U.S. Senator Praised for Revoking California Muslim Leader's Award
by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
January 12, 2007
(AgapePress) - - California Senator Barbara Boxer is being praised by conservatives, including the chairman of a terrorism watchdog group, for rescinding an award the senator's office gave to a Muslim leader who has allegedly referred to Israel as a "racist" and "apartheid" state. Senator Boxer recently announced that she has withdrawn a certificate of achievement for "outstanding service" that her office had awarded to Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR. In revoking the award, Boxer "expressed concern" over CAIR's ties to terrorist groups like Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah.
Joe Kaufman is chairman of Americans Against Hate and founder of CAIR Watch. He was among those who had called on Boxer to rescind Elkarra's award and believes the senator made the right decision in doing so.
Kaufman says Elkarra has defended an individual who trained in an al Qaeda jihad camp as well as an imam who called for attacks on America; and he also "defended another imam that, according to the United States, was trying to create a school specifically to teach children how to attack Americans." Also, Kaufman asserts, the CAIR leader has moderated an event that featured a Hamas operative who spent five years in an Israeli prison and who is currently on trial in the U.S.
According to CAIR, Boxer rescinded Elkarra's award because she got "caught up in our nation's rising tide of Islamophobia." However, the Americans Against Hate spokesman insists that the California legislator made a wise move in taking back the certificate her office had awarded the Sacramento CAIR official.
"This organization should not be granted any type of legitimacy whatsoever," Kaufman states. In fact, CAIR "should not be in any type of meeting with any type of law enforcement or intelligence agency or any government official -- or a religious official, for that matter," he says.
"We believe this group should be persona non grata," the CAIR Watch founder adds, "and that this organization, because of its direct ties to Hamas, should be placed alongside Hamas on the State Department's terrorism list and should be shut down."
Both Elkarra and the organization he represents exhibit behavior that is unworthy of the honor bestowed by Senator Boxer, Kaufman contends. He points out that Elkarra has defended anti-American Muslim leaders and jihadists and also notes that CAIR is currently the defendant in a lawsuit put forth by the family of FBI agent John O'Neill for the Islamic organization's alleged role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
