Horowitz campus effort targets Islamic ‘fanatics’

The hesitancy in Sarah Zaim’s voice instantly relayed her fear.

The 21-year-old Emory University senior didn’t want to talk about Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, a new national campus campaign sponsored by the conservative David Horowitz Freedom Center.

“We don’t want to grant legitimacy to (David) Horowitz and this week,” she explained reluctantl)y. “We also want to make it clear that … we aren’t attempting to stifle free speech.”

The controversial week will begin Monday with a sizable, though debatable, number of participating schools. Jeff Weiner, the center’s terrorism awareness student coordinator, said he’s aiming to have an event at more than 100 schools, including Washington State University.

From Berkeley to Brown, the national campaign purportedly will highlight the threat that’s facing the United States by focusing on the oppression of women in Islamic societies.

“These terrorists are religious fanatics whose battle plan is laid out in their reading of the Quran,” said conservative pundit David Horowitz, who heads the center.

Horowitz is adamant that the week’s events express a clear connection to “Islam,” as opposed to “terrorism.”

The Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council released a guidebook that says “IFAW organizers are seeking an angry protest from Muslim students – we should avoid this at any and all costs, both in events and statements.”