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Berlin bans controversial Arab-Islamic congress Canada also has an Islamic group who has set up their own 'congress'
AlertNet Sep 20, 2004 BERLIN, (Reuters) - The Berlin state government said on Monday it had banned an Arab-Islamic Congress due to be held in the German capital next month to rally support for Iraqi and Palestinian "resistance and intifada". Henrike Morgenstern, a spokeswoman for the Berlin interior ministry, said an advertisement for the event published in English on the Internet expressed approval for suicide attacks against Israel and the United States. "That significantly oversteps the limit of what can be allowed in terms of opinion-forming," she said. The organisers said they will respect the ban but denied ever showing approval of suicide attacks, either on the Internet or in interviews or talks with the authorities. "I have ended my work and cancelled the room," said Gabriel Daher, a spokesman for the event. Asked whether potential participants would still show up in Berlin he said: "I don't think so." The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an international Jewish rights group that had campaigned for the ban, praised the decision. "This is an encouragement to all forces of moderation which pass the message that, where there is a firm demonstration of political will, incitement to jihadist terrorism can be contained," said centre director Shimon Samuels. Daher said the organisers had drawn a clear line between resistance and terrorist attacks, calling the latter wrong. On the Web site http://www.anamoqawem.org he issued a detailed apology to Arabs, Muslims and the German authorities -- as well as to his own family and children. "The turbulence in the media has caused damage to the Arabs and Muslims living here, while the goal was exactly the opposite. It was indeed to avert discrimination and correct the picture of Islam," his statement read. [between resistance and terrorist attacks] On their Web site, the organisers had urged Iraqi and Palestinian resistance and advocated "the liberation of all the occupied territories and countries in (the) struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation". Palestine is condemned by the Bible and the Koran never even mentioned it. The name Israel is a heritage of the Lord of the Bible. Islam wants to destroy it} there is NO Holy One of Palestine:
Cornelie Sonntag-Wolgast, a Social Democratic lawmaker and head of parliament's home affairs committee, said anti-American, anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic appeals were not tolerable and violated Germany's constitution. But they are with keeping the commands of the Koran. "I am very much for an open dialogue and a free exchange of opinions. But there have to be limits," she told Reuters. "I am very much in favour of the ban." German Interior Minister Otto Schily said last week the government believed the event, scheduled for Oct. 1-3, was a threat to security and public order. At the weekend, police said a Lebanese man who was one of the organizers of the congress had been deported to Beirut. What makes the leaders of the non-Muslim world think that the Koran is not taught in the mosques?
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