Posted on 08/28/2011 9:16:32 AM PDT by bimboeruption
It has been just about a decade since Islamophobia exploded in this country. That was of moment that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were hit by al Qaeda terrorists. It existed prior to 9/11, but the losses that day and the general terror it inflicted upon this country made many, many Americans much more wary of Arabs and, fairly quickly, fearful of the religion the terrorists professed.
The first sign that 9/11 would be exploited to advance various agendas came from Binyamin Netanyahu, who was quoted in the New York Times as saying the attacks would be good for Israel:
Asked tonight [September 11, 2001] what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, ''It's very good.'' Then he edited himself: ''Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.'' He predicted that the attack would ''strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we've experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror."
Netanyahu subsequently reiterated his views about 9/11, quoted here in Haaretz.
And, of course, ever since 9/11 the "pro-Israel" lobby has successfully used it to build support for right-wing Israeli policies in the United States.
But the lobby isn't alone.
It is just one of the components of an orchestrated and well-financed effort to make Americans fear and hate Muslims and Arabs.
I have to admit, however, that until I read a report published today by the Center for American Progress (CAP), I had no idea just how orchestrated and well-financed this movement was.
The report, "Fear Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America," demonstrates that a small group of self-proclaimed experts (Frank Gaffney, David Yerushalmi, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Steve Emerson) backed by a host of foundations and donors (many of which also fund the lobby) have put Islamophobia on the map.
To put it simply, without these "experts," their donors, and Fox News (their media mouthpiece) you would never have heard that a Muslim community center (the "Ground Zero Mosque") was being constructed in New York City. And the center certainly would not have become a major news story. Nor would Republican (and even a few Democratic) candidates for president, Congress, and even village councils be called upon to condemn Islam and "Sharia Law" or face being labeled a supporter of terrorism. Nor would Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum have made hatred of American Muslims such an integral part of their campaigns.
It all starts with the money. According to CAP:
A small group of foundations and wealthy donors are the lifeblood of the Islamophobia network in America, providing critical funding to a clutch of right-wing think tanks that peddle hate and fear of Muslims and Islam-in the form of books, reports, websites, blogs, and carefully crafted talking points that anti-Islam grassroots organizations and some right-wing religious groups use as propaganda for their constituency.
Some of these foundations and wealthy donors also provide direct funding to anti-Islam grassroots groups. According to our extensive analysis, here are the top seven contributors to promoting Islamophobia in our country:
Donors Capital Fund Richard Mellon Scaife foundations Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker foundations and charitable trust Russell Berrie Foundation Anchorage Charitable Fund and William Rosenwald Family Fund Fairbrook Foundation Most of these are new to me, although when I worked at AIPAC it was hard to miss the fact that some of them supported both AIPAC and its think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The amazing thing about the CAP report is that it exposes people who try very hard to cover their tracks. It is one thing to be known for supporting AIPAC, but it is quite another to be identified with the likes of Steve Emerson, Daniel Pipes, and Pam Geller, who appears in the CAP report as only a second-tier hater but whose anti-Muslim vehemence is nothing short of disgusting. (She rationalised the killing of the kids in Norway by pointing out that the camp they attended was associated with Norway's Labor Party, which she claims is anti-Israel!)
The hate funders are particularly determined to lay low since the slaughter of 76 people in Norway in July by a self-described Christian conservative named Anders Breivik, who said that he was influenced by Robert Spencer, Pam Geller, and David Horowitz (another prominent propagandist against Muslims and beneficiary of the various anti-Islam foundations).
But CAP followed the money, went behind the innocent-sounding foundation names, and cross-referenced them. And now we have it: the hate network exposed.
It's pretty ugly. Jews whose main concern is Israel align themselves with Christian rightists who don't like Jews. There are even a few Muslims who are dispatched by the network to tell audiences at churches and synagogues just how bad their people are. It's weird.
But it's also very dangerous, as the Norway slaughter attests.
The strangest thing about the killings is that they happened in Norway. Reading this report, you have to wonder why it hasn't happened here. Yet.
AMERICANS FOR A MUSLIM FREE AMERICA.
WE LEARNED ALL WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAM ON 9/11
I have a BETTER question. Who funds attacks on Christianity and Judaism in the U.S.????
Do the baiters need funding? My reading of the Qran and the Hadiths tell me that Allah, through his prophet, has commanded his Muslims to obtain either my submission or my head.
“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” Hadith 52/177
bullets?
you advocating shooting Muslims just because they’re Muslims? If so, get out.
Take out the bases of Islamic power, both foreign and domestic. Seems to me that the West wasn’t nearly as squeamishly PC about eliminating Nazis or (once upon a time) Communists.
Considering that Mulims make up about 1/6th of the population, over over a billion (1,000,000,000) people, exactly how to do you recommend accomplishing that?
You really shouldn't feed us straight lines like that, because of the obvious answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s1MspmfEwg
“you advocating shooting Muslims just because they’re Muslims? If so, get out.”
We shot Nazis just because they were Nazis.
The winning of the war that Islam is waging against us is going to require us to kill some number of Muslims. However, we do not determine that number: they do.
Islam has waged continuous war on civilization since its inception. When it has gotten smacked down thoroughly, decades have gone by without open attacks from them. However, they are now in a very, very strong position. If this were chess, we’d be on the wrong end of mate-in-three.
And our worst liability in this war is people like you, who are either disinformed or have some emotional committment that clouds their thinking.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “In (a) society the number of pacifists will either be large enough to cripple the state as a belligerent, or not.... If it is large enough, then you have handed over the state which does tolerate pacifists to its totalitarian neighbor who does not. Pacifism of this kind is taking the straight road to a world in which there will be no pacifists.” In this context, “pacifists” would refer to those who blindly insist on extending freedom of religion to those who only want to use it to destroy freedom of religion.
Freedom of religion was never, never, never intended to be extended to Muslims. This is doubly appropriate in that Islam is not a religion but a death cult whipped up by the loathsome swine Muhammed and his master, Satan.
“So you are advocating that we kill 1/6th of the world’s population. Which candidate do you support, and does he/she agree with that position?”
A: I am saying yes, we may have to. At least convince the islamic world we are capable of it. The only one I can think of who has actually killed am enemy in combat is Col. Alan West, whom I hope will be Sarah’s V.P. choice.
We shot Nazis just because they were Nazis?
Did we?
When?
**I don’t fear Islam, I hate it. ***
Then you suffer from islamomisia, a revulsion of islam.
“We shot Nazis just because they were Nazis? Did we? When?”
Good grief, you’re not really going to try *that* argument, are you?
Listen, do us all a favor and spend a couple of hours figuring out why it doesn’t work.
So you advocating shooting Muslims just because they’re Muslims?
You’ve been in Kaliforniyia too damn long!!
They Killed 3000 of our people on 9/11 ... 3,000,000 of them lost in restitution is fine with me... as for the rest ... they can take their Shariah Law, with is in Total Opposition of our CONSTITUTION, and go back to whatever sandtrap they want,,,and STAY THERE...
**Then you suffer from islamomisia, a revulsion of islam.**
I prefer the term islamonausea... I’m sick of those ragheaded bastards, and everything they stand for!!!
If Hitler’s SS had been more ‘PC’ they would have called us ‘Germanaphobic’ and the liberals would have fallen for it...then again, we’d all be speaking German today... those of us not murdered.
Get back to me after you have read my post and have something worthwhile to say.
Excellent point, my friend.
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