Posts Tagged ‘Ground Zero mosque’

Donald Trumps Offers 911 Mosque Investor Buy Out

Donald Trump

Newscast Media NEW YORK, NY– One of the major investors in the 911 mosque has been offered a buy out by Donald Trump, who has also attached a condition to his offer that the backers of the mosque project would have to promise that if they erect the 13-story Islamic center and mosque, the edifice would have to be constructed five or more blocks away from the World Trade Center site.

Trump offered to buy Hisham Elzanaty’s stake in the Lower Manhattan building for 25 percent more than what he paid.

In a letter, Trump said, “I am making this offer as a resident of New York and citizen of the United States, not because I think the location is a spectacular one (because it is not), but because it will end a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation that is destined, in my opinion, to only get worse.”

Elzanaty’s lawyer did not immediately return a phone message Thursday. But in a pair of interviews with the AP this week, Elzanaty said he had invested in the site with an intention of making a profit and was willing to sell some of it for private development. He also said he supported building a mosque on at least part of the property. http://newscastmedia.com/donaldtrump.htm

NY Governor David Patterson Offers Ground Zero Mosque Developers Alternate Land

David Patterson

Newscast Media — Gov. David Patterson, has come up with a way to diffuse the tension that has stemmed from the Ground Zero mosque construction. The New York governor has offered the developers of the mosque a piece of state property on which they can build a mosque, if they agree to move the construction site farther away from the former site where the twin towers once stood.

“Frankly, if the sponsors were looking for property anywhere at a distance that would be such that it would accommodate a better feeling among the people who are frustrated, I would look into trying to provide them with the state property they would need,” Paterson said.

Patterson said he is doing this out of sensitivity for the victims and loved ones of the 9/11 attacks, but to also be fair to the developers of the mosque. However, some are wondering how Patterson plans to pay for the piece of state property he is offering the developers who plan to build a $100,000,000 Islamic center.

Details surrounding Paterson’s offer to provide state property remain elusive. Phone calls to his office were not returned Wednesday. The Cordoba Initiative, meanwhile, did not respond to questions over whether it would accept such a proposal.

Jay Sekulow, who heads a group leading the opposition against the mosque’s location called the governor’s willingness to engage this issue a positive development, on Wednesday.

Sekulow said, “We’re pleased that he realizes the sensitive nature of this issue,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, adding that he supports “having other land available to the mosque.”

But Sekulow raised questions over how such a deal would be arranged, saying, “he can’t give a religious institution land owned by the state of New York.”

“Under no circumstances should the taxpayers of New York have to subsidize this,” he said.
http://newscastmedia.com/govpatterson.htm

Commission in New York clears way for Ground Zero mosque erection

Gound Zero mosque site

Newscast Media — The Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement secured a victory on Tuesday, when The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission denied landmark status to the building near Ground Zero, clearing the way for a mega mosque to be built two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Cordoba Initiative plans to build a 13-story, $100-million Islamic cultural center. The panel voted 9-0 against classifying the building as a landmark. Landmark status would have made it difficult for the Muslim group to build the center there.Right before the vote, commission spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon said, “The purpose of the vote is to decide whether the building has a special character or special historical or aesthetic interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of New York City, New York State or the nation.”

Christian leaders have said that building of a mosque across the street from Ground Zero is insensitive and an insult to family members who lost loved ones during the September 11 attacks.

The Imam who is spearheading the mosque project argues that the reason why they chose to build a mosque near Ground Zero is to discourage terrorists from attacking the U.S. again. He believes the mosque will be a deterrent to extremists.

Imam Feisal, 61 said, “The location was precisely a key selling point for the group of Muslims who bought the building in July. A presence so close to the World Trade Center, where the wreckage fell sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11. We want to push back against the extremists.”

Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of bestselling book Son of Hamas, has a different take on the whole issue and posed the question, “Why was this particular site selected? Because the need for a $100 million mosque is so great? Because 45-47 Park Place is the only place left in Manhattan to put a mosque?” He then answered his own question by saying, “No. Because it will make a powerful political and religious statement.”

Yousef is a born again Christian living in California, whose father is one of the founders of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. His conversion to Christianity caused his father to disown him and the Global Islamic Media Front released a statement which said, “If he comes back to Islam great, but if he does not, his fate is as an infidel without honor. The prophet Muhammad said, Whoever alters his religion, kill him. He should not have proper burial rights and he should not be buried with Muslims.”

http://newscastmedia.com/ground-zero-mosque.htm