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Tags: Ali Abunimah, Amago, Christian, David Horowitz, Frontpage Magazine, Islam, Islamophobia, Robert Spencer, Sheila Musaji, Syria, TAM, The American Muslim

The Islamophobes Latest Fantasy Rape Fatwa

Posted on 09 April 2013 by Amago

The Islamophobes Latest Fantasy Rape Fatwa

Sheila Musaji

Robert Spencer wrote Syria: Christians flee rebel areas as fatwa authorizes rape of non-Sunni women. He introduces an article from Independent Catholic News with his own comment: “According to the sheikh, capturing and raping Alawi or Christian women is not contrary to the precepts of Islam.” Imagine the outcry if a Christian cleric had said that capturing and raping non-Christian women was not contrary to the precepts of Christianity. But no one will take any particular notice of this.”

The same story was peddled by Raymond Ibrahim on David Horowitz’ Frontpage Magazine. (Spencer’s Jihad Watch site is also a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.) Ibrahim even brings up again the “gang rape fatwa” claim of another such fatwa by Muhammad al-Arifi which has been thoroughly debunked by Ali Abunimah in the article How AlterNet and Salon fell for “gang rape” fatwa peddled by Islamophobes.

Such false stories spread by the Islamophobia rumor mill have become common, and whether or not to respond to them has been a serious discussion within the Muslim community. As Robert Crane said in Gang Rape and Global Ethics: The New Challenge of Phobic Orientalism

… The question is whether the power of the internet to expose Islamophobic disinformation and delegitimize it is greater than the power of the internet to promote falsehood either deliberately or innocently, as in the case of Muslims who spread the now debunked myth of a Saudi shaykh legitimizing gang rape.

The Qur’an states that whoever is guilty of spreading defamatory tales about another person without proof is just as guilty as is the originator. But does this apply to one whose objective is to attack the story in order to bring out truth and support justice?

… The media industry of Islamophobia has been in full swing ever since the collapse of Communism almost a quarter century ago. One question is whether it would it be better to ignore it and instead explain enlightened Islam, or whether the emphasis should be on exposing and thereby spreading the lies of the Islamophobes as a means to stop it?

Perhaps there is no answer to this factual and moral question, but the power of evil going viral in the era of instantaneous communication by individuals to millions of other individuals makes this issue increasingly important in the new era of global ethics and normative jurisprudence, once termed “moral theology” in traditional Christian philosophy and now in Islamic jurisprudence called the maqasid al shari’ah.

Sheikh Musa Furber looked into the “facts” behind this latest story. He writes Latest Episode in the “Gang Rape” Fatwa Frenzy:

Earlier I wrote about the media’s (and public’s) infatuation with scandalous fatawa, like the“gang rape” fatwa currently making its rounds. This latest fatwa story made its way into English via an article in [Human Events] which attributed the fatwa to “Salafi Sheikh Yasir al-‘Ajlawni,” currently residing in Jordan and formerly in Damascus. Another piece by the same author links to a March 12 article on tayyar.org as its source. Ten minutes of digging produces an earlier March 11 article in Jordan News, naming the Salafi Sheikh as “Yasin al-‘Ajlawni,” currently residing in Irbid, Jordan. The article includes comments from a “Yasin Ahmad Yasin al-‘Ajlawni” who explains the backstory of his fatwa. He explicitly denounces calling for the rape of Syrian non-Muslim women and states that his fatwa called for protecting Syrian women from the rapes committed by the Syrian army itself.

The latest development comes in an April 7 article in Independent Catholic News concerning Aleppo’s Christian community. It includes the following:

Fr David [Fernandez, a missionary of the Institute of the Incarnate Word] said: “Yesterday, Yasir al-Ajlawni – a Jordanian Salafi sheikh, resident in Damascus, released a fatwa on Youtube, declaring that it is lawful for opponents of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to rape “any Syrian woman not Sunni. According to the sheikh, capturing and raping Alawi or Christian women is not contrary to the precepts of Islam.”

There is much wrong with this claim. First, the Jordanian Salafi would be “Yasin al-Ajlawni” not “Yasir al-Ajlawni.” Second, he is a resident of Irbid, Jordan, not Damascus, Syria. Third, Yasir al-Ajlawni denied making such a fatwa. Forth, the fatwa he referred to predates April 6 by many weeks.

There is a story here. But the story is not about actual gang rape fatwas but rather the use of hoax fatwas in the propaganda war against the Syrian opposition.

Are there some extremist Muslim scholars, and some who have issued fatwas that require a response from mainstream Muslim scholars. Absolutely! Are mainstream Muslim scholars attempting to counter these extremists with clarifying fatwas and statements? Absolutely!

Continuously coming up with these “fantasy fatwas” as part of an effort to demonize the entire Muslim community does no one any good. I have long wondered why it is that if Muslims and Islam are so terrible, why do Islamophobes find the need to make up so many lies in order to prove that allegation?

The fact that these “news stories” and articles are simply wrong doesn’t change the fact that they are “out there” and that they will be read and believed by many of the same folks who believe the supermarket tabloids. They will be forwarded or passed on, and commented on, and the stories will grow and more and more people will accept them as “facts”.

When Muslims are charged with something the word Islam or Muslim is attached to whatever crime they are accused of, and the story makes the front page headlines, when they are found not guilty or innocent, that goes somewhere on the back pages in small print.

The comments left on internet sites by the readers of these sorts of articles show the sort of response this sort of propoganda provokes. What I don’t understand is who gains by such demonization of an entire faith.

See also:

*********************

RESOURCES FOR DEALING WITH ISLAMOPHOBIA SUMMARY

The Islamophobia Industry exists and is engaged in an anti-Muslim Crusade. They have a manifestofor spreading their propaganda, and which states their goal of “destroying Islam — as a culture, a political ideology, and a religion.” They produce anti-Muslim films. They are forming new organizations and coalitions of organizations at a dizzying speed, not only nationally, but also internationally. They have formed an International Leadership Team “which will function as a mobile, proactive, reactive on-the-ground team developing and executing confidential action plans that strike at the heart of the global anti-freedom agenda.”

Currently, the Islamophobia Industry is engaged in a full-scale, coordinated, demonization campaign against American Muslims and Arabs. In just the past few months we have seen a series of inflammatory provocations: There was the Innocence of Muslims film Titanic, a German satire magazine plans an “Islam” cover article to be published later this month. Charlie Hebdo, a French satire magazine published an issue with inflammatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Newsweek published their ‘Muslim Rage’ cover. Terry Jones held a “trial of Prophet Muhammad”. SION held a “global” gathering in NYC to plan propaganda strategy. A group in Toronto publicized a “walk your dog at the mosque” day. AFDI/SIOA has run a series of anti-Muslim ads on public transportation across the country. AFDI/SIOA are planning to run 8 more anti-Muslim ads. There are three more films on Prophet Muhammad in the works by Ali Sina, Mosab Hassan Yousef and Imran Farasat. They are even bringing their hate messagesinto public schools.

Daniel Pipes is encouraging publication of “A Muhammad cartoon a day”, and says “So, this is my plea to all Western editors and producers: Display the Muhammad cartoon daily, until the Islamists become accustomed to the fact that we turn sacred cows into hamburger.”. Pipes joins Daniel Greenfield (aka Sultan Knish) who published an appeal on David Horowitz’ Front Page Magazine Is It Time for ‘Make Your Own Mohammed Movie Month’?. And, both are following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Pamela Geller, who promoted just such a plan back in 2010 with her promotion of Draw Muhammad Day, even after the cartoonist who drew the first cartoon and suggested the idea, Molly Norris apologized to Muslims and asked for the day to be called off, and American Muslims had issued a defense of free speech. None of this is surprising as one of the Islamophobes laid out their strategy as “The Muslims themselves have shown us their most vulnerable spot, which is the questionable (though unquestioned) character of the ‘Prophet’ himself. We need to satirise and ridicule baby-bonking Mo until the Muslims fly into uncontrollable tantrums, then ridicule them even more for their tantrums, and repeat the process until they froth at the mouth and steam comes out of their ears.”

The Islamophobia of these folks is very real, it is also strikingly similar to a previous generations’ anti-Semitism, and it has predictable consequences. The reason that this is so obvious to so many is that rational people can tell the difference between legitimate concerns and bigoted stereotypes.

Sadly, the Islamophobic echo chamber has been aided by some in the Jewish and Christian clergy, and even by some of our elected representatives, particularly in the GOP.

The claim that the Islamophobes are “truth-tellers” and “defenders of freedom” who actually “love Muslims” and have never engaged in “broadbrush demonization” or “advocated violence”, or thatnothing that they say could have had anything to do with any act of violence, are nonsense. The claim that they are falsely being accused of Islamophobia for no reason other than their legitimate concerns about real issues and that in fact there is not even such a thing as Islamophobia, or their claim that the fact that there are fewer hate crimes against Muslims than against Jews or that some Muslims have fabricated such crimes “proves” that Islamophobia doesn’t exist, or that the term Islamophobia was made up by Muslims in order to stifle their freedom of speech, or that anti-Muslim bigotry is “not Islamophobia but Islamorealism” are all nonsense.

These individuals and organizations consistently promote the false what everyone “knows” lies about Islam and Muslims (including distorting the meaning of Qur’anic verses, and distorting the meaning of Islamic terms such as taqiyya, jihad, sharia, etc.).

The most commonly repeated false claims about Muslims and Islam are that:

Everyone “knows” that most or all terrorists are Muslims, and there are no Christian and no Jewish terrorists (or terrorists of any other religious stripe), and that Muslims are all militant, inherently violent, more likely to engage in violence against civilians, and more likely than other Americans to be radicalized.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are not interested in dialogue. That Muslims don’t helpChristians in need. That Muslims can’t have Christians as friends, and are anti-Semites,Holocaust deniers, and intolerant of other faiths.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t unequivocally denounce terrorism, that American Muslim leaders have not responded to radicalization in their community, that mosques are the sourceof radicalization, that 85% of mosques are run by radicals, that Muslims don’t cooperate with law enforcement.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are not equivalent to real Americans, that they are the enemy within, and a fifth column, that good Muslims can’t be good Americans, that Muslims are notloyal to America, that they are not a part of our American heritage,

Everyone “knows” that Islam itself is the problem and makes Muslims “backward”, that Muslims have made no contribution to the West, that Islam is “of the devil”, a Crescent menace, a“green peril”, that was spread by the sword, an “evil encroaching on the United States”, andnot a religion.

Everyone “knows” that this is a Christian nation, which the Muslims are trying to take over, starting with getting an Eid stamp which is the first step towards shariah law which is a threatto America, and a threat to our judicial system, by purposefully having more children than others to increase their numbers, and they will be the majority in this country in 20 years. Muslims are a threat to America

Everyone “knows” that Muslims have no respect for the Constitution, they don’t obey the laws of the United States, that they are opposed to freedom of speech, don’t allow and freedom of religion.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are given a pass by the elite media. It’s “us versus them”.

Everyone “knows” that the Muslims’ goal is world domination under a Caliphate, and the proposed Cordoba House in NYC is a demonstration of supremacism and triumphalism, and that Muslims planned to open it on the anniversary of 9/11.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t speak out against extremism or terrorism, and even those Muslims who do speak up or seem moderate are simply lying or practicing taqiyyah.

Everyone “knows” that the Qur’an is uniquely violent, that the Islamic concept of God doesn’t include God’s love, and does not include the concept of a Golden Rule, that Allah is a moon god.

Everyone “knows” that Islam is a monolith and all Muslims are the same, like the “Borg”. This means that every act committed by an individual who is a Muslim is directly attributable to Islam, and never because the individual is crazy, criminal, or perverted.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t have a sense of humor

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are like the Fascists and Nazis and that in fact they supported those movements.

The problem is that what “everyone knows” is wrong. These self-righteous and incorrect statements are usually followed by a demand that the Muslim community do something about whatever is the false flag of the day or face the inevitable consequences.

Islamophobes falsely claim to see “JIHAD” PLOTS everywhere, particularly where they don’t exist. They, like Muslim extremists, don’t understand the true meaning of the term jihad. The Islamophobes have uncovered countless examples of “shocking”, non-existent Muslim jihad plots.

Islamophobes generalize specific incidents to reflect on all Muslims or all of Islam. Islamophobes consistently push demonstrably false memes such as: – we are in danger from creeping Sharia, – the Muslim population is increasing at an alarming rate, - 80% of American Mosques are radicalized, - There have been 270 million victims of “jihad” - There have been 17,000+ “Islamic terrorist” attacks since 9/11 - Muslims in government are accused of being Muslim Brotherhood plants, stealth jihadists, and creeping Sharia proponents and should be MARGINALIZED or excluded. Muslim and Arab organizations and individuals are connected to the infamous Muslim Brotherhood document or theunindicted co-conspirator label, or accused of not condemning Hamas, telling American Muslims not to talk to the FBI, of being “Jew haters”, etc.

When Islamophobes are caught in the act of making up or distorting claims they engage in devious methods to attempt to conceal the evidence.

There is a reason that many, even outside of the Muslim community see such demonization of Muslims as Islamophobic. There is a reason that the ADL has stated that Brigitte Gabriel’s Act for America, Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE) are “groups that promote an extreme anti-Muslim agenda”. There is a reason that The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SIOA as a hate group, and that these individuals are featured in the SPLC reports Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle. There is a reason that these individuals and organizations are featured prominently in: — the Center for American Progress reports “Fear Inc.” on the Islamophobia network in America and Understanding Sharia Law: Conservatives skewed interpretation needs debunking. — the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism. — the NYCLU reportReligious Freedom Under Attack: The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State. — the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security. — The ACLU report Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical “Sharia Threat” to Our Judicial System — in The American Muslim TAM Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry. There is a reason that the SIOA’s trademark patent was denied by the U.S. government due to its anti-Muslim nature. There is a reason that these individuals and organizations are featured in just about every legitimate report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred.

See Resources for dealing with Islamophobes for many more reasons that these people cannot be trusted.

Sheila Musaji is the founding editor of The American Muslim (TAM), published since 1989. Sheila received the Council on American-Islamic Relations 2007 Islamic Community Service Award for Journalism, and the Loonwatch Anti-Loons of 2011: Profiles in Courage Award for her work in fighting Islamophobia. Sheila was selected for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims published since 2009 by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan. Biography You can follow her on twitter @sheilamusaji (https://twitter.com/SheilaMusaji )

Comments (12)

Tags: AFDI, Fatwa, Islam, Islamophobia, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Sexual Jihad, Sheila Musaji

Pamela Geller Wrong About “Sexual Jihad” Fatwa

Posted on 02 April 2013 by Amago

Pamela Geller

Pamela Geller Wrong About “Sexual Jihad” Fatwa

by Sheila Musaji

Pamela Geller has published Islamic ruling encouraging “Sexual Jihad”: Prostitution for the holiest in which she introduces an article from Al Monitor Tunisians Raise Alarm on Possible Fatwa Encouraging ‘Sexual Jihad’

Of course, Geller opens with her her own comments (as did her partner in the hate group AFDI), Robert Spencer): “That’s one wild and crazy religion you got there. Islamic religious authority has sanctioned prostitution for terrorists as “sexual jihad.” Who said there is no feminism in Islam? Daniel Greenfield quips that jihadists have found a way to legalize prostitution by calling it “Sexual Jihad,” giving Muslim women three life paths. 1. Staying indoors 2. Killing themselves 3. Becoming Islamic prostitutes.”

Key points from the Al Monitor article on which she bases her faulty observations:

- it is a possible fatwa (i.e. may not even exist) and was circulated anonymously on the internet
- when Tunisian people heard about it they were upset
- the Tunisian Minister of Religious Affairs Noureddine al-Khadimi rejected any such “sexual jihad” fatwas, saying that the Tunisian people and state institutions are not obligated to adhere to them.
- the reports that such a fatwa even existed came from the internet, primarily Syrian regime websites, the goal of which may be to tarnish the image of the Islamic fighters.
- this fatwa was not issued by a Tunisian cleric or a religious institution — whether official or civil
- News websites and social networks in Tunisia circulated a fatwa attributed to Sheikh M. A., in which he calls upon “Muslim women” to perform jihad through sex. However, sources close to the sheikh denied that he had issued the fatwa, stressing that anyone who circulates or believes it is insane.

So, a simple reading of the article would tell anyone with basic reading skills that no “religious authority” had issued this fatwa, actual religious authorities condemned any such fatwa, there may not even have been a fatwa issued by anyone, there is no “Islamic ruling encouraging sexual jihad”. None of this reflects on Islam as a “wild and crazy religion”.

All of this sounds remarkably like a series of recent “fatwa alarms” spread by these same Islamophobes as if they represent mainstream Islam and Muslims. Here articles responding to these claims:

About that Supposed Egyptian Necrophilia Law & fatwa, Sheila Musajihttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/about-that-egyptian-necrophilia-law
Crucifixions in Egypt & Al Azhar Fatwas Encouraging Violence?: More Islamophobic Nonsense, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/crucifixion-story
Cucumber “fatwa” seems to be only shoddy reporting, Sheila Musajihttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/cucumber-fatwa
Exhibit A in How an Islamophobic Meme Can Spread Like Wildfire Across the Internet, (fabricated story of a Saudi cleric issuing a fatwa condoning gang rapes in Syria) Sanam Naraghi Anderlini http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/exhibit-a-in-how-an-islamophobic-meme-can-spread-like-wildfire-across-the-i
Holier than thou: extremism against Islam, Sheikh Musa Furberhttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/holier-than-thou-extremism-against-islam
How AlterNet and Salon fell for Saudi “gang rape” fatwa peddled by Islamophobes, Ali Abunimahhttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/how-alternet-and-salon-fell-for-gang-rape-fatwa-peddled-by-islamophobes
Islamophobes See “Jihad” Everywhere, Sheila Musajihttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/jihad-everywhere
Resources for dealing with Islamophobes, Sheila Musajihttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/there-is-a-reason/0019403
What everyone “knows” about Islam and Muslims, Sheila Musajihttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/what_everyone_knows
Yes, MEMRI, there is a Fatwa from Khamenei forbidding Nukes, Juan Colehttp://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/yes-memri-there-is-a-fatwa-from-khamenei-forbidding-nukes
What is a fatwa? Who can give one? (supposed Al Azhar fatwa authorizing violence against protestors), Sheikh Musa Furber http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/what-is-a-fatwa-who-can-give-one

What sort of human being spends their life looking for anything that can even remotely be used to defame an entire religion, and spreading those stories without any fact-checking? And, when even their creative minds can’t find something to distort, simply make up lies. This behavior is an example of pure Islamophobia.

*********

RESOURCES FOR DEALING WITH ISLAMOPHOBIA SUMMARY

Currently, the Islamophobia Industry is engaged in a full-scale, coordinated, demonization campaign against American Muslims and Arabs. In just the past few months we have seen a series of inflammatory provocations: There was the Innocence of Muslims film Titanic, a German satire magazine plans an “Islam” cover article to be published later this month. Charlie Hebdo, a French satire magazine published an issue with inflammatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Newsweek published their ‘Muslim Rage’ cover. Terry Jones held a “trial of Prophet Muhammad”. SION held a “global” gathering in NYC to plan propaganda strategy. A group in Toronto publicized a “walk your dog at the mosque” day. AFDI/SIOA has run a series of anti-Muslim ads on public transportation across the country. AFDI/SIOA are planning to run 8 more anti-Muslim ads. There are three more films on Prophet Muhammad in the works by Ali Sina, Mosab Hassan Yousef and Imran Farasat. They are even bringing their hate messagesinto public schools.

Daniel Pipes is encouraging publication of “A Muhammad cartoon a day”, and says “So, this is my plea to all Western editors and producers: Display the Muhammad cartoon daily, until the Islamists become accustomed to the fact that we turn sacred cows into hamburger.”. Pipes joins Daniel Greenfield (aka Sultan Knish) who published an appeal on David Horowitz’ Front Page Magazine Is It Time for ‘Make Your Own Mohammed Movie Month’?. And, both are following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Pamela Geller, who promoted just such a plan back in 2010 with her promotion of Draw Muhammad Day, even after the cartoonist who drew the first cartoon and suggested the idea, Molly Norris apologized to Muslims and asked for the day to be called off, and American Muslims had issued a defense of free speech. None of this is surprising as one of the Islamophobes laid out their strategy as “The Muslims themselves have shown us their most vulnerable spot, which is the questionable (though unquestioned) character of the ‘Prophet’ himself. We need to satirise and ridicule baby-bonking Mo until the Muslims fly into uncontrollable tantrums, then ridicule them even more for their tantrums, and repeat the process until they froth at the mouth and steam comes out of their ears.”

Sadly, the Islamophobic echo chamber has been aided by some in the Jewish and Christian clergy, and even by some of our elected representatives, particularly in the GOP.

The most commonly repeated false claims about Muslims and Islam are that:

Everyone “knows” that most or all terrorists are Muslims, and there are no Christian and no Jewish terrorists (or terrorists of any other religious stripe), and that Muslims are all militant, inherently violent, more likely to engage in violence against civilians, and more likely than other Americans to be radicalized.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are not interested in dialogue. That Muslims don’t helpChristians in need. That Muslims can’t have Christians as friends, and are anti-Semites,Holocaust deniers, and intolerant of other faiths.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t unequivocally denounce terrorism, that American Muslim leaders have not responded to radicalization in their community, that mosques are the sourceof radicalization, that 85% of mosques are run by radicals, that Muslims don’t cooperate with law enforcement.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are not equivalent to real Americans, that they are the enemy within, and a fifth column, that good Muslims can’t be good Americans, that Muslims are notloyal to America, that they are not a part of our American heritage,

Everyone “knows” that Islam itself is the problem and makes Muslims “backward”, that Muslims have made no contribution to the West, that Islam is “of the devil”, a Crescent menace, a“green peril”, that was spread by the sword, an “evil encroaching on the United States”, andnot a religion.

Everyone “knows” that this is a Christian nation, which the Muslims are trying to take over, starting with getting an Eid stamp which is the first step towards shariah law which is a threatto America, and a threat to our judicial system, by purposefully having more children than others to increase their numbers, and they will be the majority in this country in 20 years. Muslims are a threat to America

Everyone “knows” that Muslims have no respect for the Constitution, they don’t obey the laws of the United States, that they are opposed to freedom of speech, don’t allow and freedom of religion.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are given a pass by the elite media. It’s “us versus them”.

Everyone “knows” that the Muslims’ goal is world domination under a Caliphate, and the proposed Cordoba House in NYC is a demonstration of supremacism and triumphalism, and that Muslims planned to open it on the anniversary of 9/11.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t speak out against extremism or terrorism, and even those Muslims who do speak up or seem moderate are simply lying or practicing taqiyyah.

Everyone “knows” that the Qur’an is uniquely violent, that the Islamic concept of God doesn’t include God’s love, and does not include the concept of a Golden Rule, that Allah is a moon god.

Everyone “knows” that Islam is a monolith and all Muslims are the same, like the “Borg”. This means that every act committed by an individual who is a Muslim is directly attributable to Islam, and never because the individual is crazy, criminal, or perverted.

Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t have a sense of humor

Everyone “knows” that Muslims are like the Fascists and Nazis and that in fact they supported those movements.

The problem is that what “everyone knows” is wrong. These self-righteous and incorrect statements are usually followed by a demand that the Muslim community do something about whatever is the false flag of the day or face the inevitable consequences.

When Islamophobes are caught in the act of making up or distorting claims they engage in devious methods to attempt to conceal the evidence.

See Resources for dealing with Islamophobes for many more reasons that these people cannot be trusted.

Comments (10)

Tags: #MyJihad, Anti-Muslim, AtlasShrugs, Christians, France, Hoax, Islam, Islamophobia, Jews, Muslims, Pamela Geller, Sheila Musaji

About that Muslims Harass Christian & Jewish Neighbors, Police Refuse to Help Story

Posted on 12 January 2013 by Emperor

About that Muslims Harass Christian & Jewish Neighbors, Police Refuse to Help Story

by Sheila Musaji

This particular strategy of the Islamophobia network is getting tiresome.

Pamela Geller posted #MyJihad in Paris: Muslims Harass, Attack Christian and Jewish Neighbors, Police Refuse to Help in which she published an email she received from an anonymous “Atlas reader” in Paris.

We are supposed to take her word for it that this individual’s statement is true. Geller, of course, will take the word of anyone who has anything negative to say about Islam and Muslims.

What is the story that Geller must share with the world?

An anonymous reader of her site asks Pamela to help her “tell the world about what is going on here so that people will fight these horrible pigs.” [the “pigs” she refers to are Muslims.] In her story she complains about the French “socialist government”, altercations with Muslim neighbors, and bizarre incidents that she is aware of (like Muslims forcing a Jewish child to eat pork or they would kill her parents).

This would be laughable if it wasn’t for the fact that there are individuals who do take Geller’s postings seriously. This is the sort of incoherent story you get from people walking the streets and talking to themselves.

Not content with putting this story out on her site, Geller also tweeted it out using the #MyJihad hashtag, as part of her ongoing effort to undermine that positive effort by Muslims to take back the term from both Muslim extremists and Islamophobes. And, her followers followed suit, tweeting and re-tweeting this “story” using the #MyJihad hashtag.

Interestingly, the two groups who share extremists views about Islam – the Muslim extremists and the Islamophobes - both attacked the campaign. Geller & Spencer accused the #MyJihad campaign of inspiring a Chicago bus threat. They also began churning out articles with the hashtag #MyJihad in their titles, and then tweeting the titles of those articles and encouraging others to re-tweet, in an attempt to take over the #MyJihad hashtag by overwhelming it with hateful messages. Many of the articles they have come up with have been, even by their standards, disgraceful. Here are just a few of these false hate pieces from the past few days: (Don’t worry, the links take you to responses, not the original) #MyJihad: Egyptian Cleric Warns Christian Women: If You Don’t Wear a Veil You’ll Be Raped - #MyJihad: Muslim cleric tells converts to bury their Christian parents as if they were dead dogs - #MyJihad in Serbia: Kosovo Muslims destroy Serbian Orthodox monastery. In addition to these new lies, they are recycling many of their old lies in tweets including the hashtag, e.g. #MyJihad 270 million victims of over a millennium of jihadi wars - #MyJihad 17,000+ “Islamic terrorist” attacks since 9/11, etc. See the RESOURCES FOR DEALING WITH ISLAMOPHOBIA SUMMARY section below for links to responses to many of these current and previous hateful claims.

Based on Geller’s past performance it is difficult to believe that any sane person could take her rantings seriously, but they do. I prefer to save myself the trouble and just use the Pamela Geller: Shrieking Harpy Rant Generator to get my dose of Geller “humor” for the day.

Why does this story sound so familiar?

Geller, and her partner Robert Spencer have proven hundreds of times that they have a Tenuous Grasp of the Concept of “Truth Telling”.

One of the many previous lies they spread was very similar to this current one. In that case Geller posted an article titled “Hate Crime” which shared an email from a reader who had supposedly been harassed by Muslims in her neighborhood and was unable to get law enforcement or elected officials to do anything about it.

In that case, the writer calling herself “Danusha (Redacted) PhD” claimed a Muslim man accosted her and “impeded” her ability to walk down the street, and that Muslims regularly mock her, and one even hit her with his SUV.

When the article was originally posted it included this introduction to the email by Geller: “The hypocrisy loooms [sic] large. Here’s a letter I thought I should share with you. I expect the gutless congressman who witnessed his Muslim constituents dancing on 9/11/01 will do nothing but hide beneath his desk. If this continues — auxiliary law enforcement will be necessary.”

Subsequently the original email from the “victim” was removed from Geller’s site, as was Geller’s lead in to the article, and replaced with an almost incoherent rant. In that rant, Geller claimed that ” I’ve removed the letter from this post because of threats to its author. The incredible evil that is standard operating procedure for those on the left led them to try to identify the author, and effectively target her for retribution. Thus I removed the letter. Imagine: this woman lives in fear every day, and the response to this violation of her basic human rights was an attempt to out her and put her life in jeopardy. That’s what we’re dealing with.”

An article I wrote at the time exposing this nonsense, notes that according to Charles Johnson

… the individual who wrote this letter is Danusha Goska and he links to an email sent to a site called VDARE from this person in 2008. That email complained about “Hispanic noise pollution” in her neighborhood. In that email she included a copy of a letter that she had sent to her local mayor and claims that her complaints have gone unanswered. The VDare site posts a note at the bottom of this post saying Goska, a teacher and Democrat, previously wrote to us about her experience with National Public Radio. with a link to this previous letter.

That link takes you to an email she sent which included an “essay” she had sent to NPR. At the bottom of the “essay” is this: Goska, a writer, teacher and Ph.D. from Indiana University does “manual labor to make ends meet.” She submitted this essay to NPR (e-mail) which rejected it.

Johnson also turned up a strange film review posted by a person named Danusha Goska.

In a simple google search I turned up a number of articles including this one - Islam and Terror: Some Thoughts after 9/11 by Danusha V. Goska, PhD.

She seems, like Geller to be focused on anti-Muslim rabble rousing. Geller, rather than explain that she had been taken in by an email from a seemingly unstable person, instead pulled the email, and substituted a rant that still managed to make it seem as if the information contained in that original email was accurate.

This pattern of making outrageous claims based on no evidence at all, and then if caught out, attempting to conceal the evidence is a pattern.

Comments (41)

Tags: Anti-Muslim, Arutz Sheva, Europe, Gil Ronen, Holocaust, Islam, Islamophobia, Israel, Moti Zisser, Muslims, Second Holocaust, Sheila Musaji

Sheila Musaji: Never again (after just one more time)

Posted on 24 December 2012 by Mooneye

Sheila Musaji takes on a ludicrous article in Arutz Sheva that discusses the strange predictions and analysis of a billionaire religious Israeli businessman by the name of Moti Zisser. The article on Zisser was authored by Gil Ronen who previously was hawking fabricated reports about Oslo Rapists all being Muslim. (h/t: Fred A.)

by Sheila Musaji (The American Muslim)

An article by Gil Ronen was just published in Arutz Sheva, Israel National News Europe Preparing Holocaust for Muslims. This article discusses the predictions of Moti Zisser an Israeli businessman. I looked up Moti Zisser, and he is a billionaire real-estate developer. Here is the published article:

Well-known religious businessman Moti Zisser predicted Saturday evening that Europe will unleash a second Holocaust – but this time, the victims will be Muslims, not Jews.
“I think another Holocaust is brewing in Europe,” he told congregants at Bnei Brak’s Heichal Shlomo synagogue, according to Maariv-NRG. “I said it five years ago and everyone laughed at me. Today nobody is laughing; today they only argue with me over when it will happen.”

The entrepreneur, who has businesses in Israel as well as Poland and other European countries, explained that Muslims are increasingly gaining control of the European economy, and that the Europeans are bound to lash out at them. He said that he meets businessmen in Europe who ask him how he thinks the “Muslim problem can be solved.”

“I would give you numbers regarding what is happening with Muslims in Europe,” he said. “They control things that are in people’s pockets. It is much more painful than with the Jews, and for this they killed six million Jews, so for the other things they will kill 60 million too.”

“Don’t get this wrong,” he explained. “This continent knows full well where it is headed. Today there are cities in France with a Muslim majority that do not belong to the French. For those who don’t know, the city of Marseilles, for instance, belongs to the Arabs. The new demon in Europe is the Muslims, and it is being built up just like the Jewish demon was built up at the start of the previous century.”

“This new demon is being built in the way that Europe knows how to build and annihilate something when it is defending itself against it.”

Zisser added that in Europe’s eyes, Israel is an ally vis-à-vis the Muslim threat. That is why Israel need not be concerned about the European criticism of its policies in Jerusalem or elsewhere, he explained. On the contrary, he said, “If Israel knew how to take advantage” of the fact that it is perceived as an ally against the Muslims, “there is no doubt that this could give Israel great status in the big game in the next 50 or 100 years.”

What I get from this article is that Europe is feeling threatened by the Muslim presence, just as they once were by the Jewish presence. The economy in Europe is in trouble, and just as with the Jews in the last century, Muslims are seen now as having too much control on the economy. Anti-Muslim feeling is growing, and being actively promoted. This could very easily lead to another holocaust.

BUT, and this last paragraph containing the big BUT deserves repeating: In Europe’s eyes, Israel is an ally vis-à-vis the Muslim threat. That is why Israel need not be concerned about the European criticism of its policies in Jerusalem or elsewhere, he explained. On the contrary, he said, “If Israel knew how to take advantage” of the fact that it is perceived as an ally against the Muslims, “there is no doubt that this could give Israel great status in the big game in the next 50 or 100 years.

He seems to be saying that the Jews should ally themselves with the forces that are currently moving towards this new holocaust against the Muslims and in that way improve Israel’s position in the world after Muslims are murdered. The author of this article is predicting a mass murder of Muslims, and suggesting that it might be a good thing for Israel.

Not one word in this article about how wrong any of this would be, not any concern about the victims of this possible holocaust against Muslims. No mention of NEVER AGAIN for anyone. Simply a dispassionate prediction that this will probably happen and that Jews should take advantage of the situation.

The article has been picked up by many other Jewish newspapers, including the 5Towns paper in New York This is the Jewish newspaper that back in 2008 published an article by Lawrence Kulak about which I wrote Jewish Newspaper Article Calls for Murder of Innocent Muslims in which I said:

… A few quotes from Mr. Kulak’s article:

“Moreover, the only way to deal with Islamic terrorists is the same way in which they deal with their victims. Muslims believe in the literal interpretation of the Biblical doctrine of an eye for an eye, and they do not have respect for anything perceived as a lesser standard of justice. They killed our innocents, and unless we kill theirs, they will go on killing ours. The Torah, however, preaches a doctrine which, if implemented by the West, could finally put an end to all Islamic terror: If somebody is coming to kill you, rise up and kill him first.”

“Any and all collateral damage in the form of casualties to friends, relatives, or anyone connected to the lives of these terrorists should be swiftly ignored.”

It is surprising that a religious publication would carry an article calling for the deliberate killing of civilians as a form of collective punishment, especially since such actions are considered a war crime by International law. It is even more surprising when the author claims as a matter of fact that pre-emptive warfare is taught in the Jewish Torah, and that collective punishment is a “common sense” solution “etched in the Mosaic law.”.

If such an article was published by Muslim extremists it is certain that there would be an uproar and demands that every Muslim organization (and even Muslim individual) condemn such a terrorist mentality.

The response so far to CAIR’s call for repudiation is silence for the most part. In the blogsphere there are some rumblings, but mostly of the expected sort calling CAIR anti-Semitic for making such a call.

Larry Gordon, the editor of the 5 Towns Jewish Times published a response to CAIR’s request which is more of an attack on CAIR than any sort of apology. The closest the response comes to an apology is the statement: “The editorial staff of the Five Towns Jewish Times decries the notion of any support of terrorism, and we fully support the United States government’s War on Terrorism. As an Orthodox Jewish weekly, the 5TJT also rejects the demonization of Muslims, both in this country and abroad. If any such implication of supporting the terrorization or murder of innocent Muslims who do not support terrorists or terrorist activities was made by an article in the 5TJT, it was due simply to a poor choice of words—a slip of the author’s pen, if you will. Read in its entirety, the article is clearly conveying the message that members of a community that supports terrorists and allows them to remain in its midst should not expect to escape retaliation. At the same time, the 5TJT calls upon CAIR to unequivocally denounce all of its past and current support of and for Islamist terrorism, whether that support be direct or remote. We call upon CAIR to denounce Muslim killers who act in the name of Islam, and we call upon CAIR to denounce and call for a halt of the hatred of Jews and non-Muslims that many Muslims proclaim.”

They also published a defense of his original article by Lawrence Kulak:

Dear Editor, after seeing the disingenuous way that CAIR attacked me for writing my article “The Appropriate Response to Islamic Terror” published in last week’s paper, I am even more convinced of the validity of everything I wrote. In addition, I am also proud to have exposed the way that CAIR chooses to demonstrate its jihadist philosophy by taking the sentence to which it objected deliberately out of context in a typical attempt to fan the flames of hatred.

I never advocated the wanton killing of innocent Muslims, only that Muslim terror be treated the same as warfare, with similar regard for collateral damage. Because it seems as if this common-sense approach has been cowardly sidestepped by the West and Israel—to their severe detriment—there was the need to explain it in seemingly blunt language. If Muslims or CAIR are offended by the methods of Realpolitik which I advocate, let them complain to Muslim governments, such as Pakistan’s, who routinely violate international law by continuing to harbor terrorists and permitting terrorists to use civilians as human shields.

As far as my use of the concept of “an eye for an eye,” the utility of this device was proven in World War II against the Japanese, a civilization that also utilized suicide missions as a means of warfare. The Japanese government had been using poison gas against the Chinese, but when Roosevelt threatened to do the same to them, they abruptly terminated that practice. Unfortunately, it seems that Muslims today do not yield to pure threats as readily as the Japanese did.

Moreover, the Jewish religion does not advocate the killing of innocent civilians, but apparently Islam does. What about the verse in the Koran which states that when the Muslim messiah comes, the trees will tell Muslims to kill the Jews that are hiding behind them? So much for CAIR’s allegations.

The ADL did not issue a formal statement or press release, but did send a letter to the editor of the 5 Towns Jewish Times which stated:

To the Editor: We were shocked by Lawrence Kulak’s suggestion that Jews should kill innocent Muslim civilians to counter Islamic terrorism (“The Appropriate Response to Islamic Terror,” Dec. 12).

Regardless of one’s views on terrorism, to even entertain the notion of responding in kind is morally reprehensible and appalling. It is unfair to hold innocent Muslims responsible for the radical views of an extreme minority. In the Jewish tradition, words have consequences. In this case, Kulak’s words crossed the line.

Sincerely,
Anti-Defamation League

This is something, but not much for the only response to this article made by any Jewish organization. The letter is not even signed by any individual at the ADL.

The problem is that CAIR was only the organization that raised the issue – they are not the only Muslims that are distressed - and not only Muslims find this article reprehensible. Those objecting to CAIR’s concerns are attacking the messenger, but that has nothing to do with the message, and no reasonable person could find fault with CAIR’s message that ‘Such inflammatory comments have no place in reasoned public discourse’.

The theologian, Martin Marty wrote about this in Sightings:

“The mimetic principle,” most developed by René Girard, today captures the attention of psychologists, literary critics, war-and-peace makers, and experts in many disciplines. It builds on the desires and behavior of humans who see something they and their rivals both want. As they follow up, the price exacted by both keeps going up. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is matched by build-ups of negative emotions, strategies and arms. We see this in much of the conflict, including that related to religion, in the world today.

This is most visible among those who react to terrorists who are rooted in and related to Islamic groups. “They” take innocent lives, so “we” should do the same.” We have seen that practice in Palestinian/Israeli acts of escalation and vengeance. The question for some is: Should we make a principle out of the “mimetic principle” when dealing with civilians, innocents, mothers and children who are in the path of conflict?

One of the more explicit counsels for “us” to be indiscriminate in killing those who occupy the soil or live within the states in which Islamist terrorists are active, appeared in Five Towns Jewish Times (December 11). Reproduction of and reports on it quickly spread, and within a day the Times had taken it off their web-site and blocked it on others. Google “The Appropriate Response to Islamic Terror” and you will quickly find traces of it in its brief prime. We can be glad they took it down, but also can learn from what its author, Lawrence Kulak, wrote in this 20,000-circulation paper issuing from five towns in Nassau County, but aimed at all New York and reaching beyond it.

What is “The Appropriate Response to Islamic Terror?” Kulak uses the definite article as he offers “the solution to international terror”. (The underlining is mine; the stress is his.) “The only way to deal with Islamic terrorists is the same way in which they deal with their victims. Muslims believe in the literal interpretation of the Biblical doctrine of an eye for an eye…They killed our innocents, and unless we kill theirs, they will go on killing ours. The Torah, however, preaches a doctrine which…would finally put an end to all Islamic terror: if somebody is coming to kill you, rise up and kill him first.”

Kulak criticizes the U. S. presidential response to 9/11 which “labeled Islam a peaceful religion that had been hijacked by radical elements.” The president thus “all but rejected the possibility of taking drastic action…” Kulak is unsentimental in his “kill them all” approach: “Any and all collateral damage in the form of casualties to friends, relatives, or anyone connected to the lives of these terrorists should be swiftly ignored. Public opinion and what is written in the newspapers should also be ignored by nations seeking to avenge the death of its innocent civilians.”

The problem of making a principle of this principle is that the rivals, enemies, counterparts, or counter-belligerents who read this kind of editorial–and read them they do–find occasion to raise the price, engage in more indiscriminate violence, and that, in turn inspires and impels us to raise it still higher and engage in ever more violence, “women and children” be damned–or at least thoughtlessly and painlessly annihilated. We all know that in all wars, including those we call “just” or “good,” there are “collateral damages” and deaths of innocents. However, making a principle out of doing so, and especially doing so on religious grounds, only invites more violence. Then there are no eyes to trade for eyes, teeth to exact for teeth, while hatred and violence triumph.

(This article is not yet available online on Sightings, but can be found athttp://subrationedei.com/?p=859 )

As a participant in the recent Mosque Synagogue “Twinning” I remain hopeful that Muslim and Jewish Americans can come together and act as a bridge to help heal the wounds caused by anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. To do this both communities will need to speak out against those who are determined to continue to spew hatred and bigotry.

It seems that there are still some individuals in the Jewish community who are more concerned with political expediency than with Judaism. (Just as there are some in the Muslim community that are more concerned with political expediency than with Islam.) Another example of this same reasoning was a July 2010 article on David Horowitz’s News Real Blog by Jeanette Pryor titled It’s Time to Put the Coffee Down and Eradicate Islam in the West. This article included the passage “It’s time to join the war, not on “terror” (that oh-so soothing illusion,) but on Islam in the West. Most urgently, we must defend Israel as the frontline in the war against the spread of Islam.”

Read the rest…

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Tags: Anti-Muslim, Conspiracy Theory, dhimmi, Halloween jihad, Islam, Islamophobia, Jihad, JihadWatch, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Robert Spencer Watch, Seattle, Sheila Musaji, The American Muslim

Sheila Musaji: Robert Spencer Discovers Halloween Jihad

Posted on 21 October 2012 by Emperor

Let the loony Islamophobic conspiracies about a war on Halloween begin. (h/t: CriticalDragon)

Robert Spencer discovers Halloween Jihad

by Sheila Musaji

Robert Spencer finds it noteworthy enough to note on Jihad Watch that Seattle elementary school bans Halloween costumes: they could offend students from “other cultures”.

He engages in his typical snarky innuendo:

Gee, I wonder which culture would have students in the Seattle elementary schools who would be offended by Halloween costumes. Still, there is no indication that any Islamic supremacist group demanded this ban; the school officials are just playing the dhimmi on their own initiative. Please write them, politely and respectfully, and ask them why American culture always takes a back seat to others, and why they’re pandering to an imaginary offense.

And, of course, his partner Pamela Geller also posted an article on this non-story, sayingDismantling America, piece by cultural piece, law by American law …… the parents ought to protest en masse – in costume.

The article Spencer and Geller refer to says only that a Seattle school has banned students from dressing up in costume for Halloween this year at school. One district representative said that costumes “could offend and upset students who come from other cultures”. The principal of the school said that “This decision was made by the entire staff after two deep and detailed discussions. The initial conversation was initiated by staff members who suggested that since Halloween falls this year on a half day of school, we not allow costumes. It takes students a while to change into their costumes, and students are distracted taking away from the already limited instructional time.

That’s it, the whole story that is known from this. We don’t know whether or not any parent made any request or complaint to the district or to the school. We don’t know what is the demographic of the community where this school is located. Blaming this decision on some sort of Muslim plot, or a self-imposed fear of a possible Muslim reaction, to take away an American holiday is absolute nonsense.

To jump to the conclusion that Spencer does from this very limited information is a clear sign of his deeply held Islamophobia. We know that Spencer is blaming Muslims for this school decision because he says the school officials are “playing dhimmi” on their own initiative. Is it only some Muslims who don’t celebrate Halloween?

Here is a quote from one such “dhimmi” who refuses to participate in American culture:

“I think we ought to close Halloween down. Do you want your children to dress up as witches? The Druids used to dress up like this when they were doing human sacrifice…[The children] are acting out Satanic rituals and participating in it, and don’t even realize it.”—Pat Robertson, “The 700 Club,” 1982-OCT-29

Robertson is not exactly known for his fondness for Islam or Muslims. I wonder is Spencer will ask his followers to write letters to The 700 Club to complain about Robertson’s attempts to “dismantle America”.

If any parents did say something to the school or district administration, they might have been parents from just about any religious or cultural background.

Yes, there are some Muslims who are opposed to celebrating Halloween, for a variety of reasons. The reasons given are pretty much identical with the reasons that many Christians and Jews are opposed to celebrating the holiday. There is a wide range of opinion within all of these communities about the holiday, what it means, and why it should not be celebrated, or can be celebrated as simply a cultural event.

Read the rest…

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Tags: Anti-Muslim, Destroy Islam, Eric Allen Bell, Eric Edborg, Global Infidel, Islam, Islamophobia, Sheila Musaji, The American Muslim

Eric Allen Bell: “Zero Tolerance – DESTROY ISLAM”

Posted on 18 October 2012 by Emperor

"Can I haz cheeeezeburger?"

JihadWatch Zombie Eric Allen Bell (aka Eric Edborg) calls for Muslims to be excluded from all the “free countries” in the world. Does he have a list of “free countries” in the world? Surely countries that battled Western colonialists and their imperial puppets will be counted as “free”, right?

In a height of irony he forwards his strange ideas about “freedom” only extending to the groups of his ‘choosing.’ He wants to create a test by which Muslims are questioned about Islam, and if they refuse to denounce it are “sent back home.”

Hmmm…I wonder who else advocated such positions? Oh yeah, the Conquistadores who decided to expel all Muslims and Jews from Andalucia, and the Spanish Church, who during the Inquisition burned at the stake, tortured and otherwise killed and or expelled secret Muslims and Jews, known as Moriscos and Marranos.

Of course such sentiments are in the spirit of Bell’s teacher, the self-described Crusader enthusiast and wannabe-Consquitador Robert Spencer, who has expressed his love of the Crusades in writing as well as his desire to annihilate the Turks and recapture “Anatolia” and “Constantinople” for Christianity by joining a Facebook group that advocated such positions.

Eric Allen Bell’s Accusations Typical of Islamophobic Spin Machine – updated 10/13/12

by Sheila Musaji (TheAmericanMuslim)

On 10/11, Bell posted an article Zero Tolerance – DESTROY ISLAM. In this truly disgusting screed, he makes the impassioned plea:

… We cannot wait for some elected leader to get it and do the right thing. They are mostly weak. They are more interested in focus groups than following their moral intuition or even protecting the Constitution. As the saying goes, “When the people lead, the leaders will follow”. It is the moral responsibility of all free and civilized people to fight tyranny and to end it. And no political system is more tyrannical than Islam. Followers of such an evil political ideology should not be admitted into any free country in the world – and those who refuse to denounce it must be sent back home. We must end the tyranny of Islam. We must destroy Islam. We must end Sharia in our time. We must absolutely destroy Islam absolutely – and leave the free world a better place for generations to come.Islam appeals to the darkest qualities in the human psyche. Freedom seeks to evolve. And that which seeks to undermine our evolution must be moved out of the way - by any means necessary.

This is as close as an individual can come to calling for genocide or violent action, and yet possibly remain within the letter of the law. It is hateful, and completely savage.

Comments (29)

Tags: anti-Islam, Anti-Muslim, Islamophobia, Israel, Mosab Yousef, Muhammad Movie, racism, Sheila Musaji

Not two, but three more “films” coming our way

Posted on 30 September 2012 by Emperor

Sheila Musaji discusses the fact that not two, but three more films are in the works.

Not two, but three more “films” coming our way

by Sheila Musaji (TAM)

Daniel Greenfield noted appreciatively on David Horowitz’ Front Page Magazine that Ali Sina and Mosab Hassan Yousef have upcoming films on Prophet Muhammad. He even includes a picture of what seems to be a poster advertising one of the films “Muhammad: The True Story of a False Prophet” and at the bottom “in theaters this summer”. Not surprising that he would approve since he also published Is It Time for ‘Make Your Own Mohammed Movie Month’? encouraging more films like “Innocence of Muslims. Daniel Pipes and Pamela Geller have also encouraged publishing more cartoons/films etc. until as Pipes said Muslims “become accustomed to the fact that we turn sacred cows into hamburger.” Daniel Pipes added an update to his article A Muhammad Cartoon a Day noting that “The Los Angeles Times tells about two ex-Muslims, Mosab Hassan Yousef and Ali Sina, who have plans to make big-budget derogatory films showing Muhammad on screen. To which I can add a third ex-Muslim with the same intent, Imran Firasat.”

Mosab Hassan Yousef has gone through a number of ideological changes in the past few years.

Yousef’s conversion to Christianity was through the preaching of Father Zakaria Botros Henein.

In 2010 he published a book Son of Hamas. The title refers to the fact that he is the son of a senior Hamas figure, although he became a spy for the Shin Bet. At this time, Pamela Geller called Yousef “a brave heroic apostate out of Islam”. He faced deportation hearingsdue to some claims in his book. At this time, Alex Nowrasteh on David Horowitz’ Newsreal Blog said “Mosab is also the most valuable source of intelligence on Hamas that Israel has ever produced.” Debbie Schlussel wrote about Yousef saying “I am very suspicious of Youssef. I don’t know how much he actually aided Israel as a spy … And even if he did as much as he claims, so have many other anti-Israel Jew-haters Israel recruits as spies. There are no swans in the sewer. . . and the sewer is the general habitat of informants.”

In 2011, Walid Shoebat repudiated Yousef and Yousef and his former Shin Bet handler responded to Shoebat’s attack. Pamela Geller also repudiated him and called him “a fraud”.

In June 2012, Yousef visited Israel and spoke at the Israeli Parliament where he read a statement – he says he is now “free, loving, and forgiving” “truth and forgiveness are the solution for the Middle East’s problems”. He visited Israel as a guest of Likud MK Ayoub Kara. During that visit he announced that he was making a film on Prophet Muhammad that would reveal his “real nature” to Muslims.” While in Israel he also spoke at an event in Jerusalem hosted by Media Central, a pro-Israel press relations organization. Yousef isworking with Israeli film producer and actor Sam Feuer. Feuer will produce both a feature film adaptation of Son of Hamas as well as the Muhammad movie. Feuer said the movie has already interested sponsors and a major screenwriter who is in the process of creating the script.

The link Daniel Pipes provided about the film being made by Imran Farasat is to Farasat’s site in Spain, announcing that he will make a film and that it will be released in 2012 in 4 to 5 languages. Based on the site, and on limited google searches, Farasat is a Pakistani ex-Muslim now living in Spain. He seems to be a very marginal character who will produce something to be released on YouTube.

All of this adds credence to Justin Raimondo’s speculation about an Israeli connection behind at least some of these films.

Comments (21)

Tags: Fireworks Jihad, Jihad, Pamela Geller, Pamela Geller Watch, Robert Spencer, Robert Spencer Watch, Sheila Musaji, The American Muslim

Sheila Musaji: Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer Discover “fireworks jihad”

Posted on 23 August 2012 by Emperor

Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer discover “fireworks jihad”

by Sheila Musaji (The American Muslim)

Some individuals like Pamela Geller are so anxious to find anything at all that is negative about Islam or Muslims that they are willing to pass on any unsubstantiated rumor from anywhere as “proof” that Muslims are evil. Geller’s professed “love” for Muslims is expressed as pathological hatred.

Geller posted an article Sharia in Colorado: Special accommodations for a special class, Muslims. She said

Once again we see special rules for Muslims in accordance with the sharia and Islamic supremacism. Anywhere American law and Islamic law conflict, it is American law that has to give way. Check this out from Atlas reader Chris:

Very few are talking about it here in Denver Colorado. American citizens were banned from celebrating our national birthday the Fourth of July. Fireworks were and are still banned unless it was to celebrate the end of Ramadan. I have asked several police officers what the huge fireworks show was and they replied that it was the local Islamic center celebrating. I then asked if the statewide ban on fireworks was still in effect and they said yes. So logically I asked did they have a permit for such a large display. The answer was no and that the police were not to respond to calls about it.

Robert Spencer (the self proclaimed “acclaimed scholar of Islam”) posted the same article with the same dubious source with the longer title Sharia in action in Colorado: Muslims set off fireworks in defiance of ban, police told to ignore complaints and the introduction “A statewide ban on fireworks is not a statewide ban on fireworks when Muslims are setting them off. To enforce the ban would be “Islamophobic,” doncha know.”

Actually, no one is talking about it except Geller and the sites that picked up this non-story from her. The only source for the story is some guy named Chris who posted a comment on her site.

If she had done just a little fact checking, she would have discovered first, that no one else other than her reader, Chris, had reported on this supposed story, and also that on July 9th Gov. John Hickenlooper had lifted the Colorado fire ban and more than 60 Colorado counties moved to moderate to low fire danger.

Geller, Spencer, and the rest of the Islamophobia echo chamber are stark raving mad! They see Jihad everywhere and in almost all cases it doesn’t exist except in their fevered Islamophobic brains. Here are just a few ridiculous claims about nonsensical Muslim plots:

An Eid Celebration for Muslim Special Needs Kids was described as a “stealth jihad”. A children’s page in a newspaper focusing on Eid was described as a toxic propaganda plot. Joel Hinrichs (a Christian) had a beard and had walked through the parking lot of a campus mosque thus proving that his crime was an example of sudden jihad syndrome. The awful April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech by a Korean student was also called Islamic jihad because Cho’s father had once worked in Saudi Arabia (before he was married and before Cho was born). A Muslim doctor had a heart attack and died at the wheel of his car which then crashed into a shopping mall and this was described as “vehicular jihad”. A Muslim cab driver objected to what he considered pornographic ads on the roof of his cab, and that became astealth-jihad plot to impose Sharia on America. Any Muslim who has sued an employer for violation of their rights under the EEOC is engaged in employment jihad, or litigation jihad. Muslim environmentalists are said to be actually engaged in “civilizational jihad”. A cartoon series “The 99” aimed at young Muslims was described as “cultural jihad”. The victims of the terrorist attack of 9/11 included Muslims, they were accused of dying as martyrs in an act of jihad.

The Islamophobes have uncovered countless examples of false and “shocking” Muslim jihad plots. They have uncovered: bumper sticker jihad, Thanksgiving turkey jihad, an incrediblepaisley scarf jihad, marriage to important men jihad, spit jihad, fashion jihad, spelling bee jihad, rape jihad, defacing dollar bills jihad, population jihad, creeping Sharia jihad, mosque building jihad, terror baby jihad, “creeping Sharia” jihad, pedophilia jihad, bus driver prayer jihad, forehead bruise jihad, postage stamp jihad, soup jihad, banning alcohol jihad,fake hate crimes jihad, piggy bank jihad, tv reality series jihad, handshake jihad, prom jihad,interfaith jihad, Arabic language jihad, public school jihad, religious accommodation jihad,Crescent moon jihad, Christmas tree tax jihad, oath of office jihad, immigration jihad,community fundraiser jihad. Christina Abraham (a Muslim) has a name that is not recognizably Muslim enough and so we have stealth name jihad.

There is a reason that many, even outside of the Muslim community see such demonization of Muslims as Islamophobic. There is a reason that the ADL has stated that Brigitte Gabriel’s Act for America, Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE) are “groups that promote an extreme anti-Muslim agenda”. There is a reason that The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SIOA as a hate group, and that they are featured in the SPLC reports Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle. There is a reason that Geller and Spencer are featured prominently in the Center for American Progress “Fear Inc.” report on the Islamophobia network in America. There is a reason that Geller is featured in the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism. There is a reason that Geller is featured in the NYCLU reportReligious Freedom Under Attack: The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State. There is a reason that Geller is featured in the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security. There is a reason that the SIOA’s trademark patent was denied by the U.S. government due to its anti-Muslim nature. There is a reason that they are featured (with extensive backgrounder articles) in our TAM Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry. There is a reason that these individuals are featured in just about every legitimate report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred.

These people consistently promote the what everyone “knows” lies about Islam and Muslims. They generalize specific incidents to reflect on all Muslims or all of Islam. When they are caught in the act of making up or distorting claims they engage in devious methods to attempt to conceal the evidence.

The claim that “truth tellers” are being accused of Islamophobia for no reason other than their legitimate concerns about real issues and that in fact there is not even such a thing as Islamophobia is nonsense.

The reason that this is so obvious to so many is that rational people can tell the difference between legitimate concerns and bigoted stereotypes. The Islamophobia of these folks is very real, and it isalso strikingly similar to a previous generations’ anti-Semitism.

Comments (22)

Tags: Anti-Muslim, Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, GOP, Islam, Islamophobia, Sheila Musaji

Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy

Posted on 23 July 2012 by Emperor

Sheila Musaji puts together an important backgrounder on Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy. Who is Frank Gaffney? What is the Center for Security Policy? What do they do? Who funds them?

Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy

by Sheila Musaji (TAM)

There are numerous articles on The American Muslim (TAM) discussing Gaffney and the CSP. This article will become the “backgrounder” providing the information in an abbreviated format with links to references for more detailed discussions of particular issues.

Frank Gaffney provides “valuable information” to government officials and leaders regularly:

— He is advising Rep. Bachmann on foreign policy. — When Sen. Greg Ball (R-NY), chairman of the Veterans, Homeland Security & Military Affairs Committee held a hearing titled “Reviewing our Preparedness: An Examination of New York’s Public Protection Ten Years After September 11” on April 8th, 2011, Frank Gaffney was called to testify (along with Rep. Peter King, Frank and Nonie Darwish). Eleven democratic senators sent a letter to Senator Ball objecting to the inclusion of such individuals. ** — During the Murfreesboro Mosque controversy in Tennessee, at one court hearing, Frank Gaffney was called to testify. The local paper reported: Plaintiffs called former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan, Frank Gaffney, to the stand and asked the court to enter him as an expert on Sharia Law. “I don’t hold myself out as an expert on Sharia Law,” Gaffney told the court on the witness stand. “But I have talked a lot about that as a threat.” — Frank Gaffney and one of his Center for Security Policy “reports” was the primary source, and Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism a secondary source for Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s witch hunt against American Muslims in government positions. See Michele Bachmann Ups the Ante in the GOP War on American Muslims and Is Congressional Christian Brotherhood Group Behind GOP Islamophobia? for a full discussion.

It is amazing that he, or the other Islamophobes he works with, are given this sort of credence, since their real agenda is well known. Gaffney has been mentioned in just about every legitimate report about Islamophobia and the anti-Sharia movement:

— Gaffney is included in the SPLC Jihad Against Islam report and described as one of a “coterie of core activists”, — and in the SPLC backgrounder on Gaffney, where he is identified as “the anti-Muslim movement’s most paranoid propagandist.” — And in the SPLC report The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle. — Gaffney features prominently in the Center for American Progress“Fear, Inc.” report as one of 5 key “misinformation experts”. — He is also prominently featured in the People for the American Way “Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism” which called Gaffney “one of the most vociferous anti-Muslim ideologues” and said that he “cited phony statistic to defend his campaign to prevent the construction of mosques in America”. — He is mentioned in the NYCLU report Religious Freedom Under Attack: The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State. — The ADL report on the anti-Sharia movement says about Gaffney “Yerushalmi is General Counsel to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy, founded by Frank J. Gaffney. Gaffney has been active in opposing mosque construction and has made several statements about Islam that raise concerns. For example, in a 2009 article in the Washington Times, Gaffney claimed that “there is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself.” In 2010, the Center for Security Policy published the book Shari’ah: The Threat To America, An Exercise in Competitive Analysis, Report of Team ‘B’ II, co-authored by Yerushalmi. The book repeated Yerushalmi’s theories about a vast Shari’a threat to America.”

Not only Gaffney, but the other Islamophobes that he regularly works with are all mentioned in these reports.— The ADL (A Jewish anti-defamation group) has said that Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), Brigitte Gabriel’s Act for America, and David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE) are “groups that promote an extreme anti-Muslim agenda”. — The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SIOA as a hate group. — Many of them are featured in the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security. — The ADL says of David Yerushalmi One of the driving forces behind Shari’a-related conspiracy theories and growing efforts to ban or restrict the use of Shari’a law in American courts is David Yerushalmi, an Arizona attorney with a record of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry. — Gaffney and all of those he works with are featured in TAM’s Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry, with backgrounders on each of them.

As the SPLC report Jihad Against Islam says “One doesn’t have to probe very deeply to find the fingerprints of the eight central activists — Spencer, Pipes, Horowitz, Gaffney, Emerson, Gabriel, Geller and Yerushalmi — on almost every aspect of the recent surge in anti-Muslim fervor in America. The conservative media, led by FOX News personalities Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Eric Bolling and including the upstart Pajamas Media online network, evangelist Franklin Graham, and a contingent of sympathetic right-wing bloggers and commentators, have joined in to help construct a “movement” that 9/11 itself didn’t generate.”
BACKGROUND ON FRANK GAFFNEY:

Gaffney has turned up so many “Muslim infiltrators” in government or civic positions that it is difficult to keep track. If a Muslim runs for political office, or even wants to get involved in their local community, or establish any sort of institution, whether they are a Republican or a Democrat, outrageous charges of “creeping Sharia prononent”, “stealth jihadist”, “Muslim Brotherhood plant”, etc. are made by Islamophobes. Here are just a few examples of such attacks (almost all instigated by Frank Gaffney):

— Rep. Keith Ellison has faced numerous assaults. — David Ramadan, a Muslim GOP candidate in a Virginia House of Delegates race. — Sohail Mohammed nominated as a judge on the NJ state Superior Court. — Suhail Khan was accused of being a Muslim Brotherhood operative “infiltrating” CPAC. — Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates was attacked for giving Muslims common legal advice. — Faisal Gill, a former JAG officer in the Navy and a Bush White House official accused of terrorist connections when he attempted to get involved in local politics. —Parvez Ahmed’s appointment to the Jacksonville, Florida Human Rights Commission was strongly opposed. — Rep. Andre Carson was recently embroiled in a manufactured controversy. — Ahmed Rehab faced bigotry when he was appointed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as part of an advisory committee on immigration issues. — Halim Dhanidina, who spent 14 years as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, was appointed to a California Superior Court judgeship by Gov. Jerry Brown, he was attacked for having been in the MSA as a student. — Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy is pressuring the Gov. of Tennessee to fire Samar Ali from the position of Director of the Economic and Community Development Dept. — Mohamed Elibiary, a member of DHS’s Combatting Violent Extremism Working Group (CVE). — Imam Mohamed Magid, President of ISNA. — Ingrid Mattson former President of ISNA for being included in Inaugural Prayer Service. — Mazen Asbahi who was forced to resign as Obama’s Muslim Outreach Coordinator. — Dalia Mogahed for her appointment to the White House’s Office of Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships. — Huma Abedin has been facing bigoted accusations for at least the past year. — Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was attacked for wanting to build a community center. Imams Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir for wanting to build a Muslim college, Zaytuna.

You don’t even have to be a Muslim to come under attack by the Gaffney and his fellow Islamophobes.

— Gov. Rick Perry was attacked by Islamophobes simply for his friendship with the Aga Khan and not being anti-Muslim enough. — Gov. Chris Christie was accused of “abetting treason” for appointing a Muslim. — Frank Gaffney claimed that the Center for American Progress was part of ‘red-green axis’ with Muslim Brotherhood. — Elena Kagan was accused of “enabling efforts to insinuate” Shariah law in the United States. — Gen. David Petraeus was accused of of “submission to Sharia law”. — When Herman Cain met with Imam Magid of ISNA and other Muslim leaders to apologize for some anti-Muslim statements, Gaffney objected and accused Cain of meeting with Muslim Brotherhood operatives. — Karen Hughes, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy was attacked for attending an ISNA conference. — Gaffney called President Obama“America’s first Muslim president”, and claimed that President Obama is advancing Sharia Law and the ‘Radical Homosexual Agenda’ in the Military, and said that Obama’s respect for Muslims is a secret code telling “those who adhere to Sharia [Muslims] that we will submit to Sharia.” . — Gaffney called the U.S. Missile Defense Agency Logo “evidence of Obama’s ‘Submission To Shariah’.” — Gaffney claimed that Grover Norquist “is helping the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrate the conservative movement”. — — GOP Presidential Candidates were asked by Frank Gaffney to sign a “pledge” or loyalty oath against Sharia.

Gaffney is one of those who continuously discovers non-existent Muslim jihad plots. Islamophobessee jihad everywhere, but Gaffney specifically has an obsession with Sharia plots. See Islamic Sharia and Jewish Halakha Arbitration Courts for a full discussion of the anti-Sharia movement. For example:

— Gaffney contended in a Washington Times editorial that the efforts to use non-interest measures to do banking transactions was a Muslim conspiracy to impose Islamic law on the United States. — Gaffney published an over the top Islamophobic rant calling the proposed Cordoba House/Park51 center “a durable, symbolic taunt by our enemies about their bloody victory”, which is “designed to be a permanent, in-our-face beachhead for Shariah, a platform for inspiring the triumphalist ambitions of the faithful and eroding resistence to their demands for separate and (for the moment, at least) equal treatment in America.” He also uses all the tired cliches – taqiyya, stealth jihad, etc. — Gaffney regularly suggests that any opposition to his positions is taqiyya which we have dealt with previously. — Gaffney said about the newly opened Zaytuna College “This is stealth jihad in the sense that it is about promoting in the United States incubators for sharia,” the religious law of Islam.” Gaffney thinks Al-Jazeera is a purveyor of Islamic propaganda and part of the “civilizational jihad”, and wrote an article entitled “Take Out Al Jazeera,” offering a rationale for bombing not only Al Jazeera but Al Arabiya as well. — Gaffney also thinks that Anders Breivik’s manifesto might be a false flag operation that “contributes to Sharia’s efforts” – that means the only possible culprits are, of course, Muslims. See Understanding Shariah Law: Conservatives’ Skewed Interpretation Needs Debunking, by Wajahat Ali and Matthew Duss which provides more useful information on this topic. See Islamophobes see Jihad everywhere for refutation of hundreds of such false claims.

Here are just a few ridiculous claims about nonsensical Muslim jihad plots that Gaffney and his fellow Islamophobes have uncovered:

An Eid Celebration for Muslim Special Needs Kids was described as a “stealth jihad”. A children’s page in a newspaper focusing on Eid was described as a toxic propaganda plot. Joel Hinrichs (a Christian) had a beard and had walked through the parking lot of a campus mosque thus proving that his crime was an example of sudden jihad syndrome. The awful April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech by a Korean student was also called Islamic jihad because Cho’s father had once worked in Saudi Arabia (before he was married and before Cho was born). A Muslim doctor had a heart attack and died at the wheel of his car which then crashed into a shopping mall and this was described as “vehicular jihad”. A Muslim cab driver objected to what he considered pornographic ads on the roof of his cab, and that became astealth-jihad plot to impose Sharia on America. Any Muslim who has sued an employer for violation of their rights under the EEOC is engaged in employment jihad, or litigation jihad. Muslim environmentalists are said to be actually engaged in “civilizational jihad”. A cartoon series “The 99” aimed at young Muslims was described as “cultural jihad”. The victims of the terrorist attack of 9/11 included Muslims, they were accused of dying as martyrs in an act of jihad.

The Islamophobes have uncovered countless examples of “shocking” Muslim jihad plots. They have uncovered: bumper sticker jihad, Thanksgiving turkey jihad, an incredible paisley scarf jihad, marriage to important men jihad, spit jihad, fashion jihad, spelling bee jihad, rape jihad, defacing dollar bills jihad, population jihad, creeping Sharia jihad, mosque building jihad, terror baby jihad, “creeping Sharia” jihad, pedophilia jihad, bus driver prayer jihad,forehead bruise jihad, postage stamp jihad, soup jihad, banning alcohol jihad, fake hate crimes jihad, piggy bank jihad, tv reality series jihad, handshake jihad, prom jihad, interfaith jihad, Arabic language jihad, public school jihad, religious accommodation jihad, Crescent moon jihad, Christmas tree tax jihad, oath of office jihad, immigration jihad, community fundraiser jihad. Christina Abraham (a Muslim) has a name that is not recognizably Muslim enough and so we have stealth name jihad. And, when it seemed they might have run out of plots to warn about, we now have public school/madrassa jihad, and post office jihad, andfood jihad.

Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy (CSP) has produced or cooperated in the production of a number of “reports”.

— The right-wing “Team B II” report Shariah: The Threat To America” which claims that the “Muslim Brotherhood in insinuating shariah into the very heartland of America through stealthy means.” — CSP also produced Shariah Law and American State Courts which distorted information about court cases and their possible implications. Both are discussed at length in the article Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy Sharia Reports a Threat to American Ideals — David Yerushalmi who was one of the authors of the Team BII report also released a report Mapping Sharia: Shari’a and Violence in American Mosques by Mordechai Kedar and David Yerushalmi which was published in Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Quarterly Summer 2011 issue. I have debunked this one in an article titled Mapping Sharia Project Goes Beyond Islamophobia to Raving, Paranoid, In(SANE)ity!. — The CSP also produced a 10-hour video course The Muslim Brotherhood in America from which Michelle Bachmann got her “facts”. — According to the Center for American Progress Fear, Inc. report, Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy (CSP) funded research David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry’s book Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America. See Dave Gaubatz and the “Muslim Mafia” for more detailed background including the fact that Gaubatz is also a former employee of David Yerushalmi’s racist hate group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE). Dave Gaubatz was at one-time “Director of Intelligence and Counter-terrorism Studies” for Yerushalmi. In 2007, Yerushalmi’s group paid Gaubatz $148,898 for “research.”

Gaffney and the CSP also sponsor and participate in other Islamophobes anti-Muslim activities. This Islamophobic network is very much intertwined. For example:

— One of the anti-mosque rallies was sponsored by a group called The Coalition to Honor Ground Zero. They sponsored one of the most hateful rallies against the Cordoba House/Park51 Center. However, as Glenn Greenwald has reported “The group which sponsored this rally has a website, the repellently named StopThe911Mosque.com, which is registered to The Center for Security Policy, the group of Frank Gaffney.” — Gaffney is one of the regular speakers at David Horowitz’ annual Islamo Fascism Awareness Week on college campuses. — David Yerushalmi is Pamela Geller‘s personal attorney and has represented AFDI/SIOA (Stop the Islamization of America) run by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. Yerushalmi incorporated American Freedom Defense Initiative which is the non-profit under which she and Robert Spencer produce their blogs, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch. He is also the legal counsel for Frank Gaffney’s anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy and served in the same role for Stop the Madrassa, the group which got Debbie Almontaser fired as principal of the Khalil Gibran Academy.— Gaffney regularly appears on Brigitte Gabriel’s ACT for America program, on which once said that Muslims practicing Sharia should be prosecuted for sedition. — Gaffney co-sponsored Geert Wilders’s National Press Club event. — Gaffney PNAC was one of the founders of the (Project for a New American Century), the notorious neo-con think. — Loonwatch did a lengthy report on LATMA and Caroline Glick which included this interesting fact: Although Latma operates in Israel, it acts as an initiative of the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a 501(c)(3) and DC-based think tank, where Caroline Glick serves as the senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs. TAM has a backgrounder on LATMA and Glick titled Caroline Glick and LATMA: Promoting the meme of Muslims as “the other” outlining many of their vicious anti-Muslim propaganda pieces on their weekly television program.

FUNDING:

A number of investigations have been done into where the money comes from for Gaffney’s CSP to operate:

The Center for American Progress “Fear, Inc. report of 2011reported: “In 2009, the Center for Security Policy (CSP)’s annual revenue was nearly $4 million, and Frank Gaffney’s annual salary was nearly $300,000 as president of the organization. Over the past decade, the Scaife foundations gave CSP nearly $3 million, the Bradley Foundation more than $800,000, the Becker foundations about $375,000, and the Anchorage and William Rosenwald funds about $437,000, with the Fairbrook Foundation contributing smaller amounts. All told, CSP received about $20 million in revenue between 2002 and 2009.”

Max Blumenthal reported that: The $437,000 in donations Gaffney reaped from the Rosenwald family enabled him to churn out conspiratorial pamphlets like his 2010 “Shariah: The Threat to America,” in which he warned that American Muslims were engaged in a “stealth jihad” to place the country under the control of Sharia, or Islamic law.

According to Alex Seitz-Wald at Think Progress: CSP has big-time right-wing funders like theBradley Foundation and, presumably, its board of directors. Gaffney’s board includes the vice president of Van Scoyoc Associates, which touts itself as the “largest independent lobbying company in Washington, D.C,” with numerous defense clients and $15.93 million in lobbying revenue over the first six months of 2010. Other members of Gaffney’s board include the former vice president of Boeing’s missile defense division, and the head of the investment firm American Securities Management L.P. The group paid Gaffney $288,300 in 2008, according to its most recently available 990 form.

Bob Smietana reported that Frank Gaffney, head of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Center for Security Policy, earned a $288,300 salary from his charity in 2008. Gaffney was a key witness in recent hearings in the Rutherford County lawsuit filed by mosque opponents. He said he paid his own way.

According to Paul Blumenthal: Irving Moskowitz provided $100,000 to the Center for Security Policy.

The problem is that this sort of Islamophobic rhetoric and activity is coming not just from the professional Islamophobes, but is also coming from GOP elected representatives, and very often they are getting their facts from people like Gaffney. In the article Where is the U.S. Government Getting It’s Information on Islam and Muslims? this unfortunate tendency to go to disreputable sources for information is discussed in detail.

Read the rest…

Comments (3)

Tags: Anti-Muslim, Bible Study, Christian Brotherhood, Congress, Islam, Islamophobia, Michele Bachmann, Sheila Musaji

Sheila Musaji: Is Congressional Christian Brotherhood Group Behind GOP Islamophobia?

Posted on 21 July 2012 by Emperor

A very important piece from Sheila Musaji:

Is Congressional Christian Brotherhood Group Behind GOP Islamophobia?

by Sheila Musaji (TAM)

It is interesting how many of those in Congress who have an Islamophobia problem are members of the same group CAPITOL MINISTRIES which hosts regular Christian Bible studies for, and ministers to, members of Congress. Capitol Ministries has a website at http://www.capmin.org/site/ They say about their purpose that The motto of Capitol Ministries is delivering the gospel to every political leader, in every capitol, every year. Since our founding in 1996, our vision has always been the same: to evangelize elected officials and lead them toward maturity in Christ. We stay away from politics altogether.

Who are the elected representatives active in this group?

On the Capitol Ministries page listing Congressional Sponsors here are those listed as of 7/20/12:

Todd Akin (MO), Michele Bachmann (MN), Spencer Bachus (AL), Marsha Blackburn (TN),Paul Broun, (GA), Dan Burton (IN), John Campbell (CA), John Carter (TX), Bill Cassidy (LA), Jeff Denham (CA), John Duncan (TN), Mary Fallin (Gov. OK), John Fleming (LA, Trent Franks (AZ), Scott Garrett (NJ), Louie Gohmert (TX), Tom Graves (GA), Ralph Hall (TX), Gregg Harper (MS), Pete Hoekstra (MI), Randy Hultgren (IL), Bill Johnson (OH), Jim Jordan (OH), Steve King (IA), James Lankford (OK), Doug Lamborn (CO), Mike McIntyre (NC), Gary Miller (CA), Sue Myrick (NC), Randy Neugebauer (TX), Steve Pearce (NM),Mike Pence (IN), Mike Pompeo (KS), Bill Posey (FL), Tom Price (GA), Ben Quayle (AZ), Tim Scott (SC), Lamar Smith (TX), Steve Southerland (FL), Marlin Stutzman (IN), Glenn Thompson (PA), Scott Tipton (CO), Joe Wilson (SC), Allen West (FL), Lynn Westmoreland (GA), Steve Womack (AK)

Here are some of the positions taken by members of the Capitol Ministries. All of those members whose names are bold above are those that I am aware of who have taken bigoted anti-Muslim positions:

Representatives Trent Franks, John Shadegg, Paul Broun, and Sue Myrick objected to Muslim interns on Capitol Hill, calling them “infiltrators”.

Rep. Allen West (R-FL), invited Citizens for National Security to present its alarm of Islamic sedition in the basement of the Rayburn House office building.

When Gaffney’s anti-Sharia report was released, it was praised by Republican members of Congress Trent Franks (AZ), Michele Bachmann (MN), and Pete Hoekstra (MI). I also posted a follow up report Frank Gaffney’s obsession with Sharia.

Last year, after the first reports about serious problems with anti-Muslim materials being included in training programs, the government said that it would conduct an inquiry into the problem. In the article American Muslims welcome Senate inquiry into accuracy and effectiveness of counterterrorism training I note that The Westminster Institute reports that Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-02); Rep. Dan Burton (IN-05); Rep. Jeff Duncan (SC-03); Rep. Randy Forbes (VA-04); Rep. Trent Franks (AZ-02); Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01); Rep. Kay Granger (TX-12); Rep. Randy Hultgren (IL-14); Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-03); Rep. John Kline (MN-02); Rep. Bill Posey (FL-15); Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46); Rep. Allen West (FL-22); Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (GA-03); Rep. Frank Wolf (VA-10) all signed a letter sent to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Attorney General Eric Holder objecting to changes being made to training programs.

Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), Ralph Hall (R-TX) and State Rep. Jerry Madden (R-TX) were on the Honorary Host Committee for a Collin County Conservative Republicans 2009 evening with Pamela Geller of the hate group SIOA? **

An Islamophobic site called Democracy Under Attack lists those in Congress who should be thanked for “leading the fight against Sharia in America”. Their list of those who have worked to on anti-Sharia measures includes: Trent Franks, Tom Price, Mike Pence, Dan Burton, Dennis Moore, Pete Hoekstra, Michele Bachmann, Sue Myrick, Zach Wamp.

James Lankford of Oklahoma has as on the issues page online, and one of those issues is Principles and Values, in which he proudly lists: – Shariah law is major threat; Islam not like other religions. (Aug 2010) -
Council on American Islamic Relations is linked to terrorism. (Aug 2010) – Designate first weekend in May as Ten Commandments Weekend. (Apr 2011).

The Center for Security Policy, the 7th Amendment Advocate and The Legal Project of the Middle East Forum presented a discussion on Capitol Hill entitled, Shariah vs. the Constitution. Making opening remarks on that topic was the event’s sponsor, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO).**. Speakers included Frank Gaffney and David Yerushalmi.

On his website Rep. Steve Pearce declares “The rise of radical Islam in recent years has brought a new threat to America. We must maintain a strong military that continues to be second to none. … Military engagement is always a decision with severe long-term consequences. In making that decision, we must be prepared to commit fully, or not at all.”

This year, Representatives Michele Bachmann, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Thomas Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland sent out the infamous letter demanding an investigation of Muslim Brotherhood “infiltration” of the U.S. Government.

In our TAM collection of anti-Muslim statements made by elected representatives the following members of Capitol Ministries are listed: Michele Bachmann, Paul Broun, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, Gary Miller, Sue Myrick, Lamar Smith, Allen West.

Looking through information on Capitol Ministries, it seems that they are not only anti-Muslim, but also anti-gay, and anti-Catholic. However, they seem to focus more of their venom on Muslims.

What sort of “Christian” message are they receiving? What Bible passages are they studying? How is it that of the 46 Congressional sponsors on Capitol Ministries list, at least 23 of them have been involved in anti-Sharia, anti-Muslim, Islamophobic activities? That’s at least 50% of the members of this group who seem to believe that it is a “Christian” value to bash Muslims. Does this really represent “maturity in Christ”?

These are people who have political power, and are using it to demean and demonize members of a minority religion. In the lengthy article Michele Bachmann Ups the Ante in the GOP War on American Muslims, I discuss at length why this most recent attack is so important. Four out of the five representatives who sent out these letters regarding supposed Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the U.S. Government are members of the Capitol Ministries group.

As I said in that article:

Bachmann, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Thomas Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland should all be ashamed of themselves. And, Bachmann, Franks, Gohmert, and Westmoreland who are all members of Capitol Ministries that hosts regular Christian Bible studies for, and ministers to, Members of Congress, should pray on what they are doing. They might also want to consider just how much their Islamophobic rantings sound like a previous generations anti-Semitism.

… It would seem that some of our elected representatives had their fingers crossed when taking this oath.

All of these folks really need to study the Constitution of the United States to remember that the Congress represents “we the people”, all of us, not just some particular segments of the population.

American Muslims are a part of “we the people”. We are Americans. We are not going anywhere. And, I believe that it is well past time that other Americans begin standing up against this demonization of Islam and Muslims. It would be nice to know that this sort of bigotry is not shared by most of our fellow Americans.

As the MPAC statement on this incident said: The congressional leaders making these accusations along with Bachmann have breached the trust of the public they serve. These members must be held responsible by the media and their constituents. If there was any offense that would warrant a resignation from a member of Congress, it seems that we have reached that point.

UPDATE:

The National Catholic Reporter reports that:

Rabbi David Saperstein,Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement in response to the charge made my Cong. Michele Bachmann and other House Republicans, that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the U.S. government:

I am deeply troubled by the allegations made by Rep. Michelle Bachmann and other Members of Congress in letters to the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Defense and State, asserting that respected government officials and religious organizations are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. The letters assert that Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Clinton, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and ISNA President Imam Mohammed Magid, are all connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, posing a potential security risk to the United States.

The Reform Movement, and I personally, have worked with Ms. Abedin, Imam Magid and ISNA for many years. All have worked on behalf of U.S. interests at home and abroad, built relationships across religious lines and affirmed U.S. constitutional values.

These letters reflect a general pattern of Islamophobia that touches too many areas of our society. Allegations such as these by Members of Congress add legitimacy to this distressing trend. I hope that Rep. Bachmann and the other signatories will either produce credible evidence that substantiates their claims or withdraw them and do no further damage to the level of public discourse through the dissemination of unsubstantiated and harmful claims.

And, Amanda Terkel reports that

WASHINGTON—A leading Jewish organization on Friday forcefully condemned the allegations made by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and four other members of Congress that the Muslim Brotherhood is infiltrating the U.S. government.

“These sweeping accusations by members of Congress against American citizens who are Muslim are unfair and misguided,” Robert G. Sugarman and Abraham H. Foxman, the national chair and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement. “Absent clear evidence of direct ties between these individuals and the Muslim Brotherhood, such allegations foment fear and cast the kind of suspicion that undermines rather than advances American counterterrorism efforts.”

… The ADL wrote letters to these five members of Congress on Friday, expressing their displeasure with their charges.

“Members of Congress have an essential role to play in raising legitimate concerns about threats to America’s security from international terrorist groups,” ADL wrote. “Those efforts should not be tainted by the kind of stereotyping and prejudice that has too frequently accompanied the public debate. … We strongly urge you to reconsider your allegations and to refrain from promoting or trafficking in anti-Muslim conspiracy theories in the future.”

It is very encouraging that leaders in the Jewish community are speaking up on this issue. The voices of leaders in the Christian community, are at this point silent.

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