A few months ago I was leaving Penn Station in New York City when I heard someone calling my name. It was Sharif El-Gamal, the developer of the Ground Zero Mosque. He started out by asking me incredulously if I really believed in what I was doing, which shows that he has uncritically accepted as fact his side’s smear propaganda. But we had a wide-ranging and illuminating discussion, in which he repeatedly insisted that the 9/11 hijackers were “criminals,” not Muslims, brushing aside my pointing out how they had cited Qur’an and Sunnah to explain and justify their actions. He seemed willfully ignorant or determinedly uninformed about the grim reality of jihad violence. He implored me to have a private discussion with an unnamed imam about Islam, apparently so that this imam could clear up my “misunderstandings” of the religion, and as I am always happy to discuss, debate, and defend my positions, I readily agreed and gave him my email address, but never heard from him.
Anyway, above all, El-Gamal reiterated happily that he was still determined to build the Ground Zero mega-mosque that was the center of so much controversy a few years ago. In the worst insult of all, they had planned to break ground on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the jihad attack. Pamela Geller and I stopped that mosque from being built with a series of rallies at Ground Zero, the largest of which, on September 11, 2010, drew tens of thousands of people. Polls showed that 70% of Americans opposed a victory mosque at Ground Zero, and El-Gamal had a falling-out with the unctuous and sinister Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, who had been the public face of the project.
Eventually, like Nixon in Vietnam, El-Gamal and the mainstream media declared victory and got out, opening a “Community Center” in the Burlington Coat Factory building that had been extensively damaged at Ground Zero in the 9/11 attack. Media lapdogs contacted Pamela Geller and me asking us how we felt about having lost, now that the “Park51 Community Center” was open. But this was a pathetic face-saving move on their part: what we were protesting was not the existence of a mosque or Muslim prayers in the Burlington Coat Factory building, but the erection of a huge triumphal mosque on the site, after the pattern of victory mosques at the site of jihad triumphs all over the Islamic world. And that mosque was not built. But Sharif El-Gamal is moving ahead to build it now. He hasn’t given up, and neither have we.
Pamela Geller reminds us: “The man defaulted on not one, but two bank loans. He failed to pay rent to Con Ed, part owner of one of the buildings. They sued him and won. And Gamal failed to pay the taxes owed on the building. On top of all this, he was evicted from his Soho Properties offices for failure to pay rent.” So where, indeed, is he getting the money? What forces are behind this push to build a monumental insult to the Americans who were murdered at Ground Zero on 9/11?
“El-Gamal files to raze buildings at ‘Ground Zero mosque’ site,” from The Real Deal, April 7 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Developer Sharif El-Gamal has filed plans to level two low-rise structures at the site of the long-stalled Park51 development, also known as the “Ground Zero mosque.”
The developer and his firm, Soho Properties, courted controversy in 2010 after proposing a 15-story Islamic cultural center in place of the five-story 45 Park Place and four-story 51 Park Place. Located in the Financial District, the properties are situated two blocks from the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
The plans to demolish the buildings were filed with the Department of Buildings today, the New York Observer reported.
The buildings already house a nonprofit Islamic community and prayer center, and El-Gamal charges $30,000 in rent for the space. Last year brokers told The Real Deal that the developer had been inquiring about how to price units should he choose to build condominiums at the site.
Previous plans called for a mixed-use development with residences on upper floors and a prayer space on lower floors, as previously reported. A spokesman for the firm said specific plans for the site would be announced at a later date. [NYO] – Angela Hunt
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john spielman says
where is he going to get ANY MONEY for this? is it from muslim groups visa vis Saudi Arabia?
Mulakush says
Where is he getting the money from?
Sadly, the money is coming from me and you and all of us. We pay jaziyya every time we fill up our cars. Our oil companies want to keep the Islamic coffers flowing in exchange for their oil. IF all the petro dollars were used to improve the lot of the Arabian people, they would have been the most prosperous ones. But those dollars are used to build and run mosques, madrassas and a whole array of bronze age institutions.
dad says
Likely Obama…..
Hening says
As with all attempts for evil to conquer righteousness, the object is to wait for the attention of the defenders to weaken or look elsewhere. The ignorance of evil is the pride to make it so clear to those who remain on watch, that their intent has always been towards evil. September 11, is the great day for Islam. The murder of thousands of innocents on US soil, the distribution of candy and now the need to build a victory mosque to claim the victory and supercharge the conquest of America.
Grace Messenger says
Barack Obama and his Muslim Brotherhood are funding the Terror Center.
Jay Boo says
Barack Obama and his Muslim Brotherhood should be investigated by the NSA.
Champ ✿ says
I wholly agree, Jay Boo!
awake says
The battle continues…
Judi says
As there is now a pro Muslim mayor in New York, coupled with the Muslim in the WH, he probably thinks this time he can get away with it.
QuoVadis says
Where are they getting the money? Saudi Arabia of course. The only question about Saudi Arabia funding this is they are hell bent on pushing Islam into the U.S. before their Oil Money runs out and/or some M.I.T. engineer invents a microbe that spits out synthetic gasoline and/or invents a more efficient lithium battery.
Whichever happens the hand writing is on the wall. What’s happening at the Ground Zero Mosque is Islams last gasp at Dawah before the Oil Money runs out. We’ll look back at these days like we look back at Nikita Kruschev banging his shoe on the podium at the U.N. screaming “We will bury you.”. Famous last words…..
Walter Sieruk says
As for the topic of the Ground Zero Mosque. It’s very important that the American public isn’t deceved the imams and other apologists for Islam who make the subtle and false claim that “this mosque is actually a cross cultural center.” This is the deception of Tagiyyia. For, in reality, the mosque is being build a victory memorial tothe forces of Islam. Furthermore,at a lecture that I attended about the subject of Islam in a church in York PA. Near the end of the lecture, during the question part, someone asked “What about the constrcution ofthe ground zero mosque ? ” One of the speakers who was an Arab Christian who lived in Syria for many years answered “The the mosque being build at ground zero will be taken as the message in theMiddle East as “You see what we did here, we brought down the twin tower andbuild up a mosque. ” Morerover, the other spraker , Dr Daniel Shayesteh, who was in past times an Iranian citizen, a Mslim and a Hezbolah member but now a Christian and an American citizen also answered about the construction ofthe mosque at ground zero. For he stated the the building of that mosque will be taken ast he message in the Islamic world as “We have killed and have been victorious.” In addition to all this in a book written by Dr. Shayesteh which in entitled ISLAM; THE HOUSE I LEFT BEHIND on page 99 he informs the reader that “The mosque is vital for estabhishing Muslims as sovereign over non-Muslims in a non-Islamic society. Building a mosque in a non-Islamic society or country symbolizes Islam’s claim over that society or country, even with anon-Muslim majority.:”
Anonamustafa says
Buy one of the condos and make it into a ham warehouse.
Burt says
All America should be grateful to Robert Spencer & Pam Geller who’s opposition to the Ground Zero mosque, eventually thwarted that planned monument of Islamic supremacy.
It beggars belief that any New Yorker could have ever countenanced such an outrageous monument to celebrate the murder of their fellow citizens.
God Bless Robert and Pamella
Kalliope says
” In the worst insult of all, they had planned to break ground on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the jihad attack.”
****
February 26, 1993 was the Jihād day for my family.
My husband worked nearby. After a quick lunch, he decided to visit a couple of friends who worked in the WTC.
At exactly 12:17:37 pm, time began to run out for him.
For us.
He was thrown to the floor by the bomb blast, and lay there for a few minutes, dazed.
He was covered from head to toe in black dust.
That’s all it took.
I remember watching the news on television, and immediately began to worry.
Was he hurt? Was anyone hurt?
When he finally came home, the only part of his face not covered in dust was around his eyes. They had been shielded by his glasses.
We thought he had escaped injury. But we were wrong.
In 1996, my husband was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. He was initially given a prognosis of one year to live (it was that bad), but by the grace of God he lived for fifteen more.
My husband died a very painful death. The Sarcoidosis primarily affected his lungs and as a result, his heart had to work harder, and became enlarged.
After fifteen years, his heart could no longer take the strain, and he died after suffering several sequential cardiac arrests and then cardiac rupture.
By September 11, 2011, I was a widow.
As if the reprehensible attacks on American soil were not enough, El-Gamal and his funders want a permanent triumphal memorial for their carnage.
This has been happening for fourteen centuries. This is the true face of ʾIslām.
There is no peace in ʾIslām. Just fascistic, satanic, subjugation (ʾIslām).
I recommend this video for anyone who still is foolish enough to believe that ʾIslām is beneficial in any way:
Why We Are Afraid, A 1400 Year Secret, by Dr Bill Warner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Qpy0mXg8Y
The spiritual, immoral, political filth that calls itself ʾIslām has been a scourge on humanity for 1400 years.
If left unchecked, it will ruin the world.
Salah says
Don’t worry, Kalliope. Islam won’t be left unchecked, it won’t ruin the world. Its end is near, very near.
Sorry for your husband, keep faith, courage, and most importantly, keep fighting.
Exposing Muhammad to the world, and especially to Muslims, will annihilate Islam, once and for all.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfect-man-of-islam.html
Bezelel says
Thank you for posting the link.
Salah says
You’re welcome, please share.
Bezelel says
This has been one of those extremely busy weeks for me or I would share more and as in Kalliope’s case I have more to learn than to say. That happens a lot for me on JW and Atlas. Add that to my mediocre typing skills and there you have it.
Kalliope says
Dear Salah and Bezelel
Thank you both. I tell anyone who will listen to the truth about ʾIslām, much as Mr. Spencer is doing on this website. With the grace of God, I’ve soured many on the very idea that ʾIslām is a respectable religion.
Of course, ʾIslām cannot stand up to Truth and Light.
It is its own worse enemy.
Christopher says
I agree with IEMMA that Christianity is not much better than Islam. Less unpleasant in its tenets perhaps (although only thanks to ignoring the OT), but it is committing the same basic mistake as all religions:
Accepting that a book from pre-modern times is ACTUALLY divinely inspired based on ‘faith’ (which is basically human emotion).
I have an absolute ton of respect for Robert’s work, indeed partly because he keeps his Christianity so separate from it, but a Christian’s opposition to Islam is basically: “No, your magical death cult isn’t the truth. Ours is!”
Atheism terrifies the hell out of me at times, and I do have enough hope in God to be an agnostic. I don’t believe it is possible to know if there is a God (not as things stand at least), and there is evidence both ways. The design argument (underpinned by the fact that abiogenesis is pretty much scientifically implausible) has some strength to it, but there could be non-God explanations based on factors we just cannot detect. What I DO know is that I’m not trusting any crazy old book for my metaphysical truths.
On topic, amazing work from Robert in stopping this abomination, and although the presence of any Islamic worship grounds in the USA is a mistake, at least they didn’t get a victory Mosque.
duh_swami says
I agree with IEMMA that Christianity is not much better than Islam.
Rubbish. Double rubbish.
PJG says
You are part of the problem. Referring to Christianity as a “magical death cult” is puerile, offensive and just plain wrong.
Bezelel says
Define meta-physical
Champ ✿ says
Christopher wrote:
I have an absolute ton of respect for Robert’s work, indeed partly because he keeps his Christianity so separate from it, but a Christian’s opposition to Islam is basically: “No, your magical death cult isn’t the truth. Ours is!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I respect Robert, as well …
But on one point I completely disagree with you, Christopher. Robert does NOT keep his Christianity separate from his work–where on earth have you gotten this idea?! Perhaps you aren’t very familiar with many of Robert’s books.
In particular, “Robert’s work” includes a book I *highly* recommend you consider reading, entitled:
Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is And Islam Isn’t
Christianity or Islam: which is the real “religion of peace”?
Almost any liberal pundit will tell you that there’s a religion bent on destroying our Constitution, stripping us of our liberties, and imposing religious rule on the U.S. And that religion is . . .Christianity! About Islam, however, the Left is silent–except to claim a moral equivalence between the two: if Islam has terrorists today, that’s nothing compared to the Crusades, inquisitions, and religious wars in Christianity’s past.
But is this true? Are conservative Christians really more of a threat to free societies than Islamic jihadists? Is the Bible really “just as violent” as the Qur’an? Is Christianity’s history really as bloodstained as Islam’s? In Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t, New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer not only refutes such charges, but also explains why Americans and Europeans must regain an appreciation of our Christian heritage if we ever hope to defeat Islamic supremacism. In this eye opening work, Spencer reveals:
* The fundamental differences between Islamic and Christian teachings about warfare against other religions: “Love your enemies” vs. “Be ruthless to the unbelievers”
* The myth of Western immorality and Islamic puritanism and why the Islamic world is less moral than the West
* Why the Islamic world has never developed the distinction between religious and secular law that is inherent in Christianity
* Why Christianity has always embraced reason–and Islam has always rejected it
* Why the most determined enemies of Western civilization may not be the jihadists at all, but the leftists who fear their churchgoing neighbors more than Islamic terrorists
* Why Jews, Christians, and peoples of other faiths (or no faith) are equally at risk from militant Islam
Spencer writes not to proselytize, but to state a fact: Christianity is a true “religion of peace,” and on it Western civilization stands. If we are not to perish under Islam’s religion of the sword–with its more than 100 million active jihadists seeking to impose sharia law–we had better defend our own civilization.
http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Peace-Christianity-Islam-Isnt/dp/1596985151
Angemon says
Champ ✿posted:
“I respect Robert, as well …
But on one point I completely disagree with you, Christopher. Robert does NOT keep his Christianity separate from his work–where on earth have you gotten this idea?! ”
I agree with Christopher on that regard. If you compare Robert’s arguments with, let’s say, Sam Shamoun’s or David Wood’s, Robert comes as secularized. While Sam and David debate muslims on the basis of Christian and Islamic doctrines, Robert debates muslims with the fundamentals and religious justifications for sharia, terrorism, misogyny, child abuse, etc. While Sam and David would argue that muhammad had sex with a 9-year-old, prepubescent child and therefore couldn’t be a prophet of God, Robert would argue that islam allows for sex with prebuscent children because muhammad did it and, according to islamic orthodoxy, he’s the perfect example of conduct. Yes, Robert is a Catholic Christian but the vast majority his arguments aren’t based on Catholic doctrine. He brings up Christian doctrines when butthurt musims try to silence critics by bringing up, for example, the Crusades, but that’s it. Robert’s arguments appeal not to religion but to universal values (well, they should be universal), like the equality of all people under the law, freedom of speech and non-discrimination based on race, sexual orientation or religion.
Champ ✿ says
Angemon wrote:
He brings up Christian doctrines when butthurt musims try to silence critics by bringing up, for example, the Crusades, but that’s it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That’s it? Not true! …you’re overlooking some of Robert Spencer’s other contributions–like the many books hes written.
I’ve already mentioned: Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is And Islam Isn’t, but there’s also: Not Peace But A Sword: The Great Chasm Between Christianity And Islam, and: Inside Islam: A Guide For Catholics
Dalo says
Thank you Christopher, very well said. Whilst there are many readers that like us, follow evidence based logic and reason, there are those that follow the other faiths. It is interesting to note, by the responses to your email in particular, that they blindly endorse their own religion just like a jihadi. Luckily for us however, their religion doesn’t endorse genocide, and inhumanity like Islam does. In saying that, I would disagree with you that Christianity is not much better than Islam. Quite clearly Christianity is MUCH better than Islam and to say otherwise seems to be remarkably indifferent of the reality around you. For information, by ‘better’, I mean, It’s output on the rest of humanity.
Christopher says
To clarify what I meant: the content of Christianity is better (ignoring the OT which thankfullyXtians tend to), but the basic error is the same. Hence it not being “much better.” I really do find the self-hating doctrine of Jesus as savior repulsive… but would tolerate it so long as people didnt push it into the public sphere.
Re beauty in the world, there is also a LOT of horror. I am uncertain that there can be an explanation compatible with God. I HOPE so, I hope we exist beyond this world because consciousness is so incredible, but I do not and cannot know.
Definition of metaphysical: concerning ultimate nature of reality.
duh_swami says
Robert was fortunate that Gammal didn’t feel like relieving stress and getting some exercise. I would definitely not stand to close to Gammal while talking to him. You never know when he may get an overwhelming urge to do some push ups…
Transmaster says
What ignorance The largest Christian denominations in the world are in Africa, Some of the largest single churches are in Nigeria.
As for the Ground Zero Mosque. The one thing that nobody is wondering is; who is going to build it? The labor and construction unions rule in New York City. These unions lost a lot of union brothers and sisters when the Twin Towers collapsed. They will not have anything to do with the Mosque’s construction. In New York City you have to be in a union to work such jobs any scabs that try to muscle in are going to be “educated” as to why this isn’t going to work. The Ground Zero Masque is not going to get built. Donald Trump has a standing cash offer for the property. Sharif El-Gamal is going to default and his creditors are going to take over the property, at which point the cash on the barrel head offer of Donald Trump will prevail.
Brian Hoff says
It will be built by the Unions or the Unions will be disband by the courts.
Mawloud Ould Daddah says
don’t let them
Nomdeplume says
Its the halal taxes you pay. Everything you pay for that is halal certified creates billions of dollars for Islamic projects in western countries. To build mosques (preferably over churches), Islamic schools and building such as this. Anything to spread Islam and eventually lead to a caliphate. Choose carefully!