Posted on 12/16/2009 11:28:23 AM PST by Steelfish
Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Jim Hoft
A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero. Hudson New York reported:
An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques.
At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards away from where Osama Bin Laden’s airborne Islamist bombers killed nearly 3000 people back in 2001.
The Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, told the New York Times — which put the story on its front page Wednesday — that he has assembled several million dollars to turn it into ‘’an Islamic center near the city’s most hallowed piece of land that would stand as one of ground zero’s more unexpected and striking neighbors.’’
The 61-year-old Imam said he paid $4.85 million for it — in cash, records show. With 50,000 square feet of air rights and enough financing, he plans an ambitious project of $150 million, he said, akin to the Chautauqua Institution, the 92 Street Y or the Jewish Community Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at gatewaypundit.firstthings.com ...
NOTE: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2559576/posts
Monument to jihad: Ground Zero mosque no joke
The Toronto Sun ^ | July 27, 2010 | Douglas Fisher
Posted on July 26, 2010 9:45:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I’ve got this great idea: Let’s open a shooting range next to the L’Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.
What, too soon after the Montreal Massacre?
Well how about a museum, overlooking Pearl Harbor, dedicated to the military accomplishments of Japanese Emperor Hirohito?
Too tasteless?
OK. How about a 13-story, $100-million mosque at Ground Zero in New York City, on the rubble of a building that was damaged on 9/11? And let’s have it run by a Muslim radical who believes America had it coming. And let’s give the mosque a jihadist name: Cordoba House, named after the capital of the Muslim conquest of Spain centuries ago. And let’s make it a headquarters for Dawah, the Arabic word for promoting sharia law.
Alas, this is no joke. And the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, couldn’t be happier.
Then again, Bloomberg has trouble separating wishful liberal thinking from reality.
When a car bomb was discovered in Times Square this spring, Bloomberg announced his suspicions on national TV: “Somebody with a political agenda, that doesn’t like the health-care bill or something.”
Actually, it was a Pakistani trained terrorist named Faisal Shahzad.
The driving force of the mosque is a radical imam named Feisal Abdul Rauf.
Just weeks after 9/11 he told 60 Minutes that America had it coming—U.S. policies were to blame, and Americans were “an accessory to the crime.”
That’s like telling a rape victim it’s her fault for wearing a skirt.
Rauf helped organize the recent terrorist flotilla that set sail for Gaza. He refuses to acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization. But he has no trouble condemning “Christians in World War II” for bombing civilians in Hiroshima.
Rauf won’t even admit that Islamic terrorists were responsible for 9/11 itself. He told a New York radio station that’s just the “general perception.”
Rauf has been working on his plans for Ground Zero for a while. He published a book called A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble: Islamic Da’wah in the Heart of America Post-9/11. It’s about expropriating the symbol of the crumbling U.S.—that can’t even build a memorial to 9/11 after nine years, let alone rebuild the towers — and contrasting it with a gleaming new tower of Saudi-style propaganda.
But even America-hating radicals have the right to build mosques in America, even at Ground Zero. That’s what makes America different from Saudi Arabia, where non-Muslims aren’t allowed to set foot in Mecca, let alone build a church.
But does the Saudi government have the right to build at Ground Zero? According to the Washington Times, the Cordoba Initiative has assets of just $20,000 and total revenues since 2004 have been $100,000. How do you get from there to $100 million?
Rauf won’t say, but hints at outside funding.
Saudi Arabia has a religious foreign ministry, called the Muslim World League. It gave $7 million to build Toronto’s Islamic Centre, and more to mosques in Calgary and Montreal.
Are they the source? There are 100 mosques in New York City. But the Ground Zero mosque isn’t really a mosque. It’s a jihadist headquarters. And if the secret $100 million is from Saudi Arabia, it’s not even a mosque at all—it’s a clandestine embassy for the country from which 15 out of 19 9/11 terrorists came.
NOTE Photo included.
SNIPPET - quote:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/07/-aziz-poonawalla-who-is.html
Sharif El-Gamal, owner of the property slated for Ground Zero mega-mosque, explains it all for you
Aziz Poonawalla, who is the kind of man who posts obscene photoshops about his ideological opponents, and who once fooled a whole passel of rubes at spitblogger Dean Esmay’s site by claiming that my use of the standard and ordinary Arabic transliteration of my name was a ludicrous error, has now published a supposedly frank, open, and honest discussion of the plans for the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero with Sharif El-Gamal (pictured above at Tuesday’s hearing of Manhattan’s Community Board 1), the multimillionaire who owns the property. As might be expected, El-Gamal’s answers fall significantly short of actually being frank, open, and honest.
“Q&A with Sharif el-Gamal about Park 51, NYC,” by Aziz Poonawalla at BeliefNet, July 24:
###
###
Note: Photo included.
http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2010/07/qa-with-sharif-el-gamal-about.html
“Q&A with Sharif el-Gamal about Park 51, NYC”
Saturday July 24, 2010
Categories: Islamerica
SNIPPET: “As promised earlier in the week, here are the interview questions and answers from Sharif el-Gamal, CEO of SoHo Properties and lead developer of the Park 51 project. I am sincerely grateful to Sharif for taking the time to answer these questions and speak directly to the broader Muslim community.”
SNIPPET: “Moving forward, I hope and pray the dialogue reaches more New Yorkers and Americans. People have concerns and questions, and we want to answer them in a meaningful way, in a way that lets people know who we really are, what we want to do for the city and how they can be a part of Park51.
We have to appeal to the undecided, and change the conversation about Muslims in America. Because of that, we’re offering an open door. You know, I’d love it if Sarah Palin came to Park51 to see our community.
She’d see that we’re just as American as she is. She’d get the chance to meet some of her fellow citizens who happen to be Muslims. Consider that an open invitation, Mrs. Palin. We’d love to see you. We want to welcome everybody who cares about this city and about this country.
Comments (18)
Filed Under: Islam, muslim, muslims, news, politics, religious freedom
posted by Aziz Poonawalla @ 2:31am”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70234
“NY Congressman Calls for Probe of Funding for Mosque Near Ground Zero and Its Promoter”
Friday, July 30, 2010
By Nick Dean
SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said a mosque should not be built near Ground Zero in Manhattan and that there should be an investigation into the funding for the proposed Islamic community center, as well as the imam who is promoting the initiative.
“I don’t believe that there should be a mosque in the vicinity of Ground Zero,” King said on Wednesday. “This is such a sensitive issue, and it is offensive to so many people that I don’t think there should be a mosque there.”
King, ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, made his remarks at the conservative Heritage Foundation at an event entitled, “Keeping America Free, Safe and Prosperous: Counterterrorism in the Obama Administration.””
I jumped to the article without reading the date thinking a second property was purchased!
Thanks for the update!
You’re welcome Gene.
I take 1 thread on a topic and update it as updates become available.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2563904/posts
“A Trojan mosque and the pursuit of a Muslim settlement at Ground Zero”
Daily Caller ^ | 8/3/2010 | Scott Wheeler and Buckley Carlson
Posted on August 3, 2010 10:48:02 AM PDT by markomalley
#
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2564027/posts
“NYC Submits”
Cold Fury ^ | 8/3/10 | Mike Hendrix
Posted on August 3, 2010 2:20:35 PM PDT by Haiku Guy
SNIPPET: “9-0 against landmark status. The Cordoba abomination will be built. The “Victory Over America” shrine will become a favored destination for jihadists the world over.”
http://www.aclj.org/media/pdf/Executed-LPC-Submission_20100720.pdf
#
“American Center for Law and Justice poised to file court challenge to Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero”
(August 3, 2010)
Am just sick as so much stupidity; the kind that is killing our Country. Useful idiots to the rescue; and incredible that there are so many. No more I 'heart' New York. . .as for the song, New York. ..'just forget it'. Never again.
(San Fran not looking good either, thanks to the same people; same MO.)
Our Military must wonder just who they are fighting for. . .and why.
Totally agree with your sentiment.
August 7, 20100
SNIPPET - quote:
Muslim victim of 9/11: “To the supporters of this new Islamic cultural center, I must ask: Build your ideological monument somewhere else, far from my mother’s grave, and let her rest”
During the recent controversy over the planned Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero, Muslim spokesmen have begun claiming that Muslims were killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11, as if that somehow proves that the destruction of the towers was not an Islamic jihad attack. As they’ve done so, they’ve characteristically begun wildly to inflate the number of Muslims killed on 9/11 — Nihad Awad of Hamas-linked CAIR even claimed recently that 300 Muslims died in the Twin Towers, or 10% of the total number of victims. That is, of course, wildly absurd, but certainly a few Muslims were murdered by their jihadist coreligionists. Here we see that the daughter of one of them, however, is not in line with the plans of Feisal Abdul Rauf, Daisy Khan, and Nihad Awad.
Neda Bolourchi says: “I fear it would become a symbol of victory for militant Muslims around the world.” Indeed, what would prevent that?
“A Muslim victim of 9/11: ‘Build your mosque somewhere else,’” by Neda Bolourchi in the Washington Post, August 8 (thanks to Joseph):
August 7, 2010
SNIPPET - quote:
“We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation”
I lost any respect I had had for Tarek Fatah when he savaged the great freedom fighter Wafa Sultan, but he is largely on the right side with this one, at least in characterizing the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero as a provocation (the article is otherwise full of tendentious falsehoods about the Qur’an and other matters, which I have not reproduced here):
“Mischief in Manhattan: We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation,” by Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah in the Ottawa Citizen, August 7 (thanks to Don):
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2567630/posts
Greg Gutfeld: I’m raising money to build a Muslim gay bar next to the Ground Zero Mosque
HOT AIR.com ^ | POSTED AT 7:07 PM ON AUGUST 9, 2010 | Posted by AllahPundit
Posted on August 9, 2010 5:31:34 PM PDT by Cindy
NOTE: This is not an endorsement. This is posted here for archival purposes.
“Greg Gutfeld: I’m raising money to build a Muslim gay bar next to the Ground Zero mosque”
POSTED AT 7:07 PM ON AUGUST 9, 2010 BY ALLAHPUNDIT SNIPPET: “Andy Levy assures me that he’s quite serious.”
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2567812/posts?page=5#5
#
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2567812/posts
An odd envoy
NY Post ^ | August 10, 2010 | Editorial
Posted on August 10, 2010 2:12:42 AM PDT by Scanian
It’s not sufficiently divisive, apparently, that a controversial imam wants to erect a mosque near Ground Zero; now the Obama folks have him conducting “outreach” to Arab countries on behalf of the United States — and on the taxpayers’ dime, no less.
Can anything be more ill-considered?
As Claudia Rosett first reported at
Forbes.com, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is headed to the Arab world for a month-long “outreach” tour, courtesy of the State Department. His wife, Daisy Khan, is to make a similar trip.
Just what they’ll be doing — their scheduled stops include Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar — remains a bit of a mystery.
A State Department aide yesterday told The Post that Rauf’s mission is “to foster a greater understanding about the region around the world among Muslim majority communities.”
Whatever that means.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I thought they like "buggering" little boys?
ADDING to post no. 372:
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2568235/posts
Ground Zero Mosque Spokesman to Gutfeld: Your Gay Bar Won’t Build Dialogue...
HOT AIR.com ^ | POSTED AT 4:32 PM ON AUGUST 10, 2010 | Posted by AllahPundit
Posted on August 10, 2010 3:15:07 PM PDT by Cindy
Note: This is not an endorsement of bars or gay bars, but is posted here for info and archival purposes.
#
Note: Video included.
“Ground Zero mosque spokesman to Gutfeld: Your gay bar won’t build dialogue because it doesn’t consider our sensibilities”
SNIPPET: “He’s got a point. Construction projects that fail to consider local cultural sensitivities aren’t very conducive to dialogue, are they?”
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2568303/posts
#
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/10/tax-dollars-to-build-mosques/
“EDITORIAL: Tax dollars to build mosques
U.S. underwrites fundraising tour for Islamic shrine at Ground Zero”
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES-The Washington Times
7:46 p.m., Tuesday, August 10, 2010
SNIPPET: “By funding the trip so soon after New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission gave the go-ahead to demolish the building on the proposed mosque site, the State Department is creating the appearance that the U.S. government is facilitating the construction of this shameful structure. It gives Mr. Rauf not only access but imprimatur to gather up foreign cash.”
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38462
“Mosque Moves Forward, Yet Church in Limbo”
by Mark Impomeni
08/09/2010
SNIPPET: “The battle raging over the Ground Zero mosque is bringing new attention to another, less publicized controversy involving a house of worship in Lower Manhattan.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which once sat right across the street from the World Trade Center, was crushed under the weight of the collapse of Tower Two on September 11, 2001. St. Nicholas was the only church to be lost in the attacks, and nine years later, while City of New York officials are busy removing every impediment to the building of the Cordoba mosque two blocks from the site, St. Nicholas’ future remains unclear.”
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/09/us-state-dept-sends-mosque-imam-to-mideast/
“US State Dept Sends Mosque Imam to Mideast”
August 9, 2010 - 7:01 PM | by: Jake Gibson
SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON– State Department officials on Monday confirmed Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, will soon be going on a trip of the Middle East and the U.S. government will be picking up the tab.”
SNIPPET: “Rauf has emerged as a controversial figure because of his refusal to acknowledge Hamas as a terrorist organization, which is how the U.S. government classifies the group. The imam also has been quoted as saying U.S. foreign policy was in part responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
“He is a distinguished Muslim cleric,” said State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley. “We do have a program whereby, through our Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau here at the State Department, we send people from Muslim communities here in this country around the world to help people overseas understand our society and the role of religion within our society.””
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2568280/posts
Behind The Ground Zero Mosque
IBD Editorials ^ | August 10, 2010 | Investors Business Daily staff
Posted on August 10, 2010 4:40:08 PM PDT by Kaslin
Sacred Sites: While a Greek Orthodox church is held up near ground zero, the Cordoba Mosque is fast-tracked on property the developers don’t own. Moderate Muslims and Muslim victims of 9/11 say it’s a provocation.
Like the fabled Trojan Horse, the Cordoba Mosque is touted as an offering of friendship and a chance for us to show our tolerance. But its march toward construction has been marked with deceit, fraud and double standards.
Before Islamofascists turned passenger jets into cruise missiles and toppled the World Trade Center, mosques and Islamic cultural centers dotted America. Not a single Christian church exists in Saudi Arabia. We’ve shown our tolerance. We do not need to show our naivete.
As the New York Post has discovered, one of the parcels the mosque is to be built on is owned by Con Edison, even though Soho Properties told officials and the public it owned all the land. Soho only leases the property. Con Edison mysteriously kept quiet all this time, perhaps at the urging of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for whom the mosque is a high priority.
It’s certainly a higher priority than St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which used to be right across the street from the WTC until it was crushed when Tower 2 and its incinerated inhabitants came crashing down on it.
Plans to rebuild St. Nicholas two blocks from its original location fell apart when Port Authority officials objected to its 24,000-square-foot footprint with a traditional grand dome that they said could not rise higher than the planned WTC memorial. Yet no objection was raised to a 13-story mosque on which no height restrictions were placed.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2569098/posts
Mysteries Of The Absent Imam Feisal (The NY Mosque)
Forbes ^ | 08.11.10 | Claudia Rosett
Posted on August 11, 2010 10:21:13 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
For a man whom one would hope has nothing to hide, the imam behind the Ground Zero mosque project sure has dropped out of sight. Having triggered an uproar in the U.S., Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf ducked out of the country weeks ago and, apart from a potted statement last week praising his own project, has pretty much clammed up.
In New York Rauf has become a sort of phantom celebrity. His name is plastered all over the public debate, but Rauf himself has been absent and oddly unavailable, even by phone or e-mail, to answer questions. From his New York colleagues, the refrain has been that he is in Malaysia, and “unavailable.”
If this behavior is any guide to how Rauf might handle matters of disclosure and American sensitivities should he go ahead with his planned high-rise $100 million Islamic Center and mosque near the site of the former Twin Towers, it does not bode well.
In broad outline it’s now confirmed that after his veiled sojourn in Malaysia, Rauf is scheduled to spend the rest of August hosted by the U.S. State Department on a taxpayer-funded “bridge-building” tour to speak at Ramadan-related events in assorted petro-dollar hubs of the Arabian Gulf.
None of this information has been volunteered directly to the press or public by Rauf. Whatever he has been doing during his weeks abroad—whether building bridges or burning them—it seems that openly sharing the details has not been one of his priorities.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
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