Mosque Near 9/11 Site Likely to Go Ahead Despite Rightwing Fury*
The proposed site of the Islamic community centre to be operated by a group called the Cordoba Initiative. Photograph: The Guardian
THE GUARDIAN: A plan to build a mosque and a Muslim community centre within two blocks of Ground Zero cleared a major hurdle today amid an intensifying groundswell of opposition from rightwing pundits and politicians.

The $100m project would see a 13-storey centre, replete with prayer space, swimming pool and restaurant, rise in Park Place, just north of the World Trade Centre where al-Qaida terrorists struck on 11 September 2001.

Opponents turned to the Landmarks Commission of New York City, that has the power to order the preservation of historic buildings, in the hope that it would put a stop to the plans by blocking the demolition of the existing building on the site.

Today the commission unanimously declined to preserve the building, an 1850s Italianate structure that was damaged on 9/11 and has been disused ever since. It said there was nothing sufficiently distinguished about its design that earned it landmark status.

The decision removes an important possible barrier to the plans going ahead, though critics have vowed to continue their fight. A group of protesters were present at the commission vote, including one man carrying a banner that said: "No 9/11 victory mosque". >>> Ed Pilkington in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

* Are Americans really going to be that weak and subservient? This is quite unbelievable. It would have been totally unimaginable in years gone by. If they allow this mosque to go ahead, they will deserve the Islamisation of their country. They will have earned it! – © Mark

FINANCIAL TIMES: ‘Ground Zero’ mosque moves forward: Months of rising rhetoric about religious freedom came to a head on Tuesday when a city commission voted that a contentious plan to build a mosque two blocks from “Ground Zero” could move forward. >>> Alan Rappeport in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

SKY NEWS: 'Ground Zero Mosque' Set To Go Ahead >>> Hannah Thomas-Peter, in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010



BBC: Attempt to block 'Ground Zero mosque' fails: An attempt to stop a plan for a mosque near New York's Ground Zero has failed after the site was denied landmark status. >>> | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Ground Zero mosque and Muslim community centre wins approval: Controversial plans to build a Muslim community centre and mosque near Ground Zero can go ahead after a conservation agency cleared the way on Tuesday for the demolition of the existing building on the site. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Ground Zero Mosque Gets Green Light: More protests erupt as project is given go-ahead just steps from where World Trade Centers stood


TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Une mosquée sera construite à deux pas de Ground Zero : POLÉMIQUE | Une commission de la ville de New York chargée de la préservation du patrimoine a levé mardi un obstacle majeur à la construction d’une mosquée près de Ground Zero, en retirant un bâtiment de la liste des monuments historiques. >>> AFP | Mardi 03 Août 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Moschee am Ground Zero darf gebaut werden >>> sda/dpa | Dienstag, 03. August 2010


Mosque Near Ground Zero Clears Key Hurdle
Sharif El-Gamal, chief executive of SoHo Properties, the developer of the project, center, praised the commission’s decision. Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: After a protracted battle that set off a national debate over freedom of religion, a Muslim center and mosque to be built two blocks from ground zero surmounted a final hurdle on Tuesday.

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9 to 0 against granting historic protection to the building at 45-47 Park Place in Lower Manhattan, where the $100 million center would be built.

That decision clears the way for the construction of Park51, a tower of as many as 15 stories that will house a mosque, a 500-seat auditorium, and a pool. Its leaders say it will be modeled on the Y.M.C.A. and Jewish Community Center in Manhattan.

The vote on Tuesday was free of much of the vitriol that had been part of previous hearings. One by one, members of the commission debated the aesthetic significance of the building, designed in the Italian Renaissance Palazzo style by an unknown architect.

Later in the day, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg*, who has forcefully defended the planned mosque, praised the landmarks commission’s vote. >>> Javier C. Hernandez | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

*The arrogance of Bloomberg is astonishing! Does this man really deserve the position he holds? – © Mark

Plans for a 13-Storey Mosque at Ground Zero Provoke Anti-Muslim Backlash
TIMES ONLINE: Plans to build a 13-storey mosque and Islamic centre two city blocks from Ground Zero in New York are provoking an anti-Muslim backlash in America.

Muslim organisations picked the site of a former Burlington Coat Factory shop damaged in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The building at 45 Park Place has been vacant since it was hit by the fuselage of one of the jets flown into the World Trade Centre by Islamic terrorists.

“We want to create a platform by which the voices of the mainstream and silent majority of Muslims will be amplified. A centre of this scale and magnitude will do that,” said Daisy Khan, director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which is behind the project.

The financial district committee of New York Community Board 1, representing local residents, gave the proposed Islamic centre a vote of confidence at a meeting on May 5.

The $100 million (£69 million) project would include a swimming pool, a basketball court, a 500-seat theatre and possibly a daycare centre. About 2,000 Muslims are expected to attend Friday prayers there.

The plans, however, have stirred a groundswell of opposition, with a group called Stop the Islamicisation of America calling for a street demonstration on June 6. “What could be more insulting and humiliating than a monster mosque in the shadow of the World Trade Centre buildings that were brought down by an Islamic jihad attack?” said Pamela Geller, the group’s director. “Any decent American, Muslim or otherwise, wouldn’t dream of such an insult. It’s a stab in the eye of America.” Read on and comment >>> James Bone, New York | Monday, May 24, 2010

Radical Agenda For Ground Zero Mosque


HUMAN EVENTS: Why There Should Be No Mosques at Ground Zero >>> Robert Spencer | Monday, May 24, 2010

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch >>>

ABC news takes a 15 minute interview with Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs and shamefully edits it down to one VERY short statement. It may be only 9 seconds of Jim Riches (father of a New York firefighter who was murdered that day) and 8 seconds of Pamela, but Geller’s wise-words, when speaking of the Ground Zero Mosque, should be broadcast world-wide, “It’s not an olive-branch, it is a flag; it’s a flag of conquest at Ground Zero”. – [Source: No Mosques At Ground Zero]

Huckabee: Pamela Geller on the 9/11 Mosque at Ground Zero


Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs >>>

ABC World News Sunday Mosque at Ground Zero


No Mosques At Ground Zero >>>

Related: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Plan for Mosque Near World Trade Center Site Moves Ahead (+ videos) >>> Joe Jackson and Bill Hutchinson | Published: Thursday May 06, 2010; Updated: Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Related: Ground Zero >>>

Fact-Checking the AP ‘Fact Check’ On the Ground Zero Mosque
BIG JOURNALISM: Stop the presses! This just in: The Associated Press “standards center” has issued a “staff advisory” on covering what is to be known from here on out as “the New York City mosque.” From now on, the AP “staff” – and, therefore, everybody who still actually reads newspapers that still actually use the wire service’s copy – is supposed to conform to what amounts to the Muslim Brotherhood narrative about the Islamic cultural center formerly known as the “Ground Zero mosque.”

AP’s Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production, Tom Kent, sent this “guidance” out to his colleagues, with inputs from Chad Roedemeier in the New York bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington: “We should continue to avoid the phrase ‘Ground Zero mosque’ or ‘mosque at Ground Zero’ on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at Ground Zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s “near” Ground Zero, or two blocks away.”

Interestingly, among those who formerly used the now-proscribed descriptor “Ground Zero mosque” is none other than Feisal Abdul Rauf, its imam and chief promoter. He called it that even though the proposed venue has always been two blocks away from the World Trade Center site.

Perhaps Rauf used this moniker because his planned location for the mosque was part of the real estate attacked and damaged on 9/11 – the home of the Burlington Coat Factory until it was struck by a landing gear from a plane that struck one of the Twin Towers. Perhaps he used that term to brand his “Cordoba House” because body parts from the victims of those attacks have been found all over Lower Manhattan, including the old Burlington factory area, making it part of the hallowed ground.

Or perhaps, Imam Rauf called his project the Ground Zero mosque because he wanted to associate his 15-story, $100 million complex as closely as possible to the location where nearly 3,000 Americans and other innocent people – precisely because they were murdered there by people who wanted, as he does, to “bring shariah to America.”

The last explanation would certainly conform to the triumphalist past practice of adherents to shariah, the barbaric, totalitarian political program that masquerades as a religion. Indeed, there is a tradition of constructing mosques at the site of previous Islamic conquests for example in Jerusalem, Istanbul and Cordoba, Spain. Yes, it was for Cordoba – where a Catholic church was converted into the world’s third largest mosque by the Moorish conquerors of Spain – that Rauf wanted initially to name his Ground Zero mosque. Read on and comment >>> Frank Gaffney | Friday, August 20, 2010

HT: Jihad Watch >>>

Plan for Mosque Near World Trade Center Site Moves Ahead
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the Cordoba Initiative, talks about his proposal to convert the now-shuttered Burlington Coat Factory on Park Place, two blocks from Ground Zero, into a mosque. Photo: New York Daily News
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: A proposal to build a mosque steps from Ground Zero received the support of a downtown committee despite some loved ones of 9/11 victims finding it offensive.

The 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center was unanimously endorsed by the 12-member Community Board 1's financial district committee.

The $100 million project, called the Cordoba House, is proposed for the old Burlington Coat Factory building at Park Place and Broadway, just two blocks from the World Trade Center site.

"I think it will be a wonderful asset to the community," said committee Chairman Ro Sheffe.

Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, who helped found the Cordoba Initiative following the 9/11 attacks, said the project is intended to foster better relations between the West and Muslims.

He said the glass-and-steel building would include a 500-seat performing arts venue, a swimming pool and a basketball court. "There's nothing like it," said Rauf, adding that facilities will be open to all New Yorkers.

Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and Cordoba Initiative board member, said the project has received little opposition.

"Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community," Khan said.
Khan said her group hopes construction on the project will begin by the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Once built, 1,000 to 2,000 Muslims are expected to pray at the mosque every Friday, she said. >>> Joe Jackson and Bill Hutchinson | Published: Thursday May 06, 2010; Updated: Tuesday, May 11, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Ground Zero mosque plan angers New Yorkers: An ambitious plan to build a mosque next to New York's Ground Zero has angered residents of the city. >>> | Monday, May 17, 2010

The Ground Zero Mosque Must Be Stopped


Huckabee, Pamela Geller on Mosque at Ground Zero


Mosque at Ground Zero Riles 9/11 Families


No Mosques At Ground Zero >>>

Ground Zero Mosque Developers Apply for Federal Funding
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The developers of an Islamic community centre and mosque near Ground Zero in New York have applied for millions of dollars in public money from a post-September 11 reconstruction fund.

Interior view of the proposed Park51 community center and mosque. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
The Park 51 group has risked reigniting a debate over its project by requesting the grant, which is reported to total $5 million (£3.1 million), from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Its plan to build a base for local Muslims two blocks away from the World Trade Centre site is opposed by a majority of Americans, polls suggest, and has been criticised by high-profile Republican politicians.

President Barack Obama was also criticised after endorsing the project before backtracking and saying he had only meant that it was legally entitled to go ahead.

Sharif El-Gamal, the 15-storey project's lead developer, is now seeking public money through the Corporation's $17 million "community and cultural enhancement" programme. >>> Jon Swaine in New York | Tuesday, November 23, 2010

‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Outrage
FOX NEWS – LIVESHOTS: He wants your money. The developer of the so called "Ground Zero Mosque" is applying for federal taxpayer money to help him build the controversial and contentious project. The funds are designated to help lower Manhattan recover from the 9-11 terrorist attacks, which took place just around the corner from the proposed mosque and cultural center location.

Sharif El-Gamal, the head of SOHO Properties, says the money will be used for a variety of services for Park51, as the project is called.

In a statement, El-Gamal said he is, "…committed to exploring all sources of revenue and funding to build the community center," noting that the request for a reported $5 million would help provide "social service programs....such as domestic violence prevention, Arabic and other foreign language classes, programs and services for homeless veterans, two multi-cultural arts exhibits and immigration services."

El-Gamal did not specify exactly how much of the taxpayers' funds would be allocated to "build the community center."

"It's absolutely disgraceful," said an angry Congressman Peter King (R-NY) who is likely to be the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Read on and comment >>> Eric Shawn | Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Federal Aid for 'Ground Zero Mosque'?
Park51 developers apply for $5 million federal grant

No Mosque At Ground Zero >>>

JIHAD WATCH: NBC names Ground Zero Mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal "Person of the Year" >>> Robert Spencer | Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Ground Zero Mosque: Too Close for Comfort?
THE TELEGRAPH: The proposed creation of an Islamic centre at Ground Zero has New Yorkers pitting appeals for tolerance against appeals for respect for the bereaved, writes Alex Spillius.

Linda Rivera holds up a sign in opposition to the proposed mosque. Photo: The Telegraph
A debate is raging in New York that has achieved the unlikely feat of pitting rabbi against rabbi, Muslim against Muslim and a former New York mayor against the current office holder.

Ignited by a proposal to build an Islamic centre and mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero in New York, it has turned into an exemplary ethical dispute for the post-9/11 era, pitting appeals for tolerance against appeals for respect for the bereaved.

The stated purpose of the project is to bridge the divide between American Muslims and their non-Muslim compatriots and to foster cross-cultural understanding.

It is led by Faisal Abdul Rauf, an imam who has run a mosque nearby in lower Manhattan for 27 years and who is considered the epitome of Muslim moderation.

Called Cordoba House, the $100 million, 13-storey centre would be open to all faiths. It would include a 500-seat auditorium, swimming pool, book shops, restaurants and a September 11th memorial. One floor will be occupied by a mosque.

Formerly a coat factory, the building has been largely disused since the 2001 attacks, when it was struck by a piece of one of the planes flown by suicidal al-Qaeda terrorists into the World Trade Centre's twin towers.

Last week the city's Landmark Preservation Commission removed the project's only bureaucratic hurdle by unanimously declining to award protected status to the structure, meaning it could be rebuilt from scratch.

The developers have put a down payment on the property on Park Place. Only an outcry, or lack of funding, can stop it now.

To critics, the centre's proximity to the site of the atrocity would be an affront to the dead and to the feelings of families and firefighting colleagues who have survived them.

Some relatives have said that a building representative of the religion in whose name their loved ones were killed is too painful to countenance.

The Anti-Defamation League, a venerable Jewish civil rights group, came out against, arguing that "this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right".

In a Quinnipiac University poll, a narrow majority of New Yorkers disapproved of the plan, though a majority of Manhattans approved.

The arguments in favour have been led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with strong support from the local community board and many Jewish groups and churches. >>> Alex Spillius - American Way | Saturday, August 07, 2010

A Mosque at Ground Zero? A Sick Joke
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – DOUGLAS MURRAY: If you were planning to build a new £68 million giant mosque and 13-storey “Muslim community centre”, which site – anywhere in the world – would you think it most thoughtless to choose? The charred ruins of a Bali nightclub? A railway station in Madrid? Or perhaps the site of the most infamous Islamist terrorist attack of all – Ground Zero in New York?

This must count as the most crass idea since the award-winning plan to plant a red crescent (I kid you not) in the field in Pennsylvania in which flight 93 came down on that same day in 2001.

Amazingly, the organisation behind the Twin Towers mosque plan have said they picked the spot precisely because of its location. “Building a mosque where a piece of the wreckage fell … sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11,” according to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric leading the project.

Really? Building a mosque on the site of the Twin Towers sounds to me like having your Islamic cake and eating it. Those guys who brought down the Towers: bad Muslims. Those people who build mosques on the same site: good Muslims. Either way, the point is, it’s a gain for the religion which, misinterpreted or not, inspired the attacks. Continue reading and comment >>> Douglas Murray | Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The building of a mosque/Islamic center near Ground Zero is an act of triumphalism; further, it is in extremely bad taste.

It would be hard to think of doing anything more hurtful to the families of the fallen on 9/11. It would also be hard to try and think up doing anything which could be so disrespectful of those thousands that persished so needlessly.

On 9/11, thousands of people lost their lives because of Islam. It would be hard to conclude anything else. Islam is what inspired the terrorists. They also came from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, it is said, will now be behind the financing of this project: Cordoba House.

To think of anything more despicable than this would be hard indeed. This is an act of defiance and glorification of an act of Islamic terrorism. It also glorifies Islam itself.

Last week, the Landmark Preservation Commission opened up the way ahead for Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf to go ahead with the building of this already infamous edifice. However, this imam should show a modicum of respect for the victims and their families and back off. He has already played the system to his own advantage, and he has won the day – for now. He should still, however, be respectful of the country that has given him a home. He should not abuse the hospitality of the kind Americans who have allowed him to stay in their country.

If Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf really wants Islam to be respected in America, then he has no option but to find another location for his project. If this mosque/Islamic center goes ahead, Islam will become even more despised in America than it already is.

Is this what the Imam wants for his beloved religion?

Do the right thing, Mr Rauf – back off! You’ll do yourself a great favour. You’ll do Islam a great favour too. – © Mark

Related >>>

Barack Obama und die Moschee-Zwickmühle
WELT ONLINE: Erst war er für die Moschee an Ground Zero, dann doch nicht: Obamas Hin und Her ist symptomatisch für die verfahrene Debatte.

Barack Obama hat seine Unterstützung für den umstrittenen Bau einer Moschee nahe Ground Zero in Manhattan eingeschränkt. Er habe nicht kommentiert, ob es „klug“ sei, ein 13 Stockwerke hohes islamisches Zentrum mit einer Moschee nahe dem „geweihten Boden“ der Anschläge vom 11.September zu errichten – und werde dies auch künftig nicht tun, sagte der US-Präsident.

Zuvor hatte Obama anlässlich einer Feier zum Fastmonat Ramadan im Weißen Haus die seit der Gründung der USA verbürgten Rechte auf Gleichbehandlung und freie Religionsausübung verteidigt. Diese schlössen den Bau einer Moschee in New York auf privatem Grund ein. Das Bekenntnis zur Religionsfreiheit müsse „unerschütterlich“ sein.

An seinem Urlaubsort in Panama City an der Golfküste zeigte sich Obama von der sogleich aufbrandenden Kritik von Angehörigen der 9/11-Opfer und prominenten Republikanern erschüttert genug, sein Bekenntnis zu der Rechtmäßigkeit einer Moschee auch nahe Ground Zero nachzubessern. Newt Gingrich, früher Sprecher des Republikantenhauses mit Ambitionen im Präsidentschaftswahlkampf 2012, nannte die geplante Moschee in dem 100 Millionen Dollar teuren „Cordoba Haus“ ein „Symbol muslimischen Triumphalismus“. Ebenso gut könne man Hakenkreuze neben dem Holocaust-Museum aufstellen.

Krude Nazi-Vergleiche sind in dem Streit beliebt. Der rechtskonservative Kolumnist Charles Krauthammer schrieb, eine Moschee nahe von Ground Zero sei wie „ein Wagner-Konzert in Auschwitz“. Oder ein deutsches Kulturzentrum in Treblinka. Eine Opferangehörige, Debra Burlingame, beklagte bitter: „Der Präsident hat sich entschieden, unsere Erinnerungen an 9/11 für obsolet und die Heiligkeit von Ground Zero für beendet zu erklären.“ Laut einer CNN-Umfrage sind 68 Prozent der Amerikaner gegen den Bau einer Moschee zwei Häuserblocks von Ground Zero. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Uwe Schmitt | Sonntag, 15. August 2010

Liberalism's Surrender of America to Radical Islam
at Ground Zero
WORLD TRIBUNE: America is surrendering in the war against radical Islam. This is the real meaning behind the decision to build a 13-story mosque and Muslim cultural center 600 feet from the site of ground zero. A New York City panel gave the green light Tuesday for the project — despite intense resistance from many families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Most New Yorkers and Americans do not want this mosque erected: It will be a symbolic monument to the triumph of Islamism in the United States.

Ground zero is more than where the World Trade Center came crashing down. It is not simply where an immense crime took place. Rather, it is the site of an act of war, hallowed ground that contains the blood of 3,000 human beings, mostly Americans, murdered on that fateful day. Like Pearl Harbor, it is a national shrine that should be dedicated to honor the memory of the victims — an eternal reminder of the atrocity perpetrated by Islamic fascism on U.S. soil.

The Sept. 11 attacks were committed by Muslim extremists in the name of holy war against the West. They used the Koran and Islamic principles to justify their actions. Their goal was to bring jihad to America, unleashing a clash of civilizations. Across the world, Islamists seek to impose a world Muslim empire based on Shariah law. Ground zero is where the war came home to America.

Hence, the building of this mosque is a sacrilegious act — a deliberate slap in the face to the victims, their families and all Americans. It also is why the sponsors of this project refuse to back down. They realize what is at stake: The mosque will cast a giant, dark shadow over ground zero, serving as a testament to the Islamist conquest of America. If Islamism can impose its will near the site of Sept. 11, then it can impose its will anywhere. >>> Jeffrey T. Kuhner* | Wednesday, August 11, 2010

*Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a radio talk show host (570 am WTNT, 5 to 7 pm daily) and a columnist at The Washington Times and WorldTribune.com.

Profile: The Imam Behind the Islamic Centre Near Ground Zero
FRANCE 24: Feisal Abdul Rauf is widely known as a moderate Islamic cleric, but also as someone who once accused the US of complicity in the 9/11 attacks. Now he's sparked a virulent debate over religious freedom in the US.

PROGRAMME ALERT: Watch the FRANCE 24 debate on the Islamic Centre near Ground Zero tonight at 7:10pm Paris time (GMT+1)

Feisal Abdul Rauf is the soft-spoken yet determined Muslim cleric who is the driving force behind plans to build a controversial Islamic centre two blocks away from the Ground Zero site in Lower Manhattan. Although the Egyptian-born imam is a leader in inter-faith dialogue, he has also sparked a virulent debate over religious freedom in the United States.

The proposed Islamic facility in lower Manhattan known as the “Ground Zero Mosque” is neither a mosque nor located at Ground Zero. Yet those semantic shortcomings have done little to cool what is now a raging debate across the United States about religious freedom and the place of Islam in American society.

The man behind the New York project prefers to describe the new complex in lower Manhattan in far more benign terms. Rauf, who is widely known as a leading moderate cleric, chose the name “Project Park 51” – a reference to the building’s address – as a means to downplay the religious symbolism of the proposed facility. While the new complex will, in fact, have a mosque, Rauf contends that it will not be the main focus. Instead, “Project Park 51” will serve as an Islamic cultural centre with sports, childcare and library facilities among other amenities. Nonetheless, those subtleties have not made their way into the broader debate that is now becoming a critical issue in the upcoming mid-term elections in the United States. >>> Céline Curiol | Vendredi 26 Août 2010

Conservative Party Advertises Against The Mosque

Ground Zero Mosque Imam 'Gets Death Threats'
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The wife of an imam planning an Islamic community centre and mosque near ground zero says she and her husband have received death threats.

Daisy Khan said yesterday that the lives of her and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf are "under threat." Police can't confirm the threats.

Khan was part of a discussion of Islam on ABC television's This Week news program. >>> | Sunday, October 03, 2010

Ground Zero mosque – first look >>>

They can make the Ground Zero mosque as futuristic as they like, but the religion it represents will still be as backward as it gets! Ground Zero mosque likened to Superman’s HQ! >>>

New York Muslim Cab Driver Stabbed In Rising Tensions Over Ground Zero Controversy
MAIL ONLINE: A cab driver has been stabbed in New York after telling his passenger that he was Muslim.

Ahmed H Sharif was slashed in the face and neck after the passenger, 21-year-old Michael Enright, allegedly attacked him.

The attack came as tensions over plans to build a mosque at Ground Zero are threatening to spill over into the streets of New York.

Sharif picked up Enright at about 6pm on Tuesday evening at East 24th Street and Second Avenue, police spokeswoman Deputy Inspector Kim Royster said.

Sharif - who is originally from Bangladesh - told authorities that during the trip Enright asked him whether he's Muslim.

When he said yes, Enright allegedly uttered an Arabic greeting and told Sharif: 'Consider this a checkpoint'.

Enright then pulled out a weapon - believed to be a folding tool with a knife blade called a Leatherman - and attacked Sharif, Royster said.

Sharif was seriously wounded in the neck and suffered cuts to his forearms, his face and one hand while trying to fend off Enright, prosecutor James Zeleta said.

Sharif tried to lock Enright inside the cab and drive to a police station, police said. New York cab driver stabbed after saying he was Muslim as Ground Zero mosque tensions threaten to spill over >>> Mail Foreign Service | Thursday, August 26, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Campaigners say Ground Zero mosque plans led to taxi murder attempt: Campaigners against plans to build a mosque near the Ground Zero site condemned the project for stoking tensions they claim led to the attempted murder of a Muslim taxi driver. >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Donnerstag, August 26, 2010

Arbeiter auf der Baustelle am Ground Zero in Manhatten. Foto: NZZ am Sonntag
Glaubenskampf an Ground Zero: Muslime wollen am ehemaligen World Trade Center ein Gemeindezentrum bauen
NZZ am SONNTAG: New Yorker Muslime wollen am ehemaligen World Trade Center ein Gemeindezentrum bauen. Konservative attackieren die «Ground-Zero-Moschee» als Beleidigung der Opfer von 9/11.

Anfang Woche hat die Denkmalbehörde von Manhattan den Abbruch eines seit den Anschlägen von 9/11 leerstehenden Gebäudes am Park Place, 180 Meter nördlich von Ground Zero, genehmigt. Dort wollen New Yorker Muslime das Gemeindezentrum «Cordoba House» bauen. Orientiert am goldenen Zeitalter der muslimischen Herrschaft in Spanien, soll es eine «Plattform für Toleranz und interreligiösen Dialog» werden. Doch derzeit provoziert das Projekt weit über New York hinaus Streit und Vorurteile.

Nachdem republikanische Lokalpolitiker das Vorhaben im Juni als Wahlkampfthema entdeckt hatten, heizen nun Konservative wie Sarah Palin und Newt Gingrich die Debatte an. Gingrich bezeichnete das Vorhaben als «islamistischen Angriff auf unsere Zivilisation». Auch ein Verein der Angehörigen von Terroropfern betrachtet das Cordoba House als Verhöhnung der Opfer von 9/11. Ein anderer Angehörigen-Verein unterstützt das Vorhaben dagegen. Nun hat das christlich-fundamentalistische American Center for Law and Justice Klage gegen das Cordoba House erhoben. Die Republikanische Partei hat zudem ein Video produziert, das die «Ground-Zero-Moschee» als Symbol des Terrors darstellt und eine gewaltige Moschee mit goldener Kuppel zeigt. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Andreas Mink, New York | Sonntag, 08. August 2010

Now Muslim Miss USA Says DON'T Build Mosque Near Ground Zero
MAIL ONLINE: The growing movement against the building of a mosque near Ground Zero has gained another prominent supporter: the first Muslim Miss USA.

Rima Fakih, 24, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants and a Muslim, criticised the location of the planned £70 million Islamic Cultural Center planned just two blocks away from Ground Zero.

'It shouldn't be so close to the World Trade Center,' Fakih, 24, told Inside Edition during a break from the Miss Universe pageant preparations in Las Vegas.

'We should be more concerned with the tragedy than religion.'

After wading into the highly-charged political issue, the Michigan-born Fakih then went on to support President Obama's statement on the constitutional rights of religious freedom.

'I totally agree with President Obama with (that) statement,' said Fakih.

Meanwhile growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero, according to the New York Daily News.

'It's a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground,' said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.

The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet, says the Daily News. One construction worker created the Hard Hat Pledge on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays in its current location.

'Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country,' said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn.

'People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there. >>> Mail Foreign Correspondent | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Barack Obama Backs Ground Zero Mosque
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has offered strong support for plans to build a mosque and Muslim community centre near the Ground Zero site in New York where Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Centre.



Mr Obama made his first public remarks on the proposals on Friday night after weeks avoiding comment on a controversial issue that has dominated headlines.

At a dinner celebrating the holy month of Ramadan, he declared "as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country".

In remarks prepared for the annual White House sunset meal breaking the fast, he said: "I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground."

But, he continued, "this is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are."

Robert Gibbs, his press secretary, said last week that the president did not want to "get involved in local decision-making" as controversy grew when New York city authorities removed the last planning hurdle to the project. >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, August 14, 2010

NOTHING and NO-ONE will EVER convince me that this man isn't a MUSLIM. He got to the White House by deceiving the people, isn't qualified for the high, prestigious office he now holds, and he thereby endangers not only the existence of Judeo-Christian America, but also the existence of the West as well.

The sooner that Americans rid themselves of this loser, the better it will be for us all. He is a traitor to the cause. He should be upholding Western values, not Islamic ones. Shouldn't this be an impeachable offence? – © Mark [This comment can also be viewed on The DailyTelegraph’s website]

Barack Hussein Obama: Muslim's Right To Build A Manhattan Mosque


ATLAS SHRUGS: Pamela Geller >>>

I observe from afar, from across the Pond, how this Muslim president is unmaking America. My heart weeps. How Americans could have been gulled by this phoney upstart, I'll never know. I guess it is testimony to the good nature of Americans – their desire to think only the best of others.

Alas, they have been deceived. Their president has had a hidden agenda; but the truth is coming out with each passing day.
It is unimaginable to me that Americans will be fooled a second time. So, as you say, Pamela, B. Hussein Obama has sealed his fate.

The sooner that Americans rid themselves of this loser, the better it will be for all concerned, Europeans too. Western values need to be upheld. Islam doesn't need someone like this foolish president to fight its corner for it; they - and history - have shown pretty clearly that Muslims are quite capable of fighting their own. But the West does need someone to bat for it. It is, and has been since 9/11, under attack. This president is helping the process of the Islamization of your wonderful country. Surely this should be an impeachable offence. – © Mark

This comment also appears on Atlas Shrugs.

LE POINT: NEW YORK - Obama favorable à la mosquée de Ground Zero: Il a finalement tranché. Dans un plaidoyer passionné pour la liberté de culte, le président américain Barack Obama a défendu vendredi le droit d'installer une mosquée près du site des attentats du 11-Septembre à New York, intervenant pour la première fois dans ce dossier potentiellement explosif. >>> AFP | Samedi 14 Août 2010

Insult: A Time magazine poll released last week also revealed that more than 70 per cent of those questioned believed that to build the mosque would insult the memory of victims. Photograph: Mail Online
Hundreds of Protesters Rally Outside Ground Zero Mosque... and Sing Along to Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA
MAIL ONLINE: Hundreds of protesters rallied near the site of a proposed mosque and Muslim community centre near Ground Zero in New York yesterday.

A crowd of demonstrators against the project stood behind police barricades three blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Bruce Springsteen's anti-war song Born In The USA blared over loudspeakers as patriotic mosque opponents chanted, 'No mosque, no way!

Brooklyn plumber Steve Ayling says the people who want to build the project are the same ones who 'took down the twin towers.'

Nearby, several hundred people who support the mosque chanted: 'Muslims are welcome here. We say no to racist fear.'

The proposed £70million mosque has ignighted furious debate. (+ video) >>> Mail Foreign Service | Moonday, August 23, 2010

Anti-Muslim Rally at Ground Zero


Dueling Protests over Ground Zero Mosque
Watch video here

Verhärtete Fronten beim Ground Zero: Gouverneur bringt Alternativstandort für Moschee ins Spiel
NZZ ONLINE: Nach den Demonstrationen für und gegen eine geplante Moschee beim Ground Zero bleiben die Fronten in New York verhärtet.

Für Gila Barzavi ist es schlicht unvorstellbar. Ganz in der Nähe von Ground Zero in New York, wo vor neun Jahren ihr Sohn Guy ums Leben kam, planen Muslime den Bau einer Moschee. «Das ist heiliger Boden und es ist der Ort, an dem mein Sohn beerdigt wurde», sagt die gebürtige Israelin aus dem Stadtteil Queens. Die Moschee, so sagt sie, wäre «wie ein Messer in unseren Herzen». >>> ddp | Montag, 23. August 2010

Mosquée de Ground Zero : 
la polémique enfle
LE FIGARO: Des manifestants se sont fait face dimanche soir à New York. Le débat affecte la popularité de Barack Obama.

La place de l'islam dans la société américaine est-elle en passe de devenir un sujet majeur de la campagne pour les élections de mi-mandat du 2 novembre? Ils étaient plusieurs centaines à s'invectiver dimanche à New York, séparés par un cordon de policiers. «Pas de mosquée!», criaient les uns, reprenant des chants patriotiques et brandissant des affiches où le mot «charia» apparaissait en lettres dégoulinantes de peinture rouge sang. «Peu importe ce que les bigots disent, les musulmans sont bienvenus», scandait l'autre groupe de manifestants. >>> | Lundi 23 Août 2010

Mosque Unbecoming: Not at Ground Zero
NEW YORK POST: In the 1960s, my parents left their despotic motherland of Syria for the promise of genuine liberty and religious freedom in America. In the decades since, we have led the construction of a number of mosques in the towns where we lived.

Some went up without challenge from the local community, but others met with palpable local discontent. In those cases, the law and the natural American affinity for religious freedom eventually paved the way to the ribbon cutting.

These were all humble mosques, funded locally by our congregations. It's plain the planned "Ground Zero mosque" is something very different. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, his wife, Daisy Khan, and an investor intend to build "Cordoba House," an ostentatious $100 million, 13-story Muslim community center including a gym, a swimming pool, a performance-arts facility and a mosque.

My first concern is whether the financing truly represents the local American Muslim community or comes with strings from foreign Islamists. But that is far from my last concern.

I am an American Muslim dedicated to defeating the ideology that fuels global Islamist terror -- political Islam. And I don't see such a "center" actually fighting terrorism or being a very "positive" addition near Ground Zero, no matter how well intentioned.

To put it bluntly, Ground Zero is the one place in America where Muslims should think less about teaching Islam and "our good side" and more about being American and fulfilling our responsibilities to confront the ideology of our enemies. >>> M. Zuhdi Jasser | Monday, May 24, 2010

Related articls and videos here

Wife of Ground Zero Mosque Imam Speaks Out on US 'Hate of Muslims'
THE TELEGRAPH: The wife of the imam behind the proposed Islamic cultural centre near the Ground Zero site of the September 11th terrorist attacks has compared the treatment of Muslims in America to discrimination against Jews.

'It's not even Islamophobia, it's beyond Islamophobia - it's hate of Muslims' said Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Photo: The Telegraph
"This is like a metastasized anti-Semitism," said Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. "That's what we feel right now. It's not even Islamophobia, it's beyond Islamophobia - it's hate of Muslims. And we are deeply concerned."

Miss Khan, whose husband is travelling outside the United States on a tour partly funded by the US State Department, insisted that the centre - now being called Park51 - would be built as planned despite fierce opposition from many New Yorkers and calls for an alternative site to be considered.

"Of course, it has to go ahead," she told ABC News. "There's so much at stake." >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Monday, August 23, 2010

'Ground Zero' Imam on Mideast Tour
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The imam behind the plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero surfaced yesterday far from the controversy -- in Bahrain, where he's on a U.S. taxpayer-funded trip to the Middle East to spread good will, The New York Post reported Saturday. Video Courtesy of Fox News.

Photo of a historic protest in New York. Photograph: Google Images
Debate Heating Up on Plans for Mosque Near Ground Zero
THE NEW YORK TIMES: An influential Jewish organization on Friday announced its opposition to a proposed Islamic center and mosque two blocks north of ground zero in Lower Manhattan, intensifying a fierce national debate about the limits of religious freedom and the meaning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The decision by the group, the Anti-Defamation League, touched off angry reactions from a range of religious groups, which argued that the country would show its tolerance and values by welcoming the center near the site where radical Muslims killed about 2,750 people.

But the unexpected move by the ADL, a mainstream group that has denounced what it saw as bigoted attacks on plans for the Muslim center, could well be a turning point in the battle over the project.

In New York, where ground zero has slowly blended back into the fabric of the city, government officials appear poised to approve plans for the sprawling complex, which would have as many as 15 stories and would house a prayer space, a performing arts center, a pool and a restaurant.

But around the country opposition is mounting, fueled in part by Republican leaders and conservative pundits. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, has urged “peace-seeking Muslims” to reject the center, branding it an “unnecessary provocation.” A Republican political action committee has produced a television commercial assailing the proposal. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has decried it in speeches.

The complex’s rapid evolution from a local zoning dispute into a national referendum highlights the intense and unsettled emotions that still surround the World Trade Center site nine years after the attacks.

To many New Yorkers, especially in Manhattan, it is a construction zone, passed during the daily commute or glimpsed through office windows. To some outside of the city, though, it stands as a hallowed battlefield that must be shielded and memorialized.

Those who are fighting the project argue that building a house of Muslim worship so close to ground zero is at best an affront to the families of those who died there and at worst an act of aggression that would, they say, mark the place where radical Islam achieved a blow against the United States. >>> Michael Barbaro | Friday, July 30, 2010

Ground Zero, la nouvelle Jérusalem
Manifestation des opposants au centre islamique. Des ultra-conservateurs qui y voient un symbole de l’islamisation de l’Amérique. Photo: Le Temps
LE TEMPS: Le projet new-yorkais de construire une mosquée près de Ground Zero déchaîne les passions et réveille les démons anti-islam

C’est une croisade aux formes et aux calculs multiples. A la radio, Rush Limbaugh, l’empereur des ondes conservatrices, s’en prend à Barack Obama, en tentant de démontrer que le président est bien musulman: «Le fait de l’avoir élu à la présidence, c’est comme se marier avec quelqu’un dont on ne connaît rien. En général, cela arrive quand on est saoul, à Las Vegas.» Sur son blog, Pamela Geller, fondatrice de l’organisation «Stop à l’islamisation de l’Amérique», n’hésite pas, de son côté, à apparaître en bikini, laissant l’eau transparente dévoiler en partie son anatomie avantageuse: «Ceci est mon tchador, ma burka», explique-t-elle, derrière ses lunettes de soleil.

Pour ce corps expéditionnaire d’un nouveau genre, la «mosquée de Ground Zero» est devenue la nouvelle Jérusalem. Tant pis si le projet contesté de centre culturel islamique de 13 étages, comprenant notamment des restaurants et une piscine, ne sera pas à proprement parler une «méga-mosquée», comme le qualifie Geller. Tant pis si ce centre, dont la construction a reçu l’aval des autorités de New York et le soutien du maire Michael Bloomberg, ne sera pas situé «à Ground Zero», là où se tenaient les deux tours jumelles, mais deux blocs plus loin. Le raccourci est trop pratique, l’image trop évocatrice pour ne pas l’exploiter à fond. >>> Luis Lema | Mardi 24 Août 2010