Zionist Organization of America President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
“Cat Stevens” a/k/a “Yusuf Islam” a/k/a “Yusuf” (born as Stephen Dimitri Georgiou) has an appalling record. He has made extreme statements maligning Jews and Judaism (including calling Judaism “the most racist religion”); allegedly fund-raised for Hamas and personally brought tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas himself; was previously placed on the U.S. no-fly list; was previously deported from the U.S. and Israel; and said on live television that he would assist Ayatollah Khomeni’s fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie. It is thus disturbing and disgraceful that prominent Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago theaters will be hosting Cat Stevens’/Yusuf Islam’s concerts during the next week – and that other prominent theaters (including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and Beacon Theater in New York) did so during the past two weeks.
It is particularly ironic that prominent U.S. theaters are giving Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam a venue – when Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam has stated that another artist – author Salmon Rushdie – deserved to die for expressing himself, and that he (Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam) would assist Rushdie’s demise.
In a startling televised exchange, available on youtube, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam was asked if he would give author Salman Rushdie shelter (to protect Rushdie from Ayatollah Khomeni’s fatwa ordering Muslims to murder Rushdie). Shockingly, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam responded: “I’d try to phone the Ayatollah Khomani and tell him exactly where this man is.”
And, when the interviewer asked: “Would you go to a demonstration if you knew that an effigy of Rushdie was to be burnt?,” Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam responded: “I would have hoped it would be the real thing.” Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam also stated and that he would probably not be moved to attend “if it were just an effigy.”
Still another youtube video, entitled “Cat Stevens condones death fatwa on Salman Rushdie & would kill him personally,” shows Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam agreeing on BBC television with Ayatollah Khomeni’s fatwa that author Salmon Rushdie deserved to die. Then, when asked “do you have a duty to be his executioner?” Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam said that perhaps he would execute Rushdie if “we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered to, let’s say, by the judge or by the authority, to carry out such an act.”
Australian Islamist Monitor’s article, “Who Is The Real Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens?,” documents numerous other startling statements by Mr Islam, including:
- “This (9/11 attack) is a celebration for racists who will take any kind of opportunity to target innocent Muslims and bystanders and that is the kind of thing we are experiencing here (UK) and around the world.” (Stated to BBC following his involvement in the Sept. 2001 Forum Against Islamaphobia and Racism.)
- “The Jews seem neither to respect God nor his creation. Their own holy books contain the curse of God brought upon them by their prophets on account of their disobedience to Him and mischief in the earth. We have seen the disrespect for religion displayed by those who consider themselves to be ‘God’s chosen people.’…There will be no justice until all the land is given back to its rightful owners… Only Islam can bring peace back to the Holy Land.” (Cat Stevens’/Yusuf Islam’s informational pamphlet called ‘Eyewitness’ for the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a Hamas front-group with ties to Al-Qaeda)
- “I don’t see any reason for this to happen in a time of peace.” (On being deported from Israel in 2000, the beginning of the Second Intifada (hardly a “time of peace”). Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam was previously being barred from Israel in 1990, for allegedly delivering tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas when he visited Israel in 1988.)
- “As we look to Jerusalem and the world today, we see Muslims being subjected to the same persecution and exile as Jews. We need only to look at Kosovo to see this reality. . . When the Jews placed their love of life and their national identity above the obedience to God and His prophets, they were lowered to abject levels of disgrace and dishonor.” (1999, Cat Stevens’/Yusuf Islam’s keynote speech entitled “Jerusalem: The First and Last Scene of Faith’s Struggle,” at the Second United for Al-Quds Conference, sponsored by the American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice, a radical group which supports terror .
- “The Jews would have us believe that God has this bias to this little small tribe in the Middle of the Sinai desert and all the rest of humanity is just rubbish. I mean that this is the basic doctrine of the Jewish religion and that’s why it is a most racist religion.” (Speech at Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference in 1995.)
Moreover, in Questions Remain Over Cat Stevens’ Connections to Radical Muslims, New York Post (Dec. 11, 2014), journalist Andrea Peyser recounted: “In 2004, [Cat Stevens’] flight from London to Washington, DC, was diverted to Bangor, Maine, where he was questioned by US officials, then shipped back to England after it was determined he was on the government’s “no fly’’ terrorist watch list. A US government official said Islam was believed to have made donations that wound up supporting not only Hamas but Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind Egyptian sheik convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to bomb New York City landmarks.”
Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam was also a guest of honor at a Toronto fundraiser for a Hamas front group. (Source)
Actions You Can Take: For those of you who have a few minutes during this busy holiday time to make calls to complain about providing a venue to Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, the upcoming concert venues are:
(1) The Pantages Theater in Los Angeles (323 468-1700, [email protected]), owned by the Nederlander Organization (President James L. Nederlander, tel: 212 840-5577, [email protected]) – concerts on Thurs. & Friday October 6 & 7;
(2) The Oriental Theater in Chicago (312 977-1700), operated by Broadway in Chicago, which is also a subsidiary of the Nederlander Organization (see above) – concert on Friday Sept. 30; and
(3) Davies Symphony Hall, operated by the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Association (tel: 415 621-6600 ) – concert on Monday Oct. 3.