Ground Zero imam blames Palin for fueling a “growing Islamophobia” in US
September 13th, 2010 - 3:00 pm ICT by ANI
London, Sept 13 (ANI): The Islamic cleric supporting the proposed Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York, Feisal Abdul Rauf, has accused former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, of being “disingenuous” and fuelling a “growing Islamophobia” in the United States, which led to the burning of Korans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
According to the BBC, although the Reverend Terry Jones abandoned his “international burn a Koran day” in Florida on Saturday, few instances were the ported in Tennessee and New York where copies of the Koran were set alight.
Imam Rauf said Palin’s intervention had been “disingenuous” and played a part of the issue being “hijacked by the radicals” over the summer.
“What has happened is that..certain politicians decided that this project would be very useful for their political ambitions. This had prompted a growing Islamophobia in the US,” he added.
In Springfield and Tennessee, two evangelical pastors, Bob Old and Danny Allen burned Koran to coincide with the anniversary of the September 11th atrocities.
“It’s about faith, it’s about love, but you have to have the right book behind you. This is a book of hate, not a book of love,” said the Rev Old said as he held up a Koran.
In a separate incident in New York, an unidentified man ripped pages from a Koran and lit them near the proposed site of the Islamic centre.
“If they can burn American flags, I can burn the Koran,” he said. (ANI)
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- Unidentified 'hate filled' American burns pages of Koran near Ground Zero - Sep 12, 2010
- Confusion over mosque status following pastor's plan to put burning Quran on 9/11 "on hold" - Sep 10, 2010
- US defence secretary calls Florida pastor (Lead) - Sep 10, 2010
- Florida pastor cancels Quran-burning event to discuss 'Ground Zero' mosque move - Sep 10, 2010
- Roemer likely to meet Chidambaram over 9/11 Quran burning issue - Sep 10, 2010
- Palin calls Koran-burning proposed protest insensitive, unnecessary - Sep 09, 2010
- US pastor rethinking on cancelling Quran burning (Third Lead) - Sep 10, 2010
- Hillary Clinton condemns Koran burning plan; pastor adamant - Sep 08, 2010
- US pastor 'seriously considering not burning Quran' (Intro Nightlead) - Sep 10, 2010
- US pastor agrees 'in principle' not to burn Quran - Sep 11, 2010
- Quran burning would have "strengthened radicals": Ground Zero mosque imam - Sep 13, 2010
- US pastor who burned Koran says violent attack in Afghanistan 'proves his point' about Islam - Apr 02, 2011
- Pakistan takes up Florida Quran desecration with UN - Mar 23, 2011
- Pastor cancels plans to burn Qurans, then backtracks (Second Lead) - Sep 10, 2010
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