Back on July 30th, the Muslim American owner of Santa Monica Shangra-La hotel viciously threw a group of young Jewish professionals out of the hotel pool: “Get the [expletive] Jews out of my pool!”
Ari Ryan said, “Anyone wearing a blue wristband,” which identified them as being with the Friends of the IDF, “was asked to get out of the swimming pool and the hot tub.” In fact, no one who was identifiable as Jewish was so much as “allowed to dip their feet in the water.”
Tehmina (Tamie) Adaya, a Pakistani-American Muslim, is the owner of the Shangri-La. Her father, Ahmad Adaya, was a founding partner of the California real estate company IDS Real Estate Group. He also was a founder and benefactor of the New Horizon School for Muslim religious education in Southern California.
A judge threw the book at the racist Muslim and ordered her to pay 1.2 million dollars to the victims of Islamic Jew-hatred (it's in the quran) after a jury in a Superior Court of Los Angeles County found Hotel Shangri La in Santa Monica and its co-owner liable of 18 claims of discrimination against this group of Jewish young professionals.
ZOA: In a trial that began in July 2012, the jury found that a co-owner of the hotel, Tehmina Adaya, an American-Muslim of Pakistani descent, violated the California Unruh Civil Rights act when she forced the plaintiffs to leave the premises of the hotel where they were holding a pool party for the Young Leadership Division of the Friends of Israel Defense Force (FIDF), in which they were raising funds to send the children of fallen soldiers to summer camp.
ZOA had planned a protest, but has reconsidered in light of the following statement. AFDI/SIOA is calling upon Tehmina Adaya to meet with the victims of jihadi violence, and to work towards expunging the quran of its violent texts that inspire jihad, Jew-hatred and the oppression and subjugation of non-Muslims.
August 24, 2012 - In response to Ms. Tehmina Adaya's public statement today condemning anti-Semitism and expressing support for Israel, the ZOA is cancelling the community-wide protest that it had planned for Sunday, August 26, 2012, 11 am. Please alert everyone you know who was planning to attend the protest.
The ZOA has made this decision in light of a public statement (which can be found here) in which Ms. Adaya and Hotel Shangri La have expressed support for Israel and a condemnation of anti-Semitism; a pledge to give to charities that assist Israeli victims of terror and IDF war veterans; and a pledge to host an event for the Jewish and pro-Israel community of Los Angeles to be coordinated with the ZOA.
In the wake of the ZOA's announcement on August 20, 2012 that it was leading a community-wide protest with regard to the civil rights violations against a group of Jewish young professionals at Hotel Shangri La, the ZOA was approached by Hotel Shangri La to achieve reconciliation.
Although, based on a finding of clear and convincing evidence, the jury held that Ms. Adaya and the Hotel acted with malicious intent in evicting the group of Jewish young professionals, we believe that her statement exhibits the Jewish value of teshuva, repentance. Thus, the main purpose of the protest, which was to express outrage at anti-Semitism as well as Jewish pride, has been sufficiently addressed. We look forward to working with the Hotel to hold a Jewish community event that also expresses Jewish pride and support for Israel.
We at the ZOA greatly admire the 18 plaintiffs, "the Santa Monica Chai," who refused to be victims of anti-Semitism and who had the courage and determination to seek justice. They are true Jewish heroes. We at the ZOA are also grateful to all those whose willingness to join the ZOA in the planned protest led to the satisfying resolution we have reached with Hotel Shangri La. We are proud to have demonstrated that Jewish activism is alive and kicking on the West Coast and that anti-Semitism will never again be quietly tolerated.
Shabbat Shalom to the entire House of Israel,
THE ZOA WESTERN REGION
