Friday, December 23, 2005
The Jewish Advocate has a front page article on the Islamic Society of Boston and their Boston Mosque concerning City Councilman Jerry McDermott's plan to hold hearings on the bargain-basement land deal the ISB received: City councilor wants hearing over mosque in Roxbury (emphasis mine)
The hearing comes at the urging of the lawyer for the David Project, the pro-Israel group currently being sued by the ISB for defamation, who sent a letter to McDermott and local media earlier this month alleging that the ISB trustees’ current president had signed a petition in support of the pre-trial release of Abdulrahman Alamoudi. The founder of the ISB in 1982, Alamoudi is now in prison in Saudi Arabia on terrorism funding-related charges.
“I understand if folks at the BRA can only answer limited questions, but I also think it’s fair to provide the opportunity to come in and ask questions,” said McDermott, who chairs the Post-Audit and Oversight committee. “I think the public, as well as any elected official, has the right to ask questions concerning whether the sale of this public parcel was handled properly and whether the sale price was in the taxpayers’ best interest,” McDermott said, adding that he intends to file the request for a hearing after the first of the year.
The ISB has no intention of participating:
A spokesperson for the BRA did not return the Advocate’s calls.
BRA documents support the claim, made by McDermott and other ISB critics, that the BRA land deal was consummated in and is being financed by money from the Middle East. According to the documents, three of the ISB’s six trustees reside in Arab Gulf states, one in Qatar; two in Saudi Arabia. Their signatures for deeds and other documents related to the sale were signed and notarized at the U.S. consulates in those countries...
In the same issue of the Advocate, the ISB has taken out a full page advertisement assuring the Jewish Community of their good intentions, openness and lack of any ties to terrorists or terror supporters. If I find a copy I'll post it, but here's a snip:
In the hope of reaching out to all fair and open-minded people in the Greater Boston community, we ask you not to buy into the poisoned rhetoric and attacks against our community undertaken by the few extremists who would divide us. If you hae a concern about the lawsuit we have filed, we urge you to please take the time to read it and judge for yourself its contents. Copies are available from the Islamic Society of Boston at the above address, or on our website: www.isboston.org. Please take the time to learn the truth before condemning us for trying to protect our community and loved ones from further attack..."
YAYYY!! Kudos to Jerry McDermott for sticking with this. I plan to go to the hearing.
Have you read the lawsuits yet over at the ISB? I'll have to head over there and see what they've got posted.