The Guardian reports on Pamela Geller.
Cf. “Memo to media: Pamela Geller does not belong on national television” at MediaMatters, and “Pamela Geller: the looniest blogger ever” at LoonWatch.
Category Archives: USA
Pat Robertson’s comments on Murfreesoboro mosque plan ‘ridiculous’, says mayor
Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess and others scoffed at comments by nationally known televangelist Pat Robertson on his 700 Club program Thursday that Muslims could bribe local officials to expand their influence.
“It’s entirely possible,” Robertson said during the broadcast following a report from his show about the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro‘s plans to build a 52,960-square-foot structure on Veals Road off Bradyville Pike southeast of the city.
The 700 Club cable TV program included an interview with Burgess, who said afterward he was not impressed with what Robertson had to say. “The comments were so ridiculous they do not deserve a response,” Burgess said.
Robertson said money from wealthy Muslims in Saudi Arabia could be used to pay for the mosque’s construction. The Middle East country, he said, practices a more extreme form of Islam. “This isn’t just religion,” Robertson said.
He went on to say that Muslims could end up taking over the city council to pass ordinances that require public prayer and foot washing. Before long, you’ll have girls in schools with head dresses on, he said.
Robertson described the conflict as a clash of civilizations between one that represents the 8th century desert world and the other that’s the modern view of the world.
Islamic Center of Murfreesboro member Saleh Sbenaty said he was offended by Roberts’ comments. “Pat Robertson is well-known for his hate messages and attitudes toward Islam and Muslims and for making false accusations,” said Sbenaty, an 18-year engineering professor at MTSU. “His comments are not worth even a response from my side.”
‘Ground Zero mosque’ opponents assist al-Qaeda
Some counterterrorism experts say the anti-Muslim sentiment that has saturated the airwaves and blogs in the debate over plans for an Islamic center near ground zero in Lower Manhattan is playing into the hands of extremists by bolstering their claims that the United States is hostile to Islam.
Opposition to the center by prominent politicians and other public figures in the United States has been covered extensively by the news media in Muslim countries. At a time of concern about radicalization of young Muslims in the West, it risks adding new fuel to ‘s claim that Islam is under attack by the West and must be defended with violence, some specialists on Islamic militancy say.
“I know people in this debate don’t intend it, but there are consequences for these kinds of remarks,” said Brian Fishman, who studies terrorism for the New America Foundation here. He said that , an American-born cleric hiding in Yemen who has been linked to several terrorist plots, has been arguing for months in Web speeches and in a new Qaeda magazine that American Muslims face a dark future of ever-worsening discrimination and vilification.
Dalia Mogahed of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies said the outcry over the proposed center “plays into Awlaki’s arguments and Osama bin Laden’s arguments” by suggesting that Islam has no place in the United States. She said that extreme anti-Muslim views in the United States ironically mirror a central tenet of extreme Islamists: “That the world is divided into two camps, and they’re irreconcilable, and Muslims have to choose which side they’re on.”
New York Times, 20 August 2010
Update: See also Nicholas D. Kristof, “Taking bin Laden’s side,New York Times, 21 August 2010
John Esposito exposes Geller’s bigoted ignorance over honour killings
An outspoken opponent of the so-called ground zero mosque in Manhattan is also taking on Islam in Chicago. Pamela Geller, leader of a movement called Stop the Islamization of America, asserts that Muslims are increasingly taking over schools, financial institutions and the workplace.
Geller’s latest campaign against “Islamization” has appeared in ads this summer on top of 25 Chicago cabs. Beside pictures of young women who were allegedly killed by their Muslim fathers for refusing an Islamic marriage, dating a non-Muslim or becoming “too Americanized” is the message: “Is your family threatening you?” and the Web address of LeaveIslamSafely.com.
But many Muslim scholars and civil rights advocates say Geller and other self-proclaimed truth-tellers are malicious activists who have capitalized on the terrorist attacks to create a cottage industry bent on bashing people of goodwill and championing religious freedom for all Americans except Muslims.
John Esposito, a professor of international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University, said religious defamation and Islam-bashing have become more acceptable in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks. “People like Pam Geller have a horrendous record,” he said. “It’s a track record of not distinguishing between forms of religious terrorism and Islam itself.”
Esposito said religion has nothing to do with it. Honor killings are a cultural phenomenon, not religious, and they are not endorsed anywhere in the Quran, Islam’s holy book.
“This ongoing jihad watch distorts the primary drivers here,” Esposito said. “Unless you understand where it’s coming from, it will not be addressed correctly…. This should be understood the way we address violence against women…. We offer them as much protection as we can, but we don’t jump to say this simply goes on among a particular religious group.”
New York: Republican candidate attacks Feisal Abdul Rauf as ‘a terrorist-sympathizing imam’
New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio is appearing in a new ad in which the he labels the imam behind the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” a terrorist sympathizer and asks, “who is really behind it?”
“New Yorkers have been through enough,” Lazio says in the spot. “Now a terrorist-sympathizing imam wants to build a $100 million mosque near ground zero. Where is this money coming from? Who’s really behind it?”
The only evidence Lazio offers that the imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is “terrorist-sympathizing” is the imam’s comment that U.S. foreign policy was an “accessory” to the Sept. 11 attacks in a 2001 “60 Minutes” interview.
“I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened,” Rauf told CBS’ Ed Bradley in that interview. Pressed to explain the “accessory” comment, he replied: “Because we’ve been accessory to a lot of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the U.S.A.”
The imam said in the same interview that “Fanaticism and terrorism have no place in Islam.” He is currently on a U.S State Department sponsored trip to the Mideast to foster religious understanding, and made similar trips under the Bush administration.
Update: See “Mr Lazio’s bid for attention”, New York Times, 23 August 2010
And here is another, web-based Lazio ad:
Republicans desert Geller and Spencer’s 9/11 hate-fest
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not be addressing a protest of the proposed mosque in lower Manhattan on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
The organizers of the rally, Stop Islamization of America and Freedom Defense Initiative, announced Gingrich as one of the event’s confirmed speakers on the Web last weekend. But a spokesman for Gingrich, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, told The Hill that the former leader of the House had never confirmed his appearance. Instead, one of Gingrich’s staff had agreed to send a video message from him to be shown at the Sept. 11 rally. That has since been canceled.
“The confusion is at least partially our fault,” said Joe DeSantis, a spokesman for Gingrich. “A staff member mistakenly promised a video message, though not an appearance. However, we are not sending a video. We informed them earlier this week.” DeSantis did not comment on why Gingrich was no longer planning to send a video message to the rally, and attempts to contact the organizers of the rally were unsuccessful.
The rally’s organizers also listed Rep. Peter King, the top House Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, as being “invited” on the bill of confirmed speakers. A spokesman for King, who opposes construction of the mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, said that the lawmaker was not planning to attend, however, adding that he “will have so many 9/11 commemorations in his district” to attend on Sept. 11.
No doubt even Gingrich balked at sharing a platform with Geert Wilders. We look forward to an explanation from Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. So far, Geller’s Atlas Shrugs blog and Spencer’s Jihad Watch remain silent on the issue.
Florence, Kentucky: attempt to launch another campaign against plan for new mosque
FLORENCE — The announcement that a mosque is being planned near Mall Road in Florence has drawn a strong reaction from some in the community. Florence city officials say they have gotten several calls about the proposed worship center and a flier is being distributed in the city’s neighborhoods.
There is also a website run by a Boone County resident that posts anti-Islamic messages and encourages people to “Stop the Mosque“.
The flier encourages residents to take action to halt construction of the facility. “Cayton Road is in your neighborhood,” the flier states. “Everyone needs to contact Florence City Council to have this stopped. Americans need to stop the takeover of our country.”
Joseph Dabdoub, a spokesman for the center, said he is troubled by the reaction. “The flier was very disappointing,” Dabdoub said. “These are average, hard-working people from the community, looking for a place to worship.”
Bethpage, New York: officials say mosque closure was politically motivated
Officials at a mosque on Long Island that was shut down on the eve of Ramadan say they are the victims of fallout from the recent Ground Zero mosque controversy.
The Masjid Al-Baqi has occupied a building at 320 Central Avenue in Bethpage for the past 12 years but last week, it was forced to close after inspectors from the Town of Oyster Bay appeared to do a surprise inspection.
“First and foremost there was no certificate of occupancy,” said Deputy Town Supervisor Leonard Genova. “Then there were plumbing issues and a gas leak. It’s our responsibility as a town to make sure people are protected from such hazardous conditions.”
Genova said they inspected the mosque after receiving more than a hundred emails and letters from Bethpage residents voicing their concerns about a second proposed mosque at 600 Broadway, the site of a former Jewish community center. Some of those residents also asked the town to inspect the Masjid Al-Baqi.
“With all that’s going on the world there’s a heightened sensitivity to this issue,” said Genova. “Once we found the violations though, we had to make sure they were adequately addressed.”
Town officials said this is not a question of “politics” but the need to protect congregants from unsafe conditions.
Mosque officials though question the timing. They showed News 4 New York documents that indicate they had been working with the town since April 2008 to change their certificate of occupancy. The building has a CO but from the days when it was a pizza restaurant, not a place of worship.
“There is no question this is a political issue,” said Syed Quadri, secretary of the mosque. “If the conditions are so poor, why did they not close it down twelve years ago?”
“Unfortunately, the controversy over the Ground Zero mosque has affected my client,” said Steven Morelli, an attorney for the mosque. “They are members of our community they have the same right to pray as we all do. That is a basic Constitutional right.”
Morelli is prepared to file a discrimination suit against the Town of Oyster Bay if the mosque is not re-opened soon. Meanwhile, during the holiest month in Islam, congregants of this Bethpage mosque are without a spiritual home.
“We just go there stand in the parking lot and stare at the building,” said Quadri. “We hope we can re-open and hope we’ll be able to pray.”
The poison behind the Ground Zero mosque furore
Andrew Brown examines the European links of Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.
US poll reveals majority opposition to ‘Ground Zero mosque’, widespread animosity towards Muslims
Opponents of the planned Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan have public opinion firmly in their corner. According to a new TIME poll, 61% of respondents oppose the construction of the Park51/Cordoba House project, compared to 26% who support it. More than 70% concur with the premise that proceeding with the plan would be an insult to the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center.
The survey also revealed that many Americans harbor lingering animosity toward Muslims. Twenty-eight percent of voters do not believe Muslims should be eligible to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Nearly one third of the country thinks adherents of Islam should be barred from running for President – slightly higher than the 24% who mistakenly believe that the current occupant of the Oval Office is himself a Muslim.
And while more Americans are open to the idea of having a mosque built in their neighborhoods than near Ground Zero, it’s still not an overwhelming majority; 55% of respondents say they would favor the construction of an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from their own homes, and an equal number say they believe most Muslims are “Patriotic Americans.
While the poll revealed that prejudice toward Muslims is widespread, respect for other religions traditions remains sturdy. Respondents held the Jewish faith in the highest regard, with 75% professing to hold a favorable impression – just slightly higher than attitudes toward Protestants and Catholics. Fifty-seven percent say they have a favorable view of the Mormon faith, compared to 44% for Muslims. Despite (or perhaps because of) this widespread antipathy, 62% of respondents say they don’t personally know a Muslim American.
See also the Financial Times, which reports on another poll, conducted by the Siena Research Institute. This poll (it can be consulted here) found that New Yorkers opposed the contruction of the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” by a margin of 63 to 27 per cent, but it also found that 64 per cent agreed that the developers of the Cordoba House have a constitutional right to build it, as against 28 percent who disagreed.
Gallup has posted the results of a 17 August poll which found that 37% of Americans disapproved of Obama’s comments on the “Ground Zero mosque”, while 20% approved and 43% expressed no view on the matter. Of those who disapproved, 32% held that view “strongly”.