Press Room

AAI in the News

Muslim-Americans too often pay price for acts of terrorism

By Mahmoud El-Yousseph
The Marion Star
Posted on Tuesday November 15, 2005

Thanks to the FBI, Arab/Muslim-Americans can breathe a sigh of relief and sleep better at night these days, knowing that their civil liberties and safety are being protected. Those who target America’s Arab and Muslim citizens because of their race and religion are no less criminal than those who flew the airplanes into our landmarks on 9/11.

Only one year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Arab and Muslim-Americans registered over 2,000 complaints of discrimination and violence.

Despite an appeal issued by President George W. Bush six days after 9/11during his visit to the Islamic Center in Washington, DC: ”...those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don’t represent the best of America, they represent the worst of human kind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior.”

However, some Americans did not get the message. Those who took the law into their own hands later paid a dear price after they attempted to harm their Arab and Muslim neighbors. Thanks to the FBI for taking a proactive role to ensure that terrorism, no matter by whom it is committed, does not belong on American soil.

Several weeks after 9/11, the FBI foiled a terrorist plot by the Jewish Defense League [JDL] in California. The targets were: King Fahid mosque, the office of an Arab-American Congressman, and the office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Two people were arrested. The leader of the group committed suicide in jail shortly after the arrest. His conspirator was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a California court in September of this year. He was murdered by another jail mate this November. The JDL is considered by the FBI as a domestic terrorist organization which has committed 40 terrorist attacks since its founding in 1968.

In September 2001, a man rammed his car into the entrance of Ohio’s largest mosque in Cleveland in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks. He caused $100,000 in damage before he was sent to prison, with broken bones sustained in the collision.

Daniel Middleman of Iowa found out the hard way that crimes against Arab/Muslim Americans do not pay. He was sentenced on Oct.14 this year to 10 months in prison and 3 years probation for sending threatening e-mails to James Zogby in May 2003. Dr. Zogby is the president of Arab American Institute and a leading Arab-American figure. Middleman was nabbed by the FBI after he threatened to kill Zogby.

The FBI Web site is still investigating the Oct.1985 killing of Alex Odeh in California. He was killed 2 days after the murder of a Jewish-American on the Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro. The FBI has also posted a $1 million reward leading to the arrest and conviction of Mr. Odeh’s killer or killers. The prime suspect in Odeh’s assassination was a JDL member who fled to Israel. Odeh was the west coast regional director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He left behind his wife Norma and their three little girls.

Why is it every time there is a crime committed against Americans here or abroad, Arabs and Muslims in America end up paying the price?

When Tim McVeigh killed 168 Americans in Oklahoma city in 1995, nobody asked questionsabout his religion. No one targeted America’s white Anglo-Saxons in retaliation or demanded that people of his raceserving inourArmed Forces shoud be investigated for terror ties!

It is undisputable fact thatArab and Muslim-Americans have played a vital role in the safety and welfare of our nation. They have served in every conflict and war since the Revolutionary War.

Private Nathan Badeen was a soldier who fought in 1776 in the battle to liberate Boston from the British. Captain Humayun Khan was a U.S. soldier from Virginia, who died trying to stop a suicide bomber from driving into an American compound in Iraq in June 2004. These two soldiers served and died for America. The first one was an Arab, while the other was a Muslim.

Human decency requires that we treat others with dignity and respect, even if their looks or views are different from ours. After all, Arab/Muslim-Americans are part ofthe fabric that makes this country great.