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Jewish lobbies, political
pressures and blackmail-
ing." As it were, he had the
stage to himself. Nakhleh
used the forum to call for,
among other things, a polit-
ical union of Muslims and
American blacks to "liber-
ate the United States from
the Israeli-Jewish lobby."
His opening remarks
made his stand crystal
clear. "Dearborn has some
historical connections with
the problems of the Middle
East," said Nakhleh. "It was
in this city that Henry Ford
wrote that important book,
The International Jew. He
exposed the international
Zionist conspiracy in the
world. And for this, Dear-
born is a very historical city.
"But not only that," con-
tinued Nakhleh. "During
the 1940s and 1950s, there
was an important Father
Coughlin with his radio
broadcasts. He was fighting
the Israeli-Zionist lobby
and the Zionist control of
the United States. And he
was a (major) voice until he
died only several years ago.
So it is fitting that we
should meet in this impor-
tant city to discuss
Jerusalem and the Zionist
lobby in the United States."
That set the tone for
Nakhleh's speech, a lengthy
litany of accusations

Issa Nakhleh makes his allegations.

FOCUS

•. LIFTING
THE VEIL

An Arab conference in Dearborn spews
anti-Israel propaganda and reveals an
Islamic mind-set on the Middle East

BY ALAN ABRAMS
Special to The Jewish News

"No member of the
United States Congress
dares to disobey the
Zionist-Israeli lobby. They
bribe Senators by inviting
them to conventions. For in-
stance, the United Jewish
Appeal makes a convention
and you have 2,000-3,000
Jews come to Miami or
Washington or New York.
They invite Senator Moyni-
han or Senator Cranston
and give them $2,000 or
$3,000 for coming and read-
ing a speech which they
write for them praising Is-
rael and calling Israel our
Hajji Abdullah Ahmad of
strategic ally. I think it is
Philadelphia distributed
degrading to the United
literature denying that six
States — which is supposed
million Jews were killed
to be the leader of the Free
during thalolocaust. - . World against the interna-

Rev. William Gep ford and Imam Muhammad Karoub listen to Ayube Ally during a panel
discussion of alleged Israeli "desecrations" in Jerusalem.

•

tional Communist conspi-
racy — that they shoOld ally
themselves with Zionist
gangsters and thugs."
There were no United
States Senators in the audi-
ence at Dearborn's Hyatt
Regency Hotel last Satur-
day afternoon to hear these
remarks by Issa Nakhleh,
New York-based represen-
tative of the Higher Com-
mittee for Palestine and
legal adviser for the Muslim
World League of Mecca. In-
deed, there were few con-
vention delegates present in
the room.
Published reports pre-
dicted more than 1,000
delegates from around the
world would be attending
-the •33rd'aututtPititerna ,

-

tional convention of the
Federation of Islamic Asso-
ciations in the United
States and Canada Inc.
(FIA) last weekend. (The
organization,whose head-
quarters are in suburban
Redford Township, claims a
membership of 350,000.)
But in the words of
Nakhleh, "here we should
have 1,000 people, but we
have maybe 150."
Attendance at Sunday's
events, culminated by a
banquet, was considerably
higher. Detroit City Council
President Erma Henderson
was among the non-Muslim
presonalities in attendance.
Although invited, Rep.
John Conyers Jr. was in
Washington. •

Established in 1952, the
FIA is as the name suggests,
an umbrella organization of
local Muslim communities
in North America. The
association places a heavy
emphasis on the religious
aspects of Islam and main-
tains an Islam anti-
defamation office. It is con-
sidered to be a moderate
voice in the Arab American
political spectrum. The
organization pulls heavy
support from Iraqi small
businessmen, many of
whom live in the greater
Detroit area.
Nakhleh was scheduled
to be one of two speakers on
a panel dealing with
Jerusalem: victim of
'"ettriiturtititht-th 'Zionism;

,

"

.

against "the Zionists" for
committing "genocide
against the Palestinian
people," raising hundreds of
thousands of dollars to "con-
spire against Moslem holy
shrines," and conspiring
with the United States to
allow Israel to become the
51st state.
The U.S. came in for its
share of abuse as well.
Nakhleh called America
"an accomplice to the crime
of genocide" and a virtual
puppet of the "Zionist
lobby."
He defended Rev. Louis
Farrakhan as "one of the
greatest eloquent orators I
have ever heard" and
blamed Jews for "twisting
his words" because Far- --