WASHINGTON, USA - A prominent national Islamic advocacy group today called on Jewish groups to repudiate materials distributed at a Washington, D.C., news conference by B'nai B'rith International that claimed Islamophobia, the irrational hatred of Muslims and Islam, is an "invention" that can never exist. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today's incident is but one of many attempts by pro-Israel extremists to vilify and demonize Muslims.
(B'nai B'rith held its news conference to comment on the upcoming World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in South Africa.)
In a position paper titled "Antisemitism, Islamophobia and Anti-Arabism: The False Link," Manuel Prutcschi, National Director of Community Relations for the Canadian Jewish Congress wrote:
"A trend has emerged, and it is very much reflected in the draft documents of the WCAR, to link antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arabism, as manifestation of racism. Such placement explicitly contends that the three are phenomena, and phenomena of equal gravity. History and reality, however, in no way justify such a contention...
"...There neither is nor can there be such phenomena as 'Islamophobia' or anti-Arabism.' The equation of antisemitism with 'Islamophobia' and 'anti- Arabism,' which in effect are inventions, is a fundamental element in the campaign to attack, deligitimize (sic) and indeed dismantle the State of Israel...The intent, in equating antisemitism with 'Islamophobia' and 'anti- Arabism,' therefore, is to strip the Jewish people of this moral capital and to negate the value and validity of antisemitism in Jewish advocacy."
The position paper went on to state that to accept Islamophobia as a valid concept would turn antisemitism into just "one instance of racism among many."
"It is outrageous and offensive in the extreme that Jewish leaders would deny the suffering of others in order to support the brutal Apartheid-like policies of a foreign government. This type of group dehumanization has historically preceded religious and ethnic persecution. We demand that B'nai B'rith, the Canadian Jewish Congress and other Jewish groups repudiate these bigoted remarks," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.
Awad added that it is ironic that the denial of Islamophobia comes just one day before CAIR is scheduled to release it annual report on the status of American Muslim civil rights. That report details more than 360 incidents of Islamophobic discrimination, harassment and actual violence.
(The report, called "Accommodating Diversity," will be released at an 11 a.m. news conference on August 22, at CAIR's Capitol Hill headquarters in Washington, D.C.)
There are an estimated seven million Muslims in the United States and some 600,000 in Canada. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in this country and worldwide.