FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CN) – An anti-Islam activist claims in court that the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations defamed him by taking his statement about burning local mosques out of context.
David L. Rosenthal says in a lawsuit filed last week in Broward County Circuit Court that the Council on American-Islamic Relations unjustly reported him to law enforcement for his January 2016 Facebook post that said, "Someone remind me of why I should not burn every mosque in my geographical area."
He claims the comment was covered in the local news, with Rosenthal mentioned by name in a CBS-12 story about rising Islamophobia in South Florida.
The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a response to Rosenthal's post on Jan. 12.
"A threat to burn down mosques is a blunt hate crime; and should be investigated and eventually prosecuted as such," Wilfredo Ruiz, communications director for CAIR Florida, wrote on the group's website.
But Rosenthal, who proudly espouses his desire to eliminate Islam in the U.S., claims his statement was not a threat.
He points out that, in the Facebook post, he added a statement rejecting his own contemplation of arson: "After some thought, I have concluded that I would not burn a mosque, since I do not want to risk causing loss of life."
Rosenthal's Facebook post went on to highlight his desire to ban Islam, stating that mosques could be repurposed as "single-room-occupancy centers to house the homeless."
"Inexcusably, CAIR FL deliberately excluded the rest of the comment that plaintiff posted on his Facebook page, which clarified that Plaintiff neither intends to burn mosques nor suggests that mosques should be burned, but rather that mosques should not ... be burned,” Rosenthal’s Nov. 21 libel lawsuit states.
His complaint stresses freedom of speech: "The watchword here is Liberty. As citizens and advocates in this great free society ... inhabitants must be wise and vigilant enough to recognize the danger of our times. If fear and political correctness immobilize freedom of spirit, then Americans will become less of a free people. If an American is afraid to criticize Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or the tenets of Islam and Sharia Law, then the institution of American freedom is in jeopardy."
Rosenthal claims CAIR Florida's conduct damaged "his good name and reputation."
He seeks $5 million in damages and a court order forcing CAIR Florida and nonparty CBS-12 News to remove the allegedly defamatory reports about him from their websites.
Miami attorney David Rowe is representing Rosenthal in the case.
CAIR Florida is listed as a defendant, alongside its communications director and chief executive director.
The group responded to the lawsuit in an interview with Courthouse News.
"We only got involved when we believed there was a safety and security issue at stake. Otherwise we have a policy of not reacting to this individual," Ruiz told Courthouse News by phone.
Ruiz, an attorney who served in the Navy as a JAG Corps officer in the mid-1990s, said Rosenthal is "living in an alternate reality" propounded by an evermore vocal group of anti-Islam crusaders.