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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
October 2007 Page II
After 22 years: Evidence emerges in slaying of Arab American leader, Alex Odeh
Oct 11: Federal and local authorities have uncovered new evidence in the bombing that killed a prominent Arab American civil rights leader in Santa Ana 22 years ago today, in one of the first acts of modern-day terrorism in the United States. The undisclosed evidence, including statements from a now-deceased informant, is not expected to immediately solve the slaying of Alex Odeh, but law enforcement officials familiar with the long-running investigation said the information provided new details about how the attack on the onetime Western regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee was planned and carried out. Alex Odeh, 41, was killed and seven people were injured Oct. 11, 1985, when a bomb exploded as he opened the door to the committee's Santa Ana office. The attack occurred 12 hours after Odeh appeared on a local television broadcast and criticized the news media for linking the Palestine Liberation Organization to the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. Within days of Odeh's death, the FBI said it believed the militant Jewish Defense League was behind the attack as well as two other bombings months earlier on the East Coast. The link, authorities said at the time, involved the explosive devices used in all three incidents. The JDL was founded in 1968 by Meir Kahane, a Brooklyn rabbi who moved to Israel in 1970 and founded the Kach Party, which called for forcibly removing all Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories. He was assassinated in New York in 1990. Over the years the FBI focused on several onetime JDL members in its investigation of Odeh's death. (Los Angeles Times)
Empire State building tower lit for Eid-al-Fitr
Oct 12: The Empire State Building was illuminated green this weekend (Oct 12-14) to mark the Islamic holy days of Eid-al-Fitr. This year is the first time the famous skyscraper was aglow for the Islamic holiday. A spokeswoman for the building's owner says it will be an annual event, in the same tradition of the yearly skyscraper lighting for Christmas and Hanukah. (Media reports)
Little evidence of jihadists in the U.S.
Oct 15: Six years of investigations and prosecutions have turned up little evidence of Islamic jihadists at work in the United States, according to a study released today. The study, conducted by New York University's Center on Law and Security, tracked 510 cases billed as terrorism-related when arrests were made. But it found only 158 of those people arrested since al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks were prosecuted for terrorism. The study found only four people -- including confessed al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid -- were convicted of planning attacks within the United States. "The vast majority of cases turn out to include no link to terrorism once they go to court," the report found. The analysis "suggests the presence of few, if any, prevalent terrorist threats currently within the U.S." The report questioned the usefulness of the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act, passed after the September 11, 2001, attacks, finding prosecutors relied primarily on previous laws. "Although we are just beginning to discern the true extent and manner in which the administration has used the sweeping investigative powers granted by the Patriot Act, the record indicates that the criminal law provides an adequate tool set for trying suspected terrorists," the report stated.(CNN)
US lawmakers' apology to Maher Arar
Oct 18: Syrian-born Maher Arar told a congressional hearing his 10 months in a Syrian jail had been "hell". Mr Arar appeared by video link from Canada because he remains on a US government watch list. A Canadian government inquiry cleared him of any involvement in terrorism. Syria denies that he was tortured. Mr Arar appeared on a giant screen before a joint hearing of House of Representatives committees into "extraordinary rendition". This term refers to a highly secretive process by which US intelligence agencies send terror suspects for interrogation by security officials in other countries, where they have no legal protection or rights under US law. Mr Arar described being detained by US homeland security agents at New York's JFK airport and of later being sent by private jet to Syria, where he spent 10 months in a prison cell he described as a grave. Mr Arar was later released without charge. The Canadian government has formally apologised to Mr Arar and offered him compensation amounting to more than $10 million. (BBC)
After seven months, man has freedom but not answers
Oct 20: Iyad Abuhajjaj, 37, walked out of jail last week with as many questions as he had when he went in 7-1/2 months earlier. Over those weeks, he had been questioned by police detectives, FBI agents, newspaper reporters and attorneys. Every part of his life from birth to now was spilled and discussed in detail with strangers. And yet, he says, he never got the answer he craved: Why was he held by immigration authorities 3,000 miles from home? Justice Department and immigration officials won't talk about his case. He was detained on February 28 in Florida. He was jailed in Tampa but was moved to Okaloosa County. On March 14, he pleaded not guilty, posted $20,000 bail and expected to be released. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security took him into custody and shipped him to the Wakulla County Jail in Crawfordville. Abuhajjaj's attorney wrote in court documents that Abuhajjaj believed he was being detained to force him to spy on fellow Muslims. (St. Petersburg Times)
‘Islamo-Fascism’ week speaker meets with european 'neo-nazis'
Oct 21: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) revealed today that Robert Spencer, the main speaker for an upcoming series of "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" lectures at university campuses nationwide recently offered a keynote address at a European gathering that included representatives of racist or "neo-Nazi" political parties. Spencer recently spoke at a so-called "Counterjihad Brussels 2007" conference in Belgium attended by those with links to far-right parties such as Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang (Belgium) and Ted Ekeroth of Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden). Both parties have been accused of either having a racist platform, a neo-Nazi past or having links to neo-Nazis and other racists. Author Robert Spencer, who is scheduled to appear beginning next week at universities such as Brown, DePaul and Dartmouth, is regarded by American Muslims as one of the nation's worst Islamophobes. His virulently anti-Islam website promotes the idea that life for Muslims in the West should be made so difficult that they will leave. (CAIR Bulletin)
Islamophboia week at US campuses: Spreading hatred under the guise of patriotism
Oct 22: Borrowing from President Bush’s terminology ‘Islamo-Fascists,’ a notorious band of ultra-right wing Arabphobes and Islamophobes today embarked on a new project to spread fear and hatred under the guise of patriotism and freedom. Packaged as “Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week,” David Horowitz, a neo-conservative polemicist, is leading the Arab/Muslim-basing efforts at campuses across the nation. In the past, David Horowitz, the self-appointed chief of the new campus thought police, has organized witch-hunts against progressive academics and attempted to introduce legislation to enforce “codes of conduct” that would silence “left-wing” voices on campus. This time his target of the Oct. 22-26 Islamo-Fascist Week are Islam and Arabs/Muslims.Horowitz asks students participating in the campaign to disseminate presentations, such as “The Islamic Mein Kampf,” (meaning the Quran). He also tries to connect Islam with fascism and Arabs and Muslims with Nazis. He proclaimed that Palestinians are the “quintessential Islamo-Fascists” and that their cause is “genocidal.” Horowitz’s personal Web site is home to comments such as, “There is no distinction in the American Muslim community between peaceful Muslims and jihadists,” and, “Put a complete stop to Muslim immigration, and find creative ways to deport all Muslim non-citizens. These two measures would be accompanied by the creation of an environment where the practice of Islam is made not easy but difficult.” Horowitz is organizing speaking engagements at colleges and universities for the likes of Ann Coulter, Daniel Pipes, Dennis Prager, Sean Hannity, Robert Spencer, Rick Santorium and Wafa Sultan. (AMP Report)
Mistrial declared for 5 defendants in Holy Land Foundation charity case
Oct 22: A judge in Dallas, Texas, declared a mistrial today for most former leaders of a Muslim charity charged with financing Hamas militants after jurors failed to reach a verdict. One of the defendants, former Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development Chairman Mohammed El-Mezain, was acquitted of most charges. The outcome came about an hour after a confusing scene in the courtroom, in which three former leaders of the group were initially found not guilty. But then when jurors were polled, three of them said those verdicts were read incorrectly. U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish sent then back to resolve the differences, then declared a mistrial a short time later. After about an hour of renewed deliberations, Fish said he received a note from jury saying 11 of 12 feel further discussion would not lead to a unanimous decision. In all, five former Holy Land leaders and the group were accused of providing aid to the Middle Eastern militant group Hamas. The U.S. government designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1995 and again in 1997, making financial transactions with the group illegal. The Holy Land case is the most significant terror-financing trial since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. President Bush personally announced the seizure of Holy Land's assets in December 2001, effectively shutting down the group. (Houston Chronicle)
The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
Oct 23: The U.S. House of Representatives has quietly passed the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism (read Thought Crime) Prevention Act of 2007. The bill, passed today by a landslide vote of 404 to 6, has been referred to the Senate where it awaits scrutiny from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Interestingly, of the fifteen sponsors for this bill, eleven of them are Democrats. The bill's vague and open-ended language hides its true intent as to what "violent radicalization" and "homegrown terrorism" are, whatever the administration says they are. Violent radicalization is defined as "adopting or promoting an extremist belief system (to facilitate) ideologically based violence to advance political, religious or social change." It is apprehended that just like the Patriot Act, that abridged the civil rights of all Americans but Muslims became its immediately target, the new bill’s immediate focus may also be the Muslims. Jeff Stein, National Security Editor of the Congress Quarterly says that the bill doesn’t actually single out Islamic radicalism as a target, although a reasonable interpretation of the bill leads to that conclusion. The CQ also quoted a Senate staffer, who has examined the legislation, as saying that if a new commission is really necessary to look at the extremist groups it should at least be specific about its target: radical Islamic extremists. (AMP Report)
Bill may revamp school bias rules in California
Oct 23: The state Department of Education will check to make sure school districts have policies and procedures in place to address reports of bias-related discrimination and harassment — something many California districts do not have. Several advocacy groups — the Asian Law Caucus, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Council on American-Islamic Relations among them — held a news conference today in San Francisco to announce Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggers Oct. 12 signing of Assembly Bill 394. Sponsored by Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, AB394 notes the 2004-06 California Healthy Kids Survey shows between 27 and 30 percent of middle and high school students have reported being harassed because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability. Angela Chan, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, said the bill signed into law made it policy that students should not face discrimination. It is interpreted, she said, to require school districts have policies and procedures in place. Mahrukh Hasan, civil rights coordinator for the Bay Area Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said there has been a growing number of incidents against Muslims in general, now at their highest level since the surge right after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Tamara Lange, a staff attorney for the ACLU, said such incidents can escalate into major violence. The victims can also suffer academically; for example, she said, there is a 27 percent dropout among transgender students. (Tri-Valley Herald)
Islam sparks fiery debate in Quebec
Oct 23: For an area where Muslims make up less than 0.7 per cent of the local population, Islam repeatedly came up as a source of anxiety tonight as the public commission looking at religious accommodations stopped in the Mauricie area, midway between Montreal and Quebec City. It was in this region that the village of Hérouxville made headlines last year with its "code of conduct" warning prospective newcomers that practices such as wearing face veils or stoning women would not be tolerated. While the code was decried by pundits as a mean-spirited caricature of Islam, its initiators say they have been flooded with supportive mail from across Quebec. On the one hand tonight, there were people like Jean-Pierre Trépanier, who made the first remarks at the open-mike forum attended by more than 180 people. "I am ashamed to be a Quebecker when I hear the stupidities and inanities such as those of Hérouxville," Mr. Trépanier said. But most who followed him had gripes against minorities. (Globe and Mail)
Terror watch list swells to more than 755,000
Oct 23: The government's terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list's effectiveness.The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people. "It undermines the authority of the list," says Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies. "There's just no rational, reasonable estimate that there's anywhere close to that many suspected terrorists." (USA Today)
Eighth mosque attacked in Italy’s northern region of Lombardy
Oct 24: A mosque in a small town outside Milan has been the target of a violent attack - the eighth on mosques in the region of Lombardy surrounding the city. Italian media reports said the Alif Baa Islamic Centre, in the northern Italian city of Abbiategrasso, 20 kilometres west of Milan, was subjected to fresh violence today. Witnesses said a masked man was seen throwing a Molotov cocktail inside the courtyard of the mosque from his motorcycle in the late afternoon. No major damage or injuries were reported in the attack. This is the eighth assault against Islamic centres in the region of Lombardy in recent months. The Alif Baa Islamic Centre reported other attacks on 25 July and 10 August this year. Another mosque in the nearby city of Segrate was attacked on 5 August and the car of the Imam, Hamid Zariate, was destroyed. (AKI)
Continued on page III
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