CAIR Vs. GAMLA

On January 4, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a press release in which they attacked Congressman Jim Saxton, who is the Chairman, The Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare for what he had written in a article that appeared on the Gamla web site in English. This press release appeared in, among other news sites and papers in CNN Interactive. As can be seen in the press release itself, "Gamla" is also presented in ugly terms.

While CNN published the CAIR press release and probably will not publish our answer, we wish to publish this answer here and let anyone who cares about the truth to read it and decide for themselves. In itself, we believe that an important lesson can be learned.

The anger of CAIR is because of the words Saxton wrote: "...how can anyone trust an agreement compared to the Treaty of Hudaibiya enacted by the Prophet Muhammad, in which a treaty lasts as long as political expediency dictates..."

While the CAIR release centers on Saxton's alleged "slander" against the Prophet Muhammad - it completely ignores the reason Saxton made the statement in the first place - namely that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat himself used the story of Muhammad and the Treaty of Khudaibiya a number of (documented) times to compare it to the Oslo agreements made with Israel, thus alluding exactly that which Saxton claimed.

It could be that there is a historical dispute on the exact facts of what happened, many Muslims state that it was the other side that didn't live up to the agreement and so the followers of Muhammad (not the Prophet himself, they say) broke the treaty and destroyed them in warfare. (see CAIR Press release)

On the other hand, even if this is true, Chairman Arafat's use of this bit of history (see quotes below) is clearly to explain to his people that he sees Oslo as an "inferior peace" and will not have to stand by it if he so decides, stating the historical precedent of Muhammad (in Arafat's own words.)

This is not even the first time CAIR has reacted to other people saying the same thing. We have published here a CAIR press release from November 5, 1998 complaining about an article written by syndicated columnist Cal Thomas. The press release also says the same about U.S. News & World Report editor-in-chief Mortimer Zuckerman, and includes his "retraction". In the retraction, Zuckerman also says he was wrong, Muhhamad did not break the treaty, his followers did ...

Again - CAIR completely ignores the important issue - that Chairman Arafat is using this story of their Holy Prophet to tell us how he does not feel he needs to abide by the world famous treaty he signed.

GAMLA wishes to allow the users of Internet to read for themselves the documents and quotes. All articles below are printed here in full without any change, including the full CAIR press releases.

In order to read the documents involved and others pertaining to the issue which have appeared in Gamla: click on the links below.

Any and all comments can be emailed to GAMLA at:

office1@gamla.org.il

We also suggest that you email Congressman Saxton and give him your support!