by Christine Williams
When the U.S. House of Representative's Peter King Hearings spilled over to the north, they created familiar alerts about fueling Islamophobia. Although Canada's publicly funded broadcaster the CBC made the congressional hearings a top item on its current affairs program,"As it Happens," it undermined the credibility of the hearings as an unfair attack against the Muslim population by excluding King's critical opening words: "the overwhelming majority of Muslim-Americans are outstanding Americans and make enormous contributions to our country." They were there to reassure the Muslim population that the hearings were not a witch-hunt.
The CBC program also promoted CAIR to its audience, thereby yet again legitimizing CAIR as the collective voice of American Muslims, even though the FBI cut ties with the group out of concerns it had been networking with Hamas. Sister organization CAIR-CAN operates in Canada.
Alejandro Beutel of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) served as the single "expert" guest commentator on the CBC program. Beutel predictably supported the premise that the King hearings were contributing to Islamophobia. On the other side, terror expert Steven Emerson has deemed MPAC an Islamist organization and an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, just as the FBI has determined.
Although CAIR has stated publicly and on its website that it does not advocate Jihad by the sword, it does espouse Jihad through ideological warfare, including wielding Western emotions and sympathies as an effective weapon. The power of emotions was on full display during Keith Ellison's testimony at the King hearings; he virtually wailed through his description about the anti-Muslim suspicions against Mohammed Hamdani, the young Pakistani-born American who perished during his rescue efforts on 9-11. "As it Happens" also featured Ellison's crying testimony followed by a full, sympathetic commentary from Beutel.
CAIR and other offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood have managed to trick naïve, gullible Western establishments. The Brotherhood has a well organized and influential network that has succeeded in infiltrating Western institutions, where its representatives have been embraced by the mainstream; and are called upon to meet dignitaries, conduct diversity and sensitivity training sessions with politicians, and have a tight relationship with security and law enforcement agencies.
While racism and stereotypes clearly do need to be addressed, the King hearing was not intended to be the forum to do so. But Islamists allege that they are victims of systemic racism whenever questions or investigations about Islamic radicalism are raised – probably purposely, both to raise sympathy, and to divert attention away from the issue of Muslim radicalization and block further investigation of it.
One of the foremost scholars on Islam, Daniel Pipes once accurately stated that the likes of Ellison who do not kill people pose an even greater threat than Bin Laden as they use peaceful, covert means to undermine and displace a social order, as national security experts detailed in a report: Shariah: The Threat to America, in which the techniques propelled by the international Muslim Brotherhood (MB) are exposed. The report's investigators include former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ed Soyster. They illustrate how stealth Jihadists, posing as peaceful, "moderate" practitioners of Islam, engage in "political and psychological warfare" to subvert American foundational institutions.. Members of the MB try to work their way through Western political and social establishments and win widespread public approval. Strategic documents of the MB have been found by the FBI; according to the report: "nearly every major Muslim organization in the United States is actually controlled by the MB or a derivative organization."
Ellison's alliance with CAIR is no secret. He received funds from CAIR to help finance his election campaign; then at his swearing-in ceremony he used a Koran instead of a Bible for his photo-op. When criticized for rejecting the traditional values of America, CAIR came to his defense. He also spoke at a CAIR fundraiser in Arizona while ignoring a joint letter of concern not to do so, (written by Arizona R-Senator Jon Kyl, Arizona R- Rep. Trent Franks and former R-Rep. John Shadegg). The letter highlighted the concern about CAIR's relationship with foreign terrorist organizations. Furthermore Ellison also jumps to the defense of CAIR.
Just prior to CBC's coverage of the King hearings, Ottawa lawyer and top security Intelligence Specialist David Harris --who had viewed the program's description on the CBC Facebook page-- posted his fair assessment of the coverage, which warned about the agendas of CAIR and MPAC, and suggested that genuine Moderate Muslim voices are available in Canada and would have been a better choice for the program. Harris's posting was removed from the site shortly afterward. David Harris responded, " There is every reason to believe this could be another example of the censorship that is interfering seriously with public education and awareness."
In Canada, citizens have been bombarded and heavily influenced by biased news coverage from the King hearings. The media accused the hearings of: promoting "McCarthyism," of resurrecting both the Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition, and of being headed up by an IRA man -- all of which have nothing to do with the fact that we have a serious problem with Islamism in America and in the West at large. From violent Jihad to ideological Jihad, the Islamists'goal is the same: the dominion of global Shariah law, in which non-Muslims become Dhimmis, or inferior, second-class citizens -- under which system they have fewer legal and social rights, are forced to pay higher taxes, give way to Muslims on the street, and wear special clothing, among other requirements.
Although Peter King has received overseas death threats and "hostile phone calls," prompting him to increase his personal security and to state that he will not give in to political correctness, what the King hearings actually demonstrated is the extent to which Islamism has infiltrated our media and public discourse, and subsequently how much we need to push back.
Included in the hearings was devout Muslim and medical doctor, Zuhdi Jasser, who effectively described political Islam as a disease that is slowly infecting vulnerable Muslims, who become violent extremists. He cautioned that it grows and festers, and, like a disease, its symptoms must be identified and treated. Yet when Islam is presented in a negative light -- even when questions are legitimate — recriminations about racism and Islamophobia are quick to follow. Multicultural Canada is even more inclined to levy such erroneous accusations, as dialogue and diversity are golden words, making it politically incorrect to point a finger at anyone, however necessary.
If a country prizes a heritage rooted in democratic rights and freedoms, traditions that interfere with this must be confronted with sensitivity but without apology. There is no evidence that the King hearings were targeting Muslims; only that they sought to isolate the very real threat of radicalization by identifying its symptoms, so the disease could be treated according to the prescription of Dr.Jasser.
While it is important to stress that not all terrorists are Muslims, it is nevertheless important to note that Muslims are asked to participate in the "call to global Jihad" -- a holy obligation to try to establish world governance under Shariah law. Al Qaeda and related groups have been doing this their way: by recruiting and training Jihadists and planting them on American and Canadian soil. The infamous case of Canada's Al Qaeda poster child, Omar Khadr, who was trained as a Jihadist warrior in Afghanistan when he was a teen, exemplifies this. His siblings were also trained as they moved back and forth from Afghanistan to Canada, finally ending up in Osama Bin Laden's compound.
To continue thwarting the efforts of those people battling radicalization only serves to create further division, fear and suspicion about Muslims overall. As Peter King reminded us, the majority of Muslims are "outstanding Americans" making "enormous contributions;" and as US Supreme Court Justice Brandeis reminded us: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Christine Williams
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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