WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A coalition of pro-freedom groups is responding to an advertising campaign in the D.C. mass transit system that seeks to quash the freedom of speech.
The coalition, which includes representatives from Christian, Jewish, and secular human rights groups, is calling on Metro to donate proceeds from the deceptive Islamic supremacist ad campaign to a charity that supports human beings fleeing jihad and the sharia. The Islamic supremacist ads that are being placed by the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) mislead about the nature and root cause of jihad terror, and demonize those trying to resist jihad and Islamic supremacism.
The pro-freedom coalition is led by the human rights organization the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). Other members include Stop Islamization of America (SIOA); Stop Islamization of Nations (SION); Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE); the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA); Voice of the Copts; Former Muslims United (FMU); Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), Virginia Anti-Shariah Taskforce (VAST); Christian Seniors Association; Faith Freedom International, an organization of former Muslims; Akhand Hindusthan Morcha (a part of Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Sardar Kiranpal Singh Tyagi, President; Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha, Sardar Raviranjan Singh (Member High Power Steering Committee); Sant Sipahi Vichar Manch, Sardar Hari Singh Matharu (Convener); Nanak Shahi Parivar, Sardar Jaspal Singh Manchanda (Head of the Organization).
Individual members include Lieutenant Alan T. DeVona (Retired), PAPD WTC 9/11/01 Patrol Sergeant; Steven M. Goldberg, National Vice Chairman of the Zionist Organization of America; Paul Schnee, President, Zionist Organization of America, Los Angeles Chapter; Dr. Naftali Moses, PhD, whose son was murdered in the jihad attack at the Mercaz HaRav library in Jerusalem in March 2008; Marine combat veteran Jesse Nieto, whose son was killed in the 2000 jihad attack on the USS Cole; Iraq ex-Muslim human rights activist Bushra Qader; and many others.
“Hate speech must be challenged wherever it appears, not with censorship but with more civil speech promoting mutual understanding,” said AFDI National Executive Director Pamela Geller. “Left unchallenged, hate of any kind harms our nation and can lead to bias crimes. We hope to expand this anti-hate campaign in the nation’s capital and throughout the nation. We need the community’s help to challenge the growing propaganda campaign of deceptive Islamic supremacists in our society with positive messages of why we must defend freedom against jihad and Sharia.”
This coalition is preparing a letter to the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority (WMATA) expressing concern over advertisements now on display in DC-area metro stations sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a designated unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case.
NOTE: The coalition is urging people of conscience to contact Washington, D.C., transit officials to ask that they help mitigate the negative impact of anti-free speech advertisements.
The Hamas-linked CAIR ads severely mislead Americans about the nature of the jihad against free nations by quoting a peaceful passage of the Qur’an that many Islamic scholars believe has been abrogated by passages enjoining violence and hate. This masks the organization’s true intentions and leads to complacency, when in reality CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR’s cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements. Its California chapter distributed posters telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI.
Hamas-linked CAIR’s attempt to defame AFDI is consistent with its long record of pro-jihad duplicity, deception and thuggery. One member of this unsavory gang has even previously called for these ads to be defaced. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States.
Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to hateful and violent Islamic supremacist and jihad groups.
CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR’s executive director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.
Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror:
— Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR’s Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians
— Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S. government in 1995 as a “terrorist and Hamas leader.” He now is a Hamas leader in Syria.
— Randall Royer, CAIR’s former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.
— Bassem Khafagi, CAIR’s former community relations director, was arrested for involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was deported.
— Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing organization.
In 1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR’s co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”
After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.
CAIR’s spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: “I wouldn’t want to create the impression that I wouldn’t like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future.”
The coalition requests that:
* WMATA work closely with organizations representing people who have been victimized by jihad and Sharia during all phases of the response and follow up to the CAIR ads.
* WMATA take a similar approach to that of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) in response to the CAIR ads by placing disclaimers that show that the deceptive speech promulgated by such ads is not representative of the view of WMATA.
* WMATA provide free space for counter ads, focused on promoting understanding of the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat to the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan area, and awareness of the harm caused by deceptive Islamic supremacist campaigns to demonize those fighting for human rights against jihad and Sharia.
The coalition also states:
“With respect to WMATA’s response in this matter, it is not our desire that WMATA disallow advertisements that contain any political speech, as this would curtail the use of an important forum where ideas are frequently exchanged. We respect the protections afforded to political speech, and do not wish that our position be misinterpreted as advocating for the curtailment of such speech. This being said, we do believe there are measures WMATA can take to mitigate the effect Islamic supremacist deception and hate speech has on the community and encourage you to take the above listed steps in crafting a principled and effective response.”