This just in…
STATEMENT ON ANTI-MUSLIM RHETORIC
Contact: Mike Levin
Executive Director, Democratic Party of Orange County
(714) 835-2122 or mike@ocdemocrats.org
Recently, a number of Orange County Republican leaders – including former State Republican Party Chairman Shawn Steel, former state legislator John Lewis, and Republican congressional candidate Tan Nguyen – have attempted to gain political advantage by injecting virulent racial stereotypes and fear mongering into two local political races.
Under the heading, “Something Scary in Anaheim,” Steel and Lewis posted a letter on OC Blog, a local conservative web site, questioning the loyalty of Anaheim City Council candidate Bill Dalati, an insurance agent who was born in Syria and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1987, Basing their attack on Dalati on his Muslim faith and his participation in the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a mainstream American civil rights organization whose local chapter has welcomed Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca to their meetings, the Steel-Lewis letter insinuated that Dalati “could be an extremist,” or a “Manchurian Candidate” and asked, “does he really have an agenda here to support extremist organizations and cloak them with respectability?”
In a similar attack launched by mail against Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, her 47th district opponent Tan Nguyen used offensive and inflammatory photographs of a Middle Eastern terrorist to link the issue of illegal immigration to terrorism and question the Congresswoman’s commitment to keep American safe.
There has long been a dark side to the Republican Party, an instinct to use racial fears to their political gain. From the infamous “southern strategy” of Richard Nixon to the unfortunate blemish on Ronald Reagan for launching his presidential campaign in the southern city where three civil rights workers were assassinated, Republicans have had a hard time resisting the short term political gain of appealing to the baser instincts of the voting population.
Admirably, Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a long time Republican leader, has firmly distanced himself from these deplorable acts and it is time that every responsible Orange County Republican leader – from party officials, to the Lincoln Club to the New Majority – joined him in this principled position.
While partisan debate is welcome in our electoral process, hate is not an American value and it should never be tolerated. The Democratic Party is a party of inclusion. The response of the Orange County Republican leadership to this recent hateful display will determine whether the Democratic Party will remain the only true party of inclusion in this county.
Frank Barbaro
Chair, Democratic Party of Orange County
Rima Nashashibi
Vice Chair, Democratic Party of Orange County
TWISTED LOGIC
POOR OLD MUSLIMS – THEY GET INSULTED – WE GET BEHEADED
The Pope says that jihad violence is against God’s nature, and officials fear that in response, Muslims enraged by this insult will commit… jihad violence.
Muslims murder 3,000 innocents in New York and expect no criticism.
Muslims murder 202 tourists in Bali and expect no criticism.
Muslims murder 333 schoolchildren and their teachers in Beslan and expect no criticism.
Muslims murder 292 innocents, mainly Kenyans and Tanzanians at two US Embassies and expect no criticism.
Muslims murder 241 US and 58 French peacekeepers in Beirut and expect no criticism.
Muslims fire 4,000 Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel killing over 50 innocent civilians and expect no criticism.
Muslims murder 52 in London and 191 in Madrid and expect no criticism.
Muslims murder 200 in Mumbai and expect no criticism.
Muslims behead Western hostages in Iraq, Buddhist monks in Thailand and Christian schoolgirls in Indonesia and expect no criticism.
Muslims murder 500,000 in Darfur and expect no criticism.
Muslims regard Jews as ‘sons of pigs and monkeys’, and vow to nuke Israel and expect no criticism.
Muslims force women to wear hideous sacks, stone to death women for getting raped and for leaving the home unescorted, engage in honor killings of sisters and daughters for unapproved dating, and expect no criticism.
Muslims danced in the streets and handed out sweets to their kids to celebrate the 9/11 atrocity, and still expected no criticism.
Since 9/11 Muslims have killed over 26,000 and wounded over 50,000 in terrorist attacks worldwide since 9/11 and expect no criticism.
Since 9/11 Muslims have committed terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chad, Chechnya, Dagestan, Denmark, East Timor, Egypt, England, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ingushetia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Jordan-Iraq, Kabardino-Balkans, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Gaza-Palestinian Authority, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Republic, United States, Uzbekistan and Yemen, and still expect no criticism.
Muslims have carried out over 5,800 fatal terrorist atrocities since 9/11, and countless thousands since Islamic conquest began in 623 AD and expect no criticism. But if a Pope dares to tell the truth about Islam or Danes publish cartoons about Mohammed, then let the outpourings of Islamic hate and outrage begin.
And, by some twisted reach of logic, the se arrogant thug s demand the Pope issue an apology.
Keep this one going ………..
Anonymous,
You seem to believe that “Muslims = Terrorists.”
You could not be more wrong. Terrorists exist in all ethnicities and faiths. It is a hateful and narrow-minded perspective to lump the people of an entire religious faith as terrorists.
There have been religious zealots from virtually all faiths that have existed through time.
It is people like you that make us less safe in this world. You are no better than the terrorists you claim to despise.
How pitiful that some people in this country are so un-evolved.
Other thoughts –
Recently:
600,000 innocent Iraqi civilians killed (many raped, tortured and/or murdered with malice) most of them by the US.
In the Past:
The Crusades – not only did they slaughter Muslims, they murdered their own as well.
How about the Spanish “Reconquista”?
Convert or die.
Sequel: The Inquisition
American Terrorists:
Oklahoma City
Atlanta GA
Women’s Clinics
Doctors stalked and murdered in their homes.
That being said – Religious fanatacism of any kind is dangerous and inherently life threatening.
My question is:
How does that preclude an Naturalized American Citizen of Arabic or Persian background from running for public office? Why is every Naturalized American Citizen of Arab/Persian background tarred as a terroist?
Answer: Bigotry
BTW Chris – I don’t think the Buddhists ever wanted world dominion.
demmother,
That is why I was careful to say “virtually all.”
🙂
I accept your response.
Huggs!
Well, this just shows that we are the alternative to the GOP’s race-baiting and veiled bigotry.
Kudos to all of you for not letting the GOP get the usual “free pass” for yet another deplorable act!
2006-10-20
L.A. Times violates journalistic ethics in Anaheim City Council election coverage
By Steven Emerson
Normally, a race for a seat on Anaheim’s City Council garners little attention beyond Anaheim. But this year, one candidate is drawing some outside attention.
Bill Dalati, a Syrian-born insurance agent, is running for a spot on Anaheim’s City Council. His candidacy has come under scrutiny because of his association with a controversial organization with known links to the Hamas terror group and his participation at a virulently anti-Israel rally this past summer.
But the Los Angeles Times has been singularly trying to portray the criticism of Dalati, made by Republican Shawn Steel, as racist and unsubstantiated.
On July 29 of this year, during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which was set off by Hezbollah’s July 12 cross-border raid and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, Dalati attended an anti-Israel rally in Anaheim. In its coverage of the City Council race, the Associated Press reported that Dalati referred to the event merely as an “anti-war rally.” And the L.A. Times reported on Oct. 9 that Dalati “defended his association with the rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict,” quoting him as saying, “I’m not against Jews or Christians … I don’t support Hezbollah. I just don’t believe wars solve any issues; love does.”
But the situation is not nearly as innocuous as the L.A. Times and Associated Press would have one believe. The Anaheim protest was about anything but “love.” The rally was not merely “anti-war” and the attendees were not merely “protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict.” The event in question was billed by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, one of the sponsors of the demonstration, as a “Rally Against U.S.-Israeli Terror in Palestine & Lebanon,” hardly a neutral, let alone credible “anti-war” sentiment.
Although the rally drew little mainstream media attention, what little coverage there was whitewashed the content of the demonstration, giving cover for the AP, the L.A. Times and Dalati himself to downplay the nature of the event.
Fortunately, a participant at the rally created a slideshow of the demonstration, posted on YouTube, which shows various demonstrators carrying such signs as “Israel Likes Killing Kids,” “Killing Kids Is Not Self Defense” and “End the U.S.-Israeli War,” as well as the more typical signs seen at various anti-Israel protests, such as “Stop Israeli War Crimes” and “$134 Billion US Taxes To Israel — Enough.”
Whatever one thinks of American foreign policy and support for Israel, the July rally cannot be fairly described either as simply “anti-war” or just “protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict.”
There were no signs indicating any disapproval of Hezbollah’s actions — the capture of Israeli soldiers — which started the war, nor were there any signs indicating any disapproval of Hezbollah’s indiscriminate shelling of Israeli towns with Katusha rockets (packed with scrap metal and ball bearings to cause as much damage to humans as possible), nor any condemnation of Hezbollah’s use of civilians as human shields in Lebanon. There were no signs indicating any disapproval of the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants and no calls for Hamas — now the majority in the Palestinian government — to moderate its stance rejecting the existence of Israel to help pave the way for peace.
Yet, the L.A. Times again came to the defense of Dalati on Oct. 13, in falsely describing this rally in evenhanded terms as a “rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict.”
In the original story on Dalati, the L.A. Times also refers to Dalati’s support of and association with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), describing the organization as it often describes itself: “the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country” and stating uncritically that CAIR is “largely viewed as a mainstream organization.” In the second L.A. Times story, the newspaper drops any pretension of reportorial objectivity in its embrace of CAIR: “The largest Muslim civil rights group in the country, CAIR is widely viewed as mainstream and helps the FBI in combating terrorism.”
While CAIR may call itself the “largest Muslim civil rights group” in America, the Times completely ignores CAIR’s well-documented history of extremism, anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, as well as its origins in a now-defunct group, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), an organization that was a losing defendant in a $156 million civil judgment related to the Hamas murder of an American citizen. In the case, the judge noted that there is “evidence that IAP provided material support to Hamas.”
Similarly, during a 1994 speech at Florida’s Barry University, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad stated, “I am in support of the Hamas movement.” Awad was the public relations director of IAP before founding CAIR. And this is what Awad said six years later, on Oct. 28, 2000, in a Washington, D.C., anti-Israeli rally: “Brothers and sisters, we are at least 8 million people, but there are 265 million people in this country who have been deceived, who have been misinformed, who have been intimidated by a small group of people who have been hijacking the political process.”
Additionally, several CAIR officials have been convicted on terrorist-related charges. One of them, Randall “Ismail” Royer, CAIR’s former communications specialist, trained to fight with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a designated foreign terrorist organization, against Indian forces in the disputed territory of Kashmir. Royer pled guilty to weapons and explosives charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the notorious “Virginia jihad” case.
A founding board member of CAIR-Texas, Ghassan Elashi, is in even greater legal trouble than Royer. Elashi was convicted on a variety of charges in July 2004, including violating the Libyan Sanctions Regulations, and he was found guilty in April 2005 of a Hamas-related money laundering conspiracy, handling money of top Hamas official, the Damascus-based Musa Abu Marzook. Elashi is awaiting his sentencing for both convictions (Elashi’s brother, Bayan, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Oct. 11, 2006, for his role in laundering money for Hamas). And Ghassan Elashi is still awaiting another trial, slated to begin in 2007, for his leadership role in the Hamas-linked “charity,” the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based organization shut down in 2001 for allegedly funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.
CAIR has defended Marzook, participating in his legal defense fund when he was arrested in the United States, as well as including his arrest in its annual catalog of hate crimes against Muslims. CAIR’s defense of, and links to, anti-Semitic individuals is also unfortunate and extensive.
CAIR officials have defended radical Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim, who at a May 24, 1998, CAIR co-sponsored rally at Brooklyn College in New York, led the audience in a song with the lyrics: “No to the Jews, descendants of the apes.”
Ghoneim gave numerous speeches in the United States calling for suicide bombings. Hussam Ayloush, CAIR’s Southern California director quoted in the L.A. Times article, was one of Ghoneim’s staunchest defenders, calling Ghoneim’s decision to forgo fighting deportation proceedings for overstaying his visa and voluntarily leave the United States “a dent in our civil rights struggle,” and “[t]he whole Muslim community today is under a microscope of scrutiny. Committing a mistake that would invite a slap on the wrist for anyone else could lead to prison or deportation for a Muslim.”
At the time, Ghoneim had already been denied entry into Canada because of his links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Similarly, CAIR officials have also vigorously defended Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami al-Arian, who has referred to Jews as “monkeys and pigs.”
As for CAIR helping the FBI in counterterrorism, consider this exchange in Los Angeles on Sept. 7, 2006, in a press conference featuring various Islamic groups, including CAIR, and a representative of the FBI, Warren Bamford. A reporter asked Bamford whether the dialogue with the Islamic groups helped in the investigations the FBI was conducting. “At this time, I don’t have any specific recollection of any times that it has helped our investigations.” In point of fact, CAIR actively obstructs FBI investigations by issuing warnings against talking to the FBI and portraying the war on terrorism as a “war against Islam.”
Dalati was also criticized by a rival candidate for endorsing former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.). McKinney espoused virulent anti-American and anti-Israeli conspiracy theories, so much so that even fellow Democrats repudiated her. But the L.A. Times simply referred to McKinney as “a liberal Democrat who has been critical of President Bush and the Iraq War.” This makes McKinney sound mainstream, the equivalent of describing David Duke as “critical of U.S. foreign policy.”
Dalati may understandably want to whitewash CAIR’s extremism, the rally in which he participated and Cynthia McKinney’s record. But given the ability to check the veracity of such claims, the L.A. Times’ embrace of this revisionist history is a violation of all journalistic ethics. The L.A. Times has the resources to research the organization but instead choose just to parrot its propaganda.
Dalati’s characterization of the July 26 Anaheim rally as merely “anti-war,” however, is cause for concern, and his candidacy is rightly drawing a higher level of scrutiny and attention than the average race for a seat on Anaheim’s City Council.
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