8/1/13 Bangladesh high court declares rules against Islamist party

/in /by

Source: CNN

Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) — Bangladesh’s high court has declared the registration of the country’s largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, illegal.

Jamaat is one of two main opposition parties and a constant thorn in the side of the ruling Awami League.

With the declaration, Jamaat will not be able to take part in the country’s upcoming general election — certainly welcome news to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Opinion: Bangladesh on the brink

But such a ruling can also reignite a fresh round of political unrest in the South Asian nation.

Read More

7/26/13 Conservative Princeton Law Prof. Robert P. George Is New USCIRF Chair; Democrat Predecessor Praises Successor

/in /by

Source: Christian Post

By Tyler O’Neil , CP Contributor
July 26, 2013|8:55 am

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) announced earlier this week its new chair, Princeton Professor of Jurisprudence Robert P. George, a conservative intellectual who even Democrats laud as a good pick.

“I really think he’s a remarkable person,” Katrina Lantos Swett, former USCIRF chair and president and CEO of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, told The Christian Post in an interview Thursday. “It’s really hard to imagine someone who is more respectful and more earnest and sincere in engaging people with whom he may disagree.”

In what may be a rare show of bipartisanship in Washington, Swett, who ran unsuccessfully in Democratic primaries for both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in New Hampshire and was nominated to USCIRF by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), praised the conservative chair nominated by Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio).

“With his election as chair we have a true intellectual heavyweight as well as a person of great compassion and eloquence taking the helm,” she said.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/conservative-princeton-law-prof-robert-p-george-is-new-uscirf-chair-democrat-predecessor-praises-successor-100907/#zYTiqHSYP8wY1W7k.99

7/15/13 Cleric Who Visited White House Supports Palestinian Terror

/in /by

Source: The Algemeiner

The Investigative Project on Terrorism has uncovered evidence that radical Muslim cleric Sheik Abdullah Bin Bayyah, who met with top White House officials last month, personally urged Muslim nations to aid the Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza militarily.

“Muslim rulers are required to rescue their fellow Muslims in many ways, through financial, military and diplomatic support. Everything should be done to stop this terrible, ongoing massacre in Gaza,” Bin Bayyah wrote in April. The posting was removed following the release of IPT’s June 26 report about Bin Bayyah’s White House visit. “I also call upon our Palestinian brothers to unite all resistance movements in the same name and under the same banner. And it is the duty of all Arabs to help them in the name of Islam, logic, pan-Arabism and humanity.”

Read More

7/10/13 Rep. Chris Smith asks for report on aid to Syrian Armenians

/in /by

Source: The Armenian Reporter

WASHINGTON – Republican and Democratic members of a key U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee joined June 25 with the panel’s Chairman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), in voicing growing Congressional concern for the welfare of Armenians, other Christians, and all religious minority communities in Syria, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“We want to thank Chairman Chris Smith for holding yesterday’s hearing about religious minorities in Syria, and would also like to share our special appreciation with all his colleagues who joined with him in using this important national platform to raise concerns about the welfare of at-risk and refugee Armenians, other Christians, and all Syrian minorities,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

Read More

Boston Bombers are yet another wake-up call for a national strategy against the root cause of Islamist terror

/in /by

Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Boston Bombers are yet another wake-up call for a national strategy against the root cause of Islamist terror

Department of Homeland Security whack-a-mole program against “Violent Extremism” failed the American public

 

PHOENIX (April 19, 2013) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and author of “A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save His Faith” issued the following statement on behalf of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) regarding the ongoing terror incident in Boston:

“The terror attacks in Boston, perpetrated by the Tsarnaev brothers have finally come to an end with the surrender of the younger brother Dzhoakhar in Watertown, MA Friday evening. But perhaps it will finally be the beginning of the long overdue process to retool America’s current counterterrorism strategies.  Since 9-11, we have been fortunate up until this attack to avoid the kind of devastation and loss of life that we saw in Boston, but that was not for a lack of trying by our enemies.

The Tsarnaev brothers prove that the current whack-a-mole strategy is severely limited and flawed and that it is time for the United States to address head on the ideology of political Islam which is the root cause of Islamist terrorism.

It appears from their YouTube and Facebook pages that the brothers Islamism was nurtured in just the past few years after they had been in the U.S. for some time. So their radicalization seemed to be less about Chechnya as it was about the transnational Islamist supremacism that infected their mind, was brought with them and nurtured in the end on our soil.

Since the FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011, it will be important to unravel how the administration determines who actually poses an ideological risk for radicalization. To date the administration has been unwilling to even recognize that there is an ideological threat and instead calls it the meaningless “violent extremism” or in the case of Major Nidal Hasan’s Fort Hood massacre “workplace violence”.

AIFD calls upon American Muslims, the Obama Administration, media and academe to develop a coherent strategy to promote western ideals of liberty among Muslims domestically and abroad, while seeking to defeat the supremacist mindset of political Islam and its continued threat to our national security.”

 

 

About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy

The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD’s mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at http://www.aifdemocracy.org/.

 

MEDIA CONTACTS:         Gregg Edgar

Gordon C. James Public Relations

gedgar@gcjpr.com

602-690-7977

####

8/21/13 A Maverick in his Own Mind

/in /by

Read the entire story at AmericanThinker.com

Excerpt from the article:

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, author of the book A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save his Faith, told American Thinker that he has tried on numerous occasions to meet with Senator McCain, especially since he resides in Arizona, but was told the Senator is too busy. “This conversation on McCain’s part is quite premature. It shows the unbalance since Morsi usurped power starting last November, which would have been a good time for Senator McCain to become critical. It was necessary to remove Morsi because he had the Egyptian government entrenched in Islamism.” He suggests to Senator McCain that America not take sides, and thread the needle. Dr. Jasser states the need for a transition plan. He is hoping that instead of cutting the aid, which takes away any leverage, the U.S. should designate a portion to building up the political infrastructure and supporting the liberal political parties that advance democratic ideas.

Asylum seekers deserve better from America: Opinion

/in /by

By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist 
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on June 28, 2013 at 7:31 AM, updated June 28, 2013 at 11:14 AM

 By Eric P. Schwartz

and M. Zuhdi Jasser

As our nation debates immigration reform, it is time to consider reform of our system of dealing with asylum seekers.

For those seeking freedom and protection from religious or political persecution and other forms of oppression or violence, the United States remains a beacon of refuge — and the New York-New Jersey area, including Newark, among their key destinations.

Through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the United States will admit and resettle up to 70,000 from around the world this year. Under this program, and in coordination with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, U.S. officials adjudicate cases overseas. Before being admitted, these applicants undergo thorough security and medical screenings.

Read the article at NJ.com