CAIR Questions Va. Bill Inspired by Anti-Muslim Racist

Muslim Group calls on House leadership to withhold support for bill

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today questioned why the Virginia legislature will hold a hearing on Monday to discuss a bill that was apparently drafted using a template written by David Yerushalmi, an infamous anti-Muslim extremist with a history of controversial views targeting Muslims, Jews, African-Americans, and women.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Virginia General Assembly Delegate Rick L. Morris (R-House District 64) introduced HB 631 on January 11. Morris' bill is clearly based on a template promoted by Yerushalmi in other states.

SEE: Text of HB 631
http://tinyurl.com/83brf2z
Yerushalmi's Model Legislation
http://publicpolicyalliance.org/?page_id=38

On Monday, the bill will be considered and possibly voted on by the House Committee for Courts of Justice Subcommittee #2 Civil.

House Committee on Courts of Justice Subcommittee #2 Civil
http://tinyurl.com/82gpylb

CAIR said the Virginia bill is one of more than 20 similar pieces of legislation that have been introduced in state legislatures nationwide.

SEE: Alabama Anti-Shariah Bill Penned by Key Islamophobe
http://tinyurl.com/7kpbu4j

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently upheld a lower court's decision to block implementation of an Oklahoma state constitutional amendment that had been designed to accomplish the apparent goal of the Virginia bill.

CAIR: Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Blocking Okla. Sharia Ban
http://tinyurl.com/85j6bx3

"Bigotry needs to be repudiated, not legitimized through the introduction of a bill that has such hate-filled and un-American origins," said CAIR staff attorney Gadier Abbas.

He called on committee and House of Delegates leaders to withhold any support from the bill.

Abbas said Yerushalmi is head of the anti-Islam hate group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), which on its now password-protected website offered a policy proposal that would make "adherence to Islam" punishable by 20 years in prison, called for the immediate deportation of all non-citizen Muslims and urged Congress to declare war on the "Muslim Nation," which SANE defined as "all Muslims."

SEE: A SANE Act to Deal with the Islamic Threat to America's National Existence (SADITANE)
http://tinyurl.com/4b54c88

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Yerushalmi a member of the "anti-Muslim inner circle."

SPLC: The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle
http://tinyurl.com/6xl4d4h

SANE's mission statement included white supremacist language such as:  "America was the handiwork of faithful Christians, mostly men, and almost entirely white." An online SANE article stated: "There is a reason the founding fathers did not give women or black slaves the right to vote." Another SANE article stated: "Race matters and affects your intelligence. Jews are the smartest white people around. Orientals smarter than Whites. Latinos next. Then Blacks."

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) noted that Yerushalmi has "a record of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry."

Links to Background Information on David Yerushalmi:

David Yerushalmi: A Driving Force Behind Anti-Sharia Efforts in the U.S.
http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/david_yerushalmi.htm
Meet the White Supremacist Leading the GOP's Anti-Sharia Crusade
http://tinyurl.com/4amcmex
The Man Behind the Anti-Shariah Movement (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/us/31shariah.html
Anti-Islam Activist Yerushalmi Measures Imams' Beards               
http://www.forward.com/articles/139688/
Profile of Anti-Sharia Extremist David Yerushalmi
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/yerushalmi_david

The New York Jewish Week newspaper reported that Yerushalmi "condemns democracy in the United States and, in comments that evoke classical anti-Semitic stereotypes, says he finds truth in the view that Jews 'destroy their host nations like a fatal parasite.'" (8/24/07)

In a March 2, 2006, article for The American Spectator, Yerushalmi wrote: "Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization...The Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies."

Yerushalmi is also staff attorney for Frank Gaffney, president of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy. Gaffney was a key witness for the plaintiffs in a controversial lawsuit against a mosque being built in Tennessee. Gaffney has also promoted the false belief that President Obama is a Muslim.

Gaffney: Mosques Want 'To Destroy Western Civilization from Within' (Video)
http://tinyurl.com/2a46bdj
Frank Gaffney Claims Obama 'May Actually Still be' a Muslim
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/09/gaffney-obama-muslim/

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas, 720-251-0425, E-Mail: [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail:[email protected]; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations