Background
Mohammad Mehdi was born on January 6, 1928 in Baghdad, Iraq, into the family of Al Haj and Zahara (Moenni) Mehdi. He arrived in the United States in 1949 and lived there since that time.
Berkeley, CA, USA
Mohammad Mehdi earned his higher education at the University of California in Berkeley, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1953. Later on, he got a Master of Arts, at that same University in 1954. Finally, he became a Doctor of Philosophy there in 1960.
Berkeley, CA, USA
Mohammad Mehdi earned his higher education at the University of California in Berkeley, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1953. Later on, he got a Master of Arts, at that same University in 1954. Finally, he became a Doctor of Philosophy there in 1960.
Mohammad Mehdi was born on January 6, 1928 in Baghdad, Iraq, into the family of Al Haj and Zahara (Moenni) Mehdi. He arrived in the United States in 1949 and lived there since that time.
Mohammad Mehdi earned his higher education at the University of California in Berkeley, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1953. Later on, he got a Master of Arts, at that same University in 1954. Finally, he became a Doctor of Philosophy there in 1960.
Dr. Mehdi moved to the nited Startes as a young man. After working in Arab League information offices in San Francisco and New York, he founded the Action Committee on American-Arab Relations. Dr. Mehdi's 1968 book, ''Kennedy and Sirhan: Why?'' (New World Press), was described by a critic for The New York Times, Eliot Fremont-Smith, as ''truly shocking.'' In the review, Mr. Fremont-Smith called the work ''a bizarre tract sponsored by the Action Committee on American-Arab Relations, which argues that Senator Kennedy was a victim of Zionism. In 1969 he took the post of an executive editor in Islam in America Newspaper.
Mehdi was a plaintiff in a court suit that was settled after the New York City Board of Education agreed in 1997 to encourage schools to display the star and crescent symbol associated with Islam as part of displays of symbols of Christmas, Hanukkah and other holidays. The settlement was widely seen as indicating the growing prominence of Muslim culture in New York City. Dr. Mehdi and two other Muslims had brought the Federal lawsuit a year and a half earlier. They said they did so after finding that some districts and schools were refusing to include the star and crescent symbol in holiday displays.
Over years, he took public positions on a wide variety of subjects involving the Middle East, Arab-Americans, Muslims and Islam, and he became an adviser to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the radical Muslim cleric linked to the World Trade Center bombing. Mohammad T. Mehdi, an outspoken critic of Israel who was often quoted in the press and also spoke on radio and television, died on February 23, 1998. He was 70 and lived in Manhattan. Mr. Mehdi collapsed in the foyer of a midtown Manhattan office building, his family said, and Paul Giffone of the New York Funeral Service said he died of cardiac arrest in the emergency room of Bellevue Medical Center.
Dr. Mehdi's views generated strong criticism and praise. Dr. Mehdi was sometimes stinging in his criticism of Israel and its supporters. He was a lifelong Arab propagandist, a one-man organization without any constituency except for the media, who needed an Arab spokesman in New York on any occasion when the Arab delegations or ambassadors would not talk.
Quotations:
''We make a 100 percent difference between the person who is a Jew and that who is a Zionist. Zionists are neurotic, sick people. Most Jews are sick people and would benefit from Dr. Freud's couch.''
''New York is a Zion town.''
''The real father of Israel is Hitler.''
Quotes from others about the person
Representing the National Council on Islamic Affairs, Mehdi was a vocal supporter of the sheik, who one could describe as the spiritual leader of the World Trade Center bombers -- the blind sheik who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.'' - Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith
''There was a kind of creativity and a sparkle to his eyes. Before any of us who are now in this kind of work -- advocacy on behalf a different U.S. policy in the Middle East -- he was out there, and there were times when he was physically beaten and threatened, but he stayed with it and kept challenging us all.'' - James J. Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab-American Institute
Mohammad Mehdi married Beverlee Turner on June 20, 1953 and they had three children - Anisa, Janan, and Laila. Mehdi's marriage ended in divorce in 1980.