New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (file / credit: Edward Reed / Mayor’s Office)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – More than a dozen Muslim leaders say they will not attend Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s annual interfaith breakfast.
WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell On The Story
It’s typically a feel-good moment for the mayor and not shrouded in controversy.
“We strongly value the civic and interfaith relationships celebrated at this event,” the leaders of the Muslim groups wrote in a letter to Bloomberg. “However, this year we have decided to respectfully decline your invitation.”
In the letter, they say that the rights of Muslims are being “flagrantly violated,” adding they “cannot in good conscience appear at a public gathering with the government official who is ultimately responsible and smile for the cameras as if all is well, when we know full well that it is not.”
While the leaders praise Bloomberg for his defense of the Islamic cultural center located near the World Trade Center site, they take issue with the NYPD sending undercover officers into mosques, Muslim neighborhoods and groups in an effort to thwart terror plots. The practice was disclosed as part of an Associated Press investigation.
Opponents called the practice illegal spying. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has flatly rejected that description, saying his officers don’t racially profile but simply follow leads.
In November, hundreds marched on police headquarters in protest.
“We believe it is unequivocally wrong and fundamentally misguided to invest law enforcement resources in religious or racial profiling, rather than investigating suspicious activity,” the Muslim leaders wrote in their letter. Click here to read it.
Do you support the boycott? What’s your reaction to the reported NYPD practice? Sound off in our comments section below.
30 Comments
I am even afraid to look at some of the posts, as ‘IMBECILES, BIGOTS, and others” really seem to come out of the closet when there’s any discussion about Islam – as Muslims took over the role as “hated boogeymen” from Blacks, following 9/11′s attacks.
I do not know what is the right answer. I can also understand why some Muslims would be upset about this (as it is no fun being “profiled”).
That being said, Bloomberg is possibly the BEST Mayor that New York City’s modern history. This is the same Jewish American Mayor that defended the ground zero mosque – to turn around and call him a bigot here would be unfair.
Finally, for all of the WORTHLESS FOOLS that posted the bigoted comments above, why don’t you go to the next Nathan’s Hot Dog-eating contest and “choke” on a frank (b/c that roughly equates to your intellectual capacity).
December 30, 2011 at 8:36 am
jew
December 30, 2011 at 1:46 pm
what is done about 7 million mooslime terrorists living in usa?
December 30, 2011 at 1:19 am
Meme Meyagi:
I am American – my family is Christian and Jewish.
On behalf of decent Americans, why don’t you go to hell.
Happy New Year!
December 30, 2011 at 8:39 am
Good! More food for the mayor, particularly the pork chops and pepperoni.
December 29, 2011 at 3:56 pm
IF MUSLIMS ARE OFFENDED…TAKE HIM OUT!!!!!!!
December 29, 2011 at 1:40 pm
The muslims are out of control – all they want is to rule the world – sharia law my ass
December 29, 2011 at 1:33 pm
will be more sausage ham and bacon for the real americans
December 29, 2011 at 1:27 pm
If nothing subversive is going on in Mosques, Muslim neighborhoods, etc., what are these folks concerned about? I have no problem having NYPD, FBI or other Homeland Security folks visiting Churches, Synagogues, Temples or any other public spaces in service of protecting us from terrorist activities. Has the Muslim community forgotten that 99.9% of all the domestic and foreign terror attacks have been done by Muslims, often against other Muslims overseas. New York has borne the brunt of terror attacks in the US, with 9/11 being the pinnacle of that horror. While I believe the overwhelming majority of Muslim Americans are decent, law abiding people, other Muslims, often visiting from afar have come here to do bad things. It is in the interests of Muslim Americans to acknowledge the reality of the dangers of radical Islam and the jihadists, and cooperate fully with law enforcement to protect America and themselves from this undeniable threat.
December 29, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Not sure where you get your statistics, buddy. The FBI’s own records from 2005 show that only 25% of terror attacks in the US were committed by Muslims or Muslim groups. And Interpol statistics show that only 6% of terror attacks in Europe in the past decade were from Muslim groups. I guess it’s just easier for you to believe that all the evil people in the world just come from one religion. Idiot.
December 29, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Spewing hatred and prejudice like this does not make us safer. New Yorkers are safer if the NYPD is trusted by the Muslim community. That’s when people come forward with valuable information…What they are doing now — and leave it to a CIA operative to spearhead an illegal, stupid program like this — increases the danger. The NYPD counter-terrorism unit used to be smarter than this.
December 29, 2011 at 11:48 am
Just last week radical Muslims killed people attending Midnight Mass, and not one so called Muslim leader here in this country or any country said nothing about that one. Just like 911, didn’t hear a word about that either, and you wonder why most of us don’t trust you guys.
December 29, 2011 at 12:13 pm
You guys? Are all Christians responsible to speak out against psychopath Andres Brevik? Or the KKK? Or Timothy McVeigh? Or do the rest of us realize that some people are just crazy and will go to any lengths, regardless of the inhumanity or lack of ethics inherent in the method, to achieve their goals?
Don’t be so stupid, Ellen. We have better things to do with our time than to worry about your idiotic fears. Maybe you should just stay inside and never come out. That would solve both our problems.
December 29, 2011 at 2:21 pm
I love all the uneducated bigots and morons who are commenting here. Go Patriotism as it runs blindly rampant !!
December 29, 2011 at 11:15 am
Your usual rant. Anyone who’s not blindly politically correct and “admits” that it’s all America’s fault is “uneducated bigots and morons”.
December 29, 2011 at 11:37 am
How can you defend the leaders of a group that has produced countless terrorists and others bent on harming society and then objects when law enforcement takes the only measures possible to help prevent violence WITHOUT harming the rights of innocent members of the group???
December 29, 2011 at 11:43 am
I have a dream that Islam is banned from America
December 29, 2011 at 11:14 am
Muslims are the masters of double standards.
December 29, 2011 at 11:01 am
He hee heee…Muhammad Goldstein? Really…really?!!! Is there um…an Abdullah Goldboig? Or an Ishmail Cohen or Ibrahim Levin? Just wondering. And do they
like ham an eggs too?
December 29, 2011 at 10:49 am
Youse muslims claim to follow the prophets and honor Jesus and Mary, yet prophets prophecy, and perform miracles. So what then were your beloved prophets prophecies and… what pray tell what miracles did he perform? Also youse
honor God with all kinds of honorifics, yet HE commanded one man, one woman, but your prophet contradicts HIM by postulating that youse can have as many women as you can handle. Now how is that doing the will of God?
December 29, 2011 at 10:40 am
Um … we don’t give a rat’s behind if the Muslim population feels their rights are being violated because the rights of amost 3,000 people were violated permanently on 9.11.01 by their own “peaceful” kind. So if you don’t like it here in NYC … here are some words for you on behalf of all REAL citizens of New York City. GET THE “F” OUT HERE!!!!!
December 29, 2011 at 10:24 am
Google the words “no true Scotsman”
December 29, 2011 at 12:59 pm
the Muslims have wasted an opportunity to be heard and implement changes they seek. Last time I checked, no President has ever gotten 100% of the vote……….there will always be people who disagree. By stepping out of the discourse the Muslims assure that they WILL NOT be heard.
small thinking………again
December 29, 2011 at 10:05 am
They won’t be missed!
December 29, 2011 at 10:02 am
Who needs them? We bend over backwards to the Muslims and they spit hatred in our faces! To hell with them!
December 29, 2011 at 9:57 am
From where I sit, it is not a loss for Bloomberg. No other religous group was invovled in 9/11, or have any of its followers been arrested for suspected terrorism or the plotting there of. Let them take their insult and hurt, and shape up their brothers and sisters over in the Arab world, and maybe the world won;t feel the way it does. We as a country have been more than tolerant of their complaining and radical dress and ideas and religous freedom, so too bad if you feel upset and angry. This is one time that political correctness can trully be overlooked. But until that happens it is was it is. And if they don;t like it, they can retrun to where they came from.
December 29, 2011 at 9:56 am
I don’t even like Doomberg, but it sounds like he’s sending in undercover officers for the right reasons.
December 29, 2011 at 9:27 am
Mohammed is Satan’s son. Death to Islam. They must be exterminated for all eternity.
December 29, 2011 at 9:16 am
Islam: It’s a Disease in need of a Cure.
FACT: Everywhere where there are mu-slimes, sh-!t happens.
China — sh-!t happens
(suicide bombers that kill little children and run amok with metal pipes in the streets)
India — sh-!t happens
(mu-slimes burned 100s of Hindus alive in packed trains and burned villagers alive while they slept)
Middle East — sh-!t happens
(suicide bombers that kill little children)
Russia — sh-!t happens
(suicide bombers that kill women and children in crowded theaters)
South East Asia — sh-!t happens
(muslime thugs who kidnap teachers, school children, nurses, priests for ransom, than murder them all)
Europe — sh-!t happens
(suicide bombers that kill little children)
USA — 9/11 happened
Notice the pattern here? Even you sanctimonious twits can’t be that dense.
Goes to reason, no mu-slimes, no sh-!t.
All these camel turds understand is violence and lies anyway. I say we oblige them by killing them all and then lie about how sorry we are.
Islam. It’s a disease. And like any other infestations of boils, pox and pestilence, it should be eradicated. You don’t talk to diseases. You eradicate them like you did polio and small pox.
And some bleeding heart imbecile here will write that it’s just a few “radical” individuals that are murderous, just like any other society. But then conveniently forgetting about the Fact that it happens worldwide and by a LOT MORE than just a few individuals. And they also continues to blank out of their empty heads the worldwide muslime jubilee celebrations as people burned on 9/11.
December 29, 2011 at 8:45 am
well said. Dont trust any one of them
December 29, 2011 at 9:08 am