Thursday, February 23, 2017

Muslim Americans unite to raise funds for vandalized Jewish cemetery

update:   Times of Israel  A Palestinian-American activist who has voiced support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help repair a St. Louis-area Jewish cemetery where at least 170 gravestones were toppled over the weekend.

Linda Sarsour, who played a prominent role in organizing the Women’s March on Washington following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January and was a leading surrogate for US Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primaries, started the fundraising campaign with activist Tarek El-Messidi to raise $20,000 for repairs. [...]
Sarsour, who has said the labeling of her as a Hamas supporter by conservative groups in the US is an attempt to tarnish her work, told the Haaretz daily that she is “a critic of the State of Israel. I always will be. I have come out in full support of BDS.”
She also told the paper that she supported Sanders because he was “a candidate who sees the humanity of the Palestinian people, because I am Palestinian,” while also saying she favored a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [...]
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CNN   A fundraiser for a vandalized Jewish cemetery is sending a strong message of unity and tolerance.
The effort organized by Muslim American activists Linda Sarsour and Tarek El-Messidi was launched this week to fund the repairs of nearly 200 headstones that were damaged and toppled in the Chesed Shel Emeth Society cemetery in the St. Louis suburb of University City in Missouri.
    The fundraiser exceeded its goal of $20,000 so fast, it has expanded into an effort to support Jewish community centers that have been targets of anti-Semitism.
    The vandal or vandals destroyed more that 170 headstones at the cemetery, according Anita Feigenbaum, the cemetery's executive director.
    Members of the community have been left rattled.
    "A lot of people are coming out (to the cemetery) -- they're just interested to see, 'Was their loved one's monument affected by this?' " Phillip Weiss, owner of a monument company helping the cemetery lift the downed stones, told CNN affiliate KTVI on Tuesday.
    This year alone, 54 Jewish community centers in 27 states and one Canadian province received dozens of bomb threats, according to the Jewish Community Center Association.
    "All bomb threats this year proved to be hoaxes, and all JCCs impacted have returned to regular operations," the association said in a statement.

    Muslim Americans step up to support

    Sarsour of MPower Change and El-Messidi of CelebrateMercy organized the crowdfunding campaign to support the vandalized cemetery.
    Their goal of reaching $20,000 by the end of March was surpassed in three hours, with donations at nearly $60,000 and rising early Wednesday.
    CNN has reached out to Sarsour for comment but has not heard back.
    American Muslim communities and organizations have also stepped up to support Jewish community centers that have targets of bomb threats. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those who made the false bomb threats.
    Muslim Americans' efforts to support the Jewish community centers are in contrast to Rick Santorum's accusations Tuesday.
    "If you look at the fact, the people who are responsible for a lot of this anti-Semitism that we're seeing, I hate to say it, a lot of it is coming from the pro-Palestinian or Muslim communities," Santorum told CNN's Chris Cuomo. Santorum did not provide details or examples to support his assertion.[...]

    22 comments :

    1. It is acts of like these that could "make America great again" IY"H.

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    2. Wow! Look how much good is happening under Trump's watch. :)

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    3. Yes. I think this was following because of the synagogue that gave their keys to the Muslims who's mosque burned down.

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    4. It is good that we are promoting unit rather than division. Many Jews also protested Trump's Muslim ban - so much so that even in Iran, some (not most) protesters thanked the American people for their support.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/world/middleeast/iran-revolution-anniversary.html

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    5. Where did the majority of the money come from? What percentage of the money raised was donated by Moslems?

      Linda Sarsour, who played a prominent role in organizing the Women’s March on Washington following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January and was a leading surrogate for US Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primaries, started the fundraising campaign with activist Tarek El-Messidi to raise $20,000 for repairs. [...]

      Would she like to donate for Har Hazeisim as well, or is she raising money to support those vandals?

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    6. You should be proud of Trump. It is because of him that acts of knins like these are happening:-).

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    7. A trademark off-topic, irrelevant reply.

      Of course, as usual, any lie is worth it. It's OK, you can choose to be in denial about the hate that Linda Sarsour carries for Jews.

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    8. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8609656a0dfd0f1ff0c2bf9ec9e8697054e3340a64f3bf39bd035941444e4246.jpg

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    9. Typical Trump viewpoint
      Nothing to do with the issues or Trumps bizarre alternative facts

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    10. How do you know she hates Jews? Satmar also hates Jews?

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    11. Satmer's position is very different.

      1) Satmer does not go around calling for boycotts.

      2) Satmer is against the state because they feel that while in galus, Hashem give us the right to have a state. This very different than this woman, who wants to deny Jews ever entering and having the Holy Land and is upset that the Arabs lost the wars in which they tried destroying Israel and its inhabitants.

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    12. Really?

      Do you support boycotting Uber because they did their job and transported arriving passengers out of JFK airport at a time when "tolerant" leftists wanted them to be stuck there?

      Do you support attacking and mocking Baron Trump?
      Do you support boycotting Wegman's because they sell Eric Trump's brand of wine?
      Do you support the calls to boycott stores that sell Ivanka Trump's clothing brand?

      How do these boycotts and bullying tactics not scream of intolerance and hypocrisy? Buy whichever brand you feel like buying, but kindly allow me that same right - without threatening my retailer.

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    13. I am amazed by your kitchen sink arguments!

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    14. Everything I wrote is directly relevant to the cartoon I posted.

      Bottom line:
      How do these boycotts and bullying tactics not scream of intolerance and hypocrisy? Buy whichever brand you feel like buying, but kindly allow me that same right - without threatening my retailer.

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    15. Nobody reasonable person wishes harm to any of Trump's family. And you know that! What most Americans want is that he will start acting with wisdom as the President of all Americans. And what "I" want is that yidden like yourself stop treating him like an avoda zara.

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    16. But what evidence do you have that Linda hates Jews? The moderators point is that being against the current status-quo in Israel does not equate to hating Jews. If Linda supports a bi-national democratic state of Israel with equal rights for all its inhabitants from the med to the jordan river, would you still think she hates Jews?

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    17. You've just called out tens of thousands of your fellow progressives as unreasonable. Cool.
      Oh, thanks for admitting that you think that anyone who thinks differently than you do is unwise. Nice.
      Your avoda zara claim is more vile and disgusting than anything else you've written. You and I have nothing to discuss. Just remember:
      כָּל הַפּוֹסֵל בְּמוּמוֹ פּוֹסֵל
      Chazal included Rabbi Eidensohn in this as well!

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    18. Yep.

      As usual, when it comes to your dogmatic opposition to anything related to President Trump, you do not offer a substantive argument. To turn your own judgment on its head, you have turned the leftist agenda into an avoda zara. Otherwise you would have offered a response that would be at least as substantive as your attempted attack on a cartoon that highlights the utter hypocrisy of attacking Uber, Wegmans, Melania Trump and so many others.

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    19. you are reading way too much into what I say. In fact I would apply your comments about me to your own comments supporting Trump

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    20. You clearly misunderstood my avoda zara comment.

      ReplyDelete

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