Posted on 09/12/2008 8:22:20 AM PDT by forkinsocket
Most Alaskans may seem excited about Gov. Sarah Palin’s selection as John McCain’s running mate. But there’s at least one group of her constituents that has had a more subdued reaction: the state’s Muslims. There are only about 2,000 to 3,000 Muslims in Alaska, and, while there are no mosques, Anchorage (which is home to most of the state's Muslims) does have an Islamic Community Center, located in a rented office in a strip mall, where members pray on Fridays. But Osama Obeida, the center’s vice president, said his group has never had any contacts at all with Alaska’s governor. No meetings, no invitations to state ceremonies, no pro forma letters commemorating the observance of Islamic holy days. “She has never taken the initiative,” Obeidi told NEWSWEEK.
Obeidi is a 49-year-old Palestinian American who runs an art gallery (featuring prints of bears and wolves) with his 82-year-old father Mousa Obeida, a refugee who left Ramallah in the 1950s and counts himself as Alaska’s first Muslim. Osama Obeidi acknowledged that the Anchorage Muslim community has never reached out to the governor either—nor did it have any dealings with previous Alaska governors. “We don’t like to get involved in politics,” he explains. Still, the lack of contact has left Alaskan Muslim leaders underwhelmed about Palin’s presence on the national ticket. “Maybe she doesn’t know we have a community of Muslims here,” said Lamin Jobarteh, a Wells Fargo banker (originally from Gambia) who is president of the Islamic center.
Its not as though Alaska’s Muslims don’t have issues they’re concerned about. Osama Obeidi said he and his father have been repeatedly hassled at Ted Stevens Airport when they fly to see their extended family in the Palestinian West Bank.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.newsweek.com ...
I did a quick scan of the article and read "Osama Obama" before I realized my error. My bad.
Alaska Akbar!!!
Wow! She never met with the few muslims who live in Alaska.
What a horrible person.
/most extreme sarcasm
I’m counting her not meeting with them as a good thing
This is very troubling. No one has ever won the presidency without nailing down the Alaskan Muslim vote.
But she did send them a lovely honey-baked ham for Ramadan.
““She has never taken the initiative,” Obeidi told NEWSWEEK.”
Obviously, neither did you, Osama!
Militant
Nice endorsement!
“But Osama Obeida, the center’s vice president
I did a quick scan of the article and read “Osama Obama””
I read Osama O’biden.
In the article one of them states: “We don’t like to get involved in politics,”
So what’s the issue????
Isikoff didn’t think a sitting Clinton and Monica was newsworthy, but this is. Words fail.
By the way, these reporters aren’t going to stay in Alaska for two months, are they?
I wonder if any relatives Zer0bama are hanging out in da hood in Alaska....
Hey Isikoff just shut up
and
move to some terrorist(muslim) country or
some dhimmi countries like UK, India, France (any old Europe country)
>>>“Maybe she doesn’t know we have a community of Muslims here,”
I bet my governor doesn’t know my family has a community in my state too.
I'm sorry, is this Newsweak article supposed to hurt or help Palin?
Sigh ... Democrats ... victims all.
I read Osama Obiden .....
Islamic Community Center, located in a rented office in a strip mall, where members pray on Fridays. But Osama Obeida, the Anchorage Islamic Community Center’s vice president, said his group has never had any contacts at all with Alaska’s governor, Sarah Palin.
That settles it! She’s got my vote. Hell, I’ll even vote for the old, battle-scarred, former POW that picked her.
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