MUST READ: Steve Emerson: Saudi national questioned in Boston Marathon bombings to be deported on national security grounds next week

By Robert Spencer

Steve Emerson just said on Hannity that a senior official in the agency that is conduction the deportation that Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi, the Saudi national who was detained in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings and then was declared a “witness, not a suspect” after his home was searched, is going to be deported next Tuesday on national security grounds.

Why deported and not prosecuted? To keep our “allies” the Saudis happy. After all, Al-Harbi has numerous jihad terror connections, as well as friends in high places.

Was this the deal that was worked out between John Kerry and the Saudis at their meeting yesterday that was suddenly closed to the press?

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How To Beat Your Child Bride

Why American Law for American Courts is Needed

by Jerry Gordon

American Law for American Courts (ALAC) is ground breaking legislation seeking to ensure that courts have the requisite instructions to protect individual rights guaranteed in both State and Federal Constitutions. It is non-discriminatory and does not contain an outright ban on foreign law. Nor is Islamic Sharia law even mentioned. It seeks to provide protection to those most vulnerable in family law litigation, women and children. ALAC has been enacted in four states: Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. It is currently pending in Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas.

Support for ALAC in Florida

In one dramatic moment before a critical approval vote on April 8^th in the Florida Senate Committee on Children, Families and Elder Affairs, Sen. Alan Hays, the sponsor of SB 58, application of foreign law in certain cases, read an Iconoclast article by Rabbi Jonathan Hausman, Esq. refuting the allegations of Jewish defense groups. Rabbi Hausman has the requisite qualifications to rebut the false and misleading information conveyed by the Jewish members of the anti-ALAC faction. He is the spiritual leader of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Stoughton, Massachusetts. He has both undergraduate and graduate education in Middle East studies earned at George Washington University and the American University in Cairo. Hausman holds a law degree from Emory University and is a member of the bars of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of Connecticut. He has rabbinic ordination and communal experience in the understanding the application of Jewish law as well as the sacrilized texts of Islam including Sharia. (See: Halacha, Sharia and the Religious Acceptance of Constitutional Governance). The Jewish doctrine as Hausman pointed out supports conformance to the ultimate supremacy of civil constitutional governance. Liberal news media in Florida like the Tampa Tribune and Miami Herald have been uniformly hostile to ALAC and, in addition, the SunSentinel and Palm Beach Post have rejected rebuttal op eds written by Rabbi Hausman, while permitting false and misleading information to be conveyed by members of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), ACLU and the international and family law sections of the Florida bar association. Sen. Hays’ presentation of Rabbi Hausman’s rebuttal came just before a split 5 to 4 vote that approved SB58 paving the way to the penultimate step to a possible floor vote before the current legislative session ends in Tallahassee in early May. Watch Sen. Hays’ presentation of Rabbi Hausman’s Iconoclast article on the Committee video record at the 64 minute mark.

Rabbi Hausman is not without allies. Christian Family Coalition held a Citizens lobby day in Tallahassee on April 4th bringing 130 members to a day of lobbying activity. The CFC has significant reach across Florida with more than 5,000 members representing over 1,000 churches and upwards of 500,000 “fair minded voters” in the State of Florida. CFC is led by its highly effective executive director, Anthony Verdugo. That CFC Citizen lobby day began with a Prayer Breakfast at which the House and Senate sponsors of ALAC in Florida (HB351/SB58), Rep. Larry Metz and Sen. Hays spoke. The CFC citizen lobbyists were well briefed on the merits of ALAC and took one page information sheets to leave behind with Senators and Representatives they approached. Their effectiveness in getting the message across in more than 41 individual encounters with members of the Florida legislature was reflected in obtaining 17 co-sponsors of ALAC. Similarly, members of the Vidal group of retired senior military officers in Florida have made appearances at House and Senate hearings on ALAC conveying their own experience with foreign laws they encountered in their distinguished military careers.

The Cabal working against ALAC

In Tallahassee, a cabal composed of Jewish defense organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), International and Family Law sections of the State Bar Association have formed an alliance seeking to defeat ALAC in Florida. Representatives of these groups have been in the forefront opposing ALAC at every House and Senate hearing. Their appearances at these hearings have been followed by Muslim advocacy groups like Emerge- USA and United Voices for America. The Jewish and International and Family Law representatives of the Florida bar association are abetting foreign law and doctrine that seeks to violate US Constitutional individual rights. Much of the information that these members of the anti-ALAC cabal convey in op eds in media and legislative testimony are false and misleading.

Case in point: the cabal argument that ALAC threatens Jewish Domestic Law. The ADL and NCJW in Florida hearings on Senate Bill 58, Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases, suggest that ALAC threatens Jewish law on matters of divorce and would have a chilling effect on Israel US relations and other foreign trade matters.

Why are Jewish Defense Groups Opposing ALAC?

The Jewish contingent of the anti-ALAC cabal, the ADL and the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) have been misguided in furthering their opposition when the legislation is clearly one that defends the civil rights of their own co-religionists and fellow citizens. The ADL has become obsessed with civil rights of others, especially Muslims, and the dangers of “Christianizing America.”  That has been the mantra of the venerable leader of the ADL, Abe Foxman, and his handpicked successor Deborah Lauter, civil rights counsel for the ADL. Foxman conveyed the Christianizing threat in speeches and books as far back as 2004. See his book, Never Again! The New Antisemitism. While he chose for limited reasons to oppose the controversial Mosque in lower Manhattan, the ADL established the Interfaith Committee on Mosques (ICOM)  in 2010. Deborah Lauter, ADL’s civil rights director joined with the US Department of Justice in filing an amicus brief in opposition during the controversial Tennessee Chancery Court litigation involving expansion of the Islamic Center of Mufreesboro (ICM). Lauter, is one of those who maintained that the “political preferences” of an ICM board member, Mosaad Rawash who supported the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas were “irrelevant.”

David Barkey, religious freedom counsel of the ADL, during the 2012 session hearings on ALAC found himself in league with the former executive director of the Tampa CAIR chapter, Ahmed Bedier, founder of front group United Voices for America and the Florida Muslim Capitol Day. Bedier was seen on a United West video extolling the ADL’s opposition to ALAC.

The NCJW is headed by Nancy K.  Kaufman, former head of the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council. The NCJW according to a Huffington Post profile of Ms. Kaufman is “a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children, and families and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.” By not supporting ALAC Ms. Kaufman appears to be contradicting the mission of her organization.

Evidence of why ALAC is needed

So why is ALAC needed in Florida and elsewhere? Let’s look at some evidence.

The Washington, DC–based Center for Security Policy in a 2011 report, Shariah Law and American Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases, found 50 cases involving Sharia law in more than 23 states. At the trial court level 15 cases found Sharia to be applicable; at the Appellate Court Level, 12. Four of those cases were in Florida. Let’s look at some illustrative examples.

New Jersey:  In the Matter of S.D. (wife) and M.J.R. (husband) N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2010. A trial court refused to issue a restraining order brought against a husband by his wife to prevent him from engaging in non-consensual sex after physically abusing her. Both husband and wife were Moroccan nationals and Muslims residing in New Jersey. The trial court affirmed the husband’s religious right to non-consensual sex precluding any criminal intent. The Superior Court ruled against the trial court stating that it erroneously allowed the husband’s religious beliefs excusing him from the New Jersey Criminal code permitting him to engage in non-consensual sex.

New Jersey does not have a version of ALAC.

Tennessee:  In a 2007 divorce case Maher Ghawji  v Rosine Ghawji, a Syrian born Muslim physician and a French Christian wife, Judge Donna Fields of the Shelby County Circuit Court of Memphis, Tennessee in her Final Decree of Absolute Divorce wrote: “Wife has seriously alienated the children from Husband with unproven and baseless accusations” and decreed that Maher Ghawji would have the final say over the religious upbringing of the couple’s two children, Louis, then 19, and KK, 16 – thus ensuring that they would be raised Muslim at least until they attained majority. Both boys had been raised as Christians. In Judge Fields’ final ruling in February 2007, she declared: “Those children will have to follow the Muslim religion.” She ordered them to accompany their father on the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca – which is only open to Muslims. The boys opted to stay with their mother.

Tennessee enacted ALAC in 2011…

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Canada: Muslim woman forced to flee for her life because of photo of niqab-wearing woman holding bra

By Robert Spencer

Can you imagine trying to murder this woman because of this photo? Islamic supremacist rage and death threats come to Canada — but remember, it’s only “hate” if you disapprove of the Muslim intimidation and thuggery. “Controversial conversation continues due to cultural art,” by Taylor Rocca for The Omega, April 11:

Unfamiliar pill bottles have become all too familiar to Sooraya Graham. Anti-depressants and anxiety medication have found a home in her life where they were previously unwelcome and unneeded.Graham sits at home, wondering what she ever did to deserve such a fate.

Kamloops, the city she once called home, is now just a memory. While Graham wishes it were a more distant one, this memory remains very much at the forefront of her life. Living more than 800 kilometres from Kamloops is enough to remind her on a daily basis. Citing safety reasons, Graham requested her specific location not be revealed.

Apart from being uprooted and reliant on medications just to get by, Graham is also slowly giving up her religion, that until the past year, was an integral part of her.

All of this is a direct result of one innocent but provocative piece of artwork.

In March 2012¸Graham went through one of the most trying experiences any budding artist can experience.

Graham — a Canadian Muslim — was, at the time, a fourth-year fine arts student at Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

After composing a breath-taking photograph intended to foster a societal discussion about women — particularly Muslim women and the niqab, or face veil — Graham put her artwork on display as part of a class project for TRU fine arts professor Ernie Kroeger.

“I was trying to create a discussion point for Muslim women, for veiled women and to kind of just show light of how we are just normal women,” Graham said in a March 2012 interview in The Omega.

The reaction that followed was beyond anything she had ever imagined….

….As a direct result of the incident, Graham has found herself slowly losing touch with her religion, something that was once so important to her. She is no longer allowed to travel to places in the Muslim world like Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Dubai due to the danger she faces after her artwork and story circulated the international Muslim community.

“As a Muslim, what do I do about Mecca? That’s gone for me now. Permanently,” Graham said. “It’s an R.E.M. song. I’m losing my religion. It’s changed me. At this time, maybe it’s a good thing.”…

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Florida and Oklahoma Vote for Freedom

By Robert Spencer

Florida and Oklahoma just passed legislation restricting the use of foreign law in state courtrooms, and many other states are considering similar laws. These laws are designed to halt the use of Islamic law, Sharia, by American judges – a measure that many see as necessary, since Sharia has already been involved in cases in twenty-three states. Yet many such initiatives, including an earlier one approved in Oklahoma by seventy percent of the voters, have already been stopped by activist judges who see them as encroachments upon First Amendment protection of religion; however, anti-Sharia laws do not actually infringe upon religious freedom at all, and become more urgently needed by the day….

…Vischer meant to imply that Muslims in America have no intention, now or ever, of bringing “the stoning of adulterers, cutting off of the hands of thieves, and the denial of basic freedoms for women” to America, and that there are schools of interpretation among Islamic legal scholars that do not“stand in tension with the rights that we have come to take for granted in liberal democracies.” In reality, however, there is no school of Islamic jurisprudence among either Sunnis or Shi’tes that does not mandate stoning for adultery, amputation of the hand for theft, and the subjugation of women. Stoning adulterers is in accord with the words and example of Muhammad, whom the Qur’an holds up as the supreme example of conduct for believers (33:21); amputation of the hand for theft is mandated in the Qur’an itself (5:38); and the oppression of women in numerous ways is amply attested by the words of both the Qur’an and the prophet of Islam. Opponents of anti-Sharia laws have no basis for their assumption that no Muslims will ever try to bring such laws here. While there are individual Islamic legal scholars who have crafted interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunnah that are more compatible with Western pluralism and liberal democracy than is Sharia in its classic formulations, these have never gained any significant traction among Muslims. Wherever Sharia has been the law of the land, throughout Islamic history and in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other areas of the Islamic world today, it has had largely the same character – one that has never resembled liberal democracy by any stretch of the imagination. Sharia polities throughout history and today have denied the freedom of speech and the freedom of conscience, and mandated discrimination against women and non-Muslims.

Sharia is also political and supremacist, mandating a society in which non-Muslims would not enjoy equality of rights with Muslims. And that is the focus of anti-Sharia laws: to prevent this authoritarian and oppressive political and social system from eroding the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. It is plainly disingenuous to claim that anti-Sharia laws would infringe upon Muslims’ First Amendment rights to practice their religion. As Thomas Jefferson said, it doesn’t matter whether my neighbor believes in one god or seventeen; it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. It is only when my neighbor believes that his god commands him to pick my pocket or break my leg that his beliefs become a matter of concern for those who do not share them. No one wants to restrict individual Muslim religious practice, or even cares about it. The purpose of anti-Sharia laws is not to stop Muslims from getting married in Islamic religious ceremonies and the like, but to stop the political and supremacist aspects of Islam that infringe upon the rights and freedoms of non-Muslims.

The Islamic state, as delineated by Sharia, encroaches on the basic rights of non-Muslims.  It would be a sad irony for non-Muslims to oppose anti-Sharia laws and thereby abet their own subjugation.

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