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.
I don't fear Islam, I hate it.
Exactly - it’s not a phobia I have,
it’s extreme disagreement with their
beliefs and practices.
I’m not afraid of them, I despise them.
Does Rosenberg know ANYTHING about Islam?
Why she should want to lie about something that open and well known is a mystery.
It's nonsense like that which leads so many folks to understand Leftism as a mental illness.
Contra Mark Steyn (who otherwise does good work), Islam cannot simply be moderated or rehabilitated to a level of peaceful coexistence. It must be destroyed, completely and convincingly.
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?
NO Abu it is NOT the JOOS ,But Common Sense!
Islam is here to destroy men, and drag down civilization. Islam is very good at its job. Of course there are people who fear it, like those who fear any plague. But more importantly, there are people who know Islam needs to be quarantined. It isn’t fear or hate, just common sense.
Which ignores the reality that the Muslims, at least some of them, are master baiters themselves.
This is a bigoted statement.
“Jews whose main concern is Israel align themselves with Christian rightists who don’t like Jews.”
Even he admits he is having trouble spinning this tale while maintaining the narrative that all conservatives hate jews.
That is why the Democrat party is the party of the contortionist.
I despise them because they despise me
They hate us so much, that the only way they say they can peacefully co-exist with us ... is after we are dead and 5 feet under. After we are dead and buried, then they say they will have peace.
We aren’t going to stand by and let them either sneak in like thieves in the night to establish a state where they can legally kill us either. Muslims need to integrate or get out .. frankly I think most of them are so brain washed that every one of them saved is going to be a miracle.
And for our left wing friends, when are you going to wake up and see evil when it stares you in the face. Are you going to have to see the evil before or after one of these guys separates your head from your shoulders?
What a joke. Like it needs to be funded at all.
Says the Jew aligning himself with the Muslims who postively despise them. Suicidal secular Jews.
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?
Jews whose main concern is Israel align themselves with Christian rightists who don’t like Jews.
This guy seems to think Sharia Law is just fine. American Laws aren’t worth the paper their written on. (ILLEGALS)
So now it’s time to institute Sharia for the American Infidels.
What’s that story about the camels nose in the tent?
What a complete red herring. There is no “organized muslim-baiting”. What I see is folks imploring the muzzies to pull their heads outta their butts and stop acting like savages.
Yeah, no need to fund it since we gladly do it as a free service to our country.
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