Thread by @IAMCouncil

Dear @Newsweek,
An opinion(newsweek.com/covid-relief-f…)published by you makes defamatory & patently false claim that IAMC is “anti-Hindu Islamist group with alleged ties to SIMI, a banned terror org in India.”

IAMC is not anti-Hindu, not an Islamist group & has no ties to SIMI. 1/n

It is hard to believe that a magazine of @Newsweek stature has run so short of content that it is compelled to accommodate discredited ranters like Sam Westrop of Middle East Forum (MEF). 2/n

@splcenter, a respected org working for racial justice & ending white supremacy described MEF as a “think tank run by anti-Muslim provocateur Daniel Pipes”, an “anti-Muslim activist” who has “spent the better part of 3 decades vilifying Muslims”. 3/n

SPLFC says Pipes believes Islam will “replace” western civilization as a result of “unfettered immigration and blind multiculturalism.” 4/n

Acc to a Georgetown University initiative, MEF is “a right-wing anti-Islam think tank that spreads misinformation, creates “watchlists” targeting academics… provides funding to numerous anti-Muslim orgs and has provided legal services to a number of anti-Muslim activists. 5/n

A cursory Google check would have suitably informed your news desk of the utter lack of acceptability of MEF, Daniel Pipes or Sam Westrop in anything mainstream — US Congress, US Government, US think-tanks, or even the Intelligence Community. 6/n

On the other hand IAMC has wide acceptability in the US Congress, US admin & global civil society. A registered 501(c)3 founded in 2002 and having 17 chapters and thousands of members across the US. 7/n

IAMC is a rights-based advocacy organization that champions Constitutional and democratic values of freedom, justice and peace both in the US and India. 8/n

IAMC interacts closely with members of Congress, Congressional committees, and other Congressional entities such as the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. 9/n

Over the years IAMC representatives have testified at Congressional hearings on human rights abuses in India, widely acknowledged to be facilitated India’s extreme right wing  Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 10/n

Several US Senators and US Representatives regularly meet and interact with IAMC members to discuss the worsening situation in India in regards to human rights and religious freedom. 11/n

At the 2020 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., IAMC's representative was one of six panelists from across the world at a discussion on religious freedom called by the US Department of State. 12/n

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) an independent federal body established by Congressional law that advises the President, US Congress and the Department of State on global religious persecution, works closely with IAMC. 13/n

In just the last six months, two Vice-Chairs of USCIRF have headlined Congressional briefings organized by IAMC. 14/n

IAMC regularly partners and/or collaborates with some of the most prominent rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, American Bar Association and The Advocates for Human Rights. 15/n

IAMC also has wide-ranging relationships with faith-based as well as non-faith-based advocacy groups. Its collaborators/partners/allies include Jewish Voice for Peace and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR). 16/n

HfHR is a Hindu-only organization that opposes the destructive Hindu nationalism of India’s ruling party, with which the Middle East Forum has been hobnobbing. 17/n

IAMC’s list of partners also includes Equality Labs and Dalit Solidarity Forum, two of America’s largest Dalit rights groups, and Students Against Hindutva Ideology, that started from Yale University earlier this year and spred to campuses around the country. 18/n

All these organizations are bound by their common opposition to Hindutva, the ideology of Hindu nationalism that has wreaked havoc on India’s social and religious minorities since Mr. Modi became prime minister in 2014. 19/n

It is because IAMC is at the forefront of a global fight against Hindutva that MEF, which is a steady partner of Hindu extremist organizations in the US, has started to write against us. 20/n

It is shocking that @Newsweek has published a defamatory and libelous piece without giving any opportunity to the organizations who it calls “violent extremists” to respond to the allegations. 21/n

We urge you to immediately withdraw Sam Westrop’s piece from your website, or at the very least delete the false allegations against IAMC in it.

FYI:
@NaveedAJamali @dianeharris
@shanecroucher @marcva_
@josh_hammer @NancyCooperNYC
@matthewlcannon @alexhuds @Newsweek

@josh_hammer Please look into the matter and withdraw the piece from your website.