Giving Tuesday and a look at what your donations have supported

On this Giving Tuesday, the team from AIFD wanted to share a few milestones from 2017 that, without your support, would not have been possible.

AIFD does the work on the front lines no one else is doing and we can’t continue to lead without you.

Throughout 2017, AIFD and President & Founder, M. Zuhdi Jasser M.D., have taken part in a variety of interesting opportunities and discussions including:

* In January Zuhdi debated the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Salam al-Maryati in Orange County, CA, on the topic “Is the Muslim Reform Movement Necessary?”.

* In March, AIFD sent open letters to leadership of the Detroit community regarding the doctors who performed Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on young girls and setting the tone for a national conversation during the first federal case against FGM criminals in the United States.

* AIFD participated in CPAC 2017 where Zuhdi discussed the state of the Middle East and ISIS.

* Muslim Reform Movement (MRM) leaders and founders visited Toronto, Canada in March for an engaging workshop.

* AIFD hosted Muslim leaders from India, by recommendation of the State Department, discussing “Encouraging Moderate Voices: Countering Violent Extremism Online” in Phoenix, AZ during August.

* In September, Zuhdi traveled to Philadelphia for a NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting to be part of a day-long discussion on issues relevant to the Middle East and the Islamic presence in Europe.

* Also in September, Zuhdi joined ACU leadership for their inaugural Israeli Mission to develop a plan to defend the right of Israel to be a free and sovereign nation.

* In November, Zuhdi presented testimony to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on “Unintended Consequences: M103 Harms all Canadians, especially Muslims”.

* An invitation to the November 2017 Web Summit took Zuhdi to Lisbon where he was a part of a dynamic panel discussion on “Choosing the enemy: Media Narratives Around Terrorism”.

* In Phoenix, AZ, AIFD’s Community Engagement Director, Courtney Lonergan, facilitated an InterFaith event hosting over 400 people that was sponsored in part by AIFD. The MRM Declaration was on hand to help inform those wanting to learn more about this group

* Courtney also held a town-hall while in the San Francisco in late November discussing MRM, the declaration and how others can get involved.

* Also in November, the J. Reuben Clark Law Society in Phoenix and Salt Lake City hosted Religious Freedom Symposiums with Zuhdi as a key note speaker and panel member.

* In December AIFD will be represented in London by invite from the Henry Jackson Society to discuss “A Wake-Up Call: Creating Transatlantic network to Battle Radical Islam”.

* Throughout the year, Zuhdi was the key note speaker for a variety of groups including the Jewish Federation of Collier County, Florida, and for the Citizens for National Security, Boca Raton, Florida as well as for several prominent groups in Arizona.

* AIFD presented Radical Islam for Law Enforcement (RILE) to members of the Arizona Department of Public Safety to help them provide law enforcement with tools to help them better understand the Muslim communities that they serve.

* With over 500 media appearances, AIFD was very much on the front lines of the battle to counter Violent Islamism.

* AIFD continues to strengthen our presence on social media. The Reform This! weekly podcast by Zuhdi (also available on iTunes here) has seen substantial growth over the past year and Twitter and FaceBook continue to be a good avenue for conversation and an exchange of ideas. The AIFDTV YouTube channel has a complete library of all of the media appearances, panel discussions and more that AIFD has been a part of.

For 2018 and beyond our lead policy initiative is to change the center of axis in the US counter-terrorism and foreign policy strategy from CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) to CVI (Countering Violent Islamism) and to remove Radical Islam from the conversation as Islam is not the issue – it is those who choose to take their interpretation of Islam and turn it into a tool for war.

Again, without your support and generosity, AIFD would not be able to continue on our mission. It is with sincere gratitude that we thank each and every one of you and hope to continue to count on your trust and support in this mighty endeavor.