Please join in my heartfelt prayer for the Swiss voters who were recently stricken by the curse of Islamophobia.

As a practicing Muslim, I truly do not feel that my faith or its many symbols have been irreversibly attacked by the recent vote to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland. It is a fact that most mosques in Europe and the US have not minarets attached to them- the price we Muslims pay to integrate into non-Muslim societies.

Sorry Switzerland, (and all future copycats), my faith remains intact. I am a Muslim even if my mosque has no minaret or if it is located on a second floor of a rundown gas station. In fact, God hears my prayers from any spot on the earth He created. But I would argue that those who voted for the constitutional amendment have fallen victim to an ignorant, albeit misguided, form of the lemming effect of anti-Muslim immigrant hysteria sweeping most of Europe. The vote was not an innocent expression of the so called clash of civilizations but rather a clear indication of the lack of civility.

Switzerland has four minarets; the new legislation would block any further construction of the edifice. The country biggest political party, the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), had forced the referendum on the government under Swiss electoral regulations allowing a referendum if at least 100,000 signatures are collected on a specific issue.

Attacks on perceived religious symbols of ethnic minorities are not new in Switzerland. And it is not the first time a Swiss popular vote was used to promote religious intolerance. Almost a century ago, a Swiss referendum banned Jewish ritual slaughter in an attempt to drive out its Jewish population. Who is next?

We now know that the November 29, 2009 anti-minaret vote cannot be blamed on the myopia of a few. The turnout w... [Read More]

By all accounts and despite the election results, 2009 shall be recalled as the year Arab and Muslim Americans in New Jersey heralded their political prowess. Arab and Muslim Democrats were very busy hosting and organizing events to maximize the community’s tribute to what incumbent Gov. Corzine has done and promised to deliver. Whether the community voted for Corzine in the large numbers expected is not yet known. Pundits have opined that Corzine's loss is attributable to the low number of registered Democrats who bothered to cast their vote. With Corzine's defeat, Arab American Democrats may have written their political obituaries. This fatalistic and rather premature reaction has no place in politics. But an honest look in the mirror is warranted to reassess and prioritize their plans for the next elections campaign.

Outgoing Governor Corzine will be fondly remembered for he has outpaced all his predecessors in integrating and mainstreaming the Arab and Muslim community. Corzine's enduring legacy is manifested by his strong public support of Imam Mohammad Qatanani and the creation of the NJ Arab Heritage Commission. His frequent presence at our homes, places of worship and events was always seen as a recognition and achievement. He so frequently and glowingly highlighted the role our community continues to play in New Jersey's economy, culture, political participation, and empowerment. He has appointed several Arabs and Muslims to various commissions. Strong rumors have it that Corzine will soon... [Read More]

I woke up last Friday morning, the day after an army doctor killed and wounded over forty people in Texas, to seven urgent messages on my voice mails. All were from news organizations anxious to quote the Muslim community's reaction to the recent heinous killings of Army Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan. They all wanted my reasons for what drove a 39-year-old Muslim to go on a killing spree. "Isn’t he a native born," someone pointed out, “did not he take an army oath to obey his command and serve his country” “he's an educated man, he's a doctor." What triggered him to do it?

It took but a few moments to figure their reasoning for calling me. For I have been called before to reflect on acts of terror committed by fellow Muslims here and around the word. Truthfully, I was expected to again disassociate myself from the killings and secondly to explain what Islam is. I guess I fit their criteria of a person who has these qualities: I am a Muslim American of Palestinian descent. Consequently, I know what each one out of the 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe is thinking or doing at any given moment.

"Hey, Dr. Assaf, pardon the annoyance so early in the morning. Another one of your people killed innocent Americans. This will be a big story again as you have come to expect. As a leader in your community, as a practicing Muslim, can you share your response to the recent carnage? I was wondering if you're feeling less of a Muslim when you learn about crimes committed by a fellow Muslim. Can we send our television crew to record your response?”

I almost wanted pull whatever grey hair is left on my head; I wanted to scream so loud that a deaf man could hear me. Why is my opinion so important or even newsworthy? How many times do I need to so publicly and unconditionally condemn violence and terrorism against innocent civilians? How many times do I need to state that more Muslims have been the victims of terrorism than members of other faiths. How forcefully do I n... [Read More]

The good fight continues: The retrial of Imam Mohammad Qatanani

Dr. Aref Assaf is Spokesman for Imam Mohammad Qatanani and Media Chair of Americans for Qatanani.

Since 1999, the US. immigration authorities has, for a variety of reasons, denied Imam Qatanani's petition to become a permanent resident. The 47 year old Imam has since 1996 served as the spiritual leader of the tri-state’s largest Muslim mosque, the Islamic Center of Passaic County. Over a year ago, a Newark Federal Immigration, in a much publicized trial, ruled in favor of the Imam. In his 71-page ruling, the judge dismissed the government’s case as "patently incomplete" and two federal agents’ conflicting testimonies as "not credible." Consequently, the government sought an appeal from the judge’s opinion. Because of the government's appeal, the case is headed back to court as a result of split opinion by an the Board of Immigration Appeal. The opinion denied part of the government’s appeal and remanded the case to the Immigration Judge saying that he did not give sufficient weight to the government’s evidence.

At the May 2008 trial, the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, had sought to link Imam Qatanani, a Palestinian who emigrated from Jordan to the US in 1996, to Hamas, which the US classifies as a terrorist organization. The linkage was one of many tactics the DHS employed justifying and confirming its denial of residency status. We successfully argued against the government’s assertions justifying its deportation proceedings. In the course of a five-day trial transcribed in over 1000 pages, we proved that the government’s case was baseless and weak on both evidence and credibility. The judge who heard expert testimonies from both sides ultimately agreed with our position.

After ten months of review by the government-appointed Immigration Board, A 12-page written opinion was transmitted on October 2, 2009 to the Imam’s lead attorney, Claudia Solvinsky... [Read More]

The specious moral equivalency argument that Israel is justified in its military actions against the Palestinians, especially Hamas is a striking example of moral bankruptcy and baseless analogies.
The UN’s Goldstone Report was commissioned to investigate the extent and consequences of targeting civilians when Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in late 2007. Critics of the report conveniently ignored several salient facts not only regarding the Report mission and findings, but about the supposed moral and practical analogy between the US and Israel on one side, and Taliban/Al-Qaida and Hamas on the other.

It should first be noted that Israel refused to assist with the fact-finding mission of the UN-mandated commission. The supposed tilt in the Report was a reflection not only of the undeniably high and asymmetrical Palestinian deaths and devastation but also due to Israel’s deliberate attempt at sabotaging the commission’s mandate. Israel did not cooperate with the investigators nor did it provide any data covering Israeli casualties.
Even if we distrust the findings of the UN Report, one needs only review several reports by Israeli based civil and media organizations which categorically exposed the deliberate targeting of Palestinian civilians, schools, and places of worship. Even Israeli soldiers confessed to the clear orders by their superior to shoot at unarmed civilians.
Pro Israel supporters have long levied the self-hating-Jew- label to effectively silence Jews who, by defending what is morally right, have often found themselves castigated and outcast by other Jewish organizations. Conveniently, charges of anti-Semitism would have awaited any gentile who dared to disagree with Israel.

Crucial to the credibility of the equivocation is the absence of moral justification: Al-Qaida/Taliban attacked our country, on our soil on 9/11. The U.S. was not in Afghanistan as an occupying force. The majority of the world countries such as ... [Read More]

Now that the guns have gone silent in Gaza, it is prudent to reflect on the causes and consequences of this latest round of mass carnage in the Middle East. While both Israel and Hamas have claimed their objectives were achieved, justifying their willingness to cease fire, the fact remains that only Palestinian noncombatants have been made the victims of this needless war.
US corporate media, to a large extent, blindly followed Israel's prescripted war message and did not even challenge Israel’s media blackout. Americans by and large have not seen the full extent of Israel's excessive use of firepower, some of which has been declared illegal by the United Nations, against civilians. More than 70% of the 7000 injured or killed in Gaza have been Palestinian civilians, half of whom are children and women. More than 20,000 homes have been destroyed in addition to hospitals, schools, public buildings, and places of worship. As more corpses are removed from under the rubble of destroyed buildings, the entirety of Israel's objectives will be starkly revealed. Israel invaded Gaza hoping to destroy Hamas but it inflicted the most damage on the Palestinian civilians. Hamas's military and popular strength seems to have been unscathed. As such it is a legitimate demand to bring Israel's leaders to account for war crimes and the use of prohibited weapons.
What happens in the short term will depend largely on a more visible US role in not only easing the tension and providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians but more importantly in redirecting the world's efforts to the core issue of the conflict- namely the ending of the Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. After all, the Palestinians need a place they can call home: in which they can live free and sovereign. This objective is a right enshrined in international law and should never be considered a gesture of goodwill on the part of Israel.
It is certain that neither the ceasefire ... [Read More]

Deservedly, body and rocket count of the invasion of Gaza has received much media coverage. The carnage, however, becomes more intolerable once we delve into Israeli's miscalculations about its relation with Hamas, its upcoming elections and the end and the beginning of a presidential cycle in the United States.

The military plans and political decision to invade Gaza were formulated much earlier than the end of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Cunningly, Israel has repeatedly claimed that it had "no choice" but to wage war on Gaza on December 27 because Hamas had broken a ceasefire, was firing rockets at Israeli civilians, and as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni put it, Israel had "tried everything in order to avoid this military operation."

But this claim, however, contradicts with the fact that Israel's military and political leadership took many aggressive steps during the ceasefire that escalated a crisis with Hamas, and possibly even provoked Hamas to create a pretext for the assault. This wasn't a war of "no choice," but rather a very avoidable war in which Israeli actions played the major role in instigating.

Israel's history is replete with examples of its deliberate use of violence and other provocative measures to trigger reactions in order to create a pretext for military action, and to portray its opponents as the aggressors and Israel as the victim. According to historian Zeev Maoz in his recent book, Defending the Holy Land, Israel most notably used this policy of "strategic escalation" in 1955-1956, when it launched deadly raids on Egyptian army positions to provoke Egypt's President Nasser into violent reprisals preceding its ill-fated invasion of Egypt; in 1981-1982, when it launched violent raids on Lebanon in order to provoke Palestinian escalation preceding the Israeli invasion of Lebanon; and between 2001-2004, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon repeatedly ordered assassinations of high-level Palestinian militants during ... [Read More]