CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham discusses veteran reporter Helen Thomas' criticism of Israel, and deputy managing editor of the Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick's offensive spoof of the Gaza Flotilla massacre entitled “We Con the World.”

The Naperville Sun's Susan Carlman illustrates a regular day for congregants at the Irshad Learning Center. The ILC recently made headlines when the DuPage County Board rejected their request for a zoning permit to build an Islamic School. CAIR-Chicago is suing DuPage county on the ILC's behalf.

"It's incorrect to even imply that such a correlation exists," said Ahmed Rehab, a Chicago director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. "Terrorism is an equal opportunity offender as far as ethnic communities go."

"There is more outrage in this country over some bumbling comments recently made by Helen Thomas than over the murder of a US citizen and eight others by our ally, Israel, on the high seas. Never mind the fact that she has apologized while Israel still refuses to apologize," writes Ahmed Rehab. "Helen Thomas epitomized the role of the people's reporter, a woman who was not afraid to ask tough questions that other reporters were too meek or politically correct to ask."

"The irony is not lost on me that Israel would argue self-defense in a situation where it attacks peace activists in international waters," said Ahmed Rehab, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "The United States should recognize, as Israel's ally, that it must demand that Israel plays by our standards of respect for human rights and international law."

"Israel is often dubbed “the Jewish State” by its supporters, so it is not out of left field to question whether its actions should be taken as a reflection of Jewish values," writes Ahmed Rehab.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today urged President Obama to condemn what the Muslim civil rights group called an Israeli "massacre" of civilians on a flotilla of ships in international waters seeking to bring humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip. Israeli commandos killed at least 10 civilians in a pre-dawn raid on the flotilla. Israel's attack on the flotilla has already been condemned by the international community.

A discussion led by Imam al-Deen and Rabbi Larry Edwards, who shared religious guidelines for criminal justice and civil conduct at Noble Tree Coffee & Tea.

“There may be differences in political viewpoint and cultural viewpoint, but there’s often far more similarities,” said Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson. “We really cultivate the idea that we should be proactive based on our faith traditions to make a better society here in Chicago.”

On Thursday May 20th, Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson and Communication Coordinator Amina Sharif visited St. Ignatius College Preparatory School to give students a firsthand look into Islam and how it is practiced by Muslims in America.

"What are we Muslims to do about this? Rather than concern ourselves too much with the actions of others, let’s put our own values to action. If someone wishes to offend, let them knock themselves out trying. Let us instead take the higher ground and appreciate the mercy, love, and other teachings our prophet brought us by making a prayer for him on a day when others go out of their way to ridicule him," writes Ahmed Rehab.

"What are we Muslims to do about this? Rather than concern ourselves too much with the actions of others, let’s put our own values to action. If someone wishes to offend, let them knock themselves out trying. Let us instead take the higher ground and appreciate the mercy, love, and other teachings our prophet brought us by making a prayer for him on a day when others go out of their way to ridicule him," writes Ahmed Rehab.

Why must a Muslim person’s faith come up the moment that person breaks through the mainstream in any conceivable way - regardless of relevance or context? And why does it invariably end up linking that person through multiple degrees of separation to terrorism?

The fact that even a Miss USA could not be spared this exercise in futility puts away any remaining doubt that there is a segment of America that is suffering from a bizarre and unhealthy obsession with Islam.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director discusses our news media's double standards when it comes to covering different acts of terrorism. Rehab compares the media's response to the May 10th bombing of a Florida mosque, an act of domestic terrorism, and the attempted bombing in Times Square.

Vandals defaced an exhibit by Muslim graduate student Anida Yoeu Ali at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) on Tuesday. The exhibit, which addressed racial profiling and the rise of violence and hate directed at Muslims in the post-9/11 era, was defaced with large caricatures and a word bubble highlighting the text “Kill all Arabs.” CAIR-Chicago is advocating on behalf of Ali. Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham accompanied Ali yesterday in a meeting with the deans of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

See media coverage of the incident HERE

The exhibit addressed racial profiling and the rise of violence and hate directed at Muslims in the post-9/11 era, according to a release from Chicago's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The installation features a wall filled with lines from actual hate crimes against people perceived as Muslim or Arab.

The artist is a Muslim graduate student at the School of the Art Institute. Anida Yoeu Ali said she was shocked to find someone painted caricatures and the words "kill all Arabs" on her work at 33 S. State St. "I feel that this act of violence is a way to try to silence me, to silence my work, to silence the people of whom I'm speaking for," Ali said.

The Council on American Islamic Relations calls the vandalism a hate crime.

The art work by graduate student, Anida Yoeu Ali, is just one part of a series of work at the school entitled, "1700% Project." That series displays responses to hate crimes in the form of artistic expression.

The work, titled "1700 Percent: Otherance," features racist statements written across a white wall. Ali said the piece seeks to bring attention to hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. As part of the evolving display, Ali and other artists have read aloud the words and also stained them with a mixture of tea, coffee and ink, Ali said.

"Acts like these promote censorship and are an attack on anyone who believes in freedom of expression and freedom of speech," Civil Rights Director at the Chicago chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations, Christina Abraham said.