Last Monday night, I was in Boston and listened to part of the Monday night football game on the radio and heard this punt return by the Atlanta Falcons' Devin Hester which broke an all time record for touchdown returns (it was Hester's 20th - mostly with the Chicago Bears.
Let's go to the videotape.
Hester's team was penalized 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff for that little display of unsportsmanlike conduct at the end. The broadcasters thought that was a bit unfair because it was a record-breaking run, but the penalty stood and there was no real discussion about it in the morning.
Last night, the Kansas City Chiefs' Husain Abdullah intercepted my team's quarterback Tom Brady, and returned the interception for a touchdown.
Let's go to the videotape.
Abdullah's team was penalized 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff for that
little display of unsportsmanlike conduct at the end. I was in Israel and this happened while I was in synagogue this morning, so I did not hear what the broadcasters thought about it, but the penalty
stood. But there was a lot of discussion about it in the morning. Abdullah is a Muslim. And the NFL was forced to apologize (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
His celebration drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but
the NFL said Tuesday that Abdullah should not have been penalized.
The
league’s rule book prohibits players from celebrating while on the
ground, but spokesman Michael Signora wrote in an email Tuesday that
“the officiating mechanic in this situation is not to flag a player who
goes to the ground as part of religious expression, and as a result,
there should have been no penalty on the play.”
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article2324330.html#storylink=cpy
Huh? Never heard that exception before. Hester's high-step wasn't religious enough? Oh wait, Hester didn't have the backing of CAIR.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil liberties and
advocacy organization, issued a statement early Tuesday asking that the
NFL take steps in response to the penalty.
“To prevent the
appearance of a double standard, we urge league officials to clarify the
policy on prayer and recognize that the official made a mistake in this
case,” CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.
Actually, I think the penalty prevented the appearance of a double standard. Abdullah did something remarkably similar to what Hester did. Both were penalized. Sounds fair to me. Sounds fair to Abduallh's coach too.
Game officials didn’t say anything to Abdullah after the play, but
Chiefs coach Andy Reid did when Abdullah came to the sideline.
“He said, ‘You can’t slide,’” Abdullah said.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article2324330.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article2324330.html#storylink=cp
But Abdullah is allowed to slide... and to bow in the end zone. Maybe the next time, he can keep his prayer rug on the back of his pants.
Sorry but that penalty was earned. I have no problem with it.
“My family’s been just as shocked by the lies and smears as I’ve been,”
Aboushi said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think I’m radical at
all. I have never done any radical behavior. For the writer to come out
and claim that just builds lies on top of the lies.”
Aboushi, an offensive lineman from Virginia, has been besieged by
angry tweets and messages since an article published Tuesday by the
website Frontpagemag.com labeled him “a fundamentalist Muslim with
radical associations and a heritage that pushes him towards a
destructive world of violence and hate.”
The report also called
for the Jets — whose fanbase includes such a large Jewish contingent
that the team asked the NFL to reschedule its 2009 home opener to avoid
conflict with Rosh Hashana — to immediately release Aboushi because of
his views.Ӭ
Aboushi told The Post his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are anything but radical.
“My
feelings are very fair — I wish both sides would come to a peaceful
agreement and both live in peace,” Aboushi said. “I want to see them
live together in harmony and enjoy the land instead of focusing on
conflict with each other.”
Asked if he considers himself anti-Semitic, Aboushi scoffed.
“I
have plenty of friends who are Jewish,” he told The Post. “Some of my
best friends are Jewish. I have teammates who are Jewish, and I was
brought up with Jewish kids. I never had any problem with them, and I
respect them just as much as they respect me.
Asked if he considers himself anti-Semitic, Aboushi scoffed.
“I
have plenty of friends who are Jewish,” he told The Post. “Some of my
best friends are Jewish. I have teammates who are Jewish, and I was
brought up with Jewish kids. I never had any problem with them, and I
respect them just as much as they respect me.
“Everybody has a right to believe what they want to believe, and
everybody has a right to say what they want to say. At the end of the
day, I don’t have any disrespect or hateful things to say against the
Jewish community, and I’m definitely not anti-Semitic.”
The Anti-Defamation League has rushed to Aboushi's defense, while Major League Baseball's new media coordinator (whose Twitter account is now protected) posted this:
Hmmm.
But note that Aboushi doesn't discuss anywhere whether he attended and spoke at El Bireh 'Palestine' Society conference, which is the only relevant issue.... And that's because he did.
Arlington for the El bireh convention.
— Oday Aboushi (@Oday_Aboushi75) June 29, 2013
AL bireh convention was a pleasure. Proud Palestinians is always a good sight.
— Oday Aboushi (@Oday_Aboushi75) June 30, 2013
Will the first 'Palestinian' in the NFL make it through training camp?
I've already written once about Oday Aboushi, who hopes to become the first 'Palestinian' in the NFL after being drafted by the New York Jets. Aboushi was showing up with anti-Semitic comments on social media, which is not likely to make him a fan favorite in the market with the most Jews in the US. Now, Aboushi has backed it up in person, appearing as the main speaker at a conference run by an organization that denies Israel's right to exist and that has been tied to Islamic terror organizations.
According to the group sponsoring the event, “El-Bireh Palestine
Society was founded to perpetuate the strong ties among its members and
to link their communities around the world together and with their
ancestral roots in El-Bireh, Palestine.” One of the ways the group
accomplishes this is by holding annual conferences.
Speaking at the Society’s August 1986 Fifth National Convention
held in Dearborn, Michigan was Fouad Rafeedie. Two years later, the INS
charged Rafeedie with being a high-ranking member of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist group. The PFLP is
currently named as such on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign
Terrorist Organizations. Also speaking was Osama Siblani, the publisher
of Arab American News (Sada al-Watan) and a public supporter of
Hezbollah and Hamas.
The three-day El-Bireh Convention 2013 (“Connect 2013″) began this
past June 28thin Arlington, Virginia. Featured as a speaker at the event
was Oday Aboushi. Also participating in the conference was Nitham
Hasan, the President of the Islamic Center of South Florida (ICOSF).
ICOSF’s mosque property is owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), a group named by the U.S. Justice Department as being a party to the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas.
El-Bireh Palestine Society’s logo, found atop the organization’s website, contains a graphic of the entire nation of Israel covered in a Palestinian flag
– a patent denial of Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist. Like
Aboushi’s Nakba, images such as this fuel terrorism and hate abroad and
potentially here at home as well. Worse still, the Facebook page for the conference
– which is administered by the same individual who created the
Society’s website, Ashraf Abed – is accompanied by horrifically
anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and terrorist propaganda.
On the same El-Bireh Facebook site as the conference, there are contained different images of Hitler and rabid anti-Christian cleric Ahmed Deedat, who authored the infamous work CRUCIFIXION OR CRUCI-FICTION? There are terrorist memorials for Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi,
PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin and Hamas bomb
maker Yahya Ayyash. About Arafat and Yassin, the site states in Arabic,
“The martyr leader Yasser Arafat with the Mujahid Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
G-d have mercy on them.”
NFL teams are very sensitive to the images that their players' off field activities give to the team. Just last week, the New England Patriots released tight end Aaron Hernandez after he was charged with murder. Patriots owner Bob Kraft said that his team was duped.
With training camps starting this week, the Jets should be pressured to release Aboushi before he ever takes the field for them. Click here to contact the NY Jets to tell the team your thoughts on this matter. Please be respectful in your comments.
As if we needed another reason to hate the New York Jets.... Their team now includes an Islamist 'Palestinian' named Oday Aboushi who is a prominent Jew-hater on social media.
Far from being an American dream, Oday Aboushi has exhibited this
exact type of extremism. He too has targeted Israel with his Twitter
account, one tweet even having anti-Semitic overtones. This past
January, he posted a photo depicting an old woman looking down while
three clearly Orthodox Jews talk to each other in the background. The
caption reads, “88 year-old Palestinian evicted from home in Jerusalem
by Israel authorities to make room 4 Orthodox Jews.”
The photo contains the logo of Middle East Monitor (MEM), an
anti-Zionist publication based in England. The picture has recently been
used in a smear campaign against Israel and her observant Jewish
citizens. Aboushi chose to be one of the smear merchants.
On April 19, one week before the NFL Draft, Aboushi wrote a tweet exalting a fundraising dinner
sponsored by Islamic Relief (IR), an organization with numerous ties to
terrorism. He wrote, “Beautiful NJ fundraiser event for the kids of
Palestine in refugee camps.” The affair was held in Hasbrouk Heights,
New Jersey and was titled, ‘A Night for Palestine.’
In May 2006, Israel labeled Islamic Relief a front for Hamas
after arresting the group’s Gaza program manager, Ayaz Ali, for
providing “funds and assistance to various Hamas institutions and
organizations.” Ali admitted that he had cooperated with local Hamas
operatives.
As well, in 1999, IR collected and sent more than $6 million
to Chechen rebels with ties to al-Qaeda. The same year, IR received
$50,000 from Human Concern International (HCI), a charity that the U.S.
Department of Treasury described as a “Bin Laden front.” Shortly after
the September 11 attacks, IR itself was investigated by the Treasury Department as a possible source of funding for al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.”
Besides Twitter, Oday Aboushi also has a Facebook account. Currently in the ‘Likes’ section of his Facebook page
is the imam of the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley (ICTV), Mohamed
Mabrouk. Mabrouk was previously the imam of the Islamic Society of
Greater Lansing (ISGL). Both of these mosques have ties to terrorism.
Last March, ICTV held a conference and banquet at the Anaheim Hilton, titled, ‘Muhammad (pbuh): The Prophet for Our Times.’
The event was co-sponsored by Islamic Relief. Among the speakers for
the function was the imam of Brooklyn’s al-Taqwa mosque, Siraj Wahhaj.
Wahhaj had previously been named by the U.S. government as an
“unindicted co-conspirator” for a trial dealing with the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj had been linked to the bombmaker of the attack,
Clement Rodney Hampton-El, and during the trial, he was a character
witness for the spiritual leader of the attack, Omar Abdel Rahman, whom
Wahhaj has openly praised.
Four years ago, the Jets seemed to know who their fan base is.
In April 2009, the Jets front office contacted the NFL
to ask that the date of its home opener be moved, as it was going to
coincide with the Jewish high holiday of Rosh Hashanah. The team did the
right thing to complain on behalf of their Jewish fan base, and they
need to do the same in the case of their Islamist draft pick.
Well, yeah. Except that the Jets may figure that the three-day-a-year Jews who would go to synagogue on Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur would be pleased to show how liberal they are by embracing a creep like Aboushi.
Unsportsmanlike conduct; UPDATED with embedded video
We're going off topic again.
Here's a play from Sunday's Jets - Dolphins game. This play happened with 2:58 left in the third quarter, when the Dolphins punted to Jets receiver Santonio Holmes(notes). As Holmes took the ball for a short return, cornerback Nolan Carroll(notes) was hurt on the right sideline as he rushed down to cover the play. The replay showed strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi extending his knee just enough to trip Carroll up on the play. Carroll was down for a minute, but returned to play later in the game.
Let's go to the videotape.
I don't know what that coach was thinking but the league ought to discipline him.
UPDATE TUESDAY 12:27 AM
Sorry, the embed code didn't embed. If you cut and paste it into your browser, you can watch the video.
UPDATE TUESDAY 10:32 AM
I've now updated this post by embedding the video.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
