More Muslim "Hate Crime" Myths

Daniel Pipes writes:

I published an article "'Islamophobic Prejudice' and CAIR," that documents how one Mirza Akram of Everett, Washington, plastered vile anti-Arab graffiti on the store he was managing and planning to buy before allegedly setting fire to it.

Well, the ever-vigilant Michelle Malkin, in a May 29, 2003 article titled "Myth of the Muslim hate crime epidemic" and a May 30, 2003 article titled "More Muslim hate crime myths" provides specifics of four other instances in which American Muslims – Ahmad Saad Nasim, Mazhar Tabesh, Nezar "Mike" Maad, and Aqil Yassom Al-Timimi – won themselves vast sympathy as victims of "hate crimes," only to have it turn out that they were actually the perps. She notes that what she calls "hoax crimes" have a real price: they "waste precious investigative resources, exacerbate racial tension, create terror and corrode goodwill."

In all, then, there are at least five cases proven or alleged hoax crimes since 9/11; how many more might there be that no one has counted? Malkin wonders about this too, noting that

when it comes to cracking down on hate crime hoaxes by Arabs and Muslims, the feds—too busy conducting politically correct "outreach" with Muslim leaders who pooh-pooh hate crime fraud—have been appallingly negligent. There is no way of knowing whether fake hate crimes outnumber real anti-Muslim crimes because no law enforcement agency keeps track. (Note to frustrated cops: Send me your suspected hoax cases and let's get started.)

She also blames journalists for ignoring this phenomenon: "It's a shame so many in the media are more concerned with protecting the twisted cult of victimhood than with exposing hard truths." (August 25, 2004)

Sept. 30, 2004 update: Add a sixth apparent fraudster, Amjad Abunar, to the five above. Here is the text of an article titled "Hate-Crime Accuser Charged With Arson":

McALLEN, Tex., Sept. 29 - The owner of a Middle Eastern meat market who had said he was the victim of a hate crime in this border town was arrested and arraigned Tuesday [Sept. 28] on a felony arson charge that he set fire to his own business. The man, Amjad Abunar, had complained that "Go Home" was twice spray-painted on a door of his Al Madinah Market before a fire on Aug. 6 that gutted the small delicatessen. Only last week, the graffiti and fire were cited as evidence by a Washington advocacy group that hate crimes against Muslims were on the rise in Texas. Bond for Mr. Abunar was set at $150,000, and he remained in jail on Wednesday. [DP: hyperlink added]

And which "Washington advocacy group" might that be? Why, CAIR of course. The article goes on:

Representatives of the advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which had complained that McAllen officials were not investigating the fire as a possible hate crime, said they were stunned Wednesday to learn of Mr. Abunar's arrest. Ibrahim Hooper, a council official in Washington, said Mr. Abunar had assured him he had nothing to do with setting the fire.

One wonders if, after they get over being "stunned," whether CAIR will retract the strong statements it made about Amjad Abunar or whether – as it did in the case of Mirza Akram – just go mute.

Feb. 6, 2005 update: Belatedly, here is the scoop on a seventh "hate crime" hoax, this one perpetrated by Saleh Nawash, 54. A naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from Lebanon, Nawash is a leader at the Islamic Mosque of Cleveland. He owned a meat store called Halal Products (halal is the Islamic equivalent of kosher) and in July 2002 he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, attempted aggravated arson, and attempted insurance fraud. When Halal Products failed, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer (not online), Nawash coveted the $100,000 insurance policy on the business and hired an arsonist to do the dirty deed. The prosecutor provided details on how he left kerosene in the building and how, to win sympathy, he plotted to make the fire look like a hate crime. Nawash received a jail sentence of nine years; his side-kick Ahmed Jaffal, 49, got eight years.