The New York Post is reporting that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the point man for the planned Ground Zero mega-mosque, "is a key figure" in the group that is the biggest donor to the Free Gaza Movement, which is "a key organizer of the six-ship flotilla that tried to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza strip." The group, called Perdana Global Peace Organization [it's always about peace, isn't it] is based in Malaysia. Their donation? $366,000 ("so far"). The imam's participation was published on the group's own Web site.
Efforts to reach Imam Abdul Rauf yesterday for comment were unsuccessful.He'll think of something to say. Maybe he's on the phone with Mayor Bloomberg right now coordinating their press releases. Meanwhile, New Yorkers are preparing for a protest against the mega-mosque to be held tomorrow noon at the corner of Church and Liberty Streets at Ground Zero.
Deborah Burlingame, the sister of the American Airlines pilot whose hijacked plane struck the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, said the indirect ties of the imam to the protesters who confronted Israeli forces Monday were not surprising.
"I think it goes to show he is not the man he represents himself to be. We have two Imam Raufs," she said.
"We have the anti-Israel, anti-democratic imam, and we have the smiling, soft-spoken moderate Muslim who says 'Why can't we all get along?'
The Free Gaza Movement is a charity that has made nine seaborne aid missions in the past two years to break the Israeli blockade.
We must stop this mosque from being built. The imam is living two different lives and in one of them he is a blood thirsty Muslim extremist.
ReplyDelete