The Muslim Legal Fund of America hosted its weekly show, “The Show About Justice”. It featured Ayman Taleb, the host and Outreach Director at MLFA. This show is held Tuesdays at 5pm Central. This show can be streamed on Facebook Live. MLFA “Show About Justice” with Herzallah focused on the “Irvine 11”. The Muslim Legal Fund of America is a charity that funds legal work. In addition, it also provides programs to defend Muslims against injustice in American courtrooms, prisons, and communities.
Additionally, in this episode, Ayman spoke with Taher Herzallah. Herzallah reflected on his experience as one of the “Irvine 11.” The Irvine 11 were eleven Muslim students who were targeted and taken to court for disrupting a talk held by Michael Oren. Oren was the ambassador of Israel to the United States, on the UC Irvine campus. So he was asked why he protested the event, and why he didn’t ignore it. Taher said, “we couldn’t ignore it.” Herzallah and others had just returned from a recent delegation to Gaza in 2009 . Moreover, they first hand witnessed the destruction in Gaza.
So, for ten years after the case, Taher Herzallah is the Associate Director of American Muslims for Palestine, and coordinates AMP’s grassroots organizing, national coalition building, and chapter building. Furthermore, Herzallah helps set up programs and activities related to educating communities on Palestine, and he helps Palestine student organizations gather funding, support, and protection for their projects. He has written for Al-Jazeera, Electronic Intifada, and Islamicity.
MLFA “Show About Justice” with Herzallah: Irvine 11
The Irvine 11 case sparked a national debate around the understanding of freedom of speech. Overall, it started a deeper discussion on the double standards for active Muslims who advocate for the Palestinian cause.
Lastly, host Ayman memorably stated, “The US constitution applies to American Muslims, too. We should not fear exercising our rights. American Muslims shouldn’t be suspected, or treated differently, due to our faith ethnicity, or national origin. We don’t want special treatment, we want equal treatment. Nothing more, nothing less.”
