American Islamist Coalition Launches with Empty Rhetoric
Source: The Jewish Voice
Eight national Muslim organizations, many with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and with records of support for Hamas, have formed a “national council” that seeks to further entrench an Islamist monopoly on Muslim political debate.
The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) went public with a news conference in Washington last week. Organizers would not allow a representative from the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) to attend.
The coalition claims “broad inclusion,” yet its member organizations all start with similar viewpoints. But it doesn’t appear to have invited Muslim groups with a different view of the role religion should play in society. Instead, it is a union of like-minded, inherently political organizations, many with checkered records.
That becomes relevant as the USCMO claims to seek a “unity of purpose not opinion … to act together on knowledge for the good of all people, not in the interest of a party or group.” It will decide for “our whole community … all that is good, champion what is right and stand against what is wrong.”
One Muslim with a different view is Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). Rather than following the USCMO’s pledge of inclusion, Jasser routinely is attacked for wanting to keep religion a personal matter, not a political one.