Posted on 05/20/2010 7:18:17 AM PDT by MARenzulli
[Rima] Fakih, a 24-year-old Arab-American whose family hails from Lebanon, has almost nothing in common with the religious zealots who inspire militant Islam. Yet the tiara had scarcely come to rest on her cascading dark tresses Sunday night when the far reaches of the right wing blogosphere went ballistic.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
WASHINGTON — To win the title of Miss USA, Rima Fakih paraded across a Las Vegas stage in a nearly microscopic bikini. She skirted disaster when she almost tripped in her glittery white evening gown. Finally, she told the judges that health insurance should cover birth control pills.
Fakih, a 24-year-old Arab-American whose family hails from Lebanon , has almost nothing in common with the religious zealots who inspire militant Islam. Yet the tiara had scarcely come to rest on her cascading dark tresses Sunday night when the far reaches of the right wing blogosphere went ballistic.
Debbie Schlussel , a conservative blogger, charged that Fakih was a radical Muslim because she shares her family name with some officials in Hezbollah , the militant Lebanese Shiite Muslim group.
The Jewish Internet Defense Force , a pro-Israeli website, proclaimed it "a dark day for America."
Daniel Pipes , an outspoken neoconservative author and former adviser to Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign, wondered about "this surprising frequency of Muslims winning beauty pageants" — he listed five examples in three countries since 2005 — and suggested that the Donald Trump-owned Miss USA pageant had bowed to affirmative action.
Arab community leaders in Fakih's hometown of Dearborn, Mich. , have hailed her win as a sign of the diversity of their culture. For all the stereotypes of servile Arab women trapped in a deeply conservative society, Fakih's appearance alongside blond, blue-eyed contestants from Oklahoma and Colorado seemed to validate what Imad Hamad , the director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn , said was "the richness of America."
Nevertheless, by Monday afternoon "rima fakih hezbollah" had become a suggested search term on Google .
Magnus Ranstorp, a Swedish political scientist and one of the world's leading experts on Hezbollah — Arabic for "Party of God" — said it was "ludicrous" to suggest that Fakih, whose family includes Christians and Muslims, is a Hezbollah sympathizer.
With her low-cut gown and jewel-encrusted bracelet — not to mention the tiny bikini, "She would be flogged if she showed up in any of Hezbollah's neighborhoods in Beirut ," the Lebanese capital, Ranstorp said.
If there was any doubt about that, it may have been erased Monday, when pictures surfaced of Fakih dancing in a stripper contest — with $1 bills stuffed into her tight-fitting top — as part of a 2007 Detroit radio station promotion.
Fakih won the contest, according to the "Mojo in the Morning" radio show, and took home prizes that included jewelry, gift certificates, adult toys and "a stripper pole for home use."
Even that revelation, however, did nothing to deter Schlussel, whose biography at debbieschlussel.com says she holds law and business degrees from the University of Wisconsin , and who last week wrote a post titled "Reason #883,254 Not to Eat at Muslim-Owned Falafel Shops ."
Fakih was merely engaging in "deception of the infidels to further the cause of Islam/jihad," Schlussel wrote Monday.
She was on Fox this am and basically looked like a hooker.
Doesn’t sound like the author addressed the most relevant concern: that she has Hezbollah in the family.
Why is it so easy to become an American if you are from the Middle-east? Is this a self hat thing or what?
I’m sorry, but that that was one oogly bow-wow.
Did you see Miss OK? Call her eve, call me adam, drop us in the garden & I’m done.
Dude... rules.
“Ballistic” would be when Muslims grab rocks to stone her.
What a good muslim girl she is. Wonder what would happen to her in her ancestral homeland of Lebanon parading around like she did?
Fine. The issue has been raised, especially since terror-loving Moslem groups have been crowing about her Moslem-ness. We'll just wait for her to denounce Islamic terrorism. (Still waiting.)
This thread demands proof.
Yes indeed. I think one major news outlet (MSNBC) made this point and that she is part of a prominent Shi’ite family.
Lebanon was set up for the Christians in the ME.
Is she Muslim or an Arab Christian??
Arab Christians have suffered as much as anyone else, maybe more, from Islam.
The facat that she has lunatics in her family isn;t her fault.
It is VERY HARD for me to believe she is a Muslim. If she is, she had better have 24-hour, 7-day a week body guards around her or one of them will be cutting off her head.
Good for her! Maybe she’ll prove the “right-wing blogospere” wrong and go on a USO tour for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Yes, and they have been driven out by the muslims over the past few decades. Many Christians went to South America-particularly Venezuela and Columbia.
It didn’t last long.
LLS
Fox/Saudia News? Donald Trump probably has a hotel in Dubai or some other development so letting her win was part of his dhiminitude or jizya tax to Islam.
The mission is the same. She is only a tool, of less value than a goat.
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