Bloomberg insists that the NYPD's counter-terror actions were entirely legal. And do these Muslim leaders really think that a leader so completely in their power such as Bloomberg, errand boy for the Ground Zero Mosque, would circumvent the law to the slightest degree where they are concerned?
This is a naked attempt to intimidate the already compliant Bloomberg into dropping the last vestiges of anti-terror efforts in New York City.
"Muslims boycott Mayor Bloomberg's interfaith breakfast," from the BBC, December 30 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Islamic leaders in New York City have boycotted Mayor Michael Bloomberg's annual interfaith breakfast, in protest at reports of surveillance on Muslims.They declined their invitations to the annual meeting in a letter outlining their concerns.
The Associated Press news agency first reported in August that the city police department had tried to infiltrate Muslim neighbourhoods and mosques.
Mr Bloomberg has insisted the city's counter-terrorism efforts are legal.
Fourteen Muslim leaders and a number of other community figures - including rabbis, a Roman Catholic nun and Protestant pastors - signed the letter boycotting the Friday breakfast, which is meant to celebrate the city's diversity.
Rabbi Michael Weisser, however, said beforehand that he would attend the breakfast after Muslim friends urged him to use the opportunity to raise their concerns with the mayor.
Rabbi Weisser told the Associated Press he had no problem with the police department following leads, but objected to any official targeting of Muslim organisations.
"From a Jewish perspective, it reminded me of things that were going on in the 1930s in Germany," Rabbi Weisser said.
Does Rabbi Weisser have any idea what was really going on in the 1930s in Germany? The "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" of April 7, 1933 barred Jews from civil service jobs. Are Muslims barred from civil service jobs in New York or anywhere in the U.S.? No. That same month, the Nazis restricted the number of Jewish students at German schools and universities. Are Muslims restricted in number at American schools and universities? They are not. Then in September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of German citizenship and forbade marriage between Jews and Germans. Are Muslims able to become American citizens and marry American non-Muslims? Yes. In 1937 and 1938, Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat non-Jews, and Jewish lawyers disbarred. Are Muslims able to practice medicine and law in the U.S.? Yes, they are.
In short, Muslims are not, nor should they be, subject to restrictions that are remotely comparable to those that Jews suffered in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Weisser's comparison is monstrous, both for its trivialization of the suffering of Jews in Nazi Germany, and for its libelous slur against the NYPD.
"We don't need that in America. We can't be painting a whole group of people with the same broad brush."....Mr Bloomberg has previously won praise from the city's Muslim leaders for strongly defending proposals to build an Islamic prayer and cultural centre near the former World Trade Center site.
But reports that the NYPD collected information on people who were neither accused nor suspected of wrongdoing have led to a sense of betrayal among some in the community.
According to AP, undercover officers gathered information through chatting with shop owners and patrons and playing on cricket teams, as part of a surveillance programme designed by a CIA officer.
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.... And who are the protestant pastors who refuse to participate in this Interfaith breakfast? Their respective congregation should kick these Judases out.