Although Zachariah Anani is being billed as one of three ex-terrorists who will speak at 7 p.m. in Rackham Auditorium tonight, he said the label doesn’t apply to him.
“I wasn’t a terrorist,” he said. “I was only a militant fighter in a civil war.”
The University’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, a right-wing student group, is sponsoring the event. In promotional materials for tonight’s event, Anani, Walid Shoebat and Kamal Saleem are referred to as former terrorists.
“They created this picture,” Anani said.
The event has drawn allegations of hate speech from the Michigan office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, whose representatives asked the University administration to block it.
Members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee met with University administrators to voice their concerns yesterday afternoon. But the event will go on as scheduled.
Imad Hamad, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s state director for Michigan, said he is worried about the effect this event will have on the public impression of Islam.
“We can’t take terrorists and put them through rehab and make them role models,” Hamad said. “We can’t do extreme makeover on terrorists.”
Anani was born in Lebanon. When he was a teenager, he joined a small, local group of militant youths at the age of 13, supported by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, he said. Anani claims to have killed 223 people by the time he was 17, when he converted to Christianity.
University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said in written statement that the administration acknowledged the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s concerns.
“Both the (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee ) and the University agreed on the importance of the free expression of ideas in an academic community,” Cunningham said.
Anani said he cooperated with law enforcement authorities in Canada to secure asylum, but in an interview he downplayed the degree to which he participated in terrorist activities.
“I was in battlefields, not stopping people on streets like they do now,” he said. “Today, when you think of a terrorist, you think of a suicide bomber. In my time, suicide meant you’re outnumbered and you go out and fight and die.”
Hamad questioned Anani’s claims.
“Where is the FBI? Where is the (Immigration and Naturalization Service) to strip his citizenship, as they did with so many others with so fewer allegations?” he asked.
In response to the allegations that Anani is not a former terrorist, YAF Vice President Ryan Fantuzzi said, “(The allegation) sounds absurd to me. I know nothing about it. Why would someone be making death threats against him if he wasn’t a terrorist?”
After a speech in Windsor last week, Anani reported receiving death threats and having his car vandalized.
“That’s the story of my life. When they will take me out, they will take me out,” he said.
He is now an advocate against what he calls “the violent doctrines of Islam,” which he says are followed by “radical, orthodox Muslims.”
When asked if those radical clerics who advocate violence have an incorrect interpretation of Islam, Anani said, “Unfortunately, no.”
Anani cited an incident in Ottawa during which he said a Jewish girl stood up and defended the Quran at one of his speeches.
“I asked her if she had ever read it and she said no,” Anani said. “I told her, ‘I’ll give you a hundred dollars for every peace sentence in the Quran, and you give me five dollars for every hate sentence. You’ll pay me a fortune.’ “
That’s the sort of message that students like Kamelya Youssef, co-founder of a new University student group called the Arab Unity Movement, oppose.
“It’s not correct,” she said. “They’re giving terrorism a religion. Terrorism is a concept, you can’t put a face or a religion on it.”
Youssef is part of a coalition of student groups planning a walkout during the event.
“We all agreed that this event won’t improve the campus climate with regard to Arab and Muslim students,” she said.
The protesters are planning their own alternative event to take place after the walkout.
Both sides of the issue claim to have the same purpose – to teach people.
“We’re here to educate,” said Keith Davies, director of the Walid Shoebat Foundation, a small Christian Zionist organization that promotes the three speakers and their message.
“It’s not about hate,” Davies said. “We love Muslims, we love Hindus, we love everybody. It’s the ideology we oppose.”
The protesters and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said they respect the speakers’ First Amendment rights.
“The point is not to censor,” Hamad said.
Another member of the Arab Unity Movement, Sirene Abou-Chakra, was also planning to walk out of the event.
“We obviously promote freedom of speech,” she said. “But we feel that this event is very inflammatory.”
Fantuzzi said he wasn’t worried about the protesters.
“As long as everyone follows the rules, and no one violates our freedom of speech . we’ll be fine,” he said.
Hamad said he hopes people won’t listen to the speakers.
“They have nothing to say except to spread hatred, division, animosity and hostility against Islam,” he said. “This is a show. They are acting.”