In “Media Distorts Facts of Threatened Muslim Girl Story” at Newsmax (August 24), Pamela Geller shows how the mainstream media has tried to stack the deck against Rifqa Bary from the beginning:
The Aug. 21 ruling that allowed Rifqa Bary, the teenager who converted from Islam to Christianity and fled from her Muslim family in fear for her life, to stay in Florida rather than return to her parents, was unexpected. The media shills and Islamic machinery in the United States never expected that Rifqa and the people would prevail upon the powers that be in Florida. So now they are in overdrive.
One egregious example is an almost incomprehensible, misogynist column in the Orlando Sentinel. It is so inaccurate, so misinformed, and so dangerous, that if Rifqa Bary is harmed, “columnist” Mike Thomas could rightly be charged with incitement to violent honor killing. Thomas got nothing right. Not one detail. Further, at no point did he consider Rifqa’s testimony. At no point did he consider the consequences of Rifqa’s testimony. At no point did he consider the risk to Rifqa’s life. […]
Thomas observes that Rifqa was a cheerleader and says: “Somehow I can’t imagine a Muslim extremist allowing his daughter to wear short skirts and shake pompoms in front of a crowd of infidels.”
Thomas knows nothing of honor killings in the West. Victims are generally beautiful, Westernized, and dressed in a manner that perhaps Thomas would term “provocative.” Muslim girls who live in the West lead two lives. Amina and Sarah Said, allegedly murdered by their father in Texas on New Year’s Day 2008 for having non-Muslim boyfriends, were honor students, star athletes, soccer players, tennis players, etc. Rifqa was the same way in Ohio before she fled. These girls led double lives. The murder always happens when the family sees they have lost control of the child. In the case of Amina and Sarah, the girls ran away. The mother lured them back, and they were both dead less than 24 hours later. Canadian honor killing victim Aqsa Parvez also left her home and was staying with friends when she too was lured back, only to be murdered, allegedly by her father, for refusing to wear the Islamic headscarf.
The fathers cleanse the family of the dishonor of their daughter’s un-Islamic behavior. But Thomas also adds: “I could go through the Old Testament and cherry-pick any number of quotes demanding death for nonbelievers, nonvirgin brides and blasphemers. No Christian I know endorses that, yet it seems every Muslim abides by the darker writings in the faith.” But what difference does that make? Christian and Jews are not killing their daughters and wives to restore their honor. Muslims are.
Most outrageously of all, Thomas decries an “anti-Muslim” bias in the media coverage of Rifqa’s case. In fact, there was an anti-Christian bias. The mainstream media vilified the good Christians who provided sanctuary to Rifqa, who sought only to escape her father’s threat to kill her. The media reported only the parents” Islamist narrative “” giving Rifqa’s story no air time or ink. They repeated the lies over and over again. Folks had to go to YouTube to hear Rifqa in her own words. Why didn’t one media outlet have on an expert or scholar on apostasy in Islam? Why wasn’t Ibn Warraq or Wafa Sultan called? Robert Spencer was nowhere to be seen. Fox called on political pundits and others to explain Rifqa’s case, and they got it wrong. The only responsible expert who weighed in was Frank Gaffney. […]
Rifqa Bary is the highest value target in America. She should be under 24-hour guard. And she should be given a fair shake in the media.