About Me

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Hussam has been a lifelong human rights activist who is passionate about promoting democratic societies, in the US and worldwide, in which all people, including immigrants, workers, minorities, and the poor enjoy freedom, justice, economic justice, respect, and equality. Mr. Ayloush frequently lectures on Islam, media relations, civil rights, hate crimes and international affairs. He has consistently appeared in local, national, and international media. Full biography at: http://hussamayloush.blogspot.com/2006/08/biography-of-hussam-ayloush.html

Monday, December 04, 2006

A sad twist to Prager's Bigoted comments

Now it turns out that Prager who made the infamous Islamophobic comments last week is a presidential appointee to the governing board of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. How ironic, considering that the top two items on the main webpage of the Holocaust Memorial Museum are:
It is a free country and Prager is free to hate Islam, Muslims, Arabs, or African-Americans, if he wishes to. However, an institution that states a mission to fight anti-Semitism should not allow for those who promote hatred against others to serve on its board. The success in fighting anti-Semitism will not be complete nor genuine unless we challenge all other forms of racism and bigotry, including Islamophobia.


In a letter to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council Chairman Fred S. Zeidman, CAIR wrote:

"No one who holds such bigoted, intolerant and divisive views should be in a policymaking position at a taxpayer-funded institution that seeks to educate Americans about the destructive impact hatred has had, and continues to have, on every society. As a presidential appointee, Prager's continued presence on the council would send a negative message to Muslims worldwide about America's commitment to religious tolerance."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dennis Prager’s article is in no way “anti-islamic,” in fact, it is anti-nothing. It is pro-American values. Congressmen who affirm the Bible, solely or as well as their own holy book, in public, symbolic ceremonies, affirm the values that built America. (Which, not incidentally, provides Muslems with more religious or other freedom than they have in any Islamic country.)
Secondly, there is NO incongruity with being anti-Islamic and being on a holocaust memorial advisory board; indeed, it is almost a requirement, given the regular denials, or worse, praise, of the Holocaust done my prominent Muslem leaders or clerics, when speaking to their own people. (I assume you are familiar with MEMRI.org?)

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, as a presidential appointee, the Museum is powerless to fire Prager, but they did adopt a resolution describing his comments as "antithetical to the mission of the Museum." See the full resolution below.

UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE RESOLUTION

On December 20, the Executive Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council adopted the following resolution.



Resolution



WHEREAS, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing body of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, is charged with implementing the mission of the Museum as a living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust devoted to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust for the benefit of all mankind; and



WHEREAS, Dennis Prager, a member of the Council, has recently publicly expressed and disseminated certain statements which have been widely interpreted as being intolerant;



NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Executive Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, while recognizing that Dennis Prager has the right to express his personal views freely, disassociates itself from Mr. Prager’s statements as being antithetical to the mission of the Museum as an institution promoting tolerance and respect for all peoples regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity.