The Arab American Association of New York plans to hold a traditional Muslim prayer ceremony on Friday alongside Occupy Wall Street protesters, Capital New York reports.
"Our message will be that Muslim people were part of Occupy Wall Street since the beginning," Linda Sarsour, director of the Arab American Association of New York, told Capital New York. "We share the same frustrations."
The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. in Zuccotti Park, where the demonstrations began over a month ago. The demonstrations have since spread to numerous other cites and countries.
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The prayer ceremony will come at the end of a week in which religion has been injected into the conversation about Occupy Wall Street. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the conservative pro-Israel group Emergency Committee for Israel had put out a television ad trying to make "a startling connection between the Occupy Wall Street protests and anti-Semitism."
"Why are our leaders turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic, anti-Israel attacks? Tell President Obama and Leader Pelosi to stand up to the mob. Hate is not an American value," the ad said.
According to Talking Points Memo, several groups on the right have charged that Occupy Wall Street is anti-Semitic. Earlier this week, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement warning that economic downturns can "embolden anti-Semites" but saying that there is "no evidence" that the incidents of anti-Semitism seen at Occupy Wall Street events are "widespread."
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