The ISB case in Boston is not the real crux of the problem. The issue is who is funding the Roxbury Mosque and for what purposes? Consider this a wake up call as to what is occuring not only in Boston but elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada. It is also illustrative of the techniques used to gain publicity for the Muslim extremists posing as moderates.
Muslim extremists in the U.S. have manipulated our legal system to go on fishing expeditions. By filing a libel action, as in the ISB case, they obtain access to limited discovery. This includes notes and emails and widens the net of possible suspects to include in their alleged "web of conspiracy."
The problem is that anyone who questions a Muslim extremist is immediately accused of racism or intolerance. The press typically shies away from these troubling controversies because it doesn’t wish to engage in conflict over minority rights issues. The Boston Herald – and Fox News affiliate WFXT Channel 25 in Boston are both properties of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Corporation. Unlike the venerable Boston Globe , they do not kill stories by their investigative reporters, they pursue them. Now, the Boston Herald and WFXT Channel 25 in Boston are part of the ISB case.
Don’t get the impression that this is the only Mosque in Boston there are a number of them, including ones that have sought and received normal zoning approvals for expansion.
Concerns about the Roxbury Mosque focus on what is said inside which may give rise to intolerant incitement, hate and worse-religious condonment of terrorism. Mosques across the U.S. and Canada are filled with law abiding moderates who in increasing instances are finding their positions undermined by imams and funding sources out of the Middle East and Gulf region espousing extremism.
You only have to look to the case of a U.S. citizen Ahmed Abu Ali , caught in Saudi Arabia who admitted during interrogation being part of a terrorist group. The Falls Church, Virginia Muslim young man was trained at a Saudi backed school in northern Virginia before going to the Saudi University of Medina.
The ubiquitous Bray showed up before the U.S. Magistrate's hearing in Northern Virginia when Abu Ali was charged with plotting to kill President Bush. Bray said:
“We're deeply grateful to the Almighty for the return of Abu-Ali to the United States of America," said Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation Executive Director Mahdi Bray. "However, I am still greatly troubled and concerned about the manner in which our government has dealt with Abu Ali and his family.
"Nothing short of his release and return to his family is acceptable to us.”
The stench of the miasma floating around the Charles River and Boston Harbor doesn't end there with the ISB law suit. There is the matter of the manner in which the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA)-whose leaders are appointed by incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino - conveyed the land for construction of the Mosque. In effect, the BRA is subsidizing the construction of the Mosque being built adjacent to Roxbury Community College. We understand that a taxpayer action has been filed to address these questions.
The Roxbury Mosque when completed will be the largest one in the U.S. north of New York. The ISB publicly admits that the cost of building the $22 million structure is being underwritten by wealthy individuals from the Gulf region.
Look at these comments by Boston City Councilman Jerry McDermott from the Brighton–Allston District, in a recent letter to voters in his district who are members of the Russian [American] League:
“Why should an organization such as the Islamic Society of Boston be sold a piece of land for a huge discount, when they can afford to spend $22 million building a Mosque?"
"To date here is what I know. The publicly owned parcel on Malcom X
Boulevard in Roxbury was valued at almost $500,000. The BRA sold it to the Islamic Society for $175,000. The Community Benefits include sixlectures at Roxbury Community College. I have Jewish and
Protestant professors helping me do research. Both men are peaceful,
freedom loving men. They mean no harm. However our joint investigation has caused us great concern."
"I believe that after city elections on November 8 are over and things are back to normal, I can sit down with the Mayor Menino and explain in greater detail to what most people including myself were unaware of until recently. That is, specifically that someone at the BRA knew the land was being sold to buyers from Saudi Arabia. The documents for this land transaction were signed by the BRA and mailed to Saudi Arabia and notarized at the US Consulate. The money for the new Mosque has questionable origins. The content of what will be preached at the Mosque is also an area of concern. We need to investigate this matter more thoroughly. With the Mayor's help I will get to the bottom of this transaction."
"Mayor Menino and I share a common concern about the intricate details surrounding this deal between the BRA (Boston Redevelopment Authority)and the ISB (Islamic Society of Boston)……. An employee of the BRA Mohamed Ali Salam who was instrumental in making the deal is also a member of the Islamic Society of Boston. He is a major fundraiser for the ISB. This raises a conflict of interest.”
A complete digest of news report, video clips and commentary on the Roxbury Mosque matter can be found on the website of the Citizens for Truth and Tolerance . Included in the information on the website are the names of Saudi and Gulf emirate funders of the Boston Mosque.
The ISB case plaintiffs are under instruction from wise counsel to keep their powder dry. Ultimately, we trust that they will be vindicated by what famed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis once said was the "disinfectant of public exposure." If that occurs the Miasma in the estuary of the Charles River and Boston Harbor will vanish.
Miasma in Boston: What Lies behind the Expanded Libel case of the Islamic society of Boston?
By Jerry Gordon, former U.S. Military Intelligence officer, writer, activist who lives in Connecticut
The statement from the Islamic Society of Boston concerning their expansion of a libel action to include Steven Emerson of The Investigation Project in Washington, DC and the David project and Citizens for Truth and Tolerance in Boston and nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts was issued by a local PR group called the Liberty group on the day of All Hallows Eve-Halloween. A principal in the Liberty group is one Mahdi Bray who refers to himself as "the country Muslim from Norfolk, Virginia." Bray is an Afro American convert to Islam and executive director of the Freedom Foundation Muslim American Society . Under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Bray is fully entitled to change his beliefs, full stop. But neither he nor the leaders of the ISB have a right to frivolously accuse the plaintiffs of stifling the civil rights of Muslims.
Not to worry, because we understand the plaintiffs have been deluged with support from all over the world that keeps rolling in by phone, "snail" and email. The plaintiffs have also been encouraged because the Mintz, Levin law firm in Boston and other lawyers around the U.S. have signed on to represent them in a case that is clearly designed to chill freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry. That takes some of the sting out of the ISB matter.
But that won't deter Bray from genuinely interfering with the rights of others - by supporting terrorist groups and violence against the innocent. Bray, for example, appeared at a rally in October 2000 by the side of now imprisoned ISB founder Abdurraham Alamoudien, both of them proclaiming their enthusiastic support of Hamas. Bray has also appeared at rallies where violence against Israelis was publicly proclaimed as the only solution to the Arab-Israel conflict. This kind of Anti-Israel incitement is consistent with the anti-Semitic writings of former ISB Treasurer (and still Trustee) Dr. Walid Fitahi.
The ISB case in Boston is not the real crux of the problem. The issue is who is funding the Roxbury Mosque and for what purposes? Consider this a wake up call as to what is occuring not only in Boston but elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada. It is also illustrative of the techniques used to gain publicity for the Muslim extremists posing as moderates.
Muslim extremists in the U.S. have manipulated our legal system to go on fishing expeditions. By filing a libel action, as in the ISB case, they obtain access to limited discovery. This includes notes and emails and widens the net of possible suspects to include in their alleged "web of conspiracy."
The problem is that anyone who questions a Muslim extremist is immediately accused of racism or intolerance. The press typically shies away from these troubling controversies because it doesn’t wish to engage in conflict over minority rights issues. The Boston Herald – and Fox News affiliate WFXT Channel 25 in Boston are both properties of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Corporation. Unlike the venerable Boston Globe , they do not kill stories by their investigative reporters, they pursue them. Now, the Boston Herald and WFXT Channel 25 in Boston are part of the ISB case.
Don’t get the impression that this is the only Mosque in Boston there are a number of them, including ones that have sought and received normal zoning approvals for expansion.
Concerns about the Roxbury Mosque focus on what is said inside which may give rise to intolerant incitement, hate and worse-religious condonment of terrorism. Mosques across the U.S. and Canada are filled with law abiding moderates who in increasing instances are finding their positions undermined by imams and funding sources out of the Middle East and Gulf region espousing extremism.
You only have to look to the case of a U.S. citizen Ahmed Abu Ali , caught in Saudi Arabia who admitted during interrogation being part of a terrorist group. The Falls Church, Virginia Muslim young man was trained at a Saudi backed school in northern Virginia before going to the Saudi University of Medina.
The ubiquitous Bray showed up before the U.S. Magistrate's hearing in Northern Virginia when Abu Ali was charged with plotting to kill President Bush. Bray said:
“We're deeply grateful to the Almighty for the return of Abu-Ali to the United States of America," said Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation Executive Director Mahdi Bray. "However, I am still greatly troubled and concerned about the manner in which our government has dealt with Abu Ali and his family.
"Nothing short of his release and return to his family is acceptable to us.”
The stench of the miasma floating around the Charles River and Boston Harbor doesn't end there with the ISB law suit. There is the matter of the manner in which the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA)-whose leaders are appointed by incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino - conveyed the land for construction of the Mosque. In effect, the BRA is subsidizing the construction of the Mosque being built adjacent to Roxbury Community College. We understand that a taxpayer action has been filed to address these questions.
The Roxbury Mosque when completed will be the largest one in the U.S. north of New York. The ISB publicly admits that the cost of building the $22 million structure is being underwritten by wealthy individuals from the Gulf region.
Look at these comments by Boston City Councilman Jerry McDermott from the Brighton–Allston District, in a recent letter to voters in his district who are members of the Russian [American] League:
“Why should an organization such as the Islamic Society of Boston be sold a piece of land for a huge discount, when they can afford to spend $22 million building a Mosque?"
"To date here is what I know. The publicly owned parcel on Malcom X
Boulevard in Roxbury was valued at almost $500,000. The BRA sold it to the Islamic Society for $175,000. The Community Benefits include sixlectures at Roxbury Community College. I have Jewish and
Protestant professors helping me do research. Both men are peaceful,
freedom loving men. They mean no harm. However our joint investigation has caused us great concern."
"I believe that after city elections on November 8 are over and things are back to normal, I can sit down with the Mayor Menino and explain in greater detail to what most people including myself were unaware of until recently. That is, specifically that someone at the BRA knew the land was being sold to buyers from Saudi Arabia. The documents for this land transaction were signed by the BRA and mailed to Saudi Arabia and notarized at the US Consulate. The money for the new Mosque has questionable origins. The content of what will be preached at the Mosque is also an area of concern. We need to investigate this matter more thoroughly. With the Mayor's help I will get to the bottom of this transaction."
"Mayor Menino and I share a common concern about the intricate details surrounding this deal between the BRA (Boston Redevelopment Authority)and the ISB (Islamic Society of Boston)……. An employee of the BRA Mohamed Ali Salam who was instrumental in making the deal is also a member of the Islamic Society of Boston. He is a major fundraiser for the ISB. This raises a conflict of interest.”
A complete digest of news report, video clips and commentary on the Roxbury Mosque matter can be found on the website of the Citizens for Truth and Tolerance . Included in the information on the website are the names of Saudi and Gulf emirate funders of the Boston Mosque.
The ISB case plaintiffs are under instruction from wise counsel to keep their powder dry. Ultimately, we trust that they will be vindicated by what famed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis once said was the "disinfectant of public exposure." If that occurs the Miasma in the estuary of the Charles River and Boston Harbor will vanish.
Posted by Jerry Gordon at November 4, 2005 03:36 PM