July 1996

Muslim-American Acitivism

Emerson Heckles CAIR News Conference

According to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), pro-Israel “terrorism expert” and author Steven Emerson disrupted an American Muslim news conference June 13 by “heckling” speakers during the question-and-answer period. In a public statement CAIR said, “Emerson began heckling the Muslim representatives creating an intimidating atmosphere with shouted remarks unrelated to the focus of the event.”

CAIR also reported that Emerson brought along a camera crew that “led organizers to believe they represented PBS.” The Muslim advocacy organization suspects Emerson’s comments were staged for use in a television program.

Emerson, the producer of the controversial 1994 PBS program “Jihad in America,” reportedly repeated charges he has made about American Muslim organizations and accused them of being linked to international terrorism. “Mr. Emerson was obviously trying to stage a confrontation with Muslims in order to revive his credibility in the eyes of the mainstream media,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Instead of being a journalist as he claims, Mr. Emerson played the role of an actor to manufacture footage that would fit his discredited scenario.”

Awad referred to a recent CAIR study that documented nearly 300 incidents of anti-Muslim hate crimes and said Emerson’s actions only added to a climate of intolerance in America. “This incident comes as America is going through a difficult period in which attacks on religious institutions, including Muslim mosques, are becoming commonplace,” Awad said. “If he is once again offered a platform by unbiased media, Mr. Emerson’s hate-filled attitude can only contribute to this hostile atmosphere,” Awad added.

CAIR and other American Muslim organizations held the press conference to protest remarks made by the editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, Mortimer Zuckerman. The groups claimed the publisher-editor, also known for his pro-Israel bias, “defamed” the Prophet Muhammad by stating that the founder of Islam had a “doctrine” of deceit in breaking treaties. Zuckerman’s editorial read: “The Israelis have a historic question: Is Arafat a true peacemaker, or does he believe his own rhetoric when he echoes the doctrine of the prophet Muhammad of making treaties with enemies while he is weak, violating them when he is strong?”

CAIR and other groups believed the editorial was merely another attempt to discredit Muslims, Arabs and the Palestinians. Awad said the comment was a “deceitful tactic to misinform the public.” “Mr Zuckerman is apparently trying to re-edit history to benefit his personal political agenda,” Awad added.

Groups at the June 13 press conference called on Zuckerman to issue a public apology for the remark.

—Geoff Lumetta

Muslims Discuss Threats With FBI

Representatives from America’s Muslim and Arab communities met on May 7 with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to discuss threatening letters sent to Muslim institutions across the country, allegedly by two militant Jewish organizations, Kahane Chai (“Kahane lives” in Hebrew), a radical Jewish organization founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, and another Kahane offshoot, the Jewish Defense League. Both are vehemently anti-Arab and anti-Muslim, and it is alleged they are behind threatening letters sent to mosques in New York, Virginia, Texas and California threatening attacks against their members.

In the letters Muslims are told to “stop opposing us or the same as has happened to Lebanon will be visited on your mosques, your families, your leaders.” On the reverse side is a picture of a dead Lebanese child with the message: “Look at the picture…Know that this can be done to you here!”

Meeting with FBI agents were representatives from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center and the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington. FBI officials said that their investigation into the letters is proceeding “vigorously.” 

—Shawn L. Twing