 A Massachusetts college has modified a controversial security policy after criticism it infringed on the religious rights of students, a school official said Friday. The policy originally banned any head covering that obscured the student's face while engaged in student activities. The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences e-mailed students about the initial changes this week, saying, "Any head covering that obscures a student's face may not be worn, either on campus or at clinical sites, except when required for medical reasons." School officials said the policy was intended to ensure that all students would be identifiable "for reasons of safety and security." But on Thursday, the policy was changed to include an exception "for medical and/or religious reasons." The original policy had prompted questions and concerns among Muslim students and organizations, particularly because it meant Muslim women at the college could no longer wear the niqab, or face veil. The college -- with campuses in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, as well as Manchester, New Hampshire -- stated that the initial modification was "based on a constructive dialogue with our extended community, and an intensive review of safety and security measures with advisors." College spokesman Michael Ratty said, "We will achieve our objective of campus security while allowing for a medical and/or religious accommodation. As always, our primary concern is the security and safety of all our students, faculty and staff." Ratty stressed that Muslims were involved in the original policy decision saying, "Prior to implementation, the college discussed it with several officials within the Muslim community." Muslim students had mixed reactions to the original ban. Aisha Bajwa, president of the Muslim Students Association at the college, called the unmodified policy "unjustified and unconstitutional." Bajwa, who does not wear the niqab, said that having to wear student IDs at all times keeps students safe. Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, thinks the policy targeted Muslim students and filed a third-party complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Writing to the commission, the Council invoked Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on religion. Hooper acknowledged that the college's policy focuses on students but said it will inevitably target Muslim employees in the future. After the complaint, George Humphrey, the vice president for College Relations, e-mailed Hooper, announcing the new policy. "We have reviewed our ID policy and made an accommodation for religious reasons," the e-mail said. "Thank you for your input on this matter." Hooper then stated, "We are pleased that the religious rights of all students and staff will now be protected. This is a victory for religious freedom and tolerance." Ratty said, "The complaint was not the sole reason for the reversal but rather an ongoing discussion this week with our community." Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, supported the original policy. Though Pipes acknowledged the larger cultural debate, he said the college is focusing on security. "I have documented dozens and dozens of cases about criminality and terrorism that have been abetted by burqas and niqabs," he said. "It is sensible to ban these, and there are a number of these bans in institutions such as banks or jewelry stores." With increasing concern about terrorist attacks, religious practices will have to be weighed against security, Pipes said. "In Turkey, the hijab has been banned from government offices, so this is not something that is just an American concern," he added. CNN 
 Fearing that a gunman who killed 12 people at a military facility in Texas may have been Muslim, US Islamic groups were bracing themselves for a public backlash against the faith. Soon after Pentagon officials named the gunman at the Fort Hood facility as Nidal Malik Hasan, Islamic groups rallied to condemn an act President Barack Obama had earlier described as a "horrific outburst of violence". "The guy's name is a Muslim name," Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told AFP, expressing fears about damage to inter-faith relations, already strained by the attacks of September 11, 2001 and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a statement, CAIR condemned the shootings as a "cowardly attack" adding that "no political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. "American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured." Qaseem Ali Uqdah, who was a Marine for 21-years before becoming the executive director at the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, now fears a "witch-hunt" such as that which followed September 11. "This is a criminal act and we have to treat it like a criminal act, not something to do with religion" he said. For the estimated 3500 Muslims in the US armed forces, Uqdah said there could be some fallout from the attack. "What we don't need is people down range sitting in foxholes [in Afghanistan or Iraq] questioning if you are a Christian, if you are a Muslim or if you are a Jew ... that is not what we need as a nation. "We need to fight the war on terror together," he added. In a Pew survey published last September, 38 per cent of respondents said that Islam encouraged violence more than other religions. Fifty-eight per cent said there was a lot of discrimination against Muslims in the United States. Source: SMH
 Honest Ibe Hooper and Brave Ahmed Rehab of CAIR are even now on their way to Boston to explain to Tarek Mehanna how he is getting the Religion of Peace wrong, wrong, wrong. Aren't you, Ibe? Ahmed? Anyone? Anyone? More on the Boston jihad plot. "Massachusetts Man Accused of Plotting 'Violent Jihad' (Update2)," by Brian K. Sullivan for Bloomberg, October 21.
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- A Massachusetts man was charged with plotting terrorist attacks that included shooting up shopping malls and targeting two unidentified U.S. officials as part of a "violent jihad" against Americans. Tarek Mehanna, 27, was arrested this morning at his home in Sudbury, about 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of Boston, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael K. Loucks said at a press conference. Mehanna had been out on bail on a charge of lying to authorities about the location of a man who trained with al-Qaeda members intent on overthrowing the Somali government, Loucks said. Loucks said Mehanna, Ahmad Abousamra, who is currently in Syria, and a third man who is cooperating with authorities wanted to obtain automatic weapons and attack U.S. shopping malls. The trio abandoned the plans before 2006 because they couldn't get the weapons, Loucks said. "The killing of civilians was considered OK because civilians are taxpayers and are non-believers," Loucks said. He wouldn't disclose where the attacks were supposed to take place.... The U.S. complaint alleges that "Mehanna and coconspirators discussed their desire to participate in violent jihad against American interests and that they would talk about fighting jihad and their desire to die on the battlefield," prosecutors said in today's statement. The trio also wanted to assassinate two members of the U.S. Executive Branch who are no longer in office, Loucks said. He wouldn't identify the targets.... Source: JihadWatch
 We’re so glad that CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper took to PRNewswire yesterday to play “Six Degrees of Adolf Hitler” with our friend Robert Spencer, because it provides us with a perfect opportunity to remind our readers that Hooper’s own ties to Neo-Nazis and racism. Take, for instance, the fact that Ibrahim Hooper’s previous employer, the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), published a series of racist tracts, including America’s Greatest Enemy: THE JEW! And an UNHOLY ALLIANCE!" published while Hooper still worked for the organization (the bottom photo above is an image of this publication bearing the IAP logo). Another document published by the IAP during Mr. Hooper’s tenure was a translation of the 1988 HAMAS Covenant, which includes this hadith invoking the inevitable slaughter of all Jews by Muslims before the Day of Judgment: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem). This same document invokes the notorious anti-Semitic forgery - and Neo-Nazi favorite!!! - The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying. Read more ... Source: CAIR Hate and TerrorH/T: Jihad Watch
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - A lawsuit filed by conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage against a Muslim civil rights group came to an end Thursday when Savage's lawyer told a federal judge in San Francisco that he won't try to amend it. Savage sued the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR, last year after it posted on its Web site a four-minute excerpt of anti-Islamic comments by Savage along with a critique of his words. Savage made the comments during an Oct. 29, 2007, broadcast of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated show based in San Francisco. They included remarks that "you can take (CAIR) and throw them out of my country" and that Muslims were "screaming for the blood of Christians or Jews or anyone they hate." Read more ...Source: BCN
By Robert Spencer The New York Times, true to the New Duranty Times moniker Hugh Fitzgerald has given it, has run a gushing profile of Ali Ardekani, the young Muslim filmmaker who made "Who Hijacked Islam?," (linked in the picture above) among other shorts designed to stir up righteous indignation against the venomous Islamophobes who misrepresent Islam as anything other than a Religion of Peace. "Who Hijacked Islam?," as you can see, is a herky-jerky, hectoring, eye-rubbing affair, but it has been wildly popular -- and now the Times has anointed Ardekani as the alternative to the "bloodthirsty zealots" and defensive bowers-and-scrapers who supposedly dominate the public image of Islam in the West. (Which of those two categories do high-profile, ubiquitous Muslim spokesmen such as Ibrahim Hooper and Edina Lekovic fit into? But I digress.) Read more ...Source: Jihad Watch
 LOS ANGELES - The editors of a new book compiling the testimonies of ex-Muslims say they weren't surprised when the Council on American-Islamic Relations attacked their work without reading it. But, say Islamic experts Joel Richardson and Susan Crimp, they were shocked that the New York Daily News characterized the group as the voice of moderate Muslims. "Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out," published by WND Books, was skewered by CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper in the paper - weeks before today's official release date. The book is controversial for two reasons - the gripping firsthand personal accounts of men and women who risked their lives by abandoning the Koran and because it is the first American book release to feature a picture of the prophet Muhammad on the cover. CAIR didn't wait to look inside the cover before attacking the publisher for spewing hate. But the editors of "Why We Left Islam" say those in the media seeking the opinions of CAIR apparently don't know who they are dealing with. Read more ...Source: WND
 Former terrorists Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zak Anani addressed cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, during their annual political forum. They shared their experiences as terrorists and helped cadets understand the Islamic fundamentalist mind set. During the event a Jordanian college student, identified as Omar Khalifa of Metro International, approached Kamal Saleem and spoke to him in Arabic, "you are an enemy of Islam and you must die." The incident was reported to Military Police, who investigated Khalifa's threat. "The men receive threats of this nature all of time and we take each one very seriously," said Keith Davies, Executive Director of the Shoebat Foundation. "That is why each of the men live in seclusion." Numerous media outlets (New York Times, the Associated Press, The Colorado Springs Gazette, the Rocky Mountain News) did not report on the former terrorists' message, but instead focused on the [inaccurate] media statements distributed by CAIR (Council for American Islamic Relations), in an all-out campaign to discredit the speakers credentials and background. Read more ...Source: Mass Media distribution NewswireH/T: Jihad WatchOmar Khalifa
Latest recipients of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
By Glen Reinsford  If you heard that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) posted an article in response to the “ongoing controversy” in the Sudan, you might assume that the so-called “civil rights” organization had finally decided to denounce the Islamic government of that country for the recent massacre of hundreds of thousands of black Africans in the name of racial cleansing… You would be wrong. Stuffed teddy bears named “Muhammad” have now been added to the growing list of trivialities that upset the Muslim world more than Darfuri genocide and Islamist terrorism these days. CAIR’s November 30th posting, U.S. Muslim Responds to Jailing of Teacher in Sudan, is actually a reaction to British schoolteacher, Gillian Gibbons, allowing her Sudanese students to name the class mascot after one of their own, a 7-year-old boy who happens to share the same name as the prophet of Islam. In the article, CAIR isn’t quite able to bring itself to declare that Ms. Gibbons did not intend to insult Islam – after all, why not hold open the possibility that a 54-year-old humanitarian leaves the comforts of Europe and travels to an African schoolroom for the mere purpose of offending the local religion? Instead, the author of the piece, spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, wants it known that Muslims are not called to return “evil” with evil. Read more ...Source: Family Security MattersH/T: The Religion of Peace
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A Massachusetts college has modified a controversial security policy after criticism it infringed on the religious rights of students, a school official said Friday.
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