By Jerry Gordon | 05/11/09 |
The Clarion Fund production of “The Third Jihad” (trailer below) has a Washington, DC premier on Wednesday, May 13th at the National Press Club. Clarion had produced the award winning “Obsession: Islam’s War Against the West” that portrayed the global threat posed by radical Islam. “The Third Jihad,” narrated by Dr. M. Zhudi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and vigorous opponent of Political Islam, “portrays the growth of radical Islam on American soil via “Cultural Jihad,” the use of our democratic system to transform the American way of life from within to a society governed by Sharia Law (Islamic religious law).” The communication of the goals of Cultural Jihad is an objective of the Clarion Fund’s grass roots website; radicalislam.org.
“Clarion Fund recognizes the propagation of radical Islam and the promulgation of Sharia Law within our borders as a clear and present crisis affecting the Muslim American community and the American public at large,” said Peter Connors, Executive Director of Clarion. “Our educational tools and media properties will serve as a platform for the American public – including Muslims – to embrace Western liberties and speak out in a meaningful way to silence radical elements in our midst.”
We are focused on educating the American public about this eminent threat to their rights and freedoms, with the goal of bringing ‘Creeping Sharia’ to a screeching halt,” explained Raphael Shore, producer of both The Third Jihad and Obsession and the founder of Clarion. “We want to expose the true intent of radical Islam in order to secure the future of the American public at large, including its Muslim community.
Prominent in the film is the FBI discovery of a Grand Jihad Manifesto for overturning our Constitution and replacing it strict Islamic Sharia law. The document was presented in evidence at the successful re-trial of the Holy Land Foundation trial. Among prominent Muslim Advocacy figures identified in that trial were the leaders of several Muslim Brotherhood front groups in America, CAIR among them. These Muslim Brotherhood groups had been identified as “unindicted co-conspirators” by Federal Prosecutors in the Dallas Holy Land Foundation trial. The FBI following the Holy Land Foundation trial formally distanced itself from any further interaction with CAIR and its chapters. A number of American Muslim groups, including Jasser’s AFID, issued a press release condoning the FBI decision. The Center for Islamic Pluralism release noted this about CAIR:
•We observe that they denounce "terrorism" in general terms but not the specific actions of Islamist groups like Hamas or Hezbollah. They denounce violence but not the ideologies behind it.
•We observe their commitment to radical aims, their attempts to chill free speech by calling critics of radical Islam "Islamophobes," and their false, ugly accusations against moderate American Muslims who disagree with their agenda.
•We reject any claim that CAIR and its supporters are legitimate civil liberties advocates or appropriate partners between the U.S. government and American Muslims.
•We congratulate the FBI for adopting a firmer attitude toward CAIR, as a defense of Americans of all faiths from the menace of radical Islam, including Muslims of all backgrounds - Sunni, Shia, Sufi, secular, etc.
•We call on the U.S. Department of Justice to affirm and continue this decision.
•We call on the entire United States government to follow suit in rejecting relations with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
So, it is ironic, that CAIR was invited by the producers of “The Third Jihad” to a post film round table discussion. According to Clarion, CAIR rejected the opportunity to provide ‘balance’ in the form of rebuttal views. In a news release, Clarion noted:
Among those organizations invited to participate in the roundtable discussion is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). However, CAIR has declined the invitation, a surprising turn of events considering the group’s usual insistence that a representative of their “mainstream Muslim” staff be present at such events to offer a “balanced perspective.” In fact, since the beginning of 2009, CAIR has requested such representation in at least three U.S. events focused on radical Islam.
We invited CAIR and they said they wanted nothing to do with this film, said Connors. CAIR’s response is unfortunate, as The Clarion Fund believes that the only way to address this issue is to discuss it openly and honestly with those who agree with us and those who disagree. Then, based on that education, the American public can decide for itself.
CAIR’s response is indicative of the hateful regard for Jasser of the AFID. They hold him to be a murtadd or apostate for his views on Islam. In April, 2008, Dr. Jasser debated a Muslim Imam at an Edison College forum in Naples Florida. sponsored by the Florida Security Council . We had discussed that exchange in a New English Review article on a Debate of the film “Obsession” at the University of South Florida at another FSC event. In an alleged expose of Dr. Jasser, a normative Muslim present at the Naples, Florida debate had this criticism of Jasser
Dr. Jasser is a pioneer and at the forefront of a new age of McCarthyism. His rants and use of erroneous labels such as Islamist, Political Islam, Radical Islamist, Political Imam, and countless other names mimic that of Senator Joseph McCarthy who “cried wolf" time and time again.
But it is CAIR who is using McCarthyite tactics, when it and a another front Group, United Voices for America, founded by former CAIR Tampa chapter leader, Ahmed Bedier, called for the resignation of Florida House Majority leader, Rep. Adam Hasner. Note this blog comment about why CAIR and fellow traveling groups are out to get Rep. Hasner:
CAIR has been after Florida House leader Rep Adam Hasner (R). Yesterday, during the opening prayer in the house, which was Islamic, Hasner left the chamber and then returned after it was over.
Rep. Hasner represents the Boca Raton area. In 2005, when a Muslim physician from Boca Raton was arrested for supporting Al-Qaeda it was CAIR Florida who came to his defense . The physician was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
CAIR questioned his co-hosting of the recent Free Speech Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, an event honoring courageous Dutch politician Geert Wilders, a critic of normative Islam as a thinly disguised totalitarian system. Here’s what CAIR demanded in a news release:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on GOP leaders to demand that Rep. Adam Hasner, the head of Florida's House Republicans, step down from his leadership post for co-hosting an event at which the speaker [Geert Wilders] said Islam should not be recognized as a legitimate faith and Muslims should not have religious freedom.
The Clarion Fund’s invitation to CAIR to attend the Washington Premiere of “The Third Jihad” was simply brushed aside as an opportunity they didn’t need to attend. After all, CAIR is using all the tools of “cultural jihad’ Lawfare, media manipulation, intimidation of public officials and critics to supplant our Constitution with Sharia, as revealed in the film
No comments:
Post a Comment