Comment on SP Times

Once again the Times has lied to its readers about me. In an Editor's Note published on page 15A on May 19, the Times apologized for printing my remarks about Nihad Awad and then told a bare faced lie: "The Times has no information supporting [Loftus'] remarks.."

In fact, my original letter (which the Times censored for size) gave a website link (Americansagainsthate.org/cw/profiles_cw.php) showing that both Mr. Al Arian and Mr. Awad had ties to IAP. It is a matter of court record that IAP was succesfully sued for supporting the Hamas terrorist group and closed down. Mr. Awad was the PR director for this terrorist front, and Sami Al Arian was one of its founders. The Times lied when it said it had no information.

The Times also lied when it printed a letter to the editor criticizing me for not responding to the Times accusations about IHEC's tax status. In fact, I wrote a detailed response, and the Times never printed that portion of it, claiming space limitations. The whole tax smear was a complete hoax by the Times on the public. IHEC's tax returns (provided to the Times) showed that all of our major donors were Canadian or Israeli, no American tax deductions were involved.

The bottom line is that the Times reporter is kissing close to the Al Arian family, and publishes Awad's propaganda to harass and demean our charity. The Times National Editor promised me he would conduct an ethics investigation of the Times coverage. I am still waiting for the times to apologize for the damage it has done to our charity, its sponsors, donors and attendees. Shame on you.

John Loftus
President, IHEC/The Intelligence Summit