With this photo/video report, hosted by zombie, LGF reader ciaospirit is hereby dubbed an operative: Eyes Wide Open, Columbus, Ohio.

“Eyes Wide Open” is the American Friends Service Committee’s (lgf: search) ugly traveling exhibit exploiting the deaths of US soldiers to promote a far left pacifist agenda. They don’t bother getting permission from families before using names and photographs of fallen troops, and if you have a blood pressure problem you may want to take an extra dose of your meds before viewing this.

Also included: Dr. Ahmad Al-Akhras, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In this clip, ciaospirit asks him if he wants shari’a law in the US:

UPDATE at 6/15/06 7:07:48 pm:

Dr. Ahmad Al-Akhras also helped get an Israeli flag taken down on Holocaust Remembrance Day:

The mayor of a Columbus, Ohio, suburb has agreed to take down an Israeli flag that flew for a day from the city’s flagpole. The flag had been flown as part of the “Days of Remembrance,” a national commemoration of the mass killing of Jews in Europe during World War II.

Mayor Jim McGregor of Gahanna, Ohio, took the flag down after meeting with representatives of the CAIR’s Ohio chapter (CAIR-OHIO), Arab Americans of Central Ohio, the Islamic Society of Greater Columbus, the Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, and the Muslim Student Association.

“We want to thank Mayor McGregor for understanding that the desire to honor and remember all those who died at the hands of the Nazis is a completely separate issue from flying the Israeli flag. For the Islamic and Arab communities in Ohio, that flag is a symbol of the ongoing oppression suffered by Palestinian Christians and Muslims,” said CAIR-OHIO President Ahmad Al- Akhras.

Al-Akhras cited the fact that more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and more than 400 Palestinian town and villages were wiped off the map by the creation of Israel in 1948. He also noted that today is the fifth anniversary of the Qana massacre in Lebanon during which Israeli troops, using American weapons, killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians who sought shelter in a U.N. compound.

“Americans cannot, without a strong sense of hypocrisy, praise the principles of Holocaust remembrance on the one hand, and turn a blind eye to the daily atrocities committed by Israel on the other,” said Andy Amid, a founding member of the Islamic Council of Ohio, who also attended the meeting.

And Al-Akhras is also on record calling for people to “take a stand against violence”—by cutting off all aid to Israel: The Lantern - City split in support; demonstrates peacefully. (Hat tip: Tommy.)

Almost 400 protesters crowded the sidewalks outside the Federal Building on North High Street, downtown Columbus, Friday to demand the United States stop aid to Israel immediately.

They held signs that read, “Israel must respect international law,” “Your bullets are killing our children,” and “Palestine is bleeding.”

Protesters of all ages supported the Palestinian community. A young boy stood up and said, “I stand for all the children who have stood in front of a tank to protect their family.”

Ahmad Al-Akhras, president of the Council for American-Islamic Relations, called for people to take a stand against the violence. Call the Bush administration immediately. Tell them to cut aid to Israel, he said.

“Make sure your voice is heard,” he said. “You have to speak up. Make sure our tax dollars are not used to kill innocent civilians.”

UPDATE at 6/15/06 7:19:17 pm:

Here’s Al-Akhras on the Danish Mohammed cartoons, in an article describing him as “an advocate of free speech:” Muslim American News Briefs, February 28, 2006.

After more than an hour of history on the prophet’s life and an explanation of the significance of Muhammad in Muslim faith, Terry Freeman remained baffled by the cartoon controversy.

“It’s very, very difficult for me to understand the outrage that has been shown around the world,” said Freeman, who lives in southwestern Columbus. “Somebody drew a picture, so what?”

But when Ahmad Al-Akhras saw the cartoons, he felt disrespected, degraded.

Al-Akhras, an advocate of free speech, was insulted by a Danish newspaper’s publication of cartoons depicting the prophet. Most American newspapers, including The Dispatch, have refused to publish the cartoons.

“Your fist should stop where my chin is,” Al-Akhras said.