After Jewish outcry, scholar bows out of testifying for imam [Call for Murder Not Hate Speech]

Chicago Daily Tribune ^ | June 13, 2004 | Geneive Abdo and Laurie Cohen

[Alouette]

A scholar of Islam who works to bridge the divide between Chicago's Muslims and Jews has backed out of testifying in the criminal case of a Muslim cleric because the scholar's pretrial statement has sparked controversy among some local Jewish leaders.

Scott Alexander, the Harvard-educated director of Catholic-Islamic studies at Catholic Theological Union, submitted statements last month in the case of Fawaz Damra, a Cleveland imam charged with lying to immigration officials about ties to militant Islamic groups.

In one of the statements submitted to the court, Alexander provided an explanation for some incendiary language used by Damra.

At a 1991 Chicago rally, the imam called for "directing all the rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation and that is the sons of monkeys and pigs, the Jews."

[Alouette]

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[Nachum]

Every Jew, a 22.

[Cicero]

At a 1991 Chicago rally, the imam called for "directing all the rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation and that is the sons of monkeys and pigs, the Jews."

When I went to Harvard back in the 50s, it seemed to be dominated by Jews, who in earlier years had been refused admission to Ivy league colleges until the barriers broke down a few years earlier. Since then, however, Jewish identity has become politically incorrect. No doubt Harvard also has a lot of middle eastern chairs supported by Arab oil money, and of course a major Black Studies program. In any case, I'm sorry to say that this comment is something you might have heard spoken at Harvard in recent years. President Summers complained about this rampant antisemitism last year, I believe. The good professor had no problem excusing this behavior until someone shone a light on him.