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 ...
NEW YORK:
“September 11: Rally against the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero”
SNIPPET: “On June 6, Pamela Geller and I organized a protest against the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero that was attended by 8,000 to 10,000 people to stop the 911 mega mosque. And now we’re inviting you to join us again on September 11 at 3PM, at the corner of Park Place and West Broadway in lower Manhattan.
A giant mosque looking down at the cemetery of Ground Zero from the location of a building that was partially destroyed in the 9/11 Islamic jihad attack on America is wrong. It is indecent. The Burlington Coat Factory building is Ground Zero.
We chose September 11 because reports have indicated that the Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan said that they would break ground on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks: September 11, 2011.
We will honor the victims and all Americans, and fill Ground Zero with patriots on September 11.
We are beginning with a brief memorial service honoring the victims, and are not beginning our rally until the morning memorial services for the victims are concluded.”
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2131/the-ground-zero-mosques-muslim-opponents
“The Ground Zero Mosque’s Muslim Opponents”
IPT News
August 25, 2010
SNIPPET: “Defenders of the proposed Ground Zero mosque are quick to write off opponents as bigots simply out to stir up hatred of Muslims.
While some of the rhetoric is excessive, the blanket dismissal hides a more difficult challenge for mosque advocates: A growing number of Muslims openly oppose the project too. Some agree it’s the wrong place, while others are increasingly critical of what they see as tone-deaf and clumsy leadership from mosque planners.”
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2134/the-tangled-web-of-the-gzm-imams-organizations
“The Tangled Web of the GZM Imam’s Organizations Raises Questions”
IPT News
August 26, 2010
SNIPPET: “The backers of the Ground Zero Mosque have virtually no money, one of the group’s leaders says, and plan to create another nonprofit organization that would further complicate the already labyrinthine financial network surrounding the project.
Daisy Khan, one of the leaders of the project, told supporters over the weekend that the mosques organizers have “nothing in the bank” for their effort. Khan said there is no money and that she doesn’t know of anything that has been raised.
Tracing the money going to the two nonprofit groups led by Khan and her husband and partner in the mosque project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, requires a world map.”
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/545180/201008261900/Mosques-Saudi-Patron.aspx
IBD EDITORIALS
“Mosque’s Saudi Patron”
Posted 08/26/2010 07:00 PM ET
SNIPPET: “Islamofascism: New dots are emerging from the probe into who’s behind the Ground Zero mosque, and the radical Muslim Brotherhood is coming into view.”
“Jihadi Forums Silent on Cordoba Controversy”
AUG 25 2010, 7:00 AM ET
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2579528/posts
Mosque big owes 224G tax (Sharif El-Gamal, same one busted for patronizing a prostitute)
NY Post ^ | 8/29/10 | ISABEL VINCENT and MELISSA KLEIN
Posted on August 29, 2010 5:48:30 AM PDT by jimbo123
The mosque developers are tax deadbeats.
Sharif El-Gamal, the leading organizer behind the mosque and community center near Ground Zero, owes $224,270.77 in back property tax on the site, city records show. El-Gamal’s company, 45 Park Place Partners, failed to pay its half-yearly bills in January and July, according to the city Finance Department.
The delinquency is a possible violation of El-Gamal’s lease with Con Edison, which owns half of the proposed building site on Park Place. El-Gamal owns the other half but must pay taxes on the entire parcel.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2580529/posts
“Daisy Khan’s ‘Postponed’ Travels — Now What?”
Pajamas Media ^ | August 30, 2010 | Claudia Rosett
Posted on August 30, 2010 9:20:16 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2581117/posts
“Imam Feisal Meets With UAE Mosque and Money Crowd”
Pajamas Media ^ | August 31, 2010 | Claudia Rosett
Posted on August 31, 2010 6:39:12 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
SNIPPET: “As the imam behind the Ground Zero mosque project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, continues his State Department-hosted “public diplomacy” visit to the United Arab Emirates, the glimpses of his activities over there get ever more interesting.
Back home, Americans are now reading the Bergen Record’s dispatches on Rauf’s history as a New Jersey landlord with a tangled financial trail and angry tenants registering recurring complaints about his premises, listing such items as infestations of cockroaches and rats, piles of unremoved trash and “filthy halls.” Meanwhile, in the UAE, U.S. State Department officials have been squiring Rauf around on the final leg of his taxpayer-funded $16,000 swing through the Middle East (that tab includes an allowance of $496 per day to keep him comfortable in Abu Dhabi).
And the U.S. Embassy in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi has now posted on its web site a bulletin dated Aug. 30, making brief mention of some of Rauf’s meetings since he arrived a few days ago — you can find it here, complete with a photo of Rauf at a flower-bedecked banquet table in Abu Dhabi.
Rauf’s UAE pow-wows have included a meeting with “religious officials” at the “General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments.” What, exactly, is this outfit? According to an Abu Dhabi government web site, it’s an “independent legal entity” created under UAE federal law, which engages in activities such as “supervision of mosques” and “investment of the endowment to develop the society.” Among other things, this Islamic Affairs and Endowments authority solicits and directs funds for building and refurbishing mosques. “
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2581305/posts?page=8#8
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2581305/posts
“American Muslims Release PSA to Combat ‘Anti-Muslim Rhetoric Stemming From’ Ground Zero Mosque Issue”
Cybercast News Service ^ | 9/1/2010 | Nicholas Ballasy
Posted on September 1, 2010 5:13:18 AM PDT by markomalley
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2582423/posts
BREAKING: Mosque Investor Was Terror Contributor
Fox 5 News ^ | 9/2/10 | BY CHARLES LEAF
Posted on September 2, 2010 3:42:33 PM PDT by jersey117
MYFOXNY.COM - Fox 5 News reported Thursday that one of the financial backers of the Islamic mosque and cultural center project in Lower Manhattan once contributed to a terror group, although the investor says the contribution was made because he thought he was giving money to a harmless charity.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxny.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2583257/posts
“The Slum Lord Millionaire: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf”
Townhall.com ^ | September 4, 2010 | Doug Giles
Posted on September 4, 2010 12:22:09 PM PDT by Kaslin
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2582062/posts
“The Slums of Rauf”
National Review online ^ | September 1, 2010 | Daniel Foster
Posted on September 2, 2010 7:10:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
“The fix was in: Ground Zero mega-mosque building owners nixed $18M offer before taking Islamic supremacists’ $4.8M one”
(September 5, 2010)
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/09/islamic-supremacist-ground-zero-mega-mosque-spokesman-refuses-to-condemn-hamas-jihad-terror-murders.html
(WEEKLY STANDARD, September 1, 2010)
“Islamic supremacist Ground Zero mega-mosque spokesman refuses to condemn Hamas jihad murders of four Israeli civilians”
(Posted September 4, 2010)
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/cordoba/index?tab=articles
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http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/72359
“Imam Behind Ground Zero Mosque Says He’s ‘Very Sensitive to the Feelings’ of 9-11 Families”
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
By Staff, Associated Press
SNIPPET: “”I am very sensitive to the feelings of the families of victims of 9/11, as are my fellow leaders of many faiths,” he wrote.
Rauf is one of the directors of the nonprofit organization that was recently formed to raise money for the divisive lower Manhattan project, sometimes known as Park51. The imam referred to the project as the “Cordoba House” in his op-ed piece.”
“Hamas-linked ISNA holding “interfaith” meeting to complain of “intolerance” over Islamic supremacist Ground Zero mega-mosque”
(September 7, 2010)
“AP features Hamas-linked CAIR wringing its hands over “intolerance” against Muslims, ignores real threats to anti-jihadists”
SNIPPET: “The Muslim victimhood stories are coming thick and fast in the run-up to 9/11. Somehow AP has not found the time to do a single story about the ongoing threat of jihad attack in the United States. And the stealth jihad? Forget it!”
SNIPPET: “On Tuesday, the Islamic Society of North America will hold a summit of Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders in Washington “to address the growing tide of fear and intolerance” in the furor over the planned New York mosque....
Great. I trust they will address and denounce the death threats I and others have received for opposing the mosque. Ms. Mattson? Mr. Hooper? Anyone? Anyone?”
(September 7, 2010)
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/cordoba/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/tolerance/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/buildingbridges/index
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2585088/posts
“Building on Faith (Imam Rauf - GZM) - (barf alert)”
New York Times ^ | By FEISAL ABDUL RAUF
Posted on September 8, 2010 3:43:19 AM PDT by onyx
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2577571/posts
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Quote:
Koran Burning Is Insensitive, Unnecessary; Pastor Jones, Please Stand Down
by Sarah Palin on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 2:13pm
Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.
I would hope that Pastor Terry Jones and his supporters will consider the ramifications of their planned book-burning event. It will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance. Don’t feed that fire. If your ultimate point is to prove that the Christian teachings of mercy, justice, freedom, and equality provide the foundation on which our country stands, then your tactic to prove this point is totally counter-productive.
Our nation was founded in part by those fleeing religious persecution. Freedom of religion is integral to our charters of liberty. We don’t need to agree with each other on theological matters, but tolerating each other without unnecessarily provoking strife is how we ensure a civil society. In this as in all things, we should remember the Golden Rule. Isn’t that what the Ground Zero mosque debate has been about?
- Sarah Palin
doba/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/cordobainitiative/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/cordobaproject/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/cordobahouse/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/groundzeromosque/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/gzm/index
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/08/imam.lkl/index.html
“Imam says religion, Islamic center should not be ‘politicized’”
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 8, 2010 10:23 p.m. EDT
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