Why did Obama say something so stupid?
I keep meaning to post this. Earlier this week, there was an interview in the New Yorker in which President Obama claimed that Islamic anti-Semitism is a product of '
recent decades' (i.e. if only we got rid of Israel, the Muslims would love the Jews). That statement is
factually incorrect.
“Obama reveals that he has no idea, or doesn’t want to give the
impression that he has any idea, about the reality of Islamic
anti-Semitism,” said Robert Spencer, the author of many books on Islamic
ideas and director of Jihad Watch.
“Anti-Semitism is hard-wired into Islam,” from its origins before 700, said Andrew Bostom, author of three books
about Islam, including “The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism,” which
lists centuries of anti-Semitic hatred, murders, pogroms and
apartheid-like discrimination.
Intellectuals, politicians and diplomats are loath to admit the
centrality of anti-Semitism in Islamic beliefs, because it fuels
conflict with Israel and the West and it can’t be fixed by Westerners,
Bostom said. ”You’re dealing with an intractable situation, and people
hate intractable situations,” he said, adding “diplomats are the worst.”
...
Obama’s “course of decades” comment “ignores the numerous
anti-Semitic teachings of the Quran and other Islamic texts — most
notably the Quran’s designation of the Jews as the worst enemies of the
believers,” Spencer said.
For example, Spencer cited the fifth chapter of
the Quran, which declares that “If [Jews] believed in Allah and the
Prophet and that which is revealed unto him, they would not choose them
for their friends. But many of them are of evil conduct. Thou wilt find
the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe (to be)
the Jews and the idolaters.”
The Jew-hatred in the Quran is critical, said Bostom, because orthodox
Muslims believe the Quran is a word-for-word copy of a divine book
resting on a table in “jannah,” or the Islamic version of heaven. Most
Christians believe most of their Bible is open for interpretation, but
for Muslims, the Quran is “permanent and perfect. … It applies to all
time, it is eternal, it is a pure, divine, eternal form of reality,”
Bostom told The Daily Caller.
And why is the President so anxious to deny reality and claim that Islamic anti-Semitism is all Israel's fault? Well, aside from the usual 'blame Israel' meme, there's something more at work here.
Obama’s attempt to ignore Islam’s anti-Semitism reflect a broader effort
by liberals to excuse Muslims for their beliefs, said Bostom. By
exculpating Islam, liberals can blame Europeans, imperialism and Israel
for the Arabs’ wars and various problems, and allow themselves to play
the role of modern peacekeeper, he said.
Labels: Andrew Bostom, anti-Semitism, Barack Hussein Obama, Islamic anti-Semitism, Koran, Muslim anti-Semitism, Robert Spencer
Canadian Muslim group demands rabbi's removal from Harper delegation
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, one of Israel's best friends, is here visiting for a few days. One of the people how is part of his delegation is a rabbi named Daniel Korobkin. The National Council of Canadian Muslims - the Canadian branch of Hamas-affiliate CAIR - has demanded that
Harper remove Rabbi Korbokin from his delegation. Pamela Geller explains why.
[T]he Rabbi attended and spoke briefly at my September talk in Canada.
Their letter charged that both Robert Spencer, who also spoke at that
September event, and I “have a lengthy and clear record of promoting
anti-Muslim sentiments and demonization.” In support of this, they
listed a number of statements (wrenched from explanatory context, of
course) that are demonstrably true and abundantly established by every
day’s headlines. Do they think Harper, a strong defender of Israel, is
so stupid as to be blind to the reality of Islamic jihad?
Whatever the nature of the things that I say, Rabbi Korobkin didn’t
utter them and is not by any conceivable stretch of the imagination
responsible for them. It is bitterly ironic that Islamic supremacist
groups would label my efforts to defend the freedom of speech and
equality of rights for all people before the law as “anti-Muslim.” That
speaks volumes. However, whatever my work may be about, it is not Rabbi
Korobkin’s work or his responsibility.
There is another strategy at play here: the message is being sent to
every rabbi and clergyman, and everyone in the public square, that if
you have anything to do in the public square with those fighting jihad
and Sharia, they will come after you.
You don't think Canada's Muslims are trying to shut their opponents up, do you?
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Canada, freedom of speech, Islam, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Stephen Harper
'An embarrassing decision for this so-called land of democracy'
Bloggers and anti-Islamist activists Pam Geller and Robert Spencer have been
banned from entering England, where they hoped to speak at a rally of the English Defence League on Sunday.
Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who set up Stop Islamization of
America, and run the website Jihad Watch, have been forbidden from
entering the country on the grounds their presence would "not be
conducive to the public good".
The far-right English Defence League
was planning a march on Saturday ending in Woolwich, south-east
London, where soldier Drummer Lee Rigby was murdered last month. Geller
and Spencer were both set to attend.
A Home Office spokesman said:
"We can confirm that Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer are subject to an
exclusion decision … We condemn all those whose behaviours and views
run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any
form."
I would like to say it's unbelievable but it's not. Pam and Robert are in good company:
Geert Wilders and
Moshe Feiglin have been banned (Wilders was later
allowed in), while Hezbullah spokesman
Ibrahim Moussawi and Islamic Movement Northern Front Sheikh Raed Salah were allowed in (although Salah was subsequently
arrested). It took years before Britain changed their laws so that
Israeli politicians and IDF officers could enter the country without fear of arrest.
What a morally decrepit country England has become....
Labels: anti-Islamic backlash, Britain, England, Islam, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer
Anti-tax, pro-terrorism
This is outrageous.
I had seen something about Pam Geller not being invited to CPAC this year. Being in Israel, I may not follow everything in the US as closely as I should. But
this story might be connected to that one.
I was surprised and honored that Jihad Watch was among the nominees for the People's Choice Blog Award, sponsored by Right Wing News and TheTeaParty.net, to be awarded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2013.
As you can see from the vote above, Jihad Watch won decisively,
getting over 50% of the vote in a field of fifteen. And I received
confirmation of the victory from one of the organizers of the CPAC blog
awards when I asked him when voting officially ended:
From: XXXXXXXXX
Subject: Re: You've Been Nominated For A People's Choice Award At the CPAC Blogger Awards
Date: March 2, 2013 2:58:26 AM EST
To: Robert Spencer
Robert
It officially ended at midnight. You won!
But as time went by and no announcement was made of this victory, and
the voting continued despite my having been told that it officially
ended last Friday night and that I had won, and the promised
links and other placement promised to the winning blog didn't
materialize, I started to wonder. So I contacted the organizer who had
written me telling me I won and asked him what was going on.
He told me that there was a slight problem: the Tea Party group,
which co-sponsored this People's Choice Blog Award, didn't want to allow
me to receive it at CPAC next week unless I promised not to criticize
Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan as I accepted the award.
I told the organizer that I couldn't agree to that. He asked me if I
had planned to talk about Grover and Suhail. I said no, I hadn't, but I
had to now.
So that's that. The People's Choice Blog Award is now the Grover's
Choice Blog Award. I will not be going to CPAC and will not be receiving
this award.
And since I will not be allowed to receive this award at CPAC, I will talk about Norquist and Khan here.
There was a President named George W. Bush who had a very simple test for Islamic terrorism: Are you with us or with the terrorists? I don't care how anti-tax Norquist and Khan are if they're pro-Hamas. And Robert Spencer (of whom I already had a high opinion) has just gone up some more in my book.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: blogosphere, CPAC, Islamic terrorism, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, taxation, Tea Party
A boost for the Islamists
The Norwegian terror attacks have turned into an excuse to beat up on conservative, anti-Islamist bloggers. In a disgraceful piece written this morning, the
New York Times all but blames Robert Spencer, Baron Bodissey and Pam Geller for the Oslo attacks.
In the document he posted online, Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused of bombing government buildings and killing scores of young people at a Labor Party camp, showed that he had closely followed the acrimonious American debate over Islam.
His manifesto, which denounced Norwegian politicians as failing to defend the country from Islamic influence, quoted Robert Spencer, who operates the Jihad Watch Web site, 64 times, and cited other Western writers who shared his view that Muslim immigrants pose a grave danger to Western culture.
...
In the United States, critics have asserted that the intense spotlight on the threat from Islamic militants has unfairly vilified Muslim Americans while dangerously playing down the threat of attacks from other domestic radicals. The author of a 2009 Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism withdrawn by the department after criticism from conservatives repeated on Sunday his claim that the department had tilted too heavily toward the threat from Islamic militants.
The revelations about Mr. Breivik’s American influences exploded on the blogs over the weekend, putting Mr. Spencer and other self-described “counterjihad” activists on the defensive, as their critics suggested that their portrayal of Islam as a threat to the West indirectly fostered the crimes in Norway.
Mr. Spencer wrote on his Web site, jihadwatch.org, that “the blame game” had begun, “as if killing a lot of children aids the defense against the global jihad and Islamic supremacism, or has anything remotely to do with anything we have ever advocated.” He did not mention Mr. Breivik’s voluminous quotations from his writings.
The Gates of Vienna, a blog that ordinarily keeps up a drumbeat of anti-Islamist news and commentary, closed its pages to comments Sunday “due to the unusual situation in which it has recently found itself.”
Its operator, who describes himself as a Virginia consultant and uses the pseudonym “Baron Bodissey,” wrote on the site Sunday that “at no time has any part of the Counterjihad advocated violence.”
The name of that Web site — a reference to the siege of Vienna in 1683 by Muslim fighters who, the blog says in its headnote, “seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe” — was echoed in the title Mr. Breivik chose for his manifesto: “2083: A European Declaration of Independence.” He chose that year, the 400th anniversary of the siege, as the target for the triumph of Christian forces in the European civil war he called for to drive out Islamic influence.
Marc Sageman, a former C.I.A. officer and a consultant on terrorism, said it would be unfair to attribute Mr. Breivik’s violence to the writers who helped shape his world view. But at the same time, he said the counterjihad writers do argue that the fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam “is the infrastructure from which Al Qaeda emerged. Well, they and their writings are the infrastructure from which Breivik emerged.”
“This rhetoric,” he added, “is not cost-free.”
...
Mr. Breivik frequently cited another blog, Atlas Shrugs, and recommended the Gates of Vienna among Web sites. Pamela Geller, an outspoken critic of Islam who runs Atlas Shrugs, wrote on her blog Sunday that any assertion that she or other antijihad writers bore any responsibility for Mr. Breivik’s actions was “ridiculous.”
“If anyone incited him to violence, it was Islamic supremacists,” she wrote.
Mr. Breivik also quoted European blogs and writers with similar themes, notably a Norwegian blogger who writes under the name “Fjordman.” Immigration from Muslim countries to Scandinavia and the rest of Europe has set off a deep political debate across the continent and strengthened a number of right-wing anti-immigrant parties.
I understand that Melanie Phillips, Richard Landes and Phyllis Chesler are also mentioned in Breivik's manifesto. I can't link to the post that confirms that right now because Melanie Phillips' website has been attacked and is down right now.
Breivik did not specifically target Muslims, but the opportunists who would
force their way of life on all of us are attempting to use this case as an instance of 'Islamophobia.'
None of the people cited in this article has ever called for or advocated violence. Unfortunately, others have used their writings as an excuse for it.
The picture at the top is Robert Spencer holding an Israeli flag in Berlin shortly after German authorities had removed one from someone's window.
Labels: Anders Behring Brievik, Baron Bodissey, Islamophobia, Melanie Phillips, multiculturalism, Norway, Oslo bombing, Pamela Geller, Phyllis Chesler, Richard Landes, Robert Spencer, Utoya massacre
Anti-Semites at Mondoweiss blame 'right-wing Zionists' for Norwegian massacre
The anti-Semites at Mondoweiss have found a way to blame the
Jooos '
right-wing Zionists' for Friday's mass murder in Norway.
An examination of Breivik's views, and his support for far-right European political movements, makes it clear that only by interrogating the nexus of Islamophobia and right-wing Zionism can one understand the political beliefs behind the terrorist attack.
Breivik is apparently an avid fan of U.S.-based anti-Muslim activists such as Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes, and has repeatedly professed his ardent support for Israel. Breivik's political ideology is illuminated by looking at comments he posted to the right-wing site document.no, which author and journalist Doug Sanders put up.
Amman-based blogger Alex Kane then goes on to give a list of examples of Breivik's ideology, which included a total of two mentions of Israel, one of which described the ideology of the 'Vienna school of thought' which clearly was not Breivik's invention. The other comment said
We must therefore make sure to influence other cultural conservatives to come to our anti-rasistiske/pro-homser/pro-Israel line. When they reach this line, one can take it to the next level...(page 41)
How
Jooos '
right-wing Zionists' are responsible for the fact that a Norwegian bigot wants to adopt a pro-Israel line is not clear to me. I wonder if Kane would be willing to accept responsibility for the fact that Hamas and Hezbullah (and many other Islamist organizations) have set finishing the work of the Nazis (God forbid) as one of their goals? If not, why should we take responsibility for Breivik?
Oops - I forgot - saying that Hamas and Hezbullah wish to exterminate Jews makes me
anti-Muslim Islamophobic in Kane's book.
Kane goes on to link 'anti-Muslim activists' with 'right-wing Zionists' as if the two are one and the same. It's one long piece of guilt by association. In Kane's book, Breivik admires the English Defense League and Geert Wilders and they both admire Israel and therefore they must all be behind Breivik's actions. And you must be anti-Muslim in Kane's book if you believe that Islam is attacking Judaism and Christianity in a 'clash of civilizations, and you are surely anti-Muslim if you opposed to the construction of the Ground Zero Mosque on the site of the World Trade Center - after all, you could not have just criticized it as being in poor taste.
Kane goes on to slander Dan Pipes some more, along with Dennis Ross and Martin Kramer. He's got it all figured out.
And why is Mondoweiss publishing this kind of scurrilous attack on the Jewish people? Because he's an
anti-Zionist anti-Semite. Proof once again that we are our own worst enemies.
Labels: Anders Behring Brievik, anti-Semitic stereotypes, anti-Semitism, clash of civilizations, Dan Pipes, Dennis Ross, English Defence League, Martin Kramer, Mondoweiss, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer
Good grief: Durbin opens hearings on 'Muslim rights'
In response to Representative Peter King's (R-NY) hearings on the radicalization of Muslims in America, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Where else? IL) wants to hold hearings on 'Muslim rights.' Pam Geller is justifiably outraged at this
exercise in moral equivalence.
According to the Washington Times, Durbin claims that “there has been a spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in the last year that demands closer attention.”
The Times also noted that “in 2009, the latest FBI statistics available, anti-Islamic hate crimes accounted for 9.3 percent of the 1,376 religiously motivated hate crimes recorded. That’s far less than the 70.1 percent that were anti-Jewish.”
“Our Constitution protects the free exercise of religion for all Americans,” Durbin said. “During the course of our history, many religions have faced intolerance. It is important for our generation to renew our founding charter’s commitment to religious diversity and to protect the liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights.”
But all that is off the real point. Muslims are freer in this country than in any other country in the world, and frankly, no one gives a fig what they worship. The problem arose when thousands were slaughtered in the name of Allah and for the glory of jihad.
We are entitled to our lives, Mr. Durbin. We are entitled to our security, Mr. Durbin. We are entitled to keep our babies safe, Mr. Durbin.
That is all.
Read the whole thing.
Pam is spot-on. What is wrong with these people? Are they being bought? Are they true believers? Are they closet Muslims? I understand this kind of fawning behavior from Muslims, but I don't believe Durbin is a Muslim. By the way, that's not just the US - we have the same problem here.
Labels: Dick Durbin, Islamic terrorism, Muslim rights, Pamela Geller, Peter King, Robert Spencer
ACLU suing over Seattle bus ads
Remember the
Seattle bus ads that
weren't? Well, the ACLU is
going to court over them.
The American Civil Liberties Union is taking King County to court over its refusal to post controversial bus ads criticizing the Israeli government.
KING 5 News first broke the story that the ads reading, "Israeli war crimes, your tax dollars at work," were set to appear on 12 Metro buses. That set the stage for a showdown where the county ultimately backed down.
This wouldn't be Metro's first time running controversial ads. You might remember the one that ran last Christmas, "Yes Virginia, there is no God." The ad for the "Bodies" exhibit at Pacific Science Center was controversial, even "Save Gaza," in 2009. None of those ads elicited much of a response. This one did.
If the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign's goal was to raise awareness about its cause, it succeeded. Just about everyone knows about the ad and its now infamous slogan. Not because they saw it on the side of a bus, but because they didn't.
"We still don't know who informed the press," says Ed Mast with the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign. Word got out, before the signs came out. "The local media exposure, of course, quickly created a media controversy about the ads."
King County, citing security concerns, opted not to run the ads. That, says the ACLU, violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
"If every time we have a concern that some speech is going to cause some kind of problem, we might as well all just shut up right now," says ACLU of Washington's Executive Director, Kathleen Taylor.
Several bus drivers have told us they feared they could be targeted in the backlash. Many in the Jewish community were appalled, some even proposed their own counter ad, "Palestinian war crimes, your tax dollars at work."
Read the whole thing.
Free speech, yadda, yadda, yadda. So here's my question folks: If these were ads by Pam Geller and Robert Spencer's group seeking to help people to
leave Islam safely, and they were banned, does anyone think that the ACLU would care? My recollection is that Pam's and Robert's ads were almost banned in Florida and that the ACLU didn't say a word.
Labels: ACLU, bus advertisements, Islamic apostacy, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Seattle
The Ground Zero Mosque: The second wave of the 9/11 attacks
World premier at
CPAC next month (February 11) and in New York City (February 20).
More details
here.
If someone would post a trailer, I'd love to post it. And if you send me a ticket....
Labels: CPAC, Geert Wilders, Ground Zero Victory Mosque, John Bolton, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer
Anti-Islam Coptic Christian rally in Italy goes anti-Israel instead
Give Debbie Schlussel credit.
She called this a week ago.
The bombing of the Copts, as well as many attacks on Copts in Egypt by Muslims over the years, are a great example of how Muslims cannot live in peace with Christians. But they are also a great example of karma. It’s a bitch, and over the weekend, the bitch was Muslim. And what goes around definitely comes around in the case of the Copts. In the case of the Copts versus the Muslims, I view it as I did the Iran-Iraq war and the larger feud between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims. I wish it could go on forever and that both sides would lose.
The Coptic Pope Shenouda III continues to regularly deliver anti-Semitic sermons and calls Jews “Christ-killers.” And, in July 2008, he told Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper:Jews are a cursed people who have their hands indulged in the blood of Palestinians.
He also forbade all Copts from visiting Jerusalem as long as it “remains occupied,” meaning as long as there are Jews there.
But he is not the first to incite Coptic violence against Jews. In fact, the Copts were not only extremely anti-Semitic (as they continue to be), but they often led the Muslims in pogroms against the Jews of Egypt. There are almost no Jews left in Egypt, and the Copts joined the Muslims in calling for the Jews’ expulsion. Many Jewish homes and property were taken not by Muslims, but by Copts.
Read the whole thing. In fact, Debbie called it
a year ago.
Pam Geller and
Robert Spencer report on a Coptic Christian rally in Milan, Italy on Sunday, in which Copt supporters turned on Israel supporters who turned out at the rally. This is from Pam.
Atlas reader Paolo was at a Coptic Christian rally in Italy against Islamic genocide of Coptic Christians: Today January 9th 2011 in the Duomo Square, Milano, Italy, a rally was held by the Copts of Milano along with some supporting Italian organizations; among them there were the Northen Ligue, the "Amo l'Italia - I love Italy", Magdi Allam's party, and ADI (Amici di Israele - Friends of Israel).
Near the end of the gathering, the people from ADI put on their shoulders the Israeli flag. The Copts reacted violently refusing the presence of the Israeli flags. The police had to intervene to separate them and oblige the ADI people to leave the gathering.
Robert still holds out hope that the Copts and the Jews might work together.
Historically, Islamic supremacist masters did their best to sow discord among different dhimmi communities, keeping them apart and at odds with one another, but those communities today only work against their own best interests by refusing to ally together. Bat Ye'or spoke the truth when she called upon the historical dhimmi groups -- primarily Jews and Christians -- to recognize that the jihad targets them for the same oppression and subjugation and to work together to resist that jihad.
In the same spirit, I have long called for an alliance of all those whose conversion, subjugation, or death is envisioned by the adherents of Sharia. We should stand together as Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, secularists, and resist those who would kill us or subject us to institutionalized discrimination. And while some Middle Eastern Christian leaders remain mired in antisemitism and dhimmi attitudes of intellectual and political subservience, others are breaking out of it.
Not all Copts are antisemitic: in mid-December several fiercely pro-Israel Zionists spoke at the Voice of the Copts' International Human Rights Day conference in Washington -- including Pamela Geller and me. Those who continue in antisemitic attitudes, like those at this rally in Milan, are not only working against the interests of their own community, but also against justice and truth.
Well, maybe. And maybe Debbie really only meant the Copts in Egypt. But I don't think so. Too many branches of Christianity have too strong a history of anti-Semitism, which existed long before Islam came along. While I'm happy for anyone who is willing to oppose radical Islam (and am skeptical that there is any other kind), as far as the other religions of the world, I can only go by what the rabbis tell me: Kabdeyhu v'Chashdeyhu (respect him and be wary of him). That seems to be the best advice in dealing with the Copts.
Labels: Alexandria church terror attack, Amici di Israele, Christian Copts, Milan, Pamela Geller, Pope Shenouda III, Robert Spencer
