Elderhostel hosts terrorists

Submitted by Madelyn Zelman (United States), Mar 25, 2004 at 21:13

Dear Dr. Pipes,

I had the honor and pleasure of hearing you speak a few months ago at a temple in Boca Raton, Florida. I read your columns with great interest and would like to share some information with you. "Elderhostel is pleased to announce a new series of programs titled Building Bridges to Islam. The goal of this series is to offer Elderhostelers in cities across the country an opportunity to enhance their knowledge of Islam, as well as to interact with members of their local Muslim communities." These programs are being offered at three venues in Florida: Orlando at the Mecca Center of the Islamic Society of Central Florida; Tampa at the Islamic Society of Tampa; and Miami at the Islamic School of Miami.

The problem here is that the Building Bridges to Islam programs in Florida are being held in collaboration with the Council on American Islamic Relations. CAIR is described by Elderhostel as America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, which regularly works with national law enforcement authorities, elected officials, media, and other civil liberties and minority groups.

However, the Anti-CAIR website quotes Senators Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer who acknowledge that CAIR "has ties to terrorism." It refers to CAIR's activities on behalf of Islamist terror in the United States, CAIR's relationship to Hamas, and CAIR's relationship to the governments of Islamist terror supporting countries.

It is outrageous that Elderhostel, a program for seniors which offers "Adventures in Lifelong Learning" should choose to give legitimacy to CAIR and educate people about Islam using a radical group which is really Islamist.

Do you have any suggestions? I plan to send a copy of this email to Elderhostel.

Sincerely,

Madelyn Zelman
Plantation, Florida

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