of high ideals and broad purpose, we must not trample people who most clearly deserve our empathy. One merely has to consider why Hillel re-phrased the Old Testament commandment (Leviticus 19:18) “Love your fellow as yourself” in the negative (Babylonian Talmud 31a) “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. The rest is commentary; go study”.
One would think that moderate Muslims -especially those who claim to identify with Jews and Christian moral sensibilities would be exquisitely sensitive to issues of ‘provocation’, here.
Mornin' Elihu.
ReplyDeleteIn view of Imam Rauf's Muslim Brotherhood background, his association with MB fronts like IIIT and ISNA, the sources of financing and a number of other remarks he has made - a number of them in Arabic, to the home team crowd, as it were - I consider his speech at Daniel Pearl's memorial in front of a bunch of high profile targets to be taqiya (dissembling to advance Islam).
The Imam, aside form his well-publicized remarks that America was responsible for 9/11 has never unequivocally condemned Hezbollah and Hamas.
To me, that a real giveaway.
Thanks for weighing in.
-Rob -
ps: The Hillel quote has always interested me. As you know, it came as a response to a student of his who asked him to explain Judaism while standing on one foot.
Obviously, Hillel's maxim would not apply to Islam, based on history. I wonder how someone like Imam Rauf would reply to that question,or if he would even give an honest answer!
-r-