DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - MASSACHUSETTS: JIHAD VIA LAWSUIT - - - MOSLEMS SUING TO SILENCE CRITICS

Boston: Islamic group sues scholar for libeling Muslims
By MATT RAND,
JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

Unable to shake off allegations of connections to Egyptian Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) has done the Massachusetts equivalent of calling in the Marines: it has summoned the trial lawyers.

Qaradawi, considered to be a supporter of suicide bombings, is being sued in a Boston court for libel against Muslims. And the Islamic Society of Boston has not only sued an "Islamic cleric, a Christian political science professor and the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors," says The David Project, a Jewish group that educates and trains students and the Jewish community about Israel that is a defendant in the lawsuit, along with The Boston Herald, Investigative Project head Steve Emerson and Fox 25 News. They have also twice subpoenaed the Anti-Defamation League, which declined comment.

Photocopies of Islamic Society of Boston IRS tax returns from 1998, 1999, and 2000 which list Qaradawi as a trustee are included as evidence in the statements of several of the defendants being sued for libel. At the same time, notarized 1993 documents from the City of Cambridge also list Qaradawi as a trustee.

Lawyers on behalf of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in late February filed "friends of the court" briefs for the Islamic Society of Boston, accusing the defendants of seeking to "demonize and vilify" US Muslims. The American Jewish Congress was one step ahead, having filed a "friend of the court" brief for the David Project and other defendants last October.

At the same time Georgetown University scholar John Esposito filed his own affidavit which sought to distance the Islamic society of Boston from radical Islamic groups, saying that the defendants "misleadingly attempt to suggest a link" between the ISB and Wahhabism.

Suggesting he sought to set the record straight on the Islamic Society of Boston, Esposito goes on to say that he intends to correct the "gross mis-characterizations" cited by the defendants "...as their apparent excuse for attacking the ISB [Islamic Society of Boston] and its leadership."

However, Emerson, who in his written statement to the court worried that Boston might be looking the other way when it came to Islamic extremists, was the subject of much of Esposito's negative comments.

Emerson wrote in his affidavit that he was concerned that "Boston public officials" were worried "they may be subsidizing the significant expansion of a particularly extremist and minority sect of Islam."

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David Project Welcomes American Jewish Committee Criticism of Islamic Society of Boston's Lawsuit

BOSTON, March 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The David Project, a non-
profit educational organization which combats anti-Semitism and other forms
of bigotry, today welcomed the American Jewish Committee (AJC)'s public
criticism of the lawsuit filed by the Islamic Society of Boston against an
Islamic cleric, a Christian political science professor, the Jewish
daughter of Holocaust survivors and various non-profit organizations,
journalists and citizens, including the David Project. The AJC statement
was posted on the AJC website this morning, at http://www.ajc.org.

"The American Jewish Committee is a preeminent international
organization with a history of fighting for pluralism, tolerance and dialog
among people of different religions and ethnic backgrounds," said Charles
Jacobs, President of The David Project. "It has richly earned its
reputation for progressive values. Like the David Project, it has worked
closely with moderate Muslims to build on the common ground that exists
between people of different religions who deal with each other in good
faith. The AJC has done groundbreaking research on the nature and extent of
Islamic anti-Semitism. Like the David Project, it has warned against the
extremely serious threat posed abroad and at home by radical Islam,
including support for extremism."

"No organization has worked harder to promote genuine dialog among
people of different faiths than the American Jewish Committee." Jacobs
stated. "No organization has more vigorously worked for civil rights or
with more devotion for the cause of tolerance."

"That is why it is a matter of national significance," Jacobs said,
"that the national leadership of the AJC has condemned the Islamic Society
of Boston's lawsuit. It is a lawsuit brought against citizens who in our
view raised important, legitimate, and well-substantiated concerns about
the past and present leaders of the ISB, and about the evidence that
certain of those individuals have been supportive of extremism."

Jacobs said, "The ISB, funded with millions of dollars from Saudi
Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East, appears to seek to frighten
journalists and citizens alike with this lawsuit, using its immense
financial power to chill the most fundamental exercise of freedom of
speech."

"While apparently seeking to bully critics on one hand," Jacobs said,
"the ISB invokes the platitudes of 'dialog' and 'reconciliation' on the
other. While professing to be interested in transparency, on one hand, it
retaliates against journalists who write critical articles about it, on the
other."

"The AJC is no stranger to important battles of principle, even ones
that may be unpopular in certain quarters," said Jacobs. "That is why the
David Project is especially pleased to have its support in defending itself
against the Islamic Society lawsuit, and the dangers that such a lawsuit
presents."



Pertinent Links:

1) Boston: Islamic group sues scholar for libeling Muslims

2) David Project Welcomes American Jewish Committee Criticism of Islamic Society of Boston's Lawsuit