See published backgrounder: “Invented ‘Islamophobia’ and real Muslim Jew-hatred”
On Tuesday, June 24, 2025, the Rhode Island Coalition For Israel (RICI) held a zoom press conference which included: 1) analysis of police reports and criminal records obtained from public records never investigated by journalists who reported on the case of an alleged “Islamophobic shooting” in front of the Islamic Center of Rhode Island (ICRI), Providence, RI, on November 17, 2023; 2) analysis of local interviews given by the shooting victim, and the ICRI’s lead imam; 3) analysis of four ICRI sermons delivered between December 22, 2023, and May 30, 2025; 4) Summary conclusions and Q & A follow-up discussion.
Participants included the hosts Maria Friedman and Ken Schneider of RICI, Dr. Andrew Bostom, Greg Piccirilli, Esq., and Rabbi Jon Hausman.
Link to the press conference video.
The full press conference video is embedded below, followed by the transcript of the presser (excluding the Q & A; the Q & A can be watched/heard in the video).
Transcript of 6/24/25 Rhode Island Coaltion For Israel press conference (excluding the brief Q & A)
[Maria Friedman of RICI] I’m recording this meeting as you just heard as well, and anyone that wants the video afterwards, please contact me, but thank you all for being here. I’ll just start the meeting by saying that my name is Maria Friedman I’m the Executive Director of Rhode Island Coalition For Israel or we call ourselves “RICI” for short. That’s our acronym. We’re a non-profit organization made of Christians and Jews working together to combat antisemitism, provide accurate education about Israel in the Middle East, and promote the alliance between the U.S. and Israel We’re privileged today to have here with us Ken Schneider. Dr Andrew, Bostom, Greg Piccirilli, and Rabbi. Jonathan Hausman. This conference today will cover two things: the shooting outside the Islamic Center of Rhode Island mosque, back in November 2023, and the tenor of the sermons from the (Islamic) Center since the October 7th 2023 attacks by Hamas in Israel and also since the shooting in November 2023. The reason that we even have to call this press conference to order in the first place is unfortunate. And it points to a lack of awareness and a lack of leadership from other community members and leaders. While we will dissect the specific hateful sermons being preached at the local Islamic Center of Rhode Island, it is ever more clear that nobody else has been willing to call out this rhetoric as hateful, including both from within and outside of the Muslim community in Rhode Island. In addition, the majority of the Jewish community leaders that we have alerted about these matters have not stepped up to inform themselves, nor their community members, about this topic, which is a clear threat to the Jewish community, and all Rhode Islanders. We welcome anyone to the table especially moderate Muslims to join with us in condemning the rhetoric that incites hate, and even violence in some cases, and in calling out the blatant lies and misinformation that we’re about to see. Now I’ll turn it over to Ken Schneider RICI’s board president for some remarks.
[Ken Schneider of RICI] Hi. So I wanted to let everybody know that RICI started in 2017, and has been fighting antisemitism, Jew-hatred, ever since. Alot of our success as an organization has come from being out on the streets, letting people know that there is a pro-Israel pro-American peaceful presence in Rhode Island for example for the last two graduations that Brown (University) had. RICI organized a peaceful presence to show the Jewish and Israeli students and their families that they have a lot of support in the Rhode Island community. We also commissioned an aerial banner to fly over for all to see during the procession at the graduation ceremony, which read “Brown for Israel” with an American and an Israeli flag on the plane. We have also been instrumental in combating BDS (Boycote/Divestment/Sanctions) legislation in the city of Providence, proactively collecting thousands of signatures of community members against the divestment ordinance. RICI has worked to collaborate with many groups in Rhode Island including building partnerships with the Latino community, especially Latino churches and faith leaders. Lastly we provide key education programs to the community both in person, and virtual in English and in Spanish, about Israel and antisemitism, as a way to counter the misinformation about Israel and the Jewish people that permeates social media (and) mainstream media, in many of our local institutions. With that I would like to hand it off to Andrew Bostom, MD, MS, who is a retired Brown University academic internist, and clinical epidemiologist, and also the author of The Legacy of Jihad, The Legacy of the Islamic Antisemitism, and other books and essays on Islam. His non-medical research has been focused on the impact of Islamic conquest, colonization, and governance on non-Muslims. Thank you, Andrew, it’s all yours.
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] Thank you very much Maria and Ken. So I’m just going to give an overview of the mosque shooting. So on November 17th, 2023, Mustafa Ramos was shot in the buttocks while selling Islamic paraphernalia adjacent to the Islamic Center of Rhode Island mosque in Providence. Relying heavily upon a propagandized assessment by the Hamas-linked Council on American Islamic relations, or CAIR, local station WPRI suggested the shooting was an Islamophobic hate crime. A week later, after actual criminal investigation, Providence police Major David Lapatin stated, quote, “To say the mosque was targeted would be premature,” unquote. Regardless, a hate crime narrative was how local media framed the story, including the Providence Journal, and the Boston Globe. CNN, and even the UK Guardian and UK Daily Mail echoed the notion of a presumed Islamophobic shooting. Last February 2024, a Rhode Island House Resolution on Islamophobia was even passed, referencing Mustafa Ramos’s shooting as THE central Islamophobic incident in Rhode Island. The resolution concluded by noting certified copies of it were transmitted to the Islamic Center of Rhode Island, Mustafa Ramos, care of the Islamic Center of Rhode Island, and Hamas-linked CAIR. Months ago I notified the entire Rhode Island House and Senate that Mustafa Ramos had a long criminal record, and the lone suspect in his shooting, Nasir Dupont, was also a Muslim with an extensive criminal record. I further provided the legislators with examples of the hate preached at the Islamic Center of Rhode Island mosque. To this day no one in the Rhode Island House or Senate has responded. Um, could you show the Ramos interview video now, please?
[Transcript of Ramos interview clip on Club Ambition podcast, 12/14/23](Interviewer) “And then, now your recovery what’s your current state?”(Ramos) “As far as recovery with what have the doctor said, I’m fine. You know I was out of the hospital in two hours. Okay, you know I was blessed, you know not to have serious injuries.”
(Interviewer) “Yeah. Do you do you believe yourself being the actual victim of the shooting Do you believe similar to like how the imam and others are believing it, to actually be a potential hate crime?”
(Ramos) “Of course it is. You know, of course it is. I wouldn’t think it would be anything else.”
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Ramos) “You know, what would change it for me to anyone else Who got shot out there or anywhere else? As a Muslim dressed as a Muslim looked like a Muslim.”
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Ramos) “In front of the masjid (mosque). You know, I mean what would make that, what would it make it different for me, than it would for anyone else? What would be that element?
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Ramos) “You know, so I don’t, I can’t, you can’t go by what other people think or say, you know?”
(Interviewer) “Do you want police to do more work? Or are you just willing to just you know, wait it out and then you know, if nothing happens nothing happens?”
(Ramos) “I’ll be honest with you. I’m not really interested in their investigation. That’s their job. I shouldn’t have to tell them to do their job. That’s what they get paid for.
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Ramos) “Do I think they’re doing anything? Absolutely not. If it was someone else. If I was standing in front of the synegol [sic] [“synagogue”], would it be a different story?”
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] Okay, I want to introduce Rhode Island lawyer Greg Piccirilli, who has looked into, by public access, public records access requests, into some of the documentation: the police report, what turns out to be the criminal record of Mr. Ramos. And Greg’s going to discuss those findings.
[Greg Piccirilli] Thanks Andy. Appreciate you having me on here today. I’ve worked with Dr. Bostom on a number of public records cases, getting information that way, and he asked me to look into obtaining some legal documents in this case related to this mosque shooting. So back on February 5th of this year, I obtained the police incident report on the shooting outside of this mosque on November 17th of 2023. The victim’s legal name is Dean Scott Ramos. And on that day, when he was in the hospital, he stated to the police that he lives in Maine and every Friday he drives down to Rhode Island to sell his merchandise outside of the mosque. And on that morning on November 17th, he was setting up his tables on the sidewalk in front of the mosque when he was shot. He claimed he didn’t see the shooter and that he did not have any problems with anyone and didn’t know who shot him. And shortly right after that (police) interview, he refused to continue to cooperate with the investigation. A quick search of publicly available court records show that Mr. Ramos has a serious criminal record. Back in the year 2000, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, five years to serve, for the illegal manufacture and distribution of schedule one and schedule two controlled substances, which include things like heroin, ecstasy, fentanyl, and oxycontin. The police investigation led them to only one subject, a Nasir Dupont, and it’s my understanding that the name “Nasir” is a Muslim name meaning helper. In June of 2024 the police obtained a search warrant for Mr. Dupont, but they made no arrests at the time. Another search of the court records shows that Mr. Dupont is a serious recidivist criminal. (He) has a history of robbery, illegal gun possession, and narcotics related crimes. He was free on bail at the time of the mass shooting but is currently in prisons for other crimes unrelated to it. He was arrested in a car after giving a false name, (and) it was with a known young blood gang member at the time. Drugs cash and loaded guns were found in the car, and he’s facing trial in Rhode Island Superior Court on multiple charges, including violations of bail for a previous robbery conviction, carrying a concealed weapon, first degree robbery, and conspiracy. He’s facing over 40 years of possible prison sentences. Given that the alleged shooting that the shooting victim, Mr. Ramos is a Muslim and the suspected shooter, Mr. Dupont is almost certainly a Muslim, and that they both have extensive criminal backgrounds, including major drug offenses, it’s my opinion likely that a false claim of Islamophobia was used by Mr. Ramos to deflect from his own criminal background, and his possible connection to the perpetrator, a known drug dealer with gun and gun convictions [with] possible gang ties. Most importantly here it is 19 months after the shooting and the police have never designated this as a hate crime. Thank you.
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] Thank you, Greg. So can we now see the interview video of Imam Sackor, please?
[Transcript of ICRI Imam Sackor interview clip on Club Ambition podcast, 11/28/23]
(Sackor) “You know, so and Muslims and Jews have been getting along. If you if you read history and study history a relationship between his between Jews and Muslims and arabs, they have always got along
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Sackor) “You know and Jews have been living in Muslim lands forever, you know. And the how can I say? The Jewish Enlightenment I say, or golden age, was in Muslim Spain. This is where Jews reached the height of their in terms of their Writings and their and their status in Muslim Spain.”
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Sackor) “So there’s never been any really issue between, even now, between Muslims and Jews. Muslims don’t hate Jews, you know. We don’t hate Jews. They’re our brothers in faith, you know, it just, just like you know, you have certain individuals certain ideologies, Zionist. They’re called Zionist, and also they are secular, and prejudice(d), and those who run the country of Israel. These are the people we have issue with, because of the system they set up, the apartheid system, the Zionist system, the imperial, the settler colonial system (they) set up. We don’t have issue with Jews. We have issue with the government, like I said. Just to reiterate some points. Yes, you know, as you know Palestine the country that was usurped and taken over in 1948. There were people already there the Palestinians. And we’re Muslims we are not antisemite.
We’re not anti-Jew. You know being anti-Zionist doesn’t mean antisemitic. So Palestine the Arabs, the Palestinians are semitic. You understand? So who are the ones being the real antisemite?”
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Sackor) “The government is killing them. Yes, because the Arabs are semites.”
(Interviewer) “Yeah.”
(Sackor) “You know and also there are other people there like the Ethiopians they are semites. And they’re being racist, the government of people (Israeli government) are being racist against them right? And Jesus, peace be upon him. He was Palestinian. He was from that land. He was Palestinian.”
[Dr. Bostom] You know, I’d just like to make a few comments. So the good Imam Sackor is not antisemitic. He’s just anti-Zionist. And the world’s lone Jewish state is singled out, counterfactually, for its alleged “apartheid,” “settler colonialism,” and “imperialism.” This is pure antisemitism. Just to digress a little bit. He got into some fantasies about the history of Jews in Muslim lands. It’s a longstanding history of brutal oppression. He completely romanticized what the actual history was. But that’s a long topic. But when he got to the question of the territories—Israel, Gaza, Judea-Samaria—it’s complete historical negationism, and projection, that projects onto Jews and Israel, the actual bloody Islamic jihad conquest by Muslims that colonized the Jews ancestral homeland in the seventh century, and subjected the surviving Jews and Christians to 13 centuries of true, dehumanizing religious apartheid: the imposition of Islamic law, Sharia for some 13 centuries, until the end of World War I. Next I will provide video evidence of the ugly Islamic religious Jew-hatred preached in Imam Sackor’s mosque, which I think puts the lie to his contention that this has nothing to do with Jew-hatred, antisemitism. So mosque sermon one, please.
[Transcript of clips shown from a sermon at the ICRI 12/22/23]
“We see what is going on in Gaza. What is going in Palestine. There’s a lot of unprecedented atrocities against children, against innocent civilians, people being killed. So talk about certain things in surat al-Isra (chapter 17 of the Quran) in the beginning. So there’s two occasions of creating chaos, and killing, and all that on the earth. So I don’t want to… Listen, these are very, very deep meanings and there’s a lot of opinions of scholars about these ayat (verses), but in the end of this passage, “And we have made the hell as a dungeon as a prison for the disbelievers,” (Quran 17:8) And forbidding evil is a duty on every Muslim. Because when He (Allah) stated they left this. He stated those who were given the book (Jews), but they didn’t follow that book. They did not follow that. So Allah Is giving us case studies, case studies of Israelites (Jews) how they disobeyed their prophets. How they (Jews) even treated their prophets, even they used to kill their prophets, and they used to kick out the people from their homes, and kill children. This happened to them (Jews). Pharoah used to kill children and leave the leave the women alive, and then recently the Europeans had caused this Holocaust, not Muslims. Muslims welcomed the Jews to their lands. Palestine was an open, and friendly and welcome land for a protection and refuge for those (Jews) who were persecuted in Europe. But instead of being reciprocated and returning those favors with favor, they (the Jews) kicked out the same people (Muslims) who had given them refuge in their own homes. Those same people who were their hosts who were their protectors and who were giving them refuge from that persecution, were kicked out from their homes and being persecuted. So may Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (Allah the Most Glorified the Most High), at the end of time this is going to happen that Isa (the Muslim Jesus) is around, (and) will come back as we know, because he (Isa the Muslim Jesus) is the sign of the end of the time. So Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala will send him as the follower of Rasulullah (Islam’s prophet Muhammad). He (Isa, the Muslim Jesus) will not return as prophet but as a follower of Rasulullah. And that is the reason that he will pray behind, he (Isa, the Muslim Jesus) will pray behind the imam from the power of this ummah (Muslim community). He (Isa) will pray behind him and he will be a proof that he (Isa) is not Son of God for Christians. And the Christians at that time will recognize that he’s Isa, he is the true (Muslim) Jesus, and they will believe in him (Isa, the Muslim Jesus) and they will become Muslims. This is all mentioned in the hadith so there’s no doubt that this will happen.”
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] Maria could I see if I can share that video from my screen and maybe we can hear it because I couldn’t? The audio was off
[Maria Friedman] Oh, did anyone else have issues hearing it? They’re shaking their head, I think and we heard it, (were) able to hear it. So I can hear it are you able to hear it? Okay, fine. Okay.
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] Good. Good. Okay, that’s a relief. So what you’re hearing (in the clip just shown), let me explain. The imam invoked, Quranic verses, sura 17, or chapter 17, verses 4 to 10, and verses such as Quran 2:61 and 3:112. And those verses remind Muslims that Jews are corruptors, to be punished, and prophet killers, and that’s the basis for accusing Jews of “unprecedented atrocities,” as he puts it, in Palestine and Gaza, particularly against children. This libelous narrative is melded to his corrosive fantasy about how Jews, the indigenous people of Judea-Samaria, Gaza, etc., were allegedly treated so well by Muslims, not only for 13 centuries after their jihad conquest, which of course he ignores, but also in the period just before the establishment of the modern state of Israel. And then this sermon, remember, is three days before Christmas 2023. In that same sermon, he also preached that the Muslim Jesus, Isa, will destroy Christianity. And he seems quite happy about that. The Quran rejects the Trinity and Crucifixion. Indeed, both are terrible blasphemies in Islam, and the traditions of Muhammad. The imam is referring to the claim Isa, again the Muslim Jesus, who is exclusively a Muslim, will return some 40 years before the end of times to break the cross, kill the pig, and end the payment of the Quranic poll tax levied on Christians. That is, convert all Christians to Islam, or slay them if they refuse to convert. Mosque sermon two, please.
[Transcript of clips shown from a sermon at the ICRI 1/12/24]
“I am going to teach you a the greatest sura (chapter) of the Quran. So this sahabi (companion of Muhammad) he said When rasulullah sallAllahu alaihi wasallam, (“May Allah honor him [Muhammad] and grant him peace”) he wanted to leave the masjid (mosque). And he reminded him, (you) told me you’re going to teach me, ‘The greatest sura of the Quran.’ So he (Muhammad) said (the) greatest sura of the Quran is (the opening sura 1, also known as the ‘fatiha,’ or opening) So this is the greatest Quran of seven verses, which a believer recites again and again and praises Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, in his salah, in his in his daily five prayers. He repeats asking Allah to keep us (Muslims) on the path, which is straight (i.e., Islam), which is the path of guidance, which is the path of prophets and siddiqueen (the truthful, like the Rightly Guided Caliphs) and shuhada (Islam’s martyrs) and salihin, the righteous people, and not those, not the path of those people on whom Allah became angry (i.e., the Jews, per Quran 1:7). And those were the people who did not follow their messengers and their prophets. They did not obey their prophets. They did not obey Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and became rebellious. And were cursed. So those people (who) were cursed (he recites Quran 5:78, another curse upon the Jews). So those people who are cursed are mentioned in the Quran, the Israelites (Jews). were cursed because they did not obey Musa (the Muslim Moses). In His presence, they started worshipping an idol (Quran 7:149-50). They did not worship Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, (they) disobeyed Allah, and killed the prophets (cites Quran 3:21) They (the Jews) were killing the prophets even (additionally, see Quran 2:61, 3:112) so why is it a surprise to us if they (the Jews) are killing Muslims today? We witnessed that, so this is their pattern. We are sad that our brothers are going through this kind of suffering in Palestine, in Gaza. An act of genocide, a persecution unprecedented, a killing, an act of killing and murder.”
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] Okay, so this this really gets into the ugly essentials of the antisemitism that’s preached in this mosque. So after imam after explaining that the opening sura or chapter of the Quran, per Muhammad, as he explains, is quote, ‘The greatest chapter in the Quran,” repeats a verse Quran 1:7. So the seventh verse in this short chapter, which pious Muslims repeat 17 times daily. And it means it is the Jews who have incurred Allah’s anger, and that was actually the prophet Muhammad’s interpretation of this verse. And observing they are cursed, he (the imam) refers to another Quranic verse in the fifth sura, the 78th verse. (The imam) again accuses Jews of prophet killing, and the point is that that that the Jews—not the Israel Defense Forces or the State of Israel—rather Jews, are accused of committing a genocide in Gaza, again, because of their inveterately evil Quranic nature. So this is a an indelible characteristic of Jews as described in the Quran. These are indelible characteristics. They’re evil, and therefore they’re committing a genocide in Gaza. Now just quickly, the genocide allegation Is as absurd as it is libelous. We have census data that we collect around the world from the U.S Census (Bureau), and they reveal that Gaza’s population increased by over two percent in both 2023, and 2024. May I have mosque sermon three, please?
[Transcript of clips shown from a sermon at the ICRI 1/3/25]
“I mentioned their (the Muslims) oneness and their love. (You) should know, they (the Muslims) were strong against disbelievers, and they were very kind among themselves (refers to Quran 48:29), but unfortunately we have left that and our hearts have become corrupted and polluted because we have developed those kind of feelings which is which is not liked by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And people (i.e., Muslims) used to love each other for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Love for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, and hate for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. If you do this, you will complete your iman (faith) because In Islam the greatest thing that we have is the brotherhood (of Muslims). (Closing Arabic supplication): ‘May Allah be pleased with out companions Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali (i.e., Islam’s four ‘Rightly Guided Caliphs, who succeeded Muhammad), and all the companions (of Muhammad). Your Lord said, ‘Let him answer you.’ Indeed those who are arrogant will be put in Hell and the like. Oh Allah, forgive us and our (Muslim) brothers, who have preceded us in faith, and do not make in our hearts a shame for those who have believed. Indeed, You are the Merciful and Compassionate to our daughters in this world (and this) is good. Oh Allah, forgive us and our brothers who make in our hearts a shame for those who have believed. Oh Allah, protect the Muslims and their families in every place. Oh Allah, protect the Muslims and their families. Oh Allah, protect the Muslims in Palestine, Gaza, Syria, and everywhere. Oh Allah, protect them and their families. Oh Allah, FIGHT the disbelievers and the polytheists (i.e., collectively, non-Muslims, in general) who fight against Your servants, and hinder You from your path, and defame your messengers. Oh Allah, send down upon them Your punishment upon (these) guilty people. Indeed, Allah commands justice and kindness and to be kind to one another (i.e., between Muslims). And if there is wrongdoing, or good, or bad, He reminds you that you may remember.”
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] Okay, so actually this sermon is the first sermon that I ever watched, at this mosque, and it came just two days after the vehicular jihad carnage (i.e., in New Orleans), on New Year’s Day of this year.
So it was quite shocking to me. And he (the imam) ignored that (the New Orleans jihad carnage) altogether in the sermon. He preached strict solidarity of the global Muslim community or ummah, and kindness between Muslims, while treating non-Muslims harshly. That’s the reference that he makes to Quran 48:29, so the 48th sura, the 29th verse. And he concluded, again a mere two days after the jihad terror attack in New Orleans, with that Arabic supplication at the end, to quote, “to fight the disbelievers and polytheists.” And this is consistent with jihad war proclamations that punctuate the entire ninth sura of the Quran. And there are numerous examples (Quran) 9:5, 9:29, etc. The final sermon, please.
[Transcript of clips shown from a sermon at the ICRI 1/3/25]
“Ibrahim (i.e., the Jewish patriarch Abraham) is not a Christian or a Jew. He is someone who worships only one God. He is a Muslim. And the people who have the greatest claim to Ibrahim, are those who follow him, and this messenger (Muhammad), and those who believe, and Allah is the protector of the believers (i.e., the Muslims). One group the Christians can’t articulate what they really believe what their Tawhid (monotheism) is. And the other group (the Jews) has reduced their religion to an ethnic identity that they use to justify slaughter of innocent people.”
[Dr. Andrew Bostom] So this sermon was just a few weeks ago, at the end of May, and the imam invokes Islam’s supersessionism, its notion of being the true primordial monotheism of Jewish patriarch Abraham. Reciting in Arabic, and then translating accurately verses Quran 3:67 and the following verse, 3:68. Essentially, those verses claim Abraham wasn’t a Jew, or a Christian, he was a Muslim, and the people who have the greatest claim to Abraham, are the Muslims. And the imam segued from that traditional Quranic supremacism, into a derision of Christianity, and then, of course as you know has become apparent, I hope, a very ugly contemporary blood libel against Jews and Judaism. And just to reiterate he said: “One group, the Christians can’t articulate what they really believe, what their tawhid (their monotheism) means. And the other group (the Jews) has reduced their religion to an ethnic identity that they use to justify a slaughter of innocent people,” again the Jews, not Israel, Not the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), the Jews. Rabbi Hausman, please.
[Rabbi Jon Hausman] I’m going to take this in just a slightly different direction because I really want to focus on this neologism known as “Islamophobia,” and before I do anything, I just want to preface my any remark I make by the acknowledgement that hatred directed against any racial, ethnic or religious minority it exists, and it’s always deplorable, and violence against such groups is always deplorable. But it is essential to understand that the attention to get given to this term “Islamophobia” is not being driven by anything that could accurately be described as a crisis. It really is part of a false narrative that seeks to divert us, including those of us who have labored in this field for quite some time, like Dr. Bostom, and myself, from an unpleasant, but vital fact about the subject. And it’s about the subject. It’s not about being anti-Muslim. It’s not about being anti-Arab, but those of us who bring up and want to discuss some of these issues as we’ve dealt with in Judaism. Our reformation took place 2 000 years ago, and in Christianity through its reformation that took place about 500 years ago. um We’re dealing with these kinds of problematic issues with regard to our doctrinal history, and texts. And that’s what’s really going on here, so when those of us who are laboring, in my case within the Jewish community, I have to face antisemitic acts against our institutions, and our bodies. We end up being frozen. Because any kind of investigation that we would like to take place against those who are perpetrating these acts against our buildings—we’ve had such acts here at my synagogue—against our persons, ourselves, ends up freezing the conversation. So God forbid, anything dealing with the doctrinal underpinnings for these actions are shunted to the side. The other thing that I want to highlight is this, and I am purposefully trying to be brief here, according to all law enforcement statistics that have been gathered regarding hate crimes, hate crimes against Jews far surpass all other hate crimes that have been perpetrated against all other groups in this country. The majority of all the hate crimes are focused against Jews. If you take a look at data with regard to anti-Jewish feelings you’ll find very high, and a number of Muslim ruled areas for a number of a number of reasons. That’s not to say that there are not Muslims out there, and other people out there who are friendly, and predisposed to us Jews, and want to meet with us in a spirit of brotherhood, and peacefulness. But we have to understand that this idea that everything is rooted in “Islamophobia,” everything is rooted in actions against a fellow religion of peace, is not universally supported, and it is a version of faith that somehow has mainstream support, and much of some people would say the Arab world and Muslim world, but I would contend in the general world as a whole. So with that, Maria I would like to just turn it back to you.
[Maria Friedman] Thank you so much Rabbi Hausman for your remarks. I really appreciate it. I just want to close here before we open it up for questions for those that would like to do that, just by imploring the media and community leaders here on this call, and who will be watching this recording, to alert the public at large of the Islamic extremism happening here in our state, especially via the Islamic Center of Rhode Island, and the evidence that was just so clearly articulated by Dr. Andrew Bostom, and his team. We feel a duty to warn the public that the imam and his like-minded followers are a danger to all those who do not practice radical Islam. In addition the reporters who have already covered the shooting incident in the past must uphold journalistic integrity, and correct the falsehoods stated in any past articles now that you’ve been presented with accurate information, clearly showing that the shooting was not an Islamophobic incident. Lastly, we encourage everyone to contact us our organization Rhode Island Coalition For Israel for more information, and become more educated about these nuanced topics by engaging with our work, and keeping the conversation going, because we certainly want to link arms to create a better world. And it starts by calling out what is really happening here in our state. So thank you all for joining.
