Palestine Children’s Relief Fund To Form New Chapter In Bay Ridge

By on December 3, 2012  Featured story, News
Dec 032012
 

A Sunset Park benefit on Sunday night raised funds for a new pediatric oncology clinic at the Al Hussein Hospital in Beit Jala. (Photo from pcrf.org)

A new, Bay Ridge-based chapter of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund is being formed in the wake of a local fundraiser for a children’s cancer treatment clinic in the West Bank.

The PCRF is a U.S.-based charity that seeks to improve the health care of Palestinian children through the funding of medical programs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and by arranging travel to hospitals in the U.S. for specialized care.

The PCRF held a benefit last night in Sunset Park to raise funds for a pediatric oncology clinic currently under construction in Beit Jala, located six miles south of Jerusalem. Expected to be complete by the spring of 2013, it would be the first public clinic of its kind in the West Bank.

The PCRF has several chapters across the United States. The new Brooklyn chapter will be hosted by the Arab American Association of New York, located at 7111 Fifth Avenue. Continue reading »

Golden NYPD Letter Contradicts Statement On Mosque Spying

By on October 24, 2012  Featured story, Politics
Oct 242012
 

The dome of a Bay Ridge mosque peaks into the middleground, with church in background [Image source: Wikipedia Commons].

At a recent candidate forum, State Senate hopeful Andrew Gounardes pointed out some contradictory statements made by his opponent Marty Golden about the New York Police Department’s mosque surveillance program.

At the forum, which was hosted by the Arab American Association of New York, State Senator Marty Golden claimed to be against the NYPD Demographics Unit’s controversial infiltration of Muslim groups – An initiative that has once again come under criticism after a former NYPD informant told the Associated Press that he was paid to “create and capture” terrorist suspects by “baiting” fellow Muslims to discuss waging attacks. Continue reading »

Miss the debate at Dyker Civic? See the candidates again tonight at P.S. 170!

By on October 11, 2012  Politics
Oct 112012
 

Andrew Gounardes (left) and Marty Golden (right) are expected to debate each other for the second time in three nights, this time at the Brooklyn Candidates Night hosted by the Arab American Association of New York. (Photos: Andrew Gounardes/Flickr and Erica Sherman)

With the postponement-turned-cancellation of The Great Bay Ridge Debate, there’s been a bit of a hole left in the debate scene for local candidates. The Dyker Heights Civic Association filled the void somewhat with their debate this past Tuesday night, which saw a fiery debate between State Senator Marty Golden and his Democratic challenger, Andrew Gounardes.

If you’re looking for something right in Bay Ridge, you can go to PS 170 (7109 6th Avenue) tonight at 6:30pm for the 2012 Brooklyn Candidates’ Night. Hosted by the Arab American Association of New York, the forum invited local candidates for Congress, State Senate, and State Assembly.

Like all very lazy citizen-journalists, I tweeted AAANY Executive Director Linda Sarsour to see who has confirmed. For starters, it looks like Golden and Gounardes will face each other once again – second time in three nights! Continue reading »

News That Makes Odyssey Happy: Bay Ridge Arab-American Activist Appointed To Community Board

By on June 27, 2012  Featured story, Politics
Jun 272012
 

Community Board 10 member, Linda Sarsour. (Photo: National Network for Arab American Communities)

Linda Sarsour, the Director of the Bay Ridge-based Arab-American Association of New York, is one of three new members of Community Board 10, according to a report by Will Bredderman on BrooklynDaily.com today.

Woo! I’m very excited by this. Very, very excited. I really can’t begin to tell you how happy I am over this.

Sarsour is one of my favorite activists. Namely for standing up for the concept that being an Arab or Muslim American is not probable cause. And taking that stand in an age when far too many Americans are willing either to tolerate our police agencies treating them as such, or to actively take part in that discrimination themselves, either out of fear, hate, ignorance, or just plain apathy.

Sarsour has been highly visible most recently in the months following the Associated Press series of articles highlighting the systemic bias against the Muslim community by the NYPD, including the screening of a hate-film to trainees and the cataloging of every Muslim place of business, worship, and recreation in the five boroughs without cause to suspect terrorism.

Sarsour’s calls for Commissioner Ray Kelly to resign, or even reform his ways, gained little traction in an environment where a lot of New Yorkers want to see the NYPD tough on terrorism, and are willing to ostracize a significant group of New Yorkers for the appearance of doing the job right. (Like when their police-state surveillance still failed to prevent an actual Pakistani terrorist from placing an actual propane bomb in Times Square, possibly because he lived in lily-white Shelton, Connecticut. So yeah. Good job watching everything vaguely-Muslim except the actual bad guy. Thanks, Ray.)

Anyway – we send our best wishes to Linda on her new appointment. Bay Ridge is lucky to have her in general, and on the Community Board especially. Good luck, and we’ll be looking for regular stories in the Courier about how controversial she is – that’s how we’ll know she’s doing her job right.

Bay Ridge Community Council To Honor Civic Award Recipients At Dinner Dance Next Week

By on May 31, 2012  Events
May 312012
 

The Bay Ridge Community Council is holding its 61st annual dinner dance next at Mill Basin’s El Caribe Country Club next Thursday, June 7.

The event, which begins at 7:00 p.m., will include a ceremony honoring two Civic Award recipients. This years’ honorees include Community Board 10 member Reverend Khader El-Yateem, as well as William R. Guarinello – who serves as the Chair of CB 11 in Bensonhurst. Continue reading »

Sarsour: Screening of Islamophobic Film To Police Officers Part Of A “Larger Pattern Of Religious and Ethnic Bias”

By on January 27, 2012  News
Jan 272012
 

bks_thirdjihad-300x187The director of a Bay Ridge-based Arab-American organization has called on Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to step down over his role in appearing in an anti-Muslim film, having it screened during mandatory counter-terrorism training sessions, and for the program of surveillance aimed at Arab and Muslim communities in New York.

When initially challenged by the Village Voice a year ago, the NYPD first denied that any officer had seen The Third Jihad, a film produced by The Clarion Fund (itself an offshoot of Aish Hatorah, described by Atlantic Monthly columnist Jeffrey Goldberg as “just about the most fundamentalist movement in Judaism today”). The Department eventually admitted that “some” officers had seen it, but it wasn’t until a Freedom Of Information Act request by The Brennan Center For Justice came to fruition did the full impact become known – the film was screened on “continuous loop” to 68 lieutenants, 159 sergeants, 31 detectives and 1,231 patrol officers. Continue reading »