Death threats are always abhorrent and contemptible. If someone really did threaten Basim Elkarra, he should be found and punished. Elkarra might also want to slip the threatener a thank-you note as the FBI hauls him away, for if there really was a threat here, it works to CAIR’s advantage, and CAIR’s advantage only. At a point when Savage has focused an enormous amount of attention on their ties to jihad terror in various forms, they once again can claim protected victim status and claim that Savage is spreading “hate.”
It’s interesting also to note how eager the media is to accommodate CAIR in this. Elkarra gets threatened, the FBI is right on the case, and the Sacramento Bee writes it up. Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, Michael Scheuer and I received a veiled but unmistakable threat from the first American to be charged with treason since World War II, on a videotape introduced by Al-Zawahiri himself, and speaking strictly for myself I never heard a word from the FBI or anyone else, and there was no media coverage at all. I’ve received many other threats, and never received the interest from either law enforcement or the media that Elkarra receives here. And indeed, it seems that whenever this happens to Elkarra, the Feds and the press are right on the spot. Now, I am not saying that anyone should have cared when I was threatened, or that anyone should not care about the alleged threat against Elkarra. But what I do find intriguing is the choice made about which threats to investigate and which are deemed newsworthy, and I think it would be most interesting to discover the assumptions on which such choices are made.
“Death threat against Muslim leader probed,” from the Sacramento Bee (thanks to all who sent this in):
The FBI is investigating a death threat against Basim Elkarra, director of the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, that he says stems from a legal spat between his organization and popular conservative radio host Michael Savage.
Elkarra said he met with the FBI in the past two weeks to discuss the threat on his life. Because the investigation is ongoing, Elkarra said he was instructed by the FBI not to publicly discuss into details.
FBI spokeswoman Karen Ernst confirmed the FBI received information “regarding an alleged threat” and that the Sacramento field office was investigating.
On Monday, Savage sued the Washington, D.C.-based CAIR for copyright infringement for allegedly using a clip of his show in which he called the Quran “a book of hate” to dissuade advertisers from advertising on his show, according to the Associated Press.