Update on yesterday's post.A confrontational hearing on Staten Island over a proposed mosque touched off so much emotion that it's prompted a closer look at the group that wants to build it: the Muslim American Society.
Thursday night at a packed hearing, a proposal to build a mosque on Staten Island ran into some heated opposition. The group that wants to build a mosque and community center on what had been a Catholic convent is the Muslim American Society. Founded in Virginia in 1993, they have built mosques and community centers in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn, they say, to promote understanding.
One of the people at the hearing challenged the leader of the mosque, Mohamed Sadeia, to denounce Hamas and Hezbollah. Those in attendance felt Sadeia twice avoided a direct answer, until he finally spoke out against terrorism generally. "There is no relationship, as we stand today, between MAS, the Muslim American Society, and any foreign entity," Sadeia said.
While the Muslim American Society is not on any government list of terrorist organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah are. Annemarie McAvoy, a former federal prosecutor, saw a video on the Internet, like many people at Wednesday night's meeting, which shows a current director of the Muslim American Society eight years ago cheering at a Washington rally when the crowd is asked, "Who supports Hamas?" and then "Who supports Hezbollah?"
| Just the people one wants as neighbors. |
| There are indeed those who say that. Here at Rantburg, for instance. |