Travel ban drawing fire despite the tweaks

President Trump’s executive order "do-over," derided by critics as “Muslim Ban 2.0,” is drawing fire despite the tweaks.

“Muslims still feel harassed, ridiculed, and persecuted in their traveling,” said Jacob Bender, director of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“Just recently, Muhammad Ali’s [Philadelphia-born] son was detained” and questioned about his religion, Bender said. “Religious screening should remain out of bounds in a multireligious, multiethnic society such as ours.”

Local Lawyers Scrutinize Trump’s New Travel Ban

Ryan Houldin of the Council on American-Islamic Relations finds it ironic that the new order comes on the anniversary of the reviled Dred Scott decision that denied citizenship to African-Americans. “It’s very unfortunate that 160 years later we haven’t really learned any lessons, and we’re just targeting another group of people at this point in time,” Houldin said.

Muslim leaders express solidarity with Philly Jewish cemetery after headstones are vandalized

The 100 headstones toppled over at Mount Carmel’s cemetery in Frankford happened sometime on Saturday night. It came a day before dozens of Jewish centers along the East Coast received bomb threats, including 11 in Pennsylvania. Local leaders of all faiths have deplored the Mount Carmel incident, with some openly connecting the rise in hate crime-related incidents, including those in Philadelphia, to the election of President Donald Trump.

CAIR-Philadelphia Condemns Desecration of Jewish Cemetery

CAIR-Philadelphia Collage

Jacob Bender, Executive Director of CAIR-Philadelphia said, “As both an American Jew and the head of one of 30 local chapters of the nation’s leading Muslim civil rights organization, I am deeply affected by the sight of broken Jewish tombstones at the Mount Carmel Cemetery. This act of hate is another clarion call for Jews, Muslims, and all people dedicated to justice, equality, and pluralism, to join together to defeat the extremist elements now on the rise throughout our nation, including some at the highest echelons of our national government.”

Director’s Desk: This Is What Resistance Looks Like

In the days since Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States of America on January 20, I have often felt I was living through a nightmare from which, any day now, I would awaken from and return to “normal” life. No such luck, as each day brought new outrages from the Trump Administration, new “alternative facts” with which to bully the opposition, particularly the press.

Kenney advocates for unity at Muslim prayer service

Mayor Jim Kenney joined a midday prayer service, Jummah, at the Muslim American Society Mosque in North Philadelphia on Friday morning. Speaking before the prayer, Kenney and other local officials praised the mosque for its volunteer work and promised to defend the congregants against Islamophobia.

Jacob Bender’s Speech at Masjid al-Hidaya

CAIR-Philadelphia Collage

It is easy to get depressed these days, and become weary at the thought of four more years under this Administration, as we struggle to defend all the social justice progress of the past century.

Yet I remain an optimist. I am filled with hope at the presence of our courageous Mayor and other elected officials here among us; I am filled with hope at the sight of thousands of our fellow Americans streaming into airports across the country to defy the bigoted Executive Order of the President; and I am filled hope because of the warm welcome that I, a Jew, have received from all quarters of the Philadelphia Muslim community since coming to work for CAIR three years ago.