No Shariah for NY Muslims?

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What Do NY Muslims Say
About NYPD Monitoring?

The New York Police Department has come under fire from Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities in the United States recently - for "bugging" a vast majority of Muslim owned businesses, organizations and even places of worship. All of this has been going on for years in the name of "monitoring for security purposes". But a vast majority of the faithful have come out clearly in opposition to these actions and are pressuring the city of New York to "cease and desist" (so to speak).

According to many human rights groups from all religions (non-religious too), the Constitution of the United States of America prohibits the very actions being conducted on the part of the New York Police Department and the basic rights of all religious groups are in danger of loosing their rights if they remain silent on this matter. The voices are quite loud against these perpetrations being conducted in the name of "security".

According to some reports, the extent of this monitoring for "security" purposes includeds video cameras, telephone listening devices, agents posing as regular Muslims and goes far beyond the city limits of the Big Apple.

While we can appreciate those who feel threatened and intimidated by all of this, there are those who fully support the NYPD - and they are not your typical "Islam bashers" as you might expect. In fact, they are from the Muslims themselves.

Believe it or not - certain "Muslim leaders" have come out publicly in favor of what the NYPD has been doing.

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Anti-Islamist American Muslim Leaders Support NYPD

In a first-of-its-kind, a press conference has been called by a coalition of American anti-Islamist (anti-Muslim Brotherhood) Muslims to voice their support for the New York Police Department (NYPD). They will be joined by Congressman Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

“For all those who asked, ‘Where are the moderate Muslim voices?’ we will be shouting from the rooftops. America needs this story covered. It is long overdue for Americans to see a Muslim coalition support the work of brave Americans like the NYPD and reject the Islamist grievance narrative. It’s time to take the Islamophobia card off the table once and for all,” said Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, organizer of the event and president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD).

“The public discourse concerning Muslims and NYPD has been dominated by a perception that American Muslims feel targeted. This press conference will give voice to a large coalition of American Muslims who feel otherwise and reject Islamist representation of their voices. [We] stand with the NYPD in its belief that the best way to fight terror is to identify its roots causes and address them head on,” Jasser continued.

The NYPD has been under a non-stop barrage from CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) and The New York Times since January when the Times dredged up a year-old story that the NYPD was using our film, The Third Jihad, in their counter-terrorism training.  CAIR subsequently called for the dismissal of NYPD Chief Ray Kelly, known as one of the main players in effectively countering radical Muslim terror in New York City post September 11.

In recent days another media storm ensued when an investigation by the Associated Press (AP) revealed that the NYPD was keeping tabs on Muslim student associations and mosques in the New York-New Jersey area. Even though the NYPD had stopped a number of terrorist attacks whose perpetrators were radicalized in these same student associations and mosques and was fully within legal boundaries, calls for Kelly’s resignation followed.

The press conference will take place Monday, March 5, 2012, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. at 1 Police Plaza in New York City and will be attended by a diverse, broad based group of American Muslims under the leadership of the The American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC), representing over 20 North American Muslim organizations and activists.

The demonstrators will be standing before a large banner declaring, “American Muslims Support NYPD.”

The event will feature remarks from Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy; Tarek Fatah, Founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress; Manda Zand Ervin, Founder of the Alliance for Iranian Women; C. Holland Taylor, Chairman and CEO of the LibForAll Foundation; and Congressman Peter King.

More from AP:

NEW YORK (AP) — The narrator of “The Third Jihad,” a documentary that uses dramatic footage to warn against the dangers of radical Islam, is speaking at a rally Monday to support the New York Police Department’s aggressive counterterrorism efforts, even though city officials have disavowed the film.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser is attending the rally outside police headquarters and said it was about more than just the film flap – it was important that Muslims show support for the department.

“We feel the NYPD has been taking a lot of unfair hits,” he said.

The department has been criticized by many other Muslim groups and politicians after The Associated Press reported the NYPD secretly monitored Muslims across the Northeast in the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“The Third Jihad,” produced by the conservative Clarion Fund, accuses some moderate Muslims of being more radical than they appear on the surface and uses vivid footage of bombings and terror attacks to illustrate the danger of radical Islam. Speakers interviewed in the film warn viewers repeatedly that Western civilization is under attack. Manda Zand Ervin, founder of the Alliance for Iranian Women, was also scheduled to speak and was also interviewed in the film.

The documentary was played in the lobby of an NYPD training area after a sergeant brought it in, and was stopped after one of the trainees complained. Nearly 1,500 police officers went through the training and may have seen it. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was “terrible judgment” to show it.

The department initially said footage of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly appeared to be lifted, but Kelly later said he was interviewed. He appears in it for about 30 seconds. He said that after he saw the film, which he called “inflammatory and a little much,” he regretted doing the interview. He has apologized to the Muslim community for it.

U.S. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, also is speaking. King has been a steadfast supporter of the NYPD. The committee last summer held hearings examining the radical Islamic terror threat in the U.S. despite criticism.

“The threat right now is Islamist terrorism – and that’s going to be coming from the Muslim community, it’s just a fact,” King said. “Just like the mafia came from the Italian community, and the Russian mob is coming from the Russian community.”

Today (Friday March 9, 2012) the NYPD met with a number of mainstream (?) Muslim leaders to go over some of these issues. A full report is expected on Guide US TV tonight at 9PM (EST)

Watch for it on Satellite TV, World TV 99, Galaxy TV 19 & 25, Arab TV 216

Or use iPhone, iPad or Internet: www.GuideUS.TV/live For iPhones click the image for iPad lower right side of page.

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