H.Res 569 Furthers Cause of Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Criminalize Criticism of Islam in US

December 23, 2015

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton State Department, Washington, DC December 2011

H/T to Janet Levy and Joyce Chernick

On December 17, 2015, leading Democrat members of the House introduced House Resolution 569 that effectively completes the effort of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s plan to criminalize criticism of Islam embodied in UN Human Rights Council 16/18“combating [religious] intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization.” passed in March 2011. UNHRC Res. 16/18 is modeled on extremist Pakistani Blasphemy Laws used to prosecute imperiled minority Christians for alleged desecration of the Qur’anic canon and Sharia Law. It is not lost on this writer that Democratic Presidential front runner, Hillary Clinton facilitated the efforts of the OIC to further UNHRC Res. 16/18 in the July 2011 Istanbul Process and the hearings held at US State Department in December 2011 at which representatives of OIC member Muslim states and representatives of the US Justice Department met under the guise of Islamophobia to further the Saudi –sponsored agenda of silencing criticism of Islam or any religion, a right guaranteed in our First Amendment.

Janet Levy in an email noted:

In accordance with the 10 year plan of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to implement U.N. Resolution 16/18 and criminalize all criticism of Islam worldwide, the House has issued H. Res. 569 in condemnation of violence, bigotry and “hateful rhetoric” toward Muslims in the U.S.

This bill comes on the heels of Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s post-San Bernardino attack promise to the Muslim American community to prosecute anyone guilty of anti-Muslim speech. (Note: The attack occurred on December 2nd. In an unparalleled display of respect and sympathy for the victims and their families, Ms. Lynch’s pronouncement was made on December 3rd, before the bodies were even laid to rest).

Passage of this legislation will be the death knell for the First Amendment and the end of any and all discourse and education about the threat posed by the global jihad.

For a cogent analysis of this misguided and dangerous House resolution sponsored by minority Democrats read “A Congressional Prelude to Censorship”, posted by Edward Cline at the Center for the Advancement of capitalism blog, Rule of Reason.

Below are the sponsors and text of H. Res. 569. Among the sponsors are Democrat National Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, members of the Latino and Black Congressional Caucuses and the two elected Muslim US Representatives, Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Andre Carson (D-IN).

H. RES. 569

Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 17, 2015

Mr. Beyer (for himself, Mr. Honda, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Norton, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Kaptur, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Peters, Mr. Ashford, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Takai, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Keating, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Gallego, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Delaney, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Gutiérrez, Mr. Quigley, Ms. Esty, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Meng, Mr. Al Greenof Texas, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Farr, Mr. Pallone, Mr. McDermott, Ms. Lee, Ms. Edwards, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Sires, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Polis, Mr.Loebsack, Mr. Pascrell, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Pocan, Mr.Conyers, Mr. Takano, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Van Hollen, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Moore, and Mr. Heck of Washington) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

RESOLUTION

Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.
Whereas the victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes and rhetoric have faced physical, verbal, and emotional abuse because they were Muslim or believed to be Muslim;
Whereas the constitutional right to freedom of religious practice is a cherished United States value and violence or hate speech towards any United States community based on faith is in contravention of the Nation’s founding principles;
Whereas there are millions of Muslims in the United States, a community made up of many diverse beliefs and cultures, and both immigrants and native-born citizens;
Whereas this Muslim community is recognized as having made innumerable contributions to the cultural and economic fabric and well-being of United States society;
Whereas hateful and intolerant acts against Muslims are contrary to the United States values of acceptance, welcoming, and fellowship with those of all faiths, beliefs, and cultures;
Whereas these acts affect not only the individual victims but also their families, communities, and the entire group whose faith or beliefs were the motivation for the act;
Whereas Muslim women who wear hijabs, headscarves, or other religious articles of clothing have been disproportionately targeted because of their religious clothing, articles, or observances; and
Whereas the rise of hateful and anti-Muslim speech, violence, and cultural ignorance plays into the false narrative spread by terrorist groups of Western hatred of Islam, and can encourage certain individuals to react in extreme and violent ways: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) expresses its condolences for the victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes;
(2) steadfastly confirms its dedication to the rights and dignity of all its citizens of all faiths, beliefs, and cultures;
(3) denounces in the strongest terms the increase of hate speech, intimidation, violence, vandalism, arson, and other hate crimes targeted against mosques, Muslims, or those perceived to be Muslim;
(4) recognizes that the United States Muslim community has made countless positive contributions to United States society;
(5) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all United States citizens, including Muslims in the United States, should be protected and preserved;
(6) urges local and Federal law enforcement authorities to work to prevent hate crimes; and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those perpetrators of hate crimes; and
(7) reaffirms the inalienable right of every citizen to live without fear and intimidation, and to practice their freedom of faith.

Here is what we posted in December 2011 when Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom attended the closed three day session of Istanbul Process State Department Conference on Islamophobia. Given the introduction of H.Res. 569 in December 2015, Shea’s comments then were prescient.

When we interviewed Nina Shea, of the Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom, in the November [2011] NER, we raised the issue of the so-called Islamophobia Conference that started [December 17, 2011], at the State Department in Washington, DC. Shea noted how foul a prospect it was for the Obama Administration to have convened this conference. Witness this exchange in our interview with Shea:

Gordon: Did the Obama administration join with Egypt in furthering the agenda of the OIC?

Shea: Yes. And that’s the second troubling development I had in mind. The Obama Administration has gone down a path of trying to find common ground with the OIC on this issue. One of their efforts was a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) hate speech Resolution in 2009 that the US co-sponsored with Egypt, which represented the OIC. That resolution calls for states to implement religious hate speech legislation. It was clearly directed at criticism of Islam. But the problem didn’t start there. It started with the June 2009 speech that President Obama gave in Cairo. That speech had a little noticed statement to the effect that Obama understands that it is part of his responsibility as President to do everything he can to fight against “negative stereotyping of Islam” wherever it appears: Note, he was calling for shielding from critical speech the religion of Islam, not Muslims, and not any other religion. What that means we don’t quite know yet. However, that speech has been a blueprint for the administration’s foreign policy with the Muslim world. One of the things that grew out of it was the UNHRC resolution in 2009. There is now a new step: The Obama Administration has invited the OIC to a conference in Washington in December to discuss how to combat speech that negatively stereotypes Islam. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced this when she co-chaired an OIC conference in Istanbul, Turkey, last July. She says that the implementation measures will not include laws limiting speech but the OIC representatives make clear that that is precisely what they aim to achieve at the Washington conference. It is a scandal that the US is partnering on an issue regarding free speech with an organization like the OIC that is committed to undermining free speech.

In [the December 13, 2011] NRO, Shea addressed why this Conference in Foggy Bottom [was] such a bad idea in her post, D.C. Islamophobia Conference Was a Bad Idea.

Yesterday marked the opening of the international conference announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a high-level meeting on Islamophobia that she co-chaired, held last July in Istanbul and hosted by the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). At the time, Secretary Clinton described this week’s conference as a move to implement U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18 on “combating [religious] intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization.”

This State Department conference, entitled “The Istanbul Process,” is proving to be a very bad idea. It remains to be seen whether speech limitations to protect religion generally and Islam specifically will be officially endorsed by the conference — similar recommendations have already been adopted by the OIC and by the EU conference participants — but, judging from the opening session, at least some of my misgivings seem well founded.

The three-day conference was closed to the public, but I was invited to its opening session (as well as to the closing session to be held on Wednesday) by virtue of my being a commissioner on the official but independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Chatham House Rules,” which State directed us to abide by, forbid releasing anything about a specific delegation or quoting for attribution.

To speak more generally, then: legal and security officials of a delegation which will remain unnamed gave a sweeping overview of American founding principles on religious freedom and how they have been breached time and again in American history by attacks against a broad variety of religious minority groups — including now against Muslims. A raft of current cases was mentioned; America’s relative exemplary and distinctive achievement in upholding religious freedom in an emphatically pluralistic society was not. That same speaker reassured the audience, which was packed with diplomats from around the world, that the Obama administration is working diligently to prosecute American Islamophobes and is transforming the U.S. Justice Department into the conscience of the nation, though it could no doubt learn a thing or two from the assembled delegates on other ways to stop persistent religious intolerance in America.

Across the room, smirking delegates from some of the world’s most repressive and intolerant regimes could be spotted, furiously taking notes.

The Saudi Justice Minister was recently in the U.S. but unfortunately departed before the conference opened and won’t be making any presentation on how the Saudis stop religious intolerance. Nor will his delegation be making any apologetic mention of the Saudi ban on churches, its repression of its large indigenous Shiite population, its textbooks teaching that Jews should be killed, or its beheading yesterday of a woman for sorcery, in addition to another recent beheading of a Sudanese man for the same crime.

Meanwhile, at U.N. headquarters in New York, a new resolution following on 16/18 has been introduced by the OIC and will soon be voted on by the General Assembly, where it will no doubt passed with U.S. approval. It singles out for praise regarding the promotion of religious tolerance one state — Saudi Arabia.

— Nina Shea is director of Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom and co-author with Paul Marshall of Silenced: How Apostasy & Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide.

Appeasement of the smirking intolerant Muslim delegations by the ‘oh so’ tolerant Obama Administration at this Islamophobia conference in Washington foreshadows a real threat to freedom of expression under our First Amendment.

Those were prescient words in December 2011 that should not be lost on members of the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Member, Jim Sensenbrenner (D-WI)