Asalamu-aleikum all,

More good news for the Muslim community! There has been a groundswell of interest from individuals and organizations asking us how they can help publicly support the ISB and the Muslim community. So far, we've had over 25 organizations express interest in:

"supporting the right of the ISB to raise funds and build its mosque in an atmosphere free from negative and defamatory stereotyping, and that the best interests of not only ISB members, but all citizens, rest upon allowing the Muslim community to freely exercise their right of worship and expression in the United States." -wording from the Amicus brief...

On Monday, we filed two amicus briefs that included support from many of the interested organizations. We literally didn't have time to sign all of the interested parties onto the brief. These groups aren't just supporting the ISB, they are supporting all Muslims living here in the US.

Please be sure to thank members of the organizations that are standing with us - they are our friends and neighbors and they are taking special steps to be supportive of the Muslim community during these difficult times.

Following is our public statement, and the public statements of Alice Rothchild, from Jewish Voices [sic] for Peace.

denounce Jews as ''murderers of the prophets" who ''brought the worst corruption to the earth" and should be punished for their ''oppression, murder, and rape of the worshipers of Allah." After Fitaihi's words were reported in the Boston press, the Islamic Society was urged to unequivocally repudiate them. It took seven months before it finally did so...

RELIGIOUS GROUPS AND PEACE ORGANIZATIONS LINE UP TO SUPPORT THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF BOSTON

BOSTON – A number of religious and civic organizations filed Amicus Briefs on Monday, February 26, 2007, in support of the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) in its defamation lawsuit against the David Project, the Boston Herald, Fox-TV, and a number of individuals and organizations who are working together to halt the construction of a mosque in Roxbury.

“The Islamic Society of Boston is grateful for the extraordinary support from the numerous organizations which have stepped forward today to file Amicus Briefs in support of the ISB,” said the Society’s interfaith coordinator Jessica Masse. “The Massachusetts Superior Court has now twice affirmed the ISB's right to seek relief from the false, Islamaphobic and damaging media campaign mounted against it to prevent the building of a new mosque and cultural center in Roxbury.”

The David Project and other defendants have appealed and continue to press the courts to throw out the case based on the Massachusetts anti-SLAPP law, a law that was intended to protect abutting land owners participating in public processes from strategic lawsuits brought by developers to intimidate them.
They do so despite having never participated in the multi-year public process that led the BRA to transfer land in Roxbury to the ISB for the multi-million dollar mosque.

According to Masse, “The ISB's lawsuit is an important civil rights case. It seeks to battle discrimination and secure for area Muslims the same rights of freedom of worship and assembly that all faith and non-faith based groups in our society hold dear.

"We are overwhelmed by the show of support from our friends and neighbors. Thanks to the willingness of these groups to come forward and speak out, there is a growing groundswell of support for the ISB and its right to combat discrimination by seeking justice in the courts,” Masse added.

The first non-Muslim organization to approach the ISB and ask questions was Boston's Jewish Voice for Peace.
“Because Jews have felt the effects of discrimination through much of our history, we are particularly troubled by the actions of the David Project and others in what appears to be an organized effort to prevent Muslims from building a place of worship and inter-religious dialogue. Although our goal is ultimately to promote positive relationships between the Jewish and Muslim communities, as Boston area Jews, we support the ISB’s right to legal redress in the face of what appears to be a malicious media campaign against them. It is important that we make a public statement that the David Project and its allies do not speak for us.” explains Alice Rothchild, co-chair for JVP Boston.

Other groups that have joined in filing an Amicus Brief written by Boston lawyer Thomas A. Reed, include the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Tekiah, the Boston Tikkun Community, Community Change, Inc., The Diocese of St. Francis of Assisi, the Massachusetts Chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, United for Justice and Peace, Cambridge United for Justice and Peace, Clarendon Church and Dorchester People for Peace. The Muslim Public Affairs Council has also come forward and filed its own Amicus Brief in support of the ISB represented by Boston lawyer Max Stern.

The ISB has been contacted by many others who have expressed their support for the Society and its right to move forward in its lawsuit. "It has been incredibly gratifying as a lawyer to see the overwhelming outpouring of support for the ISB. It began with a few who learned of the ISB's lawsuit and the possibility of filing an Amicus Brief, and the word spread quickly.

We have heard from many organizations and community leaders and the very strong sentiment has been that the ISB should have its day in court," said Heidi Nadel, lawyer for the ISB. On Friday, a Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit initiated by the David Project against it, the BRA and Roxbury Community College. That lawsuit, filed in the name of James Policastro in order to keep the role of the David Project hidden from the public, sought to undo the land deal between the ISB and the BRA which would have required the ISB to tear down the already partially built mosque. The Court ruled that if Mr. Policastro had any real objection to the project, he should have participated in the multi-year process which led up to the land transfer, but he failed to do so.

In a 2/25/07 Boston Globe article, Mr. Policastro and his lawyer, Samuel Perkins, refused to state publicly who paid for the now-dismissed lawsuit, and Mr. Policastro openly conceded that it would not be his decision whether to appeal the dismissal of the case.

“The ISB calls upon the Mr. Policastro and his counsel to openly state who is behind his lawsuit and who financed the effort to stop the building of a place of worship by area Muslims,” Masse noted. “Despite all that has happened, including our most recent legal victory, we remain ready to sit down with all those who oppose us, including the David Project, and with a professional mediator to try and resolve our differences,” said Masse. “Now is the time for healing and reconciliation. We urge the David Project to rethink its approach as to how communities here in Boston should inter-act with each other.”