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Commission in New York clears way for Ground Zero mosque erection
by Joseph Ernest August 3, 2010
Newscast Media -- The Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement secured a victory on Tuesday, when The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission denied landmark status to the building near Ground Zero, clearing the way for a mega mosque to be built two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Cordoba Initiative plans to build a 13-story, $100-million Islamic cultural center. The panel voted 9-0 against classifying the building as a landmark. Landmark status would have made it difficult for the Muslim group to build the center there.
Right before the vote, commission spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon said, “The purpose of the vote is to decide whether the building has a special character or special historical or aesthetic interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of New York City, New York State or the nation.”
Christian leaders have said that building of a mosque across the street from Ground Zero is insensitive and an insult to family members who lost loved ones during the September 11 attacks.
The Imam who is spearheading the mosque project argues that the reason why they chose to build a mosque near Ground Zero is to discourage terrorists from attacking the U.S. again. He believes the mosque will be a deterrent to extremists.
Imam Feisal, 61 said, "The location was precisely a key selling point for the group of Muslims who bought the building in July. A presence so close to the World Trade Center, where the wreckage fell sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11. We want to push back against the extremists."
Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of bestselling book Son of Hamas, has a different take on the whole issue and posed the question, "Why was this particular site selected? Because the need for a $100 million mosque is so great? Because 45-47 Park Place is the only place left in Manhattan to put a mosque?" He then answered his own question by saying, "No. Because it will make a powerful political and religious statement."
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Yousef is a born again Christian living in California, whose father is one of the founders of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. His conversion to Christianity caused his father to disown him and the Global Islamic Media Front released a statement which said, "If he comes back to Islam great, but if he does not, his fate is as an infidel without honor. The prophet Muhammad said, Whoever alters his religion, kill him. He should not have proper burial rights and he should not be buried with Muslims."
Senator Joe Lieberman also spoke out against the mosque when interviewed on the Imus show. During an interview on the Don Imus show on Tuesday, Lieberman was asked what he thought of the consruction project. "Well, I guess I'd say I'm troubled by it. But I don't know enough to say it ought to be prohibited. But frankly I've heard enough about it, and read enough about it, that I wish someone in New York would just put the brakes on it for a while and take a look at this." Add Comments>>
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