The Interfaith Association of Central Ohio “will host an educational forum in the atrium of the [Ohio] Statehouse [this coming Sunday] about “The Many Voices of Islam.”
And it turns out that the panel will indeed represent some Islamic voices that some such panels try to downplay: One of the voices on the panel is that of Anisa Abd el Fattah, who has in the past year
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formally asked the Justice Department to “take the steps necessary to end” “hate speech” and “misleading and highly politicized information” from “Jewish organizations and activists” and “the ‘Jewish lobby'” (steps that would, I take it, somehow use the Department’s law enforcement authority);
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complained about “Jewish people rais[ing] a fuss” when others “say that Israel should be wiped off the map” (and about “Jewish people[‘s]” labeling those who make such arguments “anti-Semite[s]”);
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defended “White nationalist” claims that they are “misrepresented by the media and made to appear as enemies of blacks and Jews, and others, when they simply want to preserve the white race, and its majority status”; and
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seemingly expressed support for White nationalists’ “feel[ing] that Jewish supremacism threatens their existence.”
I’m sure Abd el Fattah’s voice doesn’t speak for all Muslims, and I hope it doesn’t even speak for a majority. Still, whether deliberately or not, the Interfaith Council does seem to be acknowledging that the many voices of Islam include those like Abd el Fattah’s. I’d like to see from press coverage the extent to which the Council’s platform ends up endorsing Abd el Fattah’s perspective, rather than just making clear that it’s out there.