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South Florida Freakout Over “Jihad” Tag

jihad

by Emperor

I know one place that needs a #MyJihad campaign: Florida.

Some Southern Florida citizens went into freakout mode when they saw the word ‘Jihad’ tagged on the side of I-95 North near Delray Beach, not too far from Miami.

Obviously it was something that they thought had deeper implications, feeding into conspiracies about “stealth Muslim infiltration” and “terrorism.”

One “bigoted-in-a-wide-eyed-naive-way” Floridian Islamophobe by the name of Andrea Mitchell, a Conservative blogger was positive (without any actual proof) that Muslims were behind the tagging:

[T]he author behind the conservative blog, Fire Andrea Mitchell, authoritatively wrote that “Muslims” were behind the graffiti. “No individual Muslims have been caught from this,” the author wrote. “I wonder how many Mosques there are in the area.”

Nothing like a veiled threat to sweeten your morning.

The tag even prompted a heated exchange between a man named Damon Rosen and an impressive passerby who argued that the tag was “just a word” and for his fellow Floridians not to go berserk.

…a CBS12 segment, which showed a man named Damon Rosen embroiled in an ugly confrontation with another man over the graffiti.

“You’re brainwashed!” the man yelled at Rosen.

“Take that shit back to the Muslim land! Take that shit back to Allah!” Rosen bellowed, as a woman wearing a baseball cap and waving an American flag guided him away from the argument.

“It’s just a fucking word!” the man responded. “It’s just a fucking word!”

“It’s time for people to wake up,” Rosen said later in an interview. “Before we have another Boston bombing. Before we have another 9/11.”

The commentariat, in response, has been merciless.

“DARK CLOUDS OF JIHAD,” intoned one commenter on a blog called Atlasshrugged2000, “gathering over the Sunshine State.”

On YouTube, Carol Bellinger wrote: “They must not realize that Jihad means a holy war, which means to secure a holy place beside Allah, you must kill a non-believer… Now that is scary.”

(Actually, as defined in the Quran, the term Jihad specifically means “to struggle in the way of Allah,” and is used 41 times in the Quran, most often in description of someone “striving in the way of God.” Though some scholars of the Quran say the word can also denote military pursuits.)

The “Jihad” tag was also found on a sticker attached to an electrical box on 4th Avenue in the town.

Hmmm. A wall tagged with “Jihad” and a sticker with the word “Jihad?” These seem to be the well  known tell tale signs of a tagger, a vandal, a participant in one of the four elements that make up the sub-culture of hip-hop: graffiti.

Taggers are known to take up pseudonyms that they then emblazon on city walls, mail boxes, highway walls, etc. all in an effort to “get up” i.e. become famous and known in the world of graffiti.

In that sense these South Floridians may have done the tagger an inestimable favor by taking him or her out of obscurity and giving them free publicity.

In any case, it is absurd to draw the conclusions that these poor folks have. This does not, rest assured, portend a “Holy War” or some clash of civilizations with Delray Beach, rather it is as the passerby said “just a word” scrawled on a wall, on a highway.

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    • Miko

      I actually had a big debate with the actual Damon Rosen from the article on youtube. He eventually ran out of steam and stopped replying. A very angry, narrow minded hypocritical person.

    • Seeker

      Better than ninjas !

    • Tanveer Khan

      A bit like ninjas. Good at fighting.

    • Seeker

      SAS ?

    • GaribaldiOfLoonwatch

      Yeah, that whole segment needs to be part of a documentary on Islamophobia. It was insane.

    • Tanveer Khan

      So he’s the SAS of the mooslamic empire?

    • Tanveer Khan

      Ah i see. Makes more sense now. I was like “Heck, that seems a bit drastic!” xD

    • A year ago, a young unarmed black kid named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in a Florida suburb by a man named George Zimmerman. Despite mounting evidence that he chased the kid and shot him, he claimed he shot the kid in self-defense and the cops declined to arrest him. It became a national story, and months after the shooting and the police chief resigned, prosecutors charged him with murder. It’s a very controversial and racially-charged trial taking place.

    • Seeker

      It’s a tempting plan for a mischief-maker to build on these responses and scribble “Jihad” every which way.

    • Seeker

      Oh, that would be Batman! He operates in the dark and disappears in the blink of an eye.

    • A Voice of Reason

      That was either an Islamo-phobe trying to spark anti-Islam sentiment or a blonde Muslim.

    • Awesome

      The reaction to the graffiti is a classical example of sensationalism.

    • Tanveer Khan

      What is zimmermanning?

    • Tanveer Khan

      Emir SS, who was behind this master piece? I would like to shake their hand for they have done us a great service. The fear shall slowly spread, and when it has reached it’s zenith…..we strike .

    • Leftwing_Muslim_Alliance

      Its an important step to take over the world! Next step …………………Disney World! Nô Micky mouse opération this. It is very important.

      Sir david

    • Solid Snake

      Excellent…Our plan to create chaos at the United States, No- the Wests, vital center of society, Delray Beach ,is succeeding rather well.

      While the rest of the world Calls them crazy and dismisses their warnings we will secretly infiltrate Delray Beach, the last bastion of Western Civilization.

      Men who say “its just a word” are unwitting allies.

      First we take the walls of Delray Beach! Then with them out of the way no one will stand a chance!

    • Leftwing_Muslim_Alliance

      I dont bother trying to wind up gulible folks like these any more as its too easy . Sir David

    • Yausari

      A Muslim would know what jihad means and to spray paint the word would just lost all its meaning.

    • Jon Diamond

      Hahahaha. They expect me to believe that a Muslim sprayed this graffiti. It was a loser trying to keep the fear of Muslims alive.

      Just remember that Florida is a stand your ground state. My fellow Muslims in Florida, let me state that you have the right to defend yourselves. Someone tries to Zimmerman you, you have the right to take them out.

Women’s Group Adopting “Pro-Israel” Agenda Has A History Of Anti-Islam Activism

cwfa

Women’s Group Adopting Pro-Israel Agenda Has A History Of Anti-Islam Activism

By Matt Duss (ThinkProgress)

Last week, the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin hailed the arrival of “a strong new player in the pro-Israel community,” Concerned Women for America. It’s “music to the ears of Israel and her friends,” Rubin wrote, “that a 500,000-strong conservative group that has mostly focused on social and economic issues has adopted defense of Israel as part of its core mission.”

What Rubin doesn’t mention is that, in addition to a number of other very right-wing causes, CWFA has a history of anti-Muslim activism. In particular, the group pushes the “creeping sharia” conspiracy theory, which holds that Islamic religious law represents an imminent threat to the United States, and which my colleague Wajahat Ali and I debunked in a 2011 brief.

An announcement for a CWFA event in Iowa last November claimed, “Islam is more than a religion; it is a military strategy and a political and socio-economic system,” and asked, “Would you recognize Sharia Law in your community? Can we coexist like the bumper stickers suggest? Can true freedom survive if Islam thrives?”

A recent CWFA podcast on “Confronting the threat of Islam” — not “Islamism” or “Islamic extremism,” but Islam itself — featured Tom Lynch, Director of Mission Advancement for the Thomas More Law Center, another organization with a history of anti-Muslim activism.

“Today the Trojan horse is Islam,” said Lynch. “It’s entered America disguised as a religion. It’s ultimate objective is political, and that’s to destroy America and establish an Islamic nation under Allah and sharia law.” Thanks to “unprincipled career politicians that are corrupting our government,” Lynch warns, Islam threatens to corrupt America’s vital essence. “If you expect to remain free, it’s out duty as Americans, and the duty of everyone, to become informed about the threat of Islam within our gates.”

CWFA has been at active in lobbying for anti-sharia legislation, most recently in North Carolina, where they promoted “American Laws for American Courts,” template legislation created by attorney David Yerushalmi, who has advocated making it “a felony punishable by 20 years in prison to knowingly act in furtherance of, or to support the, adherence to Islam.”

In an op-ed in North Carolina’s News Observer last week, Faiza Patel and Amos Toh of the Brennan Center for Justice wrote that the measure would “create a series of damaging, unintended consequences for North Carolinians of all faiths.” (Patel, Toh and I examined some of these consequences in a recent report. A 2011 Center for American Progress report Fear, Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America, also detailed the various groups and individuals pushing anti-Islam measures.)

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon recently vetoed a nearly identical measure, saying it “seeks to solve a problem that does not exist.” Christian and Jewish groups have also opposed the measures on the grounds that they infringe religious liberty, particularly for religious minorities.

Supporters of Israel might want to think twice before embracing a group with this sort of extremist agenda. They might also want to ask why Rubin didn’t think it worth mentioning.

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    • Just_Stopping_By

      If you track back enough, the primary aspect of the “supporting” is actually praying for Israel. So, following your logic, they are praying for the well-being of over a million Muslims! !الحمد لله That sounds like either the first step toward their rehabilitation or a sign of the true end of days!

    • Solid Snake

      Also they might want to clarify what “supporting” Israel means. If they support Israel that means they support Jewish Israelis, Christian Arab Israelis, Muslim Arab Israelis, Secular Jewish Israelis, and Atheist Israelis. Somehow I doubt that’s what they mean. I think their support is somewhere along the line of “Hurry up and bring about the end of days prophecies” type of support ie using Israel as a vehicle for their own goals.

    • mindy1

      This Jew agrees with that statement

    • mindy1

      No, the real danger is right wing extremists who can convince people that everyone else is dangerous

    • Leftwing_Muslim_Alliance

      I have given up expecting consistancy and logic from bigots Sir David

    • CriticalDragon1177

      Emperor

      Concerned Women For America is primarily known for being an anti Abortion group. I didn’t expect to see them mentioned here, although, given the widespread Islamophobia on the right, it isn’t really surprising. This group is well known for having some pretty big extremist views.

    • RD Sultan

      The practice of sharia courts in American/European Islamic communities is no different than Jewish religious courts that Jews use to adjudicate intra-community/familial disputes. Non-Muslims will never see a Sharia Court just as most of us will never see a Beit Din Court.

    • Just_Stopping_By

      “Supporters of Israel might want to think twice before embracing a group with this sort of extremist agenda.”

      I agree 100%. It is bad politics and, more importantly, bad morality to embrace someone who would demonize an entire religion.

      Interestingly, this article quote CFWA as saying both that “Islam is more than a religion” and “It’s [Islam has] entered America disguised as a religion.” Apparently Islam is both more than a religion and not even (or less than) a religion. Personally, I prefer bigots who can pick one story and stick to it.

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