人兽性交

The American Congress for Truth (ACT), an anti-Muslim group run by firebrand Brigitte Gabriel, has targeted a Muslim professor serving on a human rights board in Florida, accusing him of having ties to radical Islamic groups and serving as a 鈥渕osque operative鈥� in city government.

After months of opposition to Parvez Ahmed鈥檚 nomination to the Human Rights Commission of Jacksonville 鈥� he was appointed earlier this year 鈥� ACT held a news conference on the steps of Jacksonville City Hall Thursday to release a DVD of edited clips of a speech Ahmed gave in October, which the group claims shows 鈥渋rrefutable鈥� evidence of Ahmed鈥檚 associations with the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Islam 鈥� despite the absence of any footage speaking directly to that charge. The lack of evidence apparently didn鈥檛 trouble Randy McDaniels, the Jacksonville ACT chapter leader who called the news conference. 鈥淚t鈥檚 how he says what he says. What he doesn鈥檛 say. What鈥檚 inferred and the facts we know,鈥� McDaniels said, adding that Ahmed was a 鈥渕ade man in the Muslim mafia.鈥�

Ahmed is a former national chairman of the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation鈥檚 largest advocacy organization for Muslims in America. Fueling ACT鈥檚 accusations against Ahmed is the fact that CAIR was named in 2007 as an unindicted co-conspirator in charges brought against the Holy Land Foundation. The foundation is a Muslim charity that was ultimately convicted of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist organization considered a terrorist group by the U.S. government. Charges were never brought against CAIR in the case.

Ahmed says ACT鈥檚 claims are categorically false, and that the group, whose lobbying arm is called ACT! for America, has gone too far in its efforts to sully his reputation. 鈥淭hey are going to make the waters so muddy that sensible people will shy away from engaging Muslims in this country. That would be such a tragedy at this time when we need more Americans to engage with Muslims, even have disagreements with them.鈥�

The waters may already be muddied in Florida, however. ACT鈥檚 campaign to discredit Ahmed has gone on for months. Ruffians claiming to be ACT members have disrupted his public appearances, screaming that he belongs to the . Ahmed described being harassed at one public appearance to the point that audience members, fearing for his safety, escorted him from the room. Another eyewitness confirmed Ahmed鈥檚 account.

Last week, Jacksonville General Counsel Cindy A. Laquidara told the Florida Times-Union that the city is standing by Ahmed. 鈥淥nce he鈥檚 appointed, he鈥檚 appointed,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd there is not a procedure for people to change their mind.鈥� A message left with Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton鈥檚 assistant requesting comment was not immediately returned.

ACT鈥檚 attacks on Muslims elsewhere have moved onto the Web, where the hate-filled rhetoric has reached an incendiary level. show people claiming to be ACT members suggesting the Koran is best used for toilet paper and the footbaths outside mosques are better suited for urinals.

ACT officials in Florida and Oregon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story. But ACT! for America executive director Guy Rodgers sent an E-mail to Hatewatch on Dec. 20 disavowing any connection with the offensive anti-Muslim comments by an individual which were captured on video. However, ACT! Orlando coordinator Alan Kornman posted a comment to this blog on Dec. 17 implying that there had been a prior relationship between the organization and the individual in the video. This post-publication exchange follows this story.

Still, the campaign against Ahmed is part of a groundswell brought on by groups such as ACT and (SIOA) whose members see themselves as footsoldiers in the so-called 鈥渁nti-jihad鈥� movement and domestic patriots on the front lines of a war on terror. Claiming nearly 300 chapters nationwide, with the largest concentrations in California, Texas and Florida, ACT representatives have pushed for legislation to prohibit courts from acknowledging Shariah or international law and asked for deeper investigations into U.S. Muslim charities. Gabriel, ACT鈥檚 founder, has written two books titled They Must Be Stopped and Because They Hate, the latter partly a memoir in which the Lebanese-born Christian claims to have the experience to judge all of Islam.

On its Web page, ACT claims without proof that 鈥渢ens of thousands of Islamic militants now reside in America, operating in sleeper cells, attending our colleges and universities, even infiltrating our government.鈥� ACT鈥檚 Web site also chastises the 鈥減urveyors of political correctness,鈥� saying the 鈥減olitical Left in America denies, apologizes for, or blames America for the rise in Islamic extremism.鈥�

Three thousand miles from Jacksonville, ACT is at work trying to save another professor鈥檚 job. Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore., cancelled a scheduled class on Islam to be taught by an ACT chapter leader named Barry Sommer. The class, called 鈥淲hat is Islam?鈥� was pulled from the school鈥檚 catalogue after CAIR wrote a letter of concern to administrators that Sommer would spread hateful untruths about Islam based on his association with ACT and statements he had made on his personal blog, Islam Today Oregon. Neither Lane College administrators nor Sommer responded to telephone calls and E-mails seeking comment, though Sommer has told several media outlets he is talking to the American Center for Law and Justice about possible legal action.

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Sommer鈥檚 class would be a disservice to Muslims nationwide and stoke already-burning flames of intolerance. 鈥淥nce you look at what this guy believes, it鈥檚 clear what he would have taught,鈥� Hooper said.

In a Dec. 6 entry on his blog, Sommer wrote: 鈥淲hen I say that Islam wants to rule the world, I am called a hatemonger. When I say sharia [sic] law is creeping into western civil law, I am accused of demeaning a religion. When I say that Islam is a patriarchal society where men control women I am said to be a [sic] Islamophobe. My view that Islam is more political than spiritual is shouted down as being intolerant.鈥�

Ahmed, who has no association with the controversy in Oregon, says it all comes back to respecting and tolerating difference. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to have a negative opinion of Islam. And somebody may not like Muslims, and that鈥檚 fine,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut to have the kind of rhetoric and the kind of tactics that ACT and Pam Geller鈥檚 group engage in is way over the top.鈥�

***
In a response to this blog post, ACT! for America executive director Guy Rodgers contacted Hatewatch in an E-mail on Dec. 20 with the following comment:

鈥淎CT! for America does not condone the statements made that were captured on video, and stated so at the time. The individual captured on video making statements such as using the Koran as toilet paper was not a representative, chapter leader or member of ACT! for America. He confirmed this with an email he sent to me on April 5, 2010, in which he wrote `I am not a member of ACT nor do I represent them鈥︹�� For any person or organization to represent otherwise is to misrepresent what occurred without any evidence to support this erroneous allegation.鈥�

But four days earlier, the ACT! coordinator in Orlando, Alan Kornman, said in a comment posted to this blog:

鈥淲hile we can not control what comes out of someone鈥檚 mouth at public events, we can control what happens to that individual relative to any future involvement with ACT For America. ACT For America has severed any and all contact with this individual since those comments were made.鈥�

When Hatewatch brought this apparent discrepancy regarding previous relationships between the videographer and ACT!, spokesman Jameson Cunningham responded in an E-mail:

鈥淎lan does not say he severed a 鈥渞elationship鈥� with ACT for America. He says he severed 鈥渃ontact鈥� with this person; he asked the person not to show up at any future ACT! for America events. The person was not a part of ACT! 鈥� he was not a chapter leader, 鈥渞epresentative鈥� or member.鈥�