Recently in backlash Category

Of course there should be no "backlash." No innocent people should be victimized for the deeds of someone else, and any such act is reprehensible. There are two questions here:

1) Is Holder aware of, or even interested in, the fact that Islamic supremacist pressure groups with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), exaggerate "backlash" fears beyond all proportion in order to deflect attention away from both the jihad attack at hand and the failure of Islamic groups in America to do anything to prevent such attacks?

2) Will Holder issue a similar warning to the Muslim community in the U.S., calling on them to clean up their act and fight against jihad terror activity sincerely, in both word and deed?

I expect that the answer to both is no.

"Breathing fire at the hypocrites," by Michael Goodwin in the New York Post, May 1:

It is a sad sight to watch a man grapple with a world that fails to meet his expectations. Unless that man is Eric Holder. Then it is simply infuriating.

The attorney general, warped by his own prejudice, is confused because his fellow citizens are better people than he imagines.

Holder sees white bigots around every corner, and can’t handle the truth that very few Americans actually hate Muslims. So, like Elmer Fudd hunting “wascally wabbits,” Holder’s shots usually backfire.

His Monday speech to the Anti-Defamation League was a classic case of twisted thinking. With his FBI fumbling a chance to stop the Boston bombers, he bizarrely stressed his determination to punish anyone who discriminates against Muslims.

Of course, he didn’t admit that the bombers were Islamists. That would violate the Obama administration’s omerta on linking Islam to terrorism.

But the “see no evil” approach creates a dilemma. How do you warn against vigilante attacks on Muslims without admitting that Muslims did the bombing?

By being disingenuous, as Holder was, saying: “I also want to make clear that — just as we will pursue relentlessly anyone who would target our people or attempt to terrorize our cities — the Justice Department is firmly committed to protecting innocent people against misguided acts of retaliation.”

There haven’t been any attacks reported, nor have there been many since 9/11. Indeed, Holder, trying to make it sound like an avalanche, said Justice investigated “more than 800 incidents involving threats, assaults and acts of vandalism and violence targeting Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs, South Asians and others.”

Think about that — 800 investigations in nearly 12 years, or about 70 a year, in a country of 320 million people. Notice he didn’t say how many led to findings of guilt.

Inadvertently, Holder further undermined his argument with another number. He said there were “more than 1,000 documented incidents” of anti-Semitism in 2011 alone.

Clearly, Jews, not Muslims, bear a greater burden of religious bigotry. But Jews don’t bomb marathons, so who is worried about protecting them? Not Eric Holder.

This always happens: every time there is a jihad terror attack or foiled plot, the mainstream media fills up with stories about Muslims worrying about a "backlash." The "backlash" never materializes. In reality, the stream of stories about fears of "backlash" are designed to deflect attention away from the jihad attack and onto Muslims as victims, who as victims ought to be exempt from scrutiny and accountability (even though no U.S. mosque or Islamic school has any program designed to teach against the al-Qaeda version of Islam that they ostensibly reject). In reality, as David J. Rusin noted in National Review last January, "a detailed analysis of FBI statistics covering ten full calendar years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks reveals that, on a per capita basis, American Muslims, contrary to spin, have been subjected to hate crimes less often than other prominent minorities. From 2002 to 2011, Muslims are estimated to have suffered hate crimes at a frequency of 6.0 incidents per 100,000 per year – 10 percent lower than blacks (6.7), 48 percent lower than homosexuals and bisexuals (11.5), and 59 percent lower than Jews (14.8). Americans should keep these numbers in mind whenever Islamists attempt to silence critics by invoking Muslim victimhood."

No victimization of even one innocent person is ever acceptable. These "backlash" stories are just tools in the hands of Islamic supremacists, which they use once again to evade any responsibility to clean up their communities and stop the spread of the jihad doctrine and Islamic supremacism.

And note the author of this piece: none other than Manya Brachear, who is ever ready to enable Islamic supremacists. Brachear doesn't mention (of course) that Ahmed Rehab is an operative of a Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood group that has had several of its officials convicted of jihad terror activity. CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case — so named by the Justice Department. CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR's cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements. Its California chapter distributed posters telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI. CAIR has opposed every anti-terror measure that has ever been proposed or implemented.

"Muslims guard against backlash," by Manya A. Brachear for the Chicago Tribune, April 19 (thanks to Kapil):

The [Hamas-linked] Council on American Islamic Relations again offered sympathy to victims of the Boston Marathon bombing on Friday, but added a plea for Americans not to generalize and conclude that Muslim teachings influenced the suspect in any way.

"Our focus is primarily on the victims," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter at a press conference Friday afternoon. "We don't want to be drawn into defending ourselves."

Citing acts of violence in Boston and New York, Rehab blamed Islamophobic forces for inciting hate crimes. He said that phenomenon poses a bigger threat than "innocently ignorant individuals."

Pointing to the Jewish leader and pastor by his side at the news conference, he said Muslims have discovered a powerful source of support since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"Friends of Muslims are emerging as a great force in America," he said. "American people are fed up with the dumbing down of America."

If that is so, then you must be on your way out, Ahmed.

We see it again and again: every time there is a jihad attack or a foiled jihad plot, the mainstream media focuses attention on the poor victimized Muslims, publishing story after story about a backlash against innocent Muslims that never actually materializes, and thereby attempting to shift focus away from jihad mass murder and onto the Muslims as victims, needing special protection and deserving to be exempt from especial scrutiny. In other words, we're the real victims here, so lay off the counterterror investigations.

Does anyone fall for this nonsense anymore? Oh, yes, they certainly do. That's why the New York Times and other mainstream media outlet keep churning this nonsense out by the pound.

"After Killings in France, Muslims Fear a Culture of Diversity Is at Risk," by Scott Sayare for the New York Times, March 27 (thanks to Ron):

TOULOUSE, France — As near to the Spanish border as it is to the Mediterranean, this sunny red-brick city has long been known as a place of welcome and diversity, far removed from the divisive politics of Paris. In contrast to much of the French south, the far right, with its virulent anti-immigrant stance, has little presence here. Nor does radical Islam.

Toulouse is by no means without racism, anti-Semitism, crime or the deep social segregation that marks many French cities, but with a culture shaped by successive waves of immigration, it is described by its inhabitants as a place of particular tolerance....

So while Muslims across France speak of feeling vilified, this city has largely been spared the tensions that surround Islam. “It is true that from time to time we are subjected to hateful political discourse,” said Mohamed Tataï, the imam at the mosque El Nour in Empalot, a poor neighborhood. It is effectively imported from outside the city, though, he said, often around election time. “Afterwards, we’re able to return to calm once again.”

There are concerns, though, that Mohammed Merah may have changed that.

The seven brutal killings carried out this month by Mr. Merah — a 23-year-old son of Toulouse, and a professed jihadi — occurred during a divisive presidential race that had already turned toward questions of immigration and Islam. Even though investigators say Mr. Merah was effectively a lone, self-radicalized extremist, his violent ideology fits closely with some French stereotypes of Islam, and Muslims here fear that the tensions brought on by the murders may prove more lasting.

“All of this does not correspond at all with what Toulouse is,” Pierre Cohen, the mayor, said of the killings. But “we’ve just come out of a very tense period,” he said. “Unfortunately, this risk exists.”

Already, a false rumor has spread through the city, Mr. Cohen said, suggesting that Muslims were organizing a demonstration in defense of Mr. Merah.

“There will be a ‘before’ and an ‘after,’ ” said Yassin Elmu’min, 23, a round-faced young man with blue eyes and short hair slicked into tight curls. Typically, Mr. Elmu’min said, there is “dialogue” between cultures in Toulouse, and Muslims are treated well. But he and other Muslims, many living in the poor suburbs outside downtown Toulouse, said they had already begun to detect nervous gazes that were uncharacteristic of this city.

“Someone had the nerve to ask me, ‘Do you agree with what he did?’ ” Mr. Elmu’min said, exasperated. President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the rejection of “easy falsehoods” about Muslims last week, after Mr. Merah was killed by police commandos, Mr. Elmu’min said. “The ‘easy falsehoods’ are already here,” he lamented.

A friend, Abd’allah, 19, dressed in a cream-colored djellaba beneath a hooded sweatshirt, said, “We’re the victims in the story.” He declined to give his full name, saying he feared trouble from the French authorities.

Despite Mr. Sarkozy’s recent appeals for tolerance, many Muslims say he has done much to stigmatize them, pointing often to a 2010 law banning the Islamic full veil, or niqab, and to a debate on “the national identity.”

Marine Le Pen, the presidential candidate for the far-right National Front, has been vociferous in her response to the killings.

“What happened is not the matter of one man’s madness; what happened is the beginning of the forward march of green fascism in our country,” Ms. Le Pen said on Sunday, referring to radical Islam. “How many Mohammed Merahs are there in the boats, the planes that arrive each day in France, full of immigrants?”

Muslim leaders have denounced such attempts to exploit the killings politically. In a statement shortly after Mr. Merah’s death last week, Mohammed Moussaoui, the president of the French Council for the Muslim Faith, asked that the term “Islamism” be abandoned because it “feeds the confusion between Islam and terrorism and brings suffering to millions of Muslims who feel it important to defend the dignity of their faith and their religion.”

Ironic: in America the term "Islamism" is used by those who want to obfuscate the connection between Islam and terrorism, and specifically the ways in which Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to recruit and motivate terrorists.

In Toulouse, Mr. Elmu’min and his friend had come from Friday Prayer at the Mosque of Mirail Toulouse, a sprawling makeshift prayer space in a temporary building at the edge of a mall parking lot, beneath the elevated railroad tracks at the terminus of Line A of the Métro.

Mamadou Daffé, the Malian-born imam at the mosque, said he had never been the target of so much as a racist remark in Toulouse.

What race is Islam again?

“None, none at all,” Mr. Daffé said. “Maybe this is surprising, but so be it.”

Mr. Daffé, who makes his living as a pharmacological researcher, describes himself as a moderate Muslim, a proponent of “local Islam” who preaches in French.

But in his address to the hundreds of men who gathered at the mosque on Friday — some in white djellabas, thick beards and skullcaps, but most in jeans, suit coats or leather jackets — he spoke angrily of the “injustices” being wrought against Muslims in France, especially after the killings.

Politicians have called for restraint, Mr. Daffé said, but those same politicians have long stoked the very hate they now say they must smother. He called upon the faithful to be exemplary in their behavior, though.

“We are responsible for the image that’s been given to Islam, this beautiful religion,” he said. With the murders, which Mr. Merah said he committed in the name of Islam, “God has tested us,” Mr. Daffé said.

His fellow cleric, Mr. Tataï, has led a project to build a grand mosque in Toulouse. A decade ago, local authorities were opposed, Mr. Tataï recalled, but gradually warmed to the notion. The domed, multistory ocher building, at the edge of the Empalot neighborhood, adjacent to the highway, is now almost complete. (Uncharacteristically, the mosque will be open to the non-Muslim public, outside hours of prayer.)

“Of course there is the fear that there will be backlash from the black week we’ve just lived through,” Mr. Tataï said.

He added, “This is a test of the good will and wisdom of the wise.” He remains optimistic.

It's inevitable: every time there is a jihad plot, the mainstream media trots out its template for stories like this one: shocked (shocked!) neighbors explain that the accused was a decent fellow, the local mosque says that they hardly knew the guy, others explain that he wasn't really all that much of a Muslim (despite abundant evidence to the contrary in this case), and Muslims wring their hands about "Islamophobia" and an impending backlash against innocent Muslims that never ever actually materializes.

And so here we go again.

"Shock, Anguish Uptown as Neighborhood Reacts to Terrorism Arrest," by Lucy Pawle for The Uptowner, November 21:

[...] Harlem and Washington Heights neighbors who knew Pimentel, reportedly under police surveillance since 2009, said he spent his days sitting alone outside the apartment building, smoking cigarettes.

“He seemed nice,” said Simon Islam, 36, who moved into the building five months ago with his wife and daughters. “He used to talk to everyone when they came in and out the building, but he was very quiet. He just used to smoke,” Islam said.

Juan Rey, whose mother lives in the building, described Pimentel as “a nice guy who used to open the door for people when they were carrying their groceries.”

David Rodriguez, who’d known Pimentel for a year, said he “never saw the look of terrorism in him.” Expressing astonishment at the arrest, he said Pimentel “could have blown the whole building up and no one would have known“ that he was the bomber. “His own grandmother wouldn’t know.” He described Pimentel as a regular guy in sweatpants and sweaters. “I never saw him praying; he wore regular clothes,” Rodriguez said. “I just can’t believe it.”

Pimentel sometimes welcomed Islam with “As-Salamu Alaykum” – a traditional Muslim greeting – and had explained to him how he’d converted to Islam from Catholicism. “He said he converted six or seven years ago,” Islam said. “Once I was drinking here with friends and cousins, and he pointed and said, ‘No, no. It’s not good.’”

But around the corner at Nadal1Deli, employee Mohammed “Alex” Alohdd pointed out that Pimentel didn’t fast during Ramadan. “He called himself a Muslim, but he wasn’t a proper Muslim,” Alohddi said. “I’ve known him for three years but I didn’t like him that much. I just didn’t feel good with him. He used to ask people outside for cigarettes.”

At the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on East 96th Street, where Pimentel visited, according to his mother, Imam Omar Abu Namous echoed Aloddi’s sentiments. “These circumstances, that he used to come to this mosque, are only coincidences, and have no relationship whatsoever with his activities,” the imam said. He hadn’t heard of the arrest and didn’t recognize Pimentel’s name, but said that if Pimentel had confided in a fellow parishioner, “they would have informed me and I would have informed the government.”

Emphasizing his opposition to fundamentalist ideology, the imam described the Islamic Cultural Center as fostering peace. He worried that Pimentel’s arrest would spark Islamophobia. “People have a deep misunderstanding about Islam,” Abu Namous....

Indeed. Including, apparently, Pimentel (Muhammad Yusuf) himself. But Lucy Pawle did not think to ask Abu Namous what he was doing to make sure others in his mosque didn't misunderstand Islam in the same way that Muhammad Yusuf did. Such a question would have been "Islamophobic."

Here we go again: a Muslim attempts to mass-murder non-Muslims, and Muslims turn out to be the victims. In a sane world, Irie Price would be writing about how the Muslim community in Lubbock was working hard to prove its loyalty to American Constitutional values, instituting programs to teach against the understanding of Islam manifested by Khalid Aldawsari, etc. Instead, they're the victims, as always. Mainstream media journalists are drearily predictable in their readiness to retail this line. It is remarkable how it never seems to occur to any of them to ask even the most basic probing questions about what these poor victims actually intend to do on their side to try to prevent future Khalid Aldawsaris, and thereby head off this frightening "backlash."

The mainstream media story about Muslim fears of a backlash (that never seems to materialize) after the uncovering of a jihad plot is so common that I pasted that entire paragraph above from an earlier Jihad Watch post about backlash fears in Portland after the arrest of would-be jihad mass murderer Mohamed Mohamud. All I had to do was change the names. The mainstream media procedures in these cases are locked in place and utterly foreseeable -- as are the deceptive talking points of the Islamic spokesmen quoted in the "backlash" stories.

"Lubbock Muslim community braces for backlash," by Irie Price for the Morris News Service, February 25 (thanks to Twostellas):

Members of Lubbock's Muslim community reacted with surprise and dismay at the news of the arrest Wednesday of Saudi-born Lubbock resident Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari on charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

They are shocked! Shocked! To hear of jihad terror plotting going on in their community!

Imam Samer Altabaa of the Islamic Center of the South Plains had just begun to contact people in the Saudi community when contacted for comment Thursday. He said he did not know Aldawsari and had not heard of him before the arrest. He also said that no one in the Saudi community seemed to know Aldawsari, who identified himself as Muslim on his Facebook page.

Of course. It is a staple of these stories that the leaders and members of the local mosque say they never knew the jihad plotter, never saw him, never breathed the same air. No one in here but us benign and gentle peace-lovers!

"They are shocked," he said of the people he contacted.

Shocked! Shocked!

Yet even though they don't know Aldawsari, they're ready to stick up for him:

Ben Chidmi, M.A.K. Lodhi and Adil Farooq, who all came for the 2 p.m. prayer at the Islamic Student Center, said they did not know the suspected terrorist.

Chidmi and Lodhi tempered their comments with the caveat that Aldawsari is still a suspect and has not yet been proven guilty of the charges.

"They are just allegations," Chidmi said. "If it's true, I think the Muslim community condemns any action like that."

"We condemn violence and terrorism without reservations," said the Texas Tech University professor.

If the charges against Aldawsari are true, Altabaa said, the suspect's absence from the local Muslim community is no surprise.

The suspect would "want to stay away from everyone if he is really planning for something bad," Altabaa said.

"We like to give (a) plain message to everyone that Islam is a religion of peace. Islam is a religion against terrorism or terrorists or any person who wants to terrify any human being," Altabaa said.

"These terrorist people, they never come to a mosque because they don't belong there," Altabaa said.

Of course they don't. Who ever heard of "terrorist people" hanging around in a mosque? Except, of course, for those occasions when mosques have been used to preach hatred; to spread exhortations to terrorist activity; to house a bomb factory; to store weapons; to disseminate messages from bin Laden; to demand (in the United States) that non-Muslims conform to Islamic dietary restrictions; to fire on American troops; to fire upon Indian troops; or to train jihadists. No, none of that has anything to do with "terrorist people." It's jihad, you see.

Then follows the predictable hand-wringing over the "backlash" that never materializes, in yet another patently transparent attempt to claim victim status for Muslims and deflect attention away from how Islamic jihadists use the Qur'an and Sunnah to justify jihad terror activity.

The Muslim community is bracing itself for possible retaliation. The Islamic Student Center has been vandalized multiple times, and Altabaa said Lubbock police have agreed to provide security in the coming days for the Islamic Center and the Islamic Student Center.

Altabaa said that retaliatory acts are often committed by people who do not know about Islam.

"We faced this before. We are afraid because there are some people that are ignorant or that don't have enough information about Islam."

This is a tired talking point, and increasingly absurd. People are afraid because they have eyes, and can see that Aldawsari and so many others plot violence against non-Muslims because they are Muslim, explaining and justifying their actions by reference to Islamic texts and teachings. Such people are not ignorant. Such people know too much.

Altabaa added, "They don't know that (Aldawsari) is an alien to Islam ... He is the enemy of humanity, not only the religion."

Aldawsari himself clearly doesn't know that. What is Altabaa doing to make sure that other young Muslims don't misunderstand Islam so drastically and lethally?

Lodhi, a professor of physics at Texas Tech, said that many Muslims have become accustomed to occasional acts of aggression directed toward them. Once, he said, an elderly man confronted him at the Islamic Student Center saying, "You Muslims should not be around here. You should go away."

"I try to explain that there is no threat, that Muslims are just as good as citizens in this country, as anybody could be," Lodhi said.

Nevertheless, Lodhi described his experience in Lubbock as being positive overall.

"I personally come across people who are very helpful, considerate and understanding," Lodhi said.

Farooq, a mechanical engineering student at Texas Tech, also had faith in the Lubbock community to act with nuance.

"My experience in Lubbock thus far has been good," he said. "These are just individual acts of violence that we should all work together and speak against."

Altabaa expressed appreciation for the role intelligence sources had in capturing the suspect.

"They are keeping our country safe from these terrorists," he said.

When asked about the Quran's stance on violent and terrorist acts, Altabaa responded, "The Quran always calls all Muslims to commit to peace, to live with peace, especially with non-Muslims."

Except for the passages in which it is telling Muslims to kill non-Muslims. A sampling:

"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." -- 9:5

"And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter..." -- 2:191

"They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them..." -- 4:89

"Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies..." -- 8:60

"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." -- 9:29

"Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens..." -- 47:4

He added, "God sent (Mohammed) to have mercy in the world, and to spread mercy on all creation of the world."

Quoting a translation of the Quran, Altabaa said, "Whoever kills one person, (it is as) if he killed all human beings; he is equal to a person who killed all human beings. And whoever saves one person's life, (it is as) if he saved all human beings. The Quran makes it clear to every Muslim."

"Muslims are people of peace," said the imam, "because this is what Islam means."

Actually, Islam means "submission," not "peace."

Still, "police haven't confirmed Saturday's attack was motivated by Islamist views." Of course. It must have been Tim McVeigh. "Swedes shocked by 1st terror attack in 3 decades," from the Associated Press, December 12 (thanks to Steve):

STOCKHOLM -- No one died except for the suspected bomber, but two explosions in Sweden's capital tore at the fabric of this tolerant and open nation -- a society that hadn't seen a terrorist attack in more than three decades. [...]

While police haven't confirmed Saturday's attack was motivated by Islamist views, an audio file sent to Swedish news agency TT shortly before the blast referred to jihad, Sweden's military presence in Afghanistan and a cartoon by a Swedish artist that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog, enraging the Muslim world.

It hasn't been verified that the speaker is the person who set off the explosive, but police have said they are investigating that possibility.

"Now the Islamic state has been created. We now exist here in Europe and in Sweden. We are a reality," the voice said in the file, submitted to The Associated Press by TT. "I don't want to say more about this. Our actions will speak for themselves."

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Sunday said the attack was "unacceptable" but urged Swedes not to jump to "premature conclusions" that "create tension which paints pictures that are then difficult to change."...

In other words, despite the jihadi's explicit Islamic motivations, don't get the idea that this has anything to do with Islam.

The 2007 drawing of the Prophet Muhammad by Lars Vilks has raised tensions before in Sweden. In May, Vilks was assaulted while giving a speech in Uppsala, and vandals unsuccessfully tried to burn down his home in southern Sweden....

On Sunday, about 100 people assembled in chilly central Stockholm for a peaceful demonstration organized by Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice.

"We felt a responsibility to sharply condemn the attack, but it would be naive to think that yesterday's events aren't going to have a negative effect on the perception of Muslims in Sweden," said Samaa Sarsour, 26, one of the main organizers of the rally. She urged the crowd to punch the air and kick out their feet in a display of defiance against the hijacking of religion by extremists....

Yes, of course, Samaa. It's all about you. It's all about "backlash." It's all about playing the victim and evading responsibility, no matter what the jihadis do.

Now here is a genuine fear of a backlash. "Britain fears Islamic fury over WikiLeaks: Report," from Economic Times, November 28:

LONDON: The British government has warned that its citizens in Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and other parts of the Muslim world could be targeted in a violent backlash over "anti-Islamic" views expressed in diplomatic documents being leaked this week, media reports said on Sunday.

The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks is to release almost 3 million documents on the internet, including thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables sent to Washington from the American embassy in London, The Sunday Times reported.

It said the British government has warned that its citizens in Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and other parts of the Muslim world could be targeted in a violent backlash over "anti-Islamic" views expressed in diplomatic documents....

But officials said the real damage could be done by the disclosure of cables in which American diplomats refer to candid British views of key figures in the Muslim world....

As the mainstream media's "Muslims Fear Backlash" Industry swings into high gear, focusing attention on how Muslims in Portland, Oregon, are afraid of vigilante attacks after the attempted jihad attack at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony there last Friday, I have just two questions:

1. Is there any substantial evidence that there has ever been a "backlash" against innocent Muslims in the wake of any jihad plot in the United States over the last few years? The attack on the Portland mosque cannot be assumed to be an example of such a backlash until it is established who actually set the fire -- after all, we saw a few years ago Muslims in Dayton, Ohio fake a hate crime against a mosque. Shortly after 9/11 some idiot murdered a Sikh, thinking he was a Muslim, but otherwise that was about it, although Hamas-linked CAIR has done its best to fake such crimes.

2. Why don't we ever see comparable "backlash" stories about other communities? After a few abortion doctors were murdered, I never recall having seen a story about how pro-lifers feared a backlash. Although Tim McVeigh wasn't really a Christian at all, he has now been pushed into the popular consciousness as the sole and all-purpose example of a "Christian terrorist," and yet in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing there were no stories anywhere about how Christians were fearing vigilante attacks.

No, only Muslims ever fear "backlash" -- even though actual evidence of such a backlash remains elusive.

Now, why might those things be so?

The mainstream media line after any jihad attack or foiled plot is not about how Muslims are working to prove their loyalty to America and redoubling their efforts to root out the jihadists within their communities. It is not about how they're instituting programs in mosques and Islamic schools to teach against the jihadist understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Instead, it is about how Muslims are victims, fearing a "backlash" that never quite materializes.

"Oregon Muslim leaders fear retribution after plot," by Jonathan Cooper and Nigel Duara for the Associated Press, November 29 (thanks to Elias):

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Patrols around mosques and other Islamic sites in Portland have been stepped up as Muslim leaders expressed fears of retribution, days after a Somali-American man was accused of trying to blow up a van full of explosives during the city's Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams said Sunday that he beefed up protection around mosques "and other facilities that might be vulnerable to knuckle-headed retribution" after hearing of the bomb plot.

I wonder if he has beefed up protection around sites that might be targets of another jihad attack.

The move followed a fire Sunday at the Islamic center in Corvallis, a college town about 75 miles southwest of Portland, where suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud occasionally worshipped, prompting an FBI arson investigation and concern about the potential for more retaliation....

On what basis is anyone sure that the arson attack constituted retaliation in the first place?

Earlier Sunday, worshippers at the damaged Islamic center expressed concern about retribution.

"I've prayed for my family and friends, because obviously if someone was deliberate enough to do this, what's to stop them from coming to our homes and our schools?" said Mohamed Alyagouri, a 31-year-old father of two who worships at the center. "I'm afraid for my children getting harassed from their teachers, maybe from their friends."

Yosof Wanly, the center's imam, said he was thinking about temporarily relocating his family because of the possibility of hate crimes.

"We know how it is, we know some people due to ignorance are going to perceive of these things and hold most Muslims accountable," Wanly said. But he said Corvallis has long been accepting of Muslims.

Meanwhile, even the jihadist himself is a victim:

Omar Jamal, first secretary for the Somali mission to the United Nations in New York City, told The Associated Press his office has received "thousands of calls" from Somalis in the United States who are concerned about tactics used by federal agents in the sting operation against Mohamud....

In FrontPage this morning I discuss how the reaction of various parties to the Portland jihad bust follows a sadly familiar pattern:

A nineteen-year old Somali Muslim named Mohamed Osman Mohamud was arrested Friday in Portland, Oregon, just as he was trying to blow up a van loaded with explosives at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The explosives were fakes that agents who were tracking Mohamud's activities supplied to him; as they moved in to arrest him, he kicked at them and shouted, "Allahu akbar!"

Although the explosives were fake, "the threat was very real," according to Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "Our investigation," said Balizan, "shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale." Mohamud himself had told undercover agents: "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured." Yet as more details have come out about Mohamud's jihad plot, the response from government and law enforcement officials, the Muslim community in Portland, and the mainstream media has been drearily familiar.

I. Mohamud's Islamic motivations

Mohamed Osman Mohamud's own statements make it unmistakably clear that he was hoping to commit mass-murder in the name of Islam, in what he saw as an Islamic jihad attack. For a video he made explaining his motives, he dressed in a white robe with a red and white headdress, telling undercover agents whom he thought were his accomplices that he wanted to dress "Sheikh Osama style." He began the video by repeating traditional Islamic prayers and invocations: "I take refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed; in the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate; all praise be to Allah, we praise him, we seek his assistance and forgiveness."

He then warned Americans that "a dark day is coming your way," for "as long as you threaten our security, your people will not remain safe." He asked: "Did you think that you could invade a Muslim land, and we would not invade you," and boasted that "Allah will have soldiers scattered everywhere across the world." He challenged Muslims living in the United States: "What has stopped you from fighting in the cause of Allah?" And he predicted that "you will see the victory of Islam."

All this is perfectly consistent with the Islamic doctrine that jihad warfare becomes obligatory (fard ayn) upon every Muslim if a Muslim land is attacked by infidels.

As long as four years ago, when he was only fifteen, Mohamud had already attracted the attention of law enforcement agents, and he told undercover agents at that time that he was praying about "whether I should...go, you know, and make a jihad in a different country or to make like an operation here." He wrote for an online magazine called "Jihad Recollections" about how jihad warriors must "train as hard as possible in order to damage the enemies of Allah as much as possible." They should, however, not go to gyms and train with weights, he wrote, because gyms were decidedly un-Islamic places, with their "music, semi-naked women [and] free mixing."

II. The local mosque: Mohamed who?

Yet despite Mohamud's avowedly Islamic motivations, the Imam Yosof Wanly of the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center in Corvallis, Oregon, followed a predictable and oft-repeated pattern when he downplayed Mohamud's connection to the local Muslim community. Every jihadist who has ever lived for any time in the United States has been simultaneously a devout and informed Muslim by his own account, and by the account of the local mosque leaders, someone they seldom saw and who was at odds with the larger community when he did show up. It raises a large question that no journalist ever has the wit or courage to ask: if these jihad terrorists really had little or nothing to do with their local mosques, and if their understanding of Islam differs so sharply from that of the area Muslims, where did they learn the version of Islam that impelled them to attempt mass-murder of infidels?

In the course of various media interviews, however, Wanly did end up revealing that he had more of a relationship with Mohamud than he would be likely to have with a peripheral member of his congregation whom he seldom saw. He said that he and Mohamud had "average teacher-student" discussions, and characterized Mohamud, a dropout from Oregon State University, as, according to the Associated Press [1], "a normal student who went to athletic events, drank the occasional beer and was into rap music and culture." Even though this statement seems calculated to give the picture of anything but a devout, observant, serious Muslim, it also shows that Wanly knew Mohamud better than one might expect a busy imam in a major city to know a sometime college student who attended his mosque only occasionally....

There is much more.

Generally after a jihad attack in the United States, whether successful or not, mainstream media outlets run multiple stories about how Muslim communities fear a "backlash" against innocent Muslims from enraged "Islamophobic" rednecks. Of course, such "backlashes" never materialize, but the purpose of such stories is to shift the public's attention away from the reality of Islamic jihad and onto the fiction of Muslims as victims, living in fear of vigilante attack in the United States. In reality, hate crimes against Muslims accounted for only eight percent of crimes thus classified in the U.S. in 2009, according to a recently released FBI report. Blacks and Jews were far more likely to be victimized - and far less likely to be the subject of fawning media reports featuring hand-wringing over a "backlash" against them.

But in this case, there appears to have been a genuine backlash: an arson attack at the Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center in Corvallis. The FBI offered a $10,000 reward for information, and FBI spokesperson Beth Anne Steele thundered: "The FBI would not tolerate any retaliation on the Muslim community as a result of that arrest."

If this was truly a retaliatory vigilante attack following Mohamud's attempted jihad bombing, then it is hateful and must unequivocally be condemned. It is important to note, however, that while the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the FBI and local police to protect the mosque, CAIR and other Muslims have not hesitated to stoop even to fabricating "hate crimes," including attacks on mosques. CAIR and other groups like it want and need hate crimes against Muslims, because they can use them for political points and as weapons to intimidate people into remaining silent about the jihad threat.

Was the arson attack against the Islamic Center in Corvallis a staged event designed to deflect attention away from Mohamud's jihad attack and onto Muslims as victims? There is no way to tell unless law enforcement officials consider this possibility, which they should do given the many faked incidents in the past. But whether they will actually do so is another matter.

"FBI to aid investigation into arson fire at Corvallis mosque," by Molly Hottle for The Oregonian, November 28 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been called in to aid the investigation into an arson fire at the Corvallis mosque where Portland bomb plot suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud sometimes attended.

The fire at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center was discovered by an on-duty police sergeant at about 2:15 a.m. today. It took firefighters 10 minutes to put it out and it damaged about 80 percent of the office it was contained to. No one was injured.

Sunday afternoon, U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton and Art Balizan, FBI special agent in charge for Oregon, visited the Corvallis Islamic center.

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said it's standard for the agency to become involved in attacks on religious groups, but that the possible connection between the fire and the arrest of Mohamud makes their involvement even more important.

"The FBI would not tolerate any retaliation on the Muslim community as a result of that arrest," Steele said. "We have an ongoing relationship with the Muslim leaders
in Corvallis. This is of high concern to them."...

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the fire....

"We have made it quite clear that the FBI will not tolerate any kind of retribution or attack on the Muslim community," Balizan said. "We are working very closely with the leadership at the mosque. We will find the person responsible for this attack and bring the full force of the federal justice system to bear. In the meantime, the FBI remains absolutely committed to protecting each and every American's right to live, work and worship in a free and safe society."...

Actually they're -- you guessed it! -- whining about a possible "backlash." This whole article is absurd, however, since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did not try to blow up Flight 253 because he was Nigerian, but because he was Muslim and believed it his religious duty to wage war against Infidels. But apparently the Times was tired of writing about fears of a backlash against Muslims when one never materializes, and so they gave a new twist to an old story angle by worrying about a backlash against Nigerians instead. The Muslim angle does come in, but not until late in the story.

"'Shocked' Nigerians in U.S. Express Fears of Guilt by Association After Arrest," by Mary M. Chapman for the New York Times, December 29 (thanks to Bill):

DETROIT -- When news broke on Christmas Day that a young Nigerian man had been arrested in a thwarted terrorist attack aboard a jetliner bound for the airport here, Joseph Ajiri, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur who lives in the suburb of Oak Park, was tucking into steaming servings of foofoo, moi-moi and other traditional Nigerian dishes with about a dozen friends and relatives.

Edwin Dyke, founder of the Nigerian Foundation of Michigan, said, "This isn't like our people."

"We just had some people here for Christmas dinner, then all of a sudden this comes on TV," Mr. Ajiri said. "It was regretful that he was Nigerian, but that didn't make us any more angry. We were all very happy that the explosion didn't take place, that he wasn't successful."...

"We want to tell Homeland Security and the federal government that we are sorry about what happened," Dr. Dyke said, "that this isn't like our people, that we believe this is an isolated incident but that we will keep our ears open."...

Salewa Ola, a Nigerian who founded the Detroit-based United African Community Organization, emphasized that the plane attack was "not what our community stands for."

"We are shocked and embarrassed," Dr. Ola said. "This has given all of us a black eye."

Relatives have said that Mr. Abdulmutallab, who is from a Muslim family, was particularly devout, even as a child.

But that tells us nothing, eh?

Twenty percent of Nigerians living in Michigan are Muslim, Dr. Dyke said. But Kamol Bello, a Detroit resident who is a Nigerian Muslim and has lived in the United States for 20 years, was quick to disassociate the religion from what occurred on Flight 253 on Christmas Day.

"A truly religious person would not do that," Mr. Bello said, adding that Muslims he knew did not think Mr. Abdulmutallab "is Muslim or Christian because no true religion teaches" someone to ignite an explosive aboard a plane.

"That's just crazy ideology," Mr. Bello said.

All right, Mr. Bello. Then how did Abdulmutallab, a devout Muslim since childhood, misunderstand Islam so drastically? And what are you doing to prevent such misunderstandings in the future?

Nothing -- just worrying about a phantom backlash:

Even so, Mr. Ajiri and several other Nigerians living in and around Detroit said they expected prejudicial fallout from the attack and from an incident on the same flight two days later in which a Nigerian man spent a long time in the plane's lavatory, arousing the suspicion of fellow passengers, flight attendants and an air marshal and setting off security alerts as the plane landed. It turned out that the man had simply been ill.

"Profiling? When you look at 9/11 and what happened with the Arabic community, we cannot expect anything different," Mr. Ajiri said. "It is just unfortunate that one individual is going to ruin reputations for the rest of the Nigerians. When we travel now, the system will make us pay, and I don't feel good about it."...

Lekan Oguntoyinbo, a Nigerian who used to live in Detroit and now lives in Columbia, Mo., said Mr. Abdulmutallab's nationality would heighten suspicions of all Nigerians.

"Nigerians have had a horrible reputation with the authorities of this country for importing drugs and for things like Internet fraud," said Mr. Oguntoyinbo, an assistant professor of journalism at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. "I think this incident on Christmas not only makes us incredibly more suspect, but also positions Nigerians as enemies of the state. When you're trying to blow up a plane, the dynamics of perception change a great deal."...

No kidding, really?

They needn't worry about the shoot to kill policy if they stop when called upon to do so. It does now appear that the man shot by police near the subway was not connected with the bombings and they admit to shooting the wrong man. From Arab News, with thanks to Skeet Street.

LONDON — Muslims gathered for afternoon prayers yesterday with renewed fears of a backlash against Britain’s Islamic community after a string of new terror attacks.

Amid the anxiety, a bomb threat forced the evacuation of one of the city’s largest mosques, and police investigated an apparent attempt to set fire to the home of one of the suspected suicide bombers in the first attacks on July 7.

When undercover officers on the London Underground yesterday shot and killed a man who was described by witnesses as South Asian, the news swept through Britain’s Muslim community of 1.6 million. The death came on the heels of a series of failed bombings Thursday, in which four men placed backpacks of explosives on three trains and a bus.

“I have just had one phone call saying ‘What if I was carrying a rucksack?” said Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, following the shooting. “We are getting phone calls from quite a lot of Muslims who are distressed about what may be a shoot-to-kill policy.”

Police said officers were operating on a “shoot-to-stop” policy when facing an imminent life threat.

London Mayor Ken Livingston, however, explained: “If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious, they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them. Therefore overwhelmingly, in these circumstances, it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy.”...

How long will Muslims and multiculturalists keep saying this? How long will a gullible public keep buying it? When will the denial end about exactly why these bombers are killing themselves and others, and how such bombers are recruited? Is Britain and the West going to play the dhimmi intellectually and morally all the way up to the time that it becomes necessary to assume the dhimmi role not just in metaphor but in reality?

"Concern at rise in racial attacks," from the BBC, with thanks to Skeetstreet, yet another backlash and nothing-to-do-with-Islam story:

Muslims in the South West are calling for calm following the bomb explosions on 7 July in London.

Police said the number of racist attacks was up since the attack on the capital which left more than 50 dead.

In one incident a 20-year-old Muslim youth received serious head injuries after he was attacked by a group of white youths in Central Park, Plymouth.

Some Senior figures in the Islamic community are warning Muslims to keep a low profile while tensions are so high.

Eleven cases of suspected racist attacks have been reported to Devon and Cornwall's Police Diversity Unit since 15 July....

Deplorable indeed -- although other parts of the story suggest that some of these "racist attacks" (what race are Muslims again?) consist of rude remarks. Read on.

The type of person who is being attacked has also raised concerns in the unit.

PC Simon Hardwick said: "All the victims are of Asian or Muslim description which is unusual. That raises concerns about a backlash."

The young Muslim attacked in Central Park had his head stamped on by a group of thugs who attacked him near basketball courts.

He is too scared to be identified, but he said he now planned to leave and he would not go out alone anymore....

Sayed Wahid, who owns the Jaipur Palace restaurant in Bretonside, Plymouth, said the atmosphere had changed dramatically since the bombing.

He said: "We have a person stand outside our restaurant with traditional Indian costume and he had never been abused before.

"They stopped the car and said 'Paki go home' and other abuse. It is since the bombing in London."

Golly, that's terrible. People from among your group blow a few people up, you do little or nothing to head off future attacks, and people start yelling at you. Those British -- they're such racists.

Mr Wahid, former chairman of the Islamic Centre and instrumental in creating the city's new Mosque in North Road East, said: "I think people should calm down. What happened in London we utterly condemn. This is nothing to do with Islam."

Sure, Wahid. Sure. But one of the bombers' family and friends say he was "a good Muslim" who wanted to wage jihad. What about that? Wht would you say to them to convince them of the error of their ways? How come no moderate Muslim has ever come forth with a convincing plan for fighting against the jihad ideology?

One of his daughters said since the bombings there had been an undercurrent of fear and suspicion in Plymouth where there are thought to be about 450 Muslims, including university students.

Wasia Wahid said: "It's not pleasant at all, especially because I was born in Plymouth and have grown up in Plymouth. My childhood, everything was here.

The bombers grew up in Britain, too. So what?

"But since this has all happened, it doesn't make you feel comfortable. It makes you feel like you're a stranger in your own home town. It makes you feel a little bit isolated."

Her undergraduate sister Shahnaz, who wears a Muslim headscarf, has suffered verbal abuse.

She said: "One young chap who was walking by he actually said, 'Are you sure you don't have a bomb on you? No?'. I was actually really stunned."

Why? How exactly are non-Muslims in Britain or anywhere else supposed to determine whether or not any given Muslim is carrying a bomb? What criteria can they use? What are Muslims in Britain doing to drive those who would carry bombs out of their community?

Rajnaara C Akhtar, a British Muslim activist and the acting chair of the Assembly for the Protection of Hijab, writes in the Independent, with thanks to Nobody's Business.

When the reports of the bombings initially emerged on 7/7, sadness was followed by anger, a sinking heart and a silent prayer: "Please don't let it be Muslims who are responsible." The tragic events were an attack on more than the citizens of London; they were an attack on Britain's cohesive community, unparalleled in Europe and most of the wider Western world.

It has emerged since then that perhaps the trust and respect between Britain's diverse communities are likely to break down. As the rest of the country attempts to come to terms with the catastrophic events, how does the Muslim community, with a triple burden, begin to recover, with the trauma of terrorist attacks, the task of addressing the reality that terrorism was perpetrated by British Muslims, and the spiralling reprisal attacks?

Since 10am on 7/7, the Muslim community has been on high alert. Parents in London rushed to take children out of schools and to safety. The Islamic Human Rights Commission issued a warning and advice to Muslim women to ensure their security. Many Muslim women took the advice not to travel alone, with even the known independent and tenacious women becoming alive to the seriousness of the situation...

Once again, it seems the main people Ms. Akhtar is worried about are her fellow Muslims, not her fellow English citizens.