THE SACRAMENTO BEE: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today thanked a prominent New York law firm for its decision to cancel an event featuring Robert Spencer, the leader of one of the nation's most extreme anti-Islam hate groups.
Earlier today, CAIR expressed concerns about the April 18 event at the law offices of Kramer LevinNaftalis & Frankel (Kramer Levin) in New York City.
The event, sponsored by the right-wing Middle East Forum (MEF), would have promoted Spencer's claim that Islam's Prophet Muhammad may never have existed. MEF is headed by Daniel Pipes, who is viewed by many Muslims as one of the nation's leading Islamophobes.
In a statement sent to CAIR, Kramer Levin Executive Director Nicholas J. Tortorella wrote:
"From time to time we receive requests from not for profit or community organizations to use our conference rooms for meetings or other events. While we permit our facilities to be used occasionally for these purposes, Kramer Levin can take no responsibility for the content of these events and in no way endorses any opinions that may be expressed during them. In this instance, we were not aware of the controversy surrounding the speaker at the April 18th event. Now having been alerted to the situation, we have withdrawn permission for the event to take place at our offices.""We thank Kramer Levin for taking swift and appropriate action to disassociate itself from Robert Spencer's extremist views," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "The firm's actions demonstrate a commitment to religious tolerance and diversity."
In 2010, Kramer Levin published an "Employment Law Update" with a section on "Accommodating Muslim Employees." That publication stated in part: "Employers must ensure that Muslim employees are protected from discrimination and are provided with reasonable accommodations for their religious practices." » | Council on American-Islamic Relations | WASHINGTON | PRNewswire-USNewswire | Thursday, March 29, 2012
JIHAD WATCH: Action alert: New York law firm Kramer Levin caves to Hamas-linked CAIR, cancels Robert Spencer event » | Robert Spencer | Jihad Watch | Friday, March 30, 2012
