[WCUSP] FYI: CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) "Islamophobes' smears..."

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

(With kind regards to you from Katharina)
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ISLAMOPHOBES' SMEARS ARE OFF-BASE 
_http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16879

_ (http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16879) It  is a sign of 
desperation on the part of America's most vicious Islamophobe,  Steven Emerson, 
to resort to deception and defamation to try to undermine CAIR's  work. It 
troubles him to see a growing number of Muslims and Jews working  together on 
issues of social justice, religious tolerance and civil rights. The  more we 
directly talk to each other, the more irrelevant extremists like Emerson  are 
going to be.

CAIR representatives regularly speak at synagogues.  Rabbis and people of the 
Jewish faith continue to be invited to speak at mosques  and CAIR events. 
CAIR spends a great deal of time conversing and exchanging  ideas with the Jewish 
community. Some of most ardent supporters of CAIR and  champions of human 
rights for the Muslim community are Jewish.

For the  record, CAIR never did and will never sponsor any event that 
promotes any form  of racism, including anti-Semitism. Specifically, as Emerson was 
told  repeatedly, CAIR has no connection, direct or indirect, to the event he 
referred  to in New York.

If anything, CAIR has repeatedly spoken against those who  resort to negative 
stereotyping in order to comment on the Arab-Israeli  conflict, such as when 
we criticized an Arab newspaper that published excerpts  from the "Protocols 
of the Elders of Zion." Claiming that CAIR or I are  anti-Semitic will be found 
ridiculous and offensive by CAIR's many Jewish  members and donors who 
include rabbis among them. Information and not  misinformation is the first step on 
the path to dialogue, mutual respect and  trust and cooperation. When I needed 
to learn more about the Jewish community, I  went to The Jewish Federation 
and to my Jewish friends. I did not go to the  KKK.

I invite you to learn more about Islam and CAIR by visiting _www.cair.com_ 
(http://www.cair.com/)  and more  about me by visiting my blog at 
_www.hussamayloush.blogspot.com_ (http://www.hussamayloush.blogspot.com/)   and not from the 
hate-mongering of Emerson or Pat Robertson.

I know that  we are not always going to agree on all issues, including the 
Middle East  conflict. However, dialogue is the only way forward toward a just 
resolution of  the Middle East conflict.

I am confident that most of us would like for  our debate and even 
disagreement to remain within the civil and compassionate  boundaries taught to us, 
respectively, by our great teachings of Judaism and  Islam. It is time for all of 
us to reject the extremists who insist on deciding  on our behalf that there 
is no common ground among us.

Hussam Ayloush,  Executive Director, CAIR-Southern California
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