New York, U.S.A. — The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate uncooked bacon scattered at the site of a planned prayer in Staten Island marking the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan as a possible hate crime.

CAIR-NY also asked political candidates seeking office in the November elections to stop promoting and exploiting anti-Muslim prejudice and urged all elected officials to repudiate growing anti-Muslim hate.

According to the organizers of the Sunday prayer service, the bacon was apparently used to desecrate the prayer site at Staten Island’s New Dorp Beach park. They discovered the bacon Sunday morning as they arrived at the site. (Muslims are prohibited from eating pork products and anti-Muslim bigots often use the animal as a means to taunt or offend Muslims, such as in a similar incident recently targeting a California mosque.)

The planned site for the prayer service was made public in local news media the night before.

Comments on a Staten Island Advance online article covering the Muslim holiday, by a person identified as “midland007,” stated: (Spelling and grammatical errors maintained.)

“I am going to walk my pet pig and i am gonna let him take a nice fat dump in the field ….just in time for morning prayers (:” And: “They should send in a assault team and rid Staten island of all the muslim terrorists”

The Muslim community in America celebrated the end of Ramadan with communal Eid ul-Fitr prayers around the country on Sunday 19th. Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims abstain from food, drink and other pleasures from sunrise to sunset.

On Friday, CAIR said that in light of recent hate incidents targeting American Muslims, it was asking mosques and Islamic institutions nationwide to step up security for the end-of-Ramadan prayers. In its advisory, CAIR noted that in the past few days alone, hate incidents in Illinois included desecration of Muslim graves, a shooting at a mosque in Morton Grove and an acid bomb thrown at an Islamic school in Lombard.

In other states, a mosque was burned to the ground in Joplin, Mo., vandals sprayed an Oklahoma mosque with paintballs, pigs legs were thrown at a mosque-site in California, and a firebomb was thrown at a Muslim family’s home in Panama City, Fla.

“These incidents are not a coincidence. We believe the recent surge in acts of bigotry and hatred is directly linked to the words of elected officials and those running for office who have used anti-Muslim bigotry as a campaign strategy,” said CAIR-NY Executive Director Muneer Awad.

He said Rep. Bob Turner, New York State Senator David Storobin and Assembly candidate Ben Askelrod, among others, have expressed public opposition to Muslim houses of worship being built in New York.

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The Florida branches of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference on July 11 to condemn anti-terrorism training conducted and the anti-terrorism training manual, A Law Enforcement Guide to Understanding Islamist Terrorism, by Sam Khabora, as “factually erroneous and biased.”

The Tampa CAIR’s press conference – presented by Director Hassan Shibly- not only announced its rejection of Khabora’s statements and training but also stated that it has sent its concerns in a letter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

According to Shibly, trainings like Kharoba’s “makes our country less safe and less free.” Shibly went on to elaborate that the training makes us less free because it wastes police resources and time on training that is inaccurate, and that it makes Americans less free because it encourages the persecution of religion.

CAIR’s first concern was that Kharoba is not qualified to speak on the topic of Islam. Kharoba ‘s certifcation in the area of Islamic culture comes from an “Advanced Level General Certificate of Education in Arabic Culture” in the United Kingdom, which CAIR claims is the equivalent of an AP course in high school.

Additionally, CAIR pointed out at their press conference that much of the Islamic community in the United States is not of Arab descent. In fact, according to the US Department of State statistics in 2010 the majority of Arab Americans (two thirds) are Christian and the majority (up to one third) of Muslims in the United States are African-Americans.

Kharoba’s other claim to authority is that he lived in the Middle East for seventeen years. Shibly stated that letting Kharoba teach police based on this argument is like claiming that “any person who lives in America is qualified to talk about American history and Christianity in America.” In the letter to the FDLE, CAIR states, “Kharoba has neither the academic nor the operational background to qualify as a subject matter expert on either Islam or countering violent extremism.”

CAIR also cites other organizations, news agencies, and government officials who have rejected Kharoba’s training as biased and incorrect. The Washington Monthly March/April 2011 edition reported on Kharoba’s training in an article entitled “How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam.”

The article clearly states several instances in which Kharoba makes sweeping generalizations about Islamic culture and Muslims including claiming that the Prophet Muhammad was a rapist, Islam is not a religion of peace, corner stores owned by Muslims are a way for Hezbollah to launder money, and wearing a headband is a sign of a martyr. According to the article Kharoba advocates for “legal harassment” in which police officers should identify Muslims in their neighborhoods and keep track of what activities they do and which properties they own.

In a similar article published in June of 2011 by the Broward Bulldog Kharoba’s teachings were “equate[d] to ethnic and religious profiling.” The article goes on to state that the US Department of Justice “have rejected such techniques as unconstitutional and discriminatory.”

According to CAIR, the Chairman and Ranking member of the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder that first quotes Kharoba and states, “these comments [from Kharoba], of course, are neither factually accurate nor consistent with our nation’s fundamental values and are not made by adequately trained personnel. It appears, however, that some of these so-called experts have neither the academic nor operational background in the material about which they train.”

An FDLE Spokesperson, Gretl Plessinger stated that the FDLE has received the letter and is reviewing the claims. She could not comment, yet, on how the FDLE will address the concerns as the facts and information must be re-examined. She also stated that Sam Kharoba is not certified as a trainer by the FDLE. Instead, he has been hired by individual training centers that the FDLE has certified. According to Plessinger, Kharoba has been used in the past as a counter-terrorism instructor and that they have received positive feedback from those who have taken the course.

CAIR also claims that the responses to the training law enforcement has received from Kharoba is “troubling.” One response that CAIR points out in particular is that an officer stated, “going to make sure we have completed surveys of existing ME/Muslim population and have a clearer understanding of their properties.”

Also speaking at the press conference was Bishop of the Apostolic Church and President of the Florida Council of Churches Chuck Leigh. Bishop Leigh castigated the training as “spending money on bigotry” that Kharoba’s alleged misrepresentations of Islam “offends the very heart of Christianity.” The Bishop went on to state, “I think God is offended by it.”

CAIR is the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the United States. Chapters of the non-profit organization can be found across the United States and work with local communities on education and outreach. Hassan Shibly, the Director of the Tampa CAIR chapter, stated that CAIR emphasizes preventative education because their philosophy is ignorance breeds hate.

CAIR also represents Muslims across the United States in discrimination cases and fights laws that are viewed as discriminatory toward the Islamic community. Currently there are about 40,000 Muslims who fall within the area of the Tampa CAIR chapter, and there are forty open cases of discrimination.

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Washington, U.S.A. — On Wednesday, July 11, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations will hold news conferences in Tampa and Pembroke Pines to release a letter from a coalition of Muslim organizations that asks the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to address its repeated use of a notorious anti-Muslim bigot as a counterterrorism trainer.

At the news conferences, CAIR-FL will release a letter sent to the FDLE requesting that the department no longer use Sam Kharoba of the Counter Terrorism Operations Center (CTOC) as a trainer on issues related to Islam and Muslims.

The coalition’s letter asserts that Kharoba’s training materials on Islam are riddled with inaccuracies, sweeping generalizations and stereotypes, that he is unqualified as a subject matter expert on either Islam or countering violent extremism, and that his training has elicited disturbingly prejudiced responses from trainees.

That letter also asks that officers who received Kharoba’s biased training be given accurate and unbiased retraining by credible experts and that the FDLE adopt a policy ensuring that those offering counterterrorism training be vetted for their academic credentials, operational experience and accuracy of course content.

Documents obtained by CAIR-FL reveal at least 21 separate trainings conducted by Kharoba in Florida from 2005-2012. In many cases, these trainings were sanctioned by the FDLE.

The documents were obtained through a nationwide effort in which CAIR chapters filed 87 separate public records requests about possible Islamophobic training of local, state and national law enforcement personnel.

Kharoba’s main training manual, “A Law Enforcement Guide to Understanding Islamist Terrorism,” combines vile accusations against Islam, sweeping generalizations targeting all Muslims and factual inaccuracies, according to CAIR.

About the manual, the coalition letter states: “Objective readers of this material will walk away with a clear impression that Al-Qaeda and its ideological allies are representative of mainstream Islam and that all Muslims lie as a matter of routine.”

The first chapter of Kharoba’s training manual attacks the entire religion of Islam and attempts to prove, through selective evidence, that it is inherently violent. He writes: “Most of us have heard statements similar to ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ and that ‘Muslim radicals hijacked, twisted and altered Islam to justify their Jihad against non-Muslims.’ This book will provide definitive proof contradicting these statements and allegations.”

In its 2011 investigative report, “How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam,” Washington Monthly quoted Kharoba: “‘When I look at the life of Muhammad, I get a very nasty image,’ said Kharoba. . .’And that is just to start off with. Anyone who says that Islam is a religion of peace,’ he continued, ‘is either ignorant or flat out lying.’”

CAIR also recently called on the Department of Defense to dismiss an instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia, who taught fellow officers that only a “total war” on Islam would protect America, that they should use “Hiroshima” tactics, target civilian populations, and abandon the Geneva Conventions. The instructor of that course was later relieved of his teaching duties.

The Washington-based Muslim civil rights organization has also called on the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security and Congress to provide oversight for apparently widespread anti-Muslim bias in the training of law enforcement, security and military personnel nationwide.

An 80-page report by Political Research Associates (PRA), titled “Manufacturing the Muslim Menace: Private Firms, Public Servants, & the Threat to Rights and Security,” details a systemic failure to regulate content in counterterrorism training.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.

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Washington, U.S.A. — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) asked state and federal law enforcement authorities on July 6 to investigate a possible bias motive for vandalism of a South Carolina mosque.

CAIR said that vandals threw a large outdoor, concrete ashtray through a window at the Islamic Center of South Carolina earlier this week, causing $1,200 in damage.

The Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization noted that the incident fits a pattern of recent arson and vandalism targeting American Mosques. CAIR has contacted the local FBI office about the vandalism.

On July 5 CAIR called for a state and federal hate crime investigation of what officials are calling a “suspicious” fire at a Missouri mosque and for a similar probe of hate vandalism targeting a Muslim family in Texas. Several mosque arson cases have been reported nationwide in the last two years. In August 2010 construction equipment for a mosque was burned and destroyed in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Then in April 2011 a Springfield mosque found three copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, burned outside the mosque with a threatening note. Two more arson attacks were reported in May and October of 2011 in Houston, Texas and Wichita, Kansas respectively. Most recently another mosque was bombed in Queens, New York with patrons still inside; none were reported injured.

“Whenever a house of worship is targeted in this manner, state and national law enforcement authorities should consider the possibility of a bias motive,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.

Hooper said CAIR is urging Muslim individuals and institutions to review advice on security procedures contained in its “Muslim Community Safety Kit.” The Safety Kit includes tips about how to interact with the community, including contacting community leaders to discuss concerns, and reporting suspicious behavior.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.

Image Courtesy of   Sailing “Footprints: Real to Reel” (Ronn ashore)

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Washington, U.S.A. – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on June 19 called on Apple to change its policy following reports of Farsi-speaking customers being denied service.

CAIR is consulting with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) on this and other discrimination cases. Some members of the Iranian-American community prefer the use of “Persian” to describe the language of Iran.

Two Apple customers in Georgia, U.S.A. said that local stores refused to sell them merchandise after they were overheard speaking Farsi, the language of Iran. One woman, a U.S. citizen and University of Georgia student, said an Apple employee refused to sell her an iPad Thursday, June 14 after hearing her and a relative talking.

An Apple Store manager reportedly cited a policy prohibiting sales to Iran. Later the manager showed the policy that stated the exportation, sale, or supply from U.S. to Iran of any Apple goods is not allowed unless the U.S. government authorizes it. An Apple customer service representative later apologized and told the woman she could buy the iPad online.

The woman, Sahar Sabet, reported that the employee who refused to sell her the iPad stated, “I just can’t sell this to you. Our countries have bad relations.”

Another customer of Iranian heritage reportedly had a similar experience at another Apple Store.

“Apple must revise its policies to ensure that customers do not face discriminatory treatment based on their religion, ethnicity or national origin,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “If the actions of these Apple employees reflected company policy, that policy must be changed and all employees retrained.”

Awad agreed with those who noted that not selling embargoed merchandise to Farsi speakers would be like not selling the same items to Spanish speakers because they might be from Cuba or Korean speakers because they might be from North Korea.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the New York Post to apologize for publishing a political cartoon that the Muslim civil rights group says “evokes anti-Semitic themes” through its depiction of hook-nosed terrorists objecting to the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) widespread campaign of spying on Muslims without warrants or evidence of wrongdoing.

View the cartoon:
http://tinyurl.com/7s6llpm

CAIR is also asking American Muslims and other people of conscience to contact the newspaper and to politely ask that they apologize for the offensive cartoon. E-Mail: letters@nypost.com, Copy to:info@cair.com

The cartoon by Sean Delonas was published Friday in the Post and shows the turban-wearing, hook-nosed terrorists preparing bombs and weapons in an apartment, with an NYPD vehicle in the street. One of the terrorists is depicted on the phone with The Associated Press news agency, and says: “Hello, AP Press?. . .I’d like to register a complaint against the N.Y.P.D. for spying on us.”

The cartoonist’s reference is to a series of Associated Press investigative articles exposing the NYPD’s spying on Muslim individuals, students, businesses, and religious institutions –- a campaign that has been condemned as unconstitutional by American Muslim and civil liberties groups.

Video: NJ Muslims Condemn NYPD Spying (CAIR)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2ioUX1-h5Y

CAIR-NJ: Muslims Denounce ‘Complete Betrayal’ of NYPD Surveillance
http://tinyurl.com/6msj2z3

NYPD Spying Program Aimed at Muslims
http://tinyurl.com/6sf8myz

“This offensive and inaccurate political cartoon evokes anti-Semitic themes that would be recognized by any historian of pre-war Nazi Germany,” said Zead Ramadan, board president of CAIR’s New York chapter. “The cartoon is not only offensive in its portrayal of a religious minority; it is also inaccurate in its depiction of those targeted by the NYPD spy campaign in that there is no evidence that those monitored were suspected of wrongdoing of any kind.”

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on Mayor Richard Meehan of Ocean City, Md., to reconsider his speaking invitation to retired Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin, who believes that “[Islam] should not be protected under the First Amendment” and that there should be “no mosques in America.” Boykin is scheduled to speak at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast on January 26.

In a letter he emailed to Mayor Meehan, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper wrote in part:

“We question the appropriateness of this choice for an official event, given Boykin’s long, shameful history of extreme and bigoted views. . . It will be a discredit to your office and a disservice to the citizens of Ocean City if such a man is allowed to spread his divisive falsehoods and prejudiced ideas at a government-sponsored function.

“We respectfully ask whether any taxpayer funds are being spent on this year’s Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, and how your office plans to address the appearance of an official endorsement of Boykin’s extremist views. We ask that you reconsider inviting him, given that the biased ideas he espouses — though protected by the First Amendment — should be repudiated, not given a legitimizing platform.”

Boykin’s views came under scrutiny in 2003 when media reports revealed that in a public discussion of his efforts to capture a Muslim Somali warlord, Boykin said: “I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.” Speaking in uniform, the general said America’s “spiritual enemy. . .will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus.”

Since then, Boykin has continued to openly attack Islam and portray Muslims as a “threat,” even stating that there can be no interfaith dialogue or cooperation between Muslims and Christians. In September 2011, Boykin declared on the radio show Focal Point that there should be “no mosques in America.”

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s leading Muslim civil liberties organization, has condemned “inaccurate and offensive” remarks by GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, who said that the concept of equality “doesn’t come from Islam” or “Eastern religions.” He claimed equality comes from “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:

“The Quran, Islam’s revealed text, is the best refutation of Mr. Santorum’s inaccurate and offensive remarks, which are unbecoming of anyone who hopes to hold our nation’s highest office. Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same God and share religious traditions that promote justice and equality.

“God states in the Quran: ‘Say ye: ‘We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.’ (The Holy Quran, 2:136)

“The Quran and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stress racial and gender equality. The Prophet said: ‘All people are equal as the teeth of a comb.’

“As the Prophet said in his last sermon: ‘All humankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab. Also, a white person has no superiority over a black person, nor does someone who is black have any superiority over someone who is white — except by piety and good action.’

“The Prophet once told a companion: ‘You are not better than people (of other races) unless you excel them in piety.’ (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1361)

“Islam’s holy text also promotes gender equality when it states: ‘So their Lord answers their prayers, saying: ‘I will never let the (good) work of any of you, whether male or female, be wasted. You are members one of another.’ (The Holy Quran, 3:195) The Quran also states: ‘The believers, men and women, are protectors, one of another.’ (Quran 9:71)

“The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Whoever has a daughter and does not bury her alive (a pre-Islamic practice forbidden by Islam), does not insult her, and does not favor his son over her, God will enter him into Paradise.’

“We suggest that Mr. Santorum educate himself about Islam and the American Muslim community by reading the Quran that we will send to his campaign headquarters next week.”

[NOTE: CAIR has an initiative designed to send free copies of the Quran to the nation's opinion leaders and policy-makers. The Qurans are sponsored and distributed through CAIR's ongoing "Explore the Quran" campaign.

Hooper noted that CAIR recently called on Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and other GOP representatives to reaffirm their support of an American republic that treats citizens of all faiths as equals after Gingrich told a South Carolina town hall that he would only support a Muslim for the presidency if that person would "commit in public to give up Sharia [Islamic principles].”

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations and United Firm of Carolina Law announced the filing of a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines for removing two Islamic religious leaders, or imams, from a flight to a conference on Islamophobia in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier this year after the pilot refused to fly with them on board.

CAIR and UFC Law attorneys announced the lawsuit at a news conference earlier today at Memphis International Airport in Tennessee. Interfaith leaders also took part in the news conference.

The lawsuit states in part:

“Despite having been cleared twice by TSA agents, Defendants’ pilot took the matter into his own hands when he chose to eject Plaintiffs from the flight based on arbitrary and capricious reasons, including his personal preconceived notions of race, religion, and national origin.”

According to the lawsuit, the defendants violated both a federal law preventing an air carrier from subjecting a passenger to “discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or ancestry” and a Tennessee law that prohibits denying an individual the “full and equal enjoyment of the… advantages and accommodations of a place of public accommodation… on the grounds of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin.”

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction that would prohibit the defendants from “singling out passengers for mistreatment based on their perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, alienage, ancestry, and/or national origin” and order them to “take all affirmative steps necessary to remedy the effects of the illegal, discriminatory conduct described herein and to prevent similar occurrences in the future.” It also seeks attorneys’ fees and compensatory and punitive damages against Delta and Atlantic Southeast Airlines “in an amount to be determined at trial.”

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