The latest politician to take an opposing stance regarding the Park51 Mosque at Ground Zero is Newt Gingrich. Which in itself isn’t very surprising. What is the most surprising revelation from his statement is that he’s bidding for the White House in 2012.
Gingrich’s statement on the mosque released last night reads as follows:
“There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.
The proposed “Cordoba House” overlooking the World Trade Center site – where a group of jihadists killed over 3000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks – is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites.  For example, most of them don’t understand that “Cordoba House†is a deliberately insulting term. It refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex.
Today, some of the Mosque’s backers insist this term is being used to “symbolize interfaith cooperation” when, in fact, every Islamist in the world recognizes Cordoba as a symbol of Islamic conquest.  It is a sign of their contempt for Americans and their confidence in our historic ignorance that they would deliberately insult us this way.
Those Islamists and their apologists who argue for “religious toleration” are arrogantly dishonest. They ignore the fact that more than 100 mosques already exist in New York City. Meanwhile, there are no churches or synagogues in all of Saudi Arabia. In fact no Christian or Jew can even enterMecca.
And they lecture us about tolerance.
If the people behind the Cordoba House were serious about religious toleration, they would be imploring the Saudis, as fellow Muslims, to immediately open up Mecca to all and immediately announce their intention to allow non-Muslim houses of worship in the Kingdom. Â Â They should be asked by the news media if they would be willing to lead such a campaign.
We have not been able to rebuild the World Trade Center in nine years. Now we are being told a 13 story, $100 million megamosque will be built within a year overlooking the site of the most devastating surprise attack in American history.
Finally where is the money coming from? The people behind the Cordoba House refuse to reveal all their funding sources.
America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization. Sadly, too many of our elites are the willing apologists for those who would destroy them if they could.
No mosque.
No self deception.
No surrender.
The time to take a stand is now – at this site on this issue.”
Park51 Architecture may be influenced by Cooper Union and 7 World Trade Center
The developer of the Park 51 mosque and community center, formerly known as the Cordoba Initiative — has put his ambitions on the record with the Wall Street Journal for the impending World Trade Center mosque to be a significant architectural structure in New York City.
“I want to build something that when people come to New York…that Park51 is on that red tour bus as something that they have to see because it’s one of the most significant buildings in New York City,” says El-Gamal in the Wall Street Journal.
El-Gamal’s architectural team could be a great indication of his potential success, but has not named a team just yet. However, he has noted that two buildings he considers great examples of the architectural direction of the mosque include the steely Cooper Union building in Astor place and the glass behemoth 7 World Trade Center building.
According to the same article it was noted that the design would evoke modernity and would not necessarily adopt a traditional mosque style, “It’s definitely going to be an expression of New York and of America,” Mr. El-Gamal said in an interview Friday, a few days after his project, now dubbed Park51, came under fire at a raucous Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing.”
The slated location for the Park51 mosque has already been converted into a makeshift mosque with nearly 400 Muslims who journey to the location at 45-51 Park Place for Friday prayer service.
Network brass at CBS and NBC have declined airing ads from the National Republican Trust PAC calling for the opposition of the Ground Zero mosque, or Park51 during commercial breaks.
The ad which has been streamed on YouTube, posted almost 2 weeks ago — uses uneasy images from the attacks on 9/11 edited with the sounds of Muslim prayers and negative imagery of Muslim extremists. Comments have been suspended on this video, but have streamed almost 102K by the publishing of this article.
The video includes the following narration,
“On September 11, they declared war agains us… and to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans, they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at Ground Zero.”
According to Ben Smith at Politico, NBC Universal Ad Standards manager Jennifer Riley released the following statement,
“An ad questioning the wisdom of building a mosque at ground zero would meet our issues of public controversy advertising criteria. However, this ad which ambiguously defines ‘they’ as referenced in the spot makes it unclear as to whether the reference is to terrorists or to the Islamic religious organization that is sponsoring the building of the mosque. Consequently, the ad is not acceptable under our guidelines for broadcast.”
A similar statement was released by a counterpart at CBS.
Of course one might wonder what about ABC, Fox, CW and other major networks? We’ll have to literally stay tuned to see if these videos will make it into our living rooms.
Park 51 is the new name for the Cordoba House Mosque
In a swift marketing move, the Cordoba Initiative Mosque has a new name — Park51.
The name changed is seen as an effort to quell the controversy from the development of the mosque and Muslim community center by giving it an almost innocuous, generic name, sounding more like a new condominium construction than a mosque.
According to a report in the New York Daily News, “Spokesman Oz Sultan said the new name puts emphasis on the community center aspect of the project rather than religion.”
The address of the planned center is slated to take the entire block region 41-51 Park Place, which one could assume inspired the World Trade Center mosques new name.
It’s a sharp move considering that the part of the block that has been in contention is the portion of 45-47 Park Place. This may be a preemptive branding move and a statement by developers to say that regardless of the ruling, the community center will at the very least reside at 51 Park Place.
The Commission will determine the Landmark fate of 45-47 later in the summer. A ruling which is seen to determine the development of the mosque in our neighborhood.
Debris landing from 9/11 attacks used in hearing for landmark status.
As the rain poured outside, people poured inside the New York City Landmarks Commission public hearing. Despite the inclement weather nearly 100 people were in attendance at the hearing in Hunter College. A dozen or so individuals were able to take the floor including public opponent and New York State Governor hopeful Rick Lazio — who offered a different strategy to halt the Mosque’s construction by claiming the building at Park Place was worthy of landmark recognition. Even citing debris that had fallen on the building during the 9/11 attacks.
“I urge the commission to grant landmark status to 45 Park Place, [to] take into account important historical facts.”
Gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino was also represented by his lieuenant governor Tom Ognibene who agreed with Lazio stating the building of the mosque would be “an affront to the families that have died.”
Linda Rivera, a family member of a 9/11 victim suggested, “the building should be a landmark building. It should not be a mosque.”
Brooklyn resident, Barbara Sommer decried the sentiments and questioned “How can we allow something to eradicate that memory — the pain and suffering.”
While nearly a dozen others voiced their opinions at the hearing, a religious turf war had been established when Bill Keller of LivePrayer.com (of no relation to the New York Times editor) had sent out a press release stating he would bid on creating a Christian center within the heart of Ground Zero. As of yesterday, his site had been actively seeking donations to fund the construction and is slated to start a satellite prayer center at the Embassy Suites hotel in the northern section of our neighborhood every Sunday starting September 5th until December 26th — until a final home has been found for the Christian center. (I wonder if the group knows that Goldman Sachs is planning on closing the hotel down soon?)
It seems our neighborhood has become a religious battle ground overnight. Are we OK with this?
In the most contentious and controversial real estate construction plan in recent memory, today a meeting will be held to determine the fate of the Cordoba House Mosque on 45-47 Park Place.
Although most New York voters are against the building of the mosque slated for construction only 600 feet from the World Trade Center site based on a Quinnipiac poll,
Although a Quinnipiac Poll had suggested that nearly half of all New York voters are opposed to the construction of the Cordoba House — politicians in New York have been split. Gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio called upon current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for a formal investigation into Cordoba’s funding, but yesterday Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a public response to Lazio’s investigation requests and any opponents of the mosque as being “un-American” and as going “against what the nation stands for.”
The last hurdle for mosque proponent has hinged on approval from the New York City Landmarks commission who’s hearing will be held today and is open to the public.
For those who are interested in attending, the public hearing for 45-47 Park Place application will take place at:
681 Park Avenue
Hunter College Assembly Hall
Entrance on East 69th Street between Park Avenue and Lexington
(Please bring a picture ID for entrance into the building)
The hearing will start at 2:00pm and ends at 5:00pm.
We’ll update the site when the ruling comes down from the hearing today.
We just didn’t know the first politician would be Rick Lazio.
Riding on the heels of a report that more than half of all New York voters oppose the building of the Cordoba Initiative mosque, the Republican gubernatorial candidate has openly challenged his Democratic opponent and current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate.
According to Lazio, “New Yorkers have a right to feel safe and be safe. There are serious security questions about the appropriateness of this mosque.”
In his formal request, Lazio asserts that an investigation must be made into the backgrounds of both the Imam in charge of construction as well as its questionable funding.
Here is the complete letter to Attorney General Cuomo which was posted on Lazio’s official website:
July 7, 2010
The Honorable Andrew Cuomo
Office of the Attorney General
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341
Dear Attorney General Cuomo,
I am writing on behalf of the people of New York who share my concerns for their personal security and safety with respect to the construction of the Cordoba Mosque in lower Manhattan. Recent press reports have highlighted the following troublesome issues:
• The Imam in charge of the construction refused to acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization. (New York Post, 6/19/10)
• The Imam of the project is a “key figure†of Perdana Global, the single largest funder of the flotilla that tried to break the blockade of Gaza by Israeli defense forces. (New York Post, 6/5/10)
• The questionable background of the funding sources for the construction of the Mosque. (New York Post, 5/25/10)
Given that the Cordoba Initiative is a legally registered charitable organization with the New York Attorney General’s Office, my fellow New Yorkers and I are asking you to immediately conduct a thorough investigation of the previous items highlighted by the media with respect to the construction of this Mosque in lower Manhattan. The people have the right to know if this “charity†is using its resources in a legitimate, legal, and charitable way.
New Yorkers were shocked and appalled at the silence of our state law enforcement officials when the Obama Administration decided to stage a civilian trial of admitted terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in lower Manhattan. We hope that we can depend on our state officials for more competent leadership with respect to this extremely sensitive matter.
I and the people of New York await your rapid and full response.
Sincerely,
Rick Lazio
The cornerstone has not be laid out and it seems we’ve got a long road of controversy before any prayers begin. How do you feel about the allegations and the building of the Cordoba Initiative?
A Quinnipiac University poll finds most New Yorkers are opposed to Cordoba House.Â
Protests were inevitable, once plans for The Cordoba House Initiative were made public. The building of a mosque near the World Trade Center site was bound to cause public outcry and controversy.
That being said, who could have predicted that more than 73% of all Staten Islanders would be opposed?! Better yet, more than half of all New York voters polled in a recent Quinnipiac University poll were found to be opposed to the building of the Cordoba House in Lower Manhattan.
Plans for the Cordoba House Mosque
The Cordoba House Initiative includes plans to build a 13-floor Muslim institute which will include a mosque and community center only 600 feet from Ground Zero.
Politicians better listen up to these findings considering that the anniversary of September 11th will always precede Election Day. It would be smart to heed the concerns of over half of New York City voters.
Currently, the only thing standing in the way of the greenlight for the Cordoba house is passing approval from The Landmarks Preservation Commission who are scheduled to vote on the project later this month.
According to other information gleaned from this poll:
-55% of New Yorkers polled said “mainstream Islam” is a “peaceful religion” compared to 22% who found that Islamic beliefs “encourage violence against non-muslims.”
-73% of Staten Islanders polled opposed the building, versus 14% in support of the Mosque.
-46% of Manhattan voters were in support of the bulding, versus the 36% opposed.
-1,183 registered voters were polled between June 21 to June 28
-The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
How do you feel about the Cordoba House initiative?
Like most longtime Battery Park City residents, there is a hole in our hearts where two towers used to be. It’s almost 9 years since the terrorist attacks occurred at the World Trade Center — we can’t help but be reminded that something terrible here happened when we pass the busloads of tourists and people hawking “Tragedy” books outside our door.
It has been previously announced of an initiative to build an Islamic mosque at 45 Park Avenue — the former site of the Burlington Coat Factory and merely 600 feet from the World Trade Center site.
Plans for the Cordoba House Mosque
The Mosque called the Cordoba House would be a 15 story Islmanic center which would include a mosque, performing arts center, meeting rooms and a recreational facility. According to its proponents, Daisy Kahn and her husbnd Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf members of the American Society of Muslim Advancement seek to “reverse the trend of extremism and the kind of ideology that extremists are spreading.”
A formal vote is scheduled to be heard tomorrow (May 25) before the Lower Manhattan Community Board. However, reaction to the plans for the Mosque have been mostly negative. Prompting action from September 11 Victim family members as well as creating websites and Facebook pages in protest of the mosque.
As of today, the Facebook page described as 1,000,000+ people who disapprove of building a mosque at Ground Zero! has over 72K members showing a strong solidarity against the initiative. There is also a dedicated website Nomosqueatwtc.com which is dedicated to highlighting their protest — as well as selling bumper stickers. The latter efforts are a bit suspicious … nevertheless a strong showing of anti-mosque sentiments.
How do you feel about it ? Do we have room in our hearts and in our home for Muslims in NYC to worship?
