CAIR-LA ACTION ALERT
URGE WIESENTHAL CENTER NOT TO BUILD ON MUSLIM CEMETERY
The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) is urging Americans of all faiths to contact the Simon Wiesenthal Center and urge its officials to re-locate the ‘Museum of Tolerance’ it plans to build on the Ma’manullah (Mamilla) Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem.
According to historians, the planned museum site was once the largest Muslim cemetery in Palestine. Companions of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and Islamic jurists and scholars are said to be buried there.
On Wednesday, Nov. 19, Muslim and Jewish leaders sent a letter to the Wiesenthal Center stating:
"Building a “Museum of Tolerance” atop the cemetery, unlike the admirable goal of furthering tolerance and understanding, will only add to the existing pain and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis, irreversibly damage relations between Muslims and Jews worldwide and sow new feelings of animosity and division for generations to come…”
The letter was signed by CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush, Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs (Progressive Faith Foundation), Sydney Levy (Jewish Voice for Peace), and Rabbi Haim Beliak (Jews on First).
SEE: Full Text of Letter
Please see a fact sheet and additional resources on this issue after the following section.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and RESPECTFUL)
1) Contact Rabbi Marvin Hier at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Please ask your family and friends to do the same.
Simon Wiesenthal Center
1399 South Roxbury Drive
Los Angeles, California 90035
Phone: 310-553-9036
800-900-9036 (toll-free from within the U.S.)
Fax: 310-553-4521
E-mail: avra@wiesenthal.com (Avra Shapiro,
Director of Public Relations); information@wiesenthal.net. Please copy CAIR-LA office at info@losangeles.cair.com.
Talking Points:
* In the spirit of cooperation and respect for all people and faiths, I urge you to halt the construction of the museum on top of the Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem.
* Relocating the museum site will help avoid fanning the flames of intolerance in that region.
* Building on a Muslim cemetery will adversely affect peacemaking efforts in the Middle East and harm Muslim-Jewish relations around the world.
2) Sign this online petition
3) Visit “Help the Peace Makers” Website and send a fax to Wiesenthal Center’s members of the board of trustees
4) Rabbis, Imams, and Pastors are encouraged to discuss, in their sermons/khutbahs, the damaging effects of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s plans to build the museum atop the Muslim cemetery and pray for peace and justice in Jerusalem and around the world.
FACT SHEET & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
1. Fact Sheet on the Controversy Around the Building of the 'Museum of Tolerance'
2. Resources on the Wiesenthal Center Construction Plan
About Me
- Hussam Ayloush
- 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
1 comment:
Have you seen this Hussam?
http://www.motj.com/Interactive_Map.html
Do you see where the star is? That is sticking into the photo the Frank Gehry designed monstrosity which is being built there. Do you see the caption to the right in the little box? “Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem”? That is placed smack dab over what remains of the Mamila cemetery with NO MENTION that it is even there, yet go up to one of the little icons you can click (at the very top) and you can see it is the location of the Mount of Olives, Jewish cemetery.
So there you have it, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is raising funds for a museum of “tolerance” with their own title superimposed OVER the Mamila cemetery.
Also, I came across an article from 2006 in Haartz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/
ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=680072
I'm very curious about the recent ruling that gave the go ahead for this Gehry project because of what is written in that article (what I put in parenthesis and the date of the ruling they are depending on-according to this article):
"The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is building the project at an estimated cost of $200 million, went ahead with the work based on a 1894 ruling by the Shariya Court that says the sanctity of 'A'cemetery could be lifted."
The Wiesenthall Center now is claiming the sanctity of THIS cemetery was lifted by Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from 1921 to 1948.
There is a major contradiction between what the 2006 article in Haartz is stating and what the Wiesenthall Center is claiming NOW.
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