Partners in anti-Muslim hate: Pam Geller and Robert Spencer
Islamophobe Pamela Geller and her minions state that they are suing SMART Bus company in Michigan because SMART refuses to allow the “Leaving Islam’ anti-Muslim ads on their buses.
Geller is attempting to veil her hatred of Islam and Muslims by stating that she is simply trying to assist American Muslims, who wish to leave Islam that are too scared to due to threat of potential physical harm. Geller further states that the buses should allow this campaign under the guise of the 1st Amendment, Freedom of Speech.
First, we need to examine the motives of Geller and her crew.
Geller is a flaming anti-Muslim bigot, which is not an exaggeration by any means.
Loonwatch yesterday posed some rhetorical questions about Geller to highlight this point:
Should a woman who believes and regularly states that Obama is an anti-Semitic, Jihadist Mohammadan who is aiding the Iranian regime get a pass? Does someone who calls for the Golden Dome Mosque (Masjid as-Sakhra) to be destroyed and replaced by a Jewish temple get a pass? Should a historical revisionist who says Hitler adopted Jihad and was inspired by Islam to commit the Holocaust get a pass? Should someone who states that Israel should nuke Mecca and Medina be given a pass?
Geller has called Islam a “religion of barbarism,” and has insulted mainstream Muslims by saying Muhammad “Piss Be Upon Him” instead of the customary “Peace Be Upon Him.” Geller has also advanced the extreme right wing Obama is an undercover Muslim conspiracy theory and has referred to him as a “Muhammadan.” She even invoked vulgar slurs against our president calling him a “ball sucker” (ball meaning testicle).
David Yerushalmi, Geller’s comrade in hate, who is an attorney related to the lawsuit against SMART is perhaps more vocal in his anti-Muslim bigotry.
Yerushalmi, who has been described by Jewish American Richard Silverstein as a “devout Jewish fascist” has advocated in the past that “adherence to Islam” in America be punishable by sentencing of 20 years in prison!
Yerushalmi has also stated that Black people are predisposed to violence, a position also taken by the Klu Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation.
The Thomas More Law Center, which is also assisting Geller in her lawsuit are known to be extremists as well. Within the past year, they filed a lawsuit against AIG for using tax dollars to promote Islamic law, which helps fund terrorist organizations because AIG offers a financial package to Muslims that is free from investing in corporations that make profits from alcohol, gambling and pornography.
With this in mind, Geller and her ilk are not benevolent Americans, who are concerned about Muslims having the freedom to convert to another religion. They are for the elimination of Muslims practicing Islam in America in general.
Although people who change religions may be alienated by some of their family members and friends (as happens in many cases when people revert to Islam from other faiths in America), there is no empirical data that supports people who leave Islam in America do so at the threat of suffering bodily injury or lose of life.
In summation, Geller, Yerushalmi and Thomas More Law Center’s strategy is based on anti-Muslim bigotry, not in defending the 1st Amendment, which includes freedom to practice Islam in America. Let’s not fool ourselves.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100528/METRO01/5280364/1409/metro/-Anti-Muslim–ad-sparks-suit
‘Anti-Muslim’ ad sparks suit
Bus system refused to show ad aimed at those leaving Islam
Mark Hicks / The Detroit News
Detroit — An ad aimed at Muslims who want to leave Islam that was rejected for display by a regional bus system has prompted a lawsuit alleging violation of constitutional rights.
“Americans have a right to know the truth — Islam is a religion of intolerance and violence,” said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, the Ann Arbor public interest law firm that filed the lawsuit with the Law Offices of David Yerushalmi P.C. Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
“Christians, Jews and other non-Muslim minorities are persecuted in every country where Islam dominates,” Thompson said in a news release.
The suit was filed on behalf of the Freedom Defense Initiative, which sponsored the ad and had sought to display it on Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation buses.
The Freedom Defense Initiative’s website says its objective is “to go on the offensive when legal, academic, legislative, cultural, sociological and political actions are taken to dismantle our basic freedoms and values.”
According to the lawsuit, SMART this week refused to display the group’s bus ad, which read: “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get Answers!”
The lawsuit alleges the transportation authority violated First and 14th Amendment rights dealing with free speech and equal protection.
Attorneys also said SMART previously displayed an ad from the Detroit Area Coalition of Reason, an atheist group, which read: “Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone.”
“In Detroit, government officials grant atheists the right to express a view that God does not exist, not worrying about offending Christians,” said Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center. “Yet, these same politically correct officials censor speech that might offend Muslims. Such blatant discrimination is offensive, and it violates our Constitution.”
Elizabeth Dryden, a SMART spokeswoman, said it would be “inappropriate to comment” on the case until company officials speak with the bus agency’s attorney.
Some local supporters of Islam say they support the group’s right to free speech, but believe the ad could be seem as spreading intolerance.
“It’s a purely anti-Muslim hate issue,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter. “The SMART bus company, or any bus company, should not be used to marginalize a minority group.”
Asalaamu alaikum.
Next the KKK will be wanting to run bus ads to recruit… we all understand how that isn’t covered by “freedom of speech” but people have a hard time understanding this? May Allah reward those at the bus company that made such a courageous decision to not be a part of the hate.
SubhanaAllah! Alhumdulilah reading this only makes me want to be a stronger Muslimah! May Allah guide all those who are astray. Ameen!
Pffft. All superstitions er, religions are dangerous. This world is doomed unless humans as a species wake up and lose religion. F religion and all fools with imaginary friends.
islamaphobia is a totally made up word for a start! FURTHER MORE it is not irrational to be concerned about a political ideology[which is what islam is!} that brands everyone that does not accept its 7th centuary cognitively arrested nonsense as infidels that must be killed,any religion that purports to be the religion of peace and tolerance? then goes and abuses women and children and murder homosexuals is a disgrace to the human race! And that applies to all monotheistic regimes and institutions freedom of speach is what constitutes a democracy the freedom to express an opinion and the right to be offended by it and to counter protest without the fear of a terrorist threat response, all other stupid monotheistic regimes have taken insult and criticism on the chin WHY CANT ISLAM? if theirs or anyone elses sky god is so almighty! then surely a carbon unit of a person to cause offence to it would be an impossibility WOULDNT IT! this islam crying victim again well it aint no victim it just demands special respect which the west is not prepared to bow to and quite rightly.get with the 21st centuary programme we are nolonger living on a planet believed to be a flat disc or that diseases where caused by witches and demons? and attacking this women is just a sheer case of chauvanistic islamic religious men excerciseing its mysogynistic so called rights well bollocks to em and maybe we should think about cutting theirs off if they dont grow-up and stop throwing their rattles out of the prams during their stamping tantrums RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING AND WHEN PEOPLE BELIEVE IN ABSURDITIES THEY COMMIT ATROCITIES! which should not go unchallenged by western civilised society.
Rob…Religion and faith is not dangerous as they attempt to elevate the better qualities of mankind. Anything ANYTHING can be twisted and skewed by people with a wicked agenda with just one drop of hatred and poison – even a cookbook, even a children’s story.
Can Y O U even make a blade of grass or a grain of sand? These things don’t happen in a vacuum and order does not happen from chaos – someone has to CREATE it…like a bag of marbles spilt on the floor will not magically allign themselves. Your view of Creation is so limited
These other people , I am sorry for them. Truly…every soul shall earn what it has done. I think they will be quite shocked when they die.
Many things attempt to elevate mankind. Religion while it does in part do this, unfortunately does many other things as well that work for the detriment of human beings and humanity itself. Especially in advocating the belief in extremely bizarre things without even a shred of real proof. This destroys real people’s ability to think rationally and act on their thinking in many crucial areas. Religions also subvert as their own domain much of the entire field of ethics and thus morality and even politics and law. So there are quite good reasons to question religion and find it problematic.
To Egyptgrrrrl: a day will soon come when men will say, “Yes, I can make a blade of grass and a grain of sand.” Then the argument will change to “Can you make the atoms, that make that blade of grass or grain of sand,” and then, “can you make the quarks that make that atom.” This will go on and on, and as it does, men will proclaim that through their own achievements, that they have gained dominion over all of the parts of the universe while many will fall from their faith. They will learn to enhance their own minds and will even learn to fabricate the thoughts of other men without even speaking one word from their tongue or gesturing of their hands. Then, a time will come when one will be given the authority, from a raging sea of men, to rise up and take claim over all of these accomplishments in order to govern over these newly found powerful abilities. Men, deceived by these great miracles, will allow for their minds to be united, enhanced and controlled for the sake of security. The one who has this great authority will declare a new law that give order to sea of men and will claim to be God himself. The death of men will be avoided for all of those who seek allegiance with this authority, and will be knocking on the doors of those that do not. When this happens, see that you are not the one who is deceived, for this authority is not from God. It will be better to have died and be given eternal life, than to form an allegiance with this authority and find eternal death.
I agree with Dawud that this is a thinly veiled attack specifically against Islam, and doesn’t deserve the same 1st Amendment treatment as the Atheist ad. That ad was aimed at supporting those non-believers (in religious delusions in general) who think they may be the only rational person in a sea of insanity. I’m both happy and sad to see, based on Egyptgrrrrl’s post, that Christianity does not have a monopoly on adherents who are woefully uninformed about their own religion and of science.
They look like an evil couple, devising their evil plans. How can anyone trust them? I have one thing to say. ANYONE who hates basically worships the devil, independent of religion.
While I personally don’t agree with unnecessarily antagonising anyone, most Western countries would be far better off if they could get rid of Islam. Everywhere in the world where there is trouble, Islam is at its centre. Quite clearly Islamic values, including the oppression of women, non-democratic government under Shari’a law etc are incompatible with Western values and culture and are never likely to be compatible.
There are many Islamic countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, Iraq etc to which muslims can flock, but unfortunately the aim of Islam is to take over the world, so they come to countries like Australia where they breed like flies, attach themselves to our welfare system and agitate about everything that doesn’t suit them.
Those of us who care about our countries being overrun by Islam need to do everything in our power to ensure it doesn’t happen. However, until the final days come and we take up arms to defend ourselves … as will inevitably happen, we need to do it politely. To do otherwise is to fall into the way of Islam whose adherents kill caroonists and others with whom they do not agree. They even kill their fellow muslims.
If there is any hate, it is Islam … the religion of totalitarianism and hate.
First, I wanted to say that I am Christian, and I found this website/blog because I was searching for more information about the “Leaving Islam” campaign and the related lawsuits keeping and/or policies keeping it from the “SMART” buses. Naturally, at first glance, I took the side of thinking, “Well, I can’t believe we, as a nation, would allow pro-Islamic campaigns, or anti-God ones, but not this? I mean, if people want to leave Islam, yet have fear of leaving, shouldn’t there be a source for them to turn to? And if there is, shouldn’t this source be allowed to advertise on buses? How dare anyone oppose this!” Admittedly, I’d neither heard of this campaign nor heard of Pam Geller, until today.
But, then, I found this blog, read this entry, did some follow up research and quite frankly I am appalled by the people who are leading this campaign. I was going to put the disclaimer that I’m only appalled if indeed the things that allegedly say are indeed proven to be true. But, then I read some of her “articles” where she tries to tie in President Obama with Muslim extremists. That to me raises a red flag, I could go on, but I think this entry shows some good examples that are fairly provable that Gellar seems to only spew hate. Having said that, even as a Christian I am offended by the words of hate that are thrown towards people of the Islamic faith. In our faith we are taught to love one another, including our own enemies! Admittedly, there’s sufficient evidence, that we as a Christian people don’t practice that as we should. But, that is what Christianity is all about, its about admitting we make mistakes (sin), that we are in need of God, as mankind, we have fallen from God, and that Christ is our way back to God and ultimately our salvation. Furthermore, I should note that people who claim to be “Christians” and those who actually are two separate things, none-the-less that is for God to determine, and is not my domain. Having said that, I don’t think anyone is claiming that Geller is Christian, or is doing this to convert people to any particular religion. My point in saying this is not to cram my beliefs down anyone’s throat, but rather to share that to help everyone to understand my perspective.
When it comes down to it, I’m for religious freedoms and the freedom of speech, even if that means giving people the ability to believe and say things in a differing or even a completely opposing viewpoint. Right now, there are a lot of people that are debating over banning or further monitoring “hate” speech versus the freedom of speech. I put hate in quotations because sometimes it is easy put things in a box and label it “hate.” I’ve seen various viewpoints call opposing viewpoints “hate.” Sometimes this is justified, while others it is not. I think we have to be careful of the way we approach these issues. In this particular instance, it’s not the message on the bus ad that is hateful, but rather the intent of the one who wrote it. In this case, the intent of the messenger, though it seems benign to most and perhaps benevolent to those who have converted away from Islam, it ultimately stems from the doctrine of hating anything Islamic. Its when this happens, you could say that, because it directs people to a resource, that is backed by hate, it is therefore a hateful message. Legally, I think that it’ll be argued and won that this banner will stand, unless that “hate” connection can be proven.
the woman in the pic is gorgious 🙂
In a country where Muslims are persecuted and imprisoned for giving money to Islamic charities, and young people are recruited to go to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to kill Muslims, there should be no tolerance for anything, including the bus ads put up by these bigots, that furthers such persecution.
Regarding “free speech”, I recall that the same banner was raised to defend the notorious anti-Muslim Danish cartoons, but there has been no protest by the same supposed defenders of free speech over the banning of Hamas television by the bureaucrats of the European Commission.
I am, BTW, an ethnically Jewish anti-racist, anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist, anti-capitalist atheist. I believe that all religions, including Islam, should be thoroughly debunked. But a campaign against Islam in present day Europe or the United Snakes is no more supportable than would have been a campaign against Judaism in 1930’s Germany.
P.S. I too oppose Barack Obama, but for his real rôle as a pretty face for U.S. imperialism and capitalist attacks on the poor and working class, not because of whatever religious beliefs he may hold, or where he may have been born.
Shutup. Free speech in a free nation is what I believe. You need to suck it up, it isn’t exactly that easy to leave islam without harrassment, torture, or pain of death-so they are just offerening much needed help.
Before criticising others for having ulterior motives, perhaps you should look at your violent hating selves.