DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: FAMOUS ISLAMOPHOBE, DENNIS PRAGER, TO SPEAK...C.A.I.R. WANTS EQUAL TIME AT NORTH COUNTY CHABAD CENTER

CA Jewish Group Urged to Invite Muslim to Balance Islamophobe

Yorba Linda Chabad Center to Host Speaker Who Opposed Muslim Rep's Quran
Oath

ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Southern
California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA),
the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and the Muslim Public
Affairs Council today urged a Los Angeles-area Jewish group that is hosting
an Islamophobic speaker to invite a Muslim representative who can offer a
balancing perspective on Islam.

The Muslim groups have learned that Dennis Prager, a radio talk show
host who opposed the first Muslim congressman's right to swear a ceremonial
oath on the Quran, has been invited to speak January 24th at the North
County Chabad Center in Yorba Linda, Calif. Prager will speak about the
Islamic world's "confrontation with the West."

Prager was asked to resign from the United States Holocaust MemorialCouncil after he wrote that Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected toCongress, should be prevented from taking his oath of office using theQuran, Islam's revealed text. He also wrote that swearing an oath on theQuran "undermines American civilization."

The Holocaust Memorial Council recently issued a statement sayingPrager's views are "antithetical" to its mission.

Two members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Rep. HenryWaxman and former New York Mayor Ed Koch, spoke out against Prager'sintolerant remarks. Koch called Prager a "bigot." Groups such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee have alsocondemned Prager's remarks. Prager's comments prompted Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) to decry the growthof the American Muslim community and express concern that "many moreMuslims" may be elected to public office.

"By not offering a balancing viewpoint to a speaker who seeks themarginalization of American Muslims, the North County Chabad Center wouldbe making an implicit endorsement of that speaker's extremist andintolerant views," said Shakeel Syed, Executive Director of the ShuraCouncil.


Pertinent Links:

1) CA Jewish Group Urged to Invite Muslim to Balance Islamophobe

2) An Evening with Dennis Prager..."The Gathering Storm" Iran, The West, Israel and the Islamic World.