America’s Anti-Muslim Jihadists on the March Again

Remember the mad mullah who tried to build a terror mosque atop Ground Zero using the ashes of September 11th victims? 

Neither do I. 

But that campaign — the slandering of an imam sponsored by the State Department and the smearing of a proposed cultural center no closer to Ground Zero than pubs and porn shops — is worth recalling because America’s jihadists are at it again. 

First there is the spectacle of Congressmen Peter King, an IRA terrorist sympathizer who penned a novel in which he saves America from Muslim terrorist sympathizers. Since no one cared to read it, King is intent on realizing his fictional fantasy by presiding over a show trial held on the equally fictional pretext that "the Muslim community" poses "a real threat to the country" and protects terrorists. 

Then there is Pamela Geller, who exemplifies the grotesque neurosis that now afflicts many American Jewish conservatives. Geller admires fascist parties in South Africa and Europe (deemed kosher because they now want to exterminate  Muslims instead of Jews) and denounces Jewish moderates (read: those who don’t advocate Palestinian genocide) as modern-day Nazi collaborators. Alongside her comrade David Yerushalmi, another Jewish figure who advocates white supremacy, Geller works to criminalize Islam under the pretext of banning "Sharia law" in state after state.

And finally there is "Brigitte Gabriel," the alias of Islamophobia’s Oprah Winfrey. She rivets churches and synagogues by turning the complex history of the Lebanese civil war into a tale of bloodthirsty Muslims exterminating Christians — even though the war’s largest massacre was committed by a Christian group backed by Israel.  

These recent assaults by Christian and Jewish conservatives have outdone last year’s in anger and ugliness. But perhaps the finest example is this video of Tea Party "patriots" shouting religious slurs at a Muslim charity event attended by women and children in Orange County, California. A rabbi, two conservative congressmen, and a city official named Deborah Pauly blessed the proceedings. Pauly darkly noted to her audience that she "knew some Marines" who would be "happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise."

Shameful? Hardly — "Bravely Confronting Radicals," chirps a right-wing outlet. Pauly later claimed that her vicarious death threat was actually directed at radicals in the Middle East, not anyone at the rally. Brilliant: she and her mob may soon beat up a few American Muslims and claim it as an even better way to "direct" their anger at shadowy enemies thousands of miles away. 

The ugliness is bound to get uglier, because conservatives now face a serious challenge: reality. While the exponents of hate spew venom about Islam and the menace of its adherents, millions of ordinary Muslims in the Middle East are rising up in unison, showing immense courage, ingenuity, and resourcefulness as they vie for freedom against despots — most of whom rely on the United States for support. 

So much for "they hate us for our freedom." 

And so much for Israel-first policy. That country’s American cheerleaders insist that whatever Israel’s atrocities, it should be excused because Muslims are animals who must be controlled. Now, it turns out that Muslims, too, might be human beings. And when the Palestinians inevitably apply the lessons of their Arab brethren, who will be left to defend Israel when a hundred thousand human beings march against the occupation? 

This is what haunts and animates America’s fifth column: the lies they have so carefully cultivated to sink America in two wars and financial ruin may blow up in their face if their Two Minutes Hate cannot be extended ad infinitum. 

Councilwoman Pauly, the elected official who called for the murder of her fellow Americans, shrieked at one point, "I don’t even care, I don’t even care if you think I’m crazy anymore."  

She’s right: America’s jihadists don’t care if you think they’re crazy — they just don’t want you to think the Enemy is human.

Author: M. Junaid Levesque-Alam

M. Junaid Levesque-Alam writes about Islam and America at his Web site, Crossing the Crescent. A regular Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, he has also been published in AltMuslim.com, CounterPunch, and TheNation.com. He lives in New York.