By Fern Sidman

As the mercury precipitously dropped, demonstrators from the Coalition For Peace organization braved the biting cold and sub freezing temperatures in the nation’s capitol on January 20th in order to send a clear message to President Barack Hussein Obama on his inauguration day. With calls to “protect the free world from radical Islam”, the 30 demonstrators staged a peaceful protest in Lafayette Park, directly across the street from the White House. The Coalition For Peace is a nascent movement comprised of Hindu, Jewish and Christian organizations who are sounding a clarion call to the western world of the imminent dangers that jihadists represent.

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Spearheaded by Satya Dosapati of the Hindu Human Rights Watch and Arish K. Sahani of the Indian American Intellectuals Forum, the Coalition For Peace has brought their message to the proscenium of the political arena by forging alliances with Jewish and Christian organizations; who have firsthand knowledge of the baneful and pernicious ideology of radical Islam.

Since the announcement of the protest rally, such organizations as the Zionist Organization of America, Americans For a Safe Israel, the Jewish Action Alliance, Christians’ Israel Public Action Campaign, Christians and Jews United For Israel and the Maccabean Resistance Movement have stepped forward and endorsed this event. Events leading up to the Inauguration Day protest included a meeting of both Jewish and Hindu community leaders that took place in a private residence in Highland Park on Sunday, January 18th. Representatives of the Jewish Community Relations Council were also present as members discussed the political and religious commonalities of the two communities and explored avenues of cooperation in working towards embracing tolerance and celebrating diversity.

Mr. Dosapati, an erudite and voluble spokesman addressed the assemblage on the dangers of Islamic extremism and how it impacts on both communities. “In the name of world peace, we must call upon our new president to reform radical Islamist madrassas so that these schools stop teaching hate. Jews and other “infidels” are referred to as apes and pigs and other chilling epidemiological metaphors that are reminiscent of Nazi incitement”, he ruefully observed. In a reference to the 9/11 attacks Mr. Dosapati asserted that the free world must demand that “Saudi Arabian assets must be seized in order to pay for the Islamists’ crimes against humanity” and on the subject of the vitriolic hubris being incessantly spewed forth by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he said, “Iran must be forced to halt its nuclear weapons program that has directly threatened Israel. Right now, Iran is engaging in a proxy war against Israel by bankrolling its chief surrogates, namely Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Concerning the heinous slaughter that was perpetrated against Indians and Jews in the recent Mumbai massacre, he stated, “We must recognize that Pakistan has played a double-game with the US; presenting itself as a friendly ally of America, while, at the same time, hosting terrorists who are plotting to murder all non-Muslims, especially targeting their next door neighbors in India.”

Carrying signs and placards saying, “Protect Israel From Rocket Attacks”, “Our Demand For Gas Indirectly Funds Hamas and Hezbollah”, “Denuclearize Iran and Pakistan”, “Protect India From Terrorist Attacks”, and “Stop the Islamic Conquest of The Promised Land” the protestors, mainly composed of Hindus from the Central New Jersey area along with a cadre of exceptionally devoted Christians and several Jews gathered in Lafayette Park and raised their collective voices in outrage and indignation against a “multiculturalist relativism” that gives free license to forces of evil as manifested in radical Islam.

“Islamist terrorism is a problem not just for Israel and India, but for the entire Free World. It is also a problem for Muslims who yearn for freedom of thought, as opposed to the tyranny imposed on them by Islamist theology,” said Narain Kataria, of Queens, one of the organizers of the protest. The demonstrators argue that radical, political Islam, fueled by oil revenues, “is nothing short of a threat to humanity and freedom of thought. It is absolutely essential for the US, the world’s only super power to take the lead in exterminating terrorism from the face of the earth. Mr. Obama, yes, you can,” said Mr. Kataria.

The demonstrators point out that the same ideology that led to the terrorism that struck Mumbai in November and during the last ten years resulted in the murder of some 18,000 Indians (in 60,000 terror incidents), has plagued Israel for decades. The same ideology that threatens to wipe out Israel has been brutal to minorities in Islamic countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh where in the last 60 years the minority population was reduced from 25% to 1% in Pakistan and 30% to 7% in Bangladesh.

Linda Rivera, a Christian supporter of Israel and staunch advocate of eradicating Islamic terrorism said, “We cannot forget the 3.5 million Christians slaughtered by the Jihad in the Sudan. We cannot forget the fact that coptic priests and other Christian clergy has been murdered by Islamic fanatics. It is imperative to remain cognizant of the fact that Jihadists would love nothing more than to force every non-Muslim to live under the draconian Sharia Law where basic human rights will be expunged.”

Richard Hellman of the Christians’ Israel Public Action Campaign, the largest Christian pro-Israel lobby group on Capitol Hill made his presence known at the demonstration by stating, “We support peace, justice and freedom in the Middle East and as such we work assiduously in Congress to lobby against a two-state solution, the fallacious concept of “land for peace” as the panacea for Israeli-Palestinian tensions and we work to abrogate the any “road map to a purported peace” that will see Israel engaging in any more territorial compromises.”

Sandra and Ed Warmoth of the Maccabean Resistance Movement and the Builders of Zion organization traveled from Orlando, Florida to attend. “The world must understand that the Islamist hegemony is an obdurate and implacable enemy of freedom. Jerusalem and the entire Promised Land is under attack by Arab-Muslim forces fighting an Islamic war by proxy under the guise of ‘Palestinian self-determination.’ The ‘Palestinan’ myth began taking root after 1967 as a means to garner world support for the Islamic goal of ridding the Middle East of the Jewish Nation. It is a way of eradicating Israel through propaganda because the Arab-Muslim bloc has failed to accomplish their collective goal militarily. Over the years, this propaganda, along with the weapons of oil and terrorism, has been increasingly securing international support, including support at the highest levels of the United States government,” they said.

Matt Abelson, 28, of Manhattan said, “As a Jew, I’ve come here to join this coalition with the Hindus and Christians not because, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ but because we have a commonality of cultures. We are peace seeking peoples who wish to live in a world with mutual respect for one another and the forces of radical Islam represent the complete antithesis of this concept.”

Incensed by the lack of a formidable Jewish presence at the protest, one person who wished to remain anonymous declared, “What I’m totally outraged about is that at this demonstration has a pitiful Jewish turnout. The Christians and Hindus are here pleading the case for Israel, speaking truth in the face of slander directed at Israel and none of the Jewish organizations who ostensibly endorsed this protest are here. Where are the members of the ZOA, of AFSI, of the Jewish Action Alliance? Are these organizations only paper tigers, are they moribund remnants of Jewish activism? They knew of this important demonstration and yet they are not here. This is beyond shameful.”

The protestors eventually left their stations behind the iron fences that surrounded them in Lafayette Park and took their banners and signs out in the street where scores of inauguration attendees and onlookers looked with curiosity to the demonstrators. Most appeared unaware of the issues presented on the signs, others seemed bewildered, while yet others perceived them as an inauguration novelty and stopped to take photographs. There were some who queried the protestors and engaged in spirited and sometimes bellicose debate, while others muttered imprecations under their breath. Said Jim Melton, 58, a self described liberal, “Can anyone blame the Palestinians in Gaza for launching “fire crackers” in to Israel? After all, Israel started this conflict by closing off the border crossings in to Gaza and causing a horrific humanitarian crisis. The wholesale slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians; women and children in a UN school was deplorable and Israel should be charged in an international court with war crimes.”

In response to Melton’s comments one parade attendee who was in earshot of what he said commented that, “the irony of it all is that the calumnies being promulgated against Israel by the Saudi owned US media, prompts someone like him who is obviously abysmally ignorant of the truth to make such comments. That is exactly why these protesters are here today; to set the record straight; to debunk these egregious myths about Israel and I applaud their efforts.”

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Related: Arab/Muslim World, Extremists, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, India, Islam, Israel, Obama, Palestinians, Terrorist Groups, War Against Islamo-fascism

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