The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has announced that it was planning a “national town hall-style conference scheduled for today and called ‘The Real World Impact of Hate Rhetoric in America.’” According to the MPAC announcement, the conference will feature experts from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for American Progress as well as an expert on the “Islamophobia industry”:
The Muslim Public Affairs Council invites you to take part in a national town hall-style conference call on ‘The Real World Impact of Hate Rhetoric in America’ on Wednesday, August 15, at 5:30 p.m. PST/ 8:30 p.m. EST. The 60-minute teleconference will feature experts from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Center for American Progress and MPAC sharing recent data and analysis on recent irresponsible hate rhetoric by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and other public officials. They will also share resources to aid communities in combatting hate rhetoric. During the call, SPLC’s Intelligence Project Director, Heidi Beirich, will discuss the latest annual count of the nation’s hate and hardline, anti-government groups. In addition, Beirich is the SPLC’s expert on vextremism, including the white supremacist, nativist and neo-Confederate movements. Also on the call will be Wajahat Ali, a playwright, journalist, attorney and expert on the $40 million dollar Islamophobia industry in the U.S. As one of the co-authors of ‘Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,’ Ali will discuss the size, reach and influence of this dangerous network. He will report on the Islamophobia network’s ability to influence politicians’ talking points, which feeds into the climate of anti-Muslim sentiment. MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati will address the connection between the rhetoric of hate from public officials and discrimination and violence by Americans targeting other Americans. “
MPAC, headquartered in Southern California, was established initially in 1986 as the Political Action Committee of the Islamic Center of Southern California whose key leaders likely had their origins in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Since that time, MPAC has functioned as the political lobbying arm of the U.S. Brotherhood. MPAC has opposed virtually every count-terror initiative undertaken or proposed by the U.S. government. At times this opposition was said to be on civil-rights grounds but, just as often, MPAC claimed that U.S. counter-terror efforts were aimed at the U.S. Muslim community itself. MPAC has consistently supported and facilitated terrorism by supporting terrorist organizations and, more broadly, constructing an elaborate ideology defending the use of violence by Islamists and Islamist organizations. More than any other U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organization, MPAC has developed extensive relationships with the U.S. government which have included numerous meetings with the Department of Justice and the FBI.
A post from April reported leader Maher Hathout was promoting the annual fundraising dinner of KinderUSA, a charity linked to Hamas fundraising by a former U.S. Treasury Department official. A post from July 2011 reported that Dr. Hathout was scheduled to appear along with Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Tariq Ramadan at a fundraising event for KinderUSA. An earlier post from 2009 reported that MPAC had been holding a fundraising concert and also donating the proceeds to Islamic Relief as well as to KinderUSA.