Islam

California Mosque Opponents Defeated, Project To Go Forward

Evan McMorris-Santoro | January 28, 2011, 10:56AM

The plan to build a mosque in the southern California community of Temecula will go forward after months of protest from area residents afraid that a home for Muslim worship in their town will bring traffic, flooding and terrorists. Following an eight-hour meeting of the Temecula City Council, where the bitter fight between mosque opponents and supporters of religious freedom in the city were laid bare, council members voted 4-0 at around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to allow the mosque project to go forward. That's left opponents -- who once suggested taunting Temecula Muslims with dogs -- scrambling over what to do next.

Reports from the meeting tell the tale of a contentious gathering that was a microcosm of the Islamophobia that has gripped the right in the past couple years, culminating with the epic struggle over the Park51 cultural center, better known by its critics as the "Ground Zero Mosque."

As the North County Times reported, many of the arguments against the Manhattan mosque project made their way to the Temecula meeting.

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Counterterrorism

NYPD Used Anti-Islam Film 'Third Jihad' To Train Officers

Rachel Slajda | January 19, 2011, 3:20PM

A still from "The Third Jihad"

The New York Police Department has used a movie that portrays Muslim-Americans as jihadis hell-bent on destroying the United States from within in its counter-terrorism training for officers.

The Village Voice reports today that the NYPD has shown "The Third Jihad" to officers taking their mandatory counter-terrorism courses.

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