The way this is shaping up, Rauf will either get his mosque or make a handsome profit for putting it a block or two away from Ground Zero. As Pamela Geller says, “I hate the idea of paying the jizya (or blackmail, for that matter), but the idea of a 15-story mega mosque on Ground Zone is more abhorrent.” “Russian chess chief bids for Ground Zero mosque site,” from AFP, September 16 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
MOSCOW – The eccentric Russian head of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) on Thursday announced a 10-million-dollar bid to buy the site of a controversial mosque project near Ground Zero in New York.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said he had sent a letter on FIDE’s behalf to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “with an offer to buy this land for 10 million dollars,” the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The land near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks, would be used for an international chess centre and academy, Ilyumzhinov said.
“We named the sum of 10 million dollars because last week billionaire Donald Trump gave an offer of 7.5 million dollars and we decided to outdo him,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
Property developer Trump last week offered to buy the site two blocks from Ground Zero where a Muslim group wants to build a mosque and Islamic cultural centre, but the offer was turned down….
Which in itself indicates that they’re not interested in building bridges or promoting harmony at all.