Indeed they do, and as I have pointed out for years, such fears don’t just hamper the fight against the Islamic State, but against all jihad terror. People are afraid of being branded “Islamophobes,” and so they do nothing to oppose jihad activity. Charges of “hatred,” “bigotry” and “Islamophobia” are powerful weapons in the hands of the enablers of jihad.
“Islamophobia Fears Hamper War Against ISIS,” by Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary, August 17, 2015:
After their release of a series of videos depicting graphic murders of prisoners by ISIS terrorists, you might have thought there was nothing the Islamist group could do to further horrify the world. But last week’s graphic report in the New York Times describing the system of sexual slavery the so-called caliphate has set up in Iraq and Syria and which is sanctioned by their view of Islam makes clear the depths of barbarism into which this group has sunk. If that wasn’t chilling enough, last week we also learned that Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker who was held as a hostage by ISIS, was not only tortured but repeatedly raped by the leader of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Yet the response of some in the liberal media to this is to question whether such reports make us think ill of Islam or Muslims. While this is surely the view of only a minority, it does seem to reflect the persistent strain of thinking that sees the supposed spread of Islamophobia as greater than the threat of terrorism. But whether such thoughts are expressed by cable news personalities or demonstrated by the statements of the U.S. government, the refusal to think clearly about the nature of Islamic terrorism is at the heart of our failure to confront this danger.
The Islamophobia mania was illustrated on CNN this past Friday morning when morning host Chris Cuomo was doing a segment reacting to the New York Times feature that it aptly termed a “Theology of Rape.” As Mediate reported, while interviewing an advocate for the rights of Muslim women, Cuomo said the following:
“Let’s finish this part of the discussion on a point that you feel often needs to be made,” Cuomo said to Muslim woman’s rights activist Qanta Ahmed. “This feeds the impression that these Muslims are animals, savages and their faith makes them that way. And it feeds an impression of what Islam is. What is your response to that?”
Ahmed ignored Cuomo’s cue to switch the discussion from one about ISIS behavior to the possibility that learning the truth about their activity might cause some in the West to think ill of Islam. But, as shocking as it was, his statement must be viewed in the context of the last 15 years of liberal commentary that has worried less about the rise of Islamist terror than it has about the possibility that some Americans might think ill of a world religion that they are about the terrible deeds committed by people who say their actions are motivated by their faith.
The fact is the overwhelming majority of Americans are smart enough to understand that the behavior of members of ISIS, al Qaeda, Hamas or Hezbollah doesn’t mean their Muslim neighbors are disloyal or violent. Though many in the media have attempted to portray American society as hostile to Muslims or to speak of a post-9/11 backlash, there has never been any objective evidence brought forward to prove these theories. To the contrary, American popular culture and our government — under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama — have consistently bent over backwards to draw a distinction between Islam and terror. Nor has there been any surge in hate crimes against Muslims, as a decade’s worth of FBI hate crime statistics have proven.
But the fear of Islamophobia runs deep and not only in a media environment where statements like that of Cuomo seem unexceptionable. It is the same thinking that lies behind the refusal of President Obama to label ISIS or any other such group as an example of Islamic terror. The administration has taken the view that to speak of ISIS in that manner gives credence to the group’s claims to speak for Islam. The question of what is or is not Islamic isn’t something the U.S. government should be worrying about but the U.S. remains determined to ignore the connection between a popular form of Islam and the actions of ISIS….
Jay Boo says
When their fellow Muslims go and butcher and rape and cause untold misery yet again in the name of Allah there may be a temptation by ‘moderate’ Muslims to speak out in defense of Islam to avoid having many non-Muslims putting the focus initially on the horrors of suffering of Islam’s victims rather than realizing that Muslims might resent being criticized for following such an ideology that fully condones such behavior.
nicu says
Stop acting like subhumans ! and nobody will hate you – simple is that !
Our experiences with Muslims made me hate them so they are to blame themselves , only .
jayell says
Very good, but as far as THEY are concerned, WE are the ‘subhumans’. And if you were to try and get them to take a long, hard look at themselves in the proverbial mirror, the image would be distorted by their own bigotted arrogance. (Funny, that ‘bigot’ word. Look it up in the dictionary and it pretty well seems to fit the islamic agenda. Yet our muslims friends always use it against everyone else!).
Jay Boo says
Yes, (The Islamic profession of faith) is not about who Muslims are, but about expressing the inherent bigotry of Islam by saying — who Muslims are not.
This may seem like a minor distinction until we witness Allahu Akbar Islam in action.
US vs THEM
If followers of the “No god but Allah religion” were truly the one’s on the defensive, then why are Muslims so vaingloriously eager to ‘Self-Identify’ as Muslims? Could it be because on some level they are really trying to identify who we are so they can pass bigoted judgment on us or worst if the opportunity presents itself?
Rather than being on the defensive, Islam is fundamentally offensive.
— Double entendre intended—
Angel Gabriel says
It has also had the effect of convincing two of my anti-jihad, but otherwise liberal friends to seriously consider voting republican this time around for the first time in their lives.
Obama and his cronies saying ‘ISIS is not Islamic’ and ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ is enough to turn anybody off. The dishonesty is staggering, and the consequences catastrophic. There is no doubt it has just emboldened Muslims in this country, Europe and around the world. And look what is happening.
Stephanie says
SILLY blabber mouth obowma ‘ISIS is NOT Islamic’
vs.
head_chopper#1 allah’s Q8:12, 47:4 “strike [their] necks”
http://192.96.206.71/beheading-tunesianconvert-to-quran.html
Jay Boo says
He might just as well say, “Islam is not Islamic”.
medaber_emet says
you should tell everyone that the war against Islam is inevitable
They want to kill most of the infidel and take your woman
the few that will survive will live as slaves under the feet of the Muslims
the sooner this war on islam the better since they gain power by the day
Islam want to destroy america
how can you Americans be so blind not able to see that
they burn every day the flags of USA and Israel
saying america is the big devil and israel is the small devil
if the free world wish to live we must eradicate this blood thirst barbaric cult
the sooner the better
you can start by bombing the Kaaba in Arabia Saudi
Draki says
I was deployed to Iraq, so I can understand why people want to destroy ISIS, but I like our current strategy. Right now, DoD is playing the Sunnis and Shiites off of each other and letting them bleed each other. America has no interest in a long counter-insurgency campaign followed by serious nation building that will change the culture in the region. I agree with you that Islam will perpetually be at war with the world. America is not interested in wiping out Islam yet, so we need to convince the American culture that it needs to be eradicated like racism.
Mark J. Hannahel says
Think about it. What exactly is islamophobia? Picture this: You are confronted by a screaming muslim, slobbering at the mouth and yelling insults against the Constitution and your mother. If you are islamophobic, you run away. Or, if you are islamophobic, you give him whatever you think will get him to stop screaming and being so angry with you. On the other hand, if you are NOT islamophobic, you would respond to him as though he were any other American, immigrant or illegal citizen. You would tell him not to yell at you. You would tell him to obey the noise ordinances. Don’t cover your face in public or in a bank. You would tell him that he has to pray at home and not in the office. You would tell him that he has to bake cakes for gays just like the Christians. No praying or teaching the koran in school, just like there is no bible teaching in schools. You would tell him that in America there are no such things as, “no-go zones” or sharia law. Why? Because you are not islamophobic or scared of this screaming muslim. Why? Because he is no different than any other screaming person who is trying to intimidate you or me out of our freedom or our Constitutional rights, in our own country. The Constitution protects us from screaming idiots in black sheets, just as it protects us against screaming idiots in white sheets. So, it comes down to this. Islamophobia is to bow down to a screaming idiot and hope that he stops screaming. NOT being islamophobic means standing up to the idiot who is screaming at you. Are you islamophobic?
Christopher H says
Absolutely excellent response Mark! The ones who are “Islamaphobic” are those that allow this particular bunch of fanatics get away with things no other religious group ever would! I still am completely bamboozled as to what is so “special”. “wonderful” *worthy* in this belief system that makes so many western non-Muslims of being sucked up to!?!
You don’t see anyone making a point of how peaceful other beliefs are, mostly because it’s obvious. The only “religion” that seems to need it trumpeted is the one so obviously NOT,and that is simply twisted and sad.
Thanks again!
abad says
This is why every western nation needs to round up their Muslims and deport them to the Middle East.
Muslims are undesirables, they make bad western citizens, they make bad neighbors.
They do NOT belong in the western world at all.
Jay Boo says
The good Muslims are the ones who become non-Muslims.
Jaladhi says
If the fear of Islamophobia continues, a time will come in not too distant future when Muslims would write revisionist history of Islam and all the atrocities carried out by Muhammad and his followers will be totally scrubbed from the books giving a very neat and clean picture of Islam and Muslims!! Who would then object to spread of Islam in the world. Such a nice sweet peaceful religion should be followed all over the world!!
Do our leaders understand this??? Morons!!
abad says
Our leaders are MUCH too thin skinned. That is why they cannot handle the term “Islamophobe.”
Me, having the thick skin I do, could not care less about being labeled an “Islamophobe.”
Billy Wright says
The West has grown complacent about Islam over the 330 years or so since the Ottomans besieged Vienna – the last major Muslim military incursion into the heart of Europe.
What the West has forgotten most of all is that Vienna was the climax of 1,000 years of Muslim aggression against the Christian world. They were motivated not by a thirst for land, power or money, but by the religious imperative to spread Islamic rule to the ends of the earth.
That impulse has not gone away and only Western military superiority has prevented more invasions in the years since Vienna.
If history teaches us anything it is that empires rise and fall and while the West (by that we traditionally meant white, Christian nations) has dominated the world since at least the 18th Century, it was not ever thus, and there is no reason to suppose that our current dominance is a permanent situation.
In its years of relative military weakness, or at least mere parity with the Muslim world, it was Christianity which preserved the West. Christianity was its driving force, its inspiration, its desirable and stronger alternative to the horrors of Islam. Without Christianity, Europe would have been Muslim by 800AD.
We are living in a renewed age of Muslim aggression. They are not yet strong enough to challenge us on the battlefield, but they are strong enough to engage in a long drawn-out dirty war which was probably launched as long ago as the late 1980’s.
The fear should be that when next Muslim armies throw themselves against the gates of Europe, we will have potentially millions of potential Fifth Columnists already inside.
I do hope I am being needlessly alarmist, but I fear not. I fear for my children, and their children’s futures.
Western Canadian says
Cannot agree that islamic wars are NOT waged (without anything resembling provocation) for plunder… Taking by force from those who work and create, is a central theme of islam…. the only ‘religion’ that actively promotes hatred of all non-member, rape, theft, slavery, torture and murder….
islam bleeds its victims to death, and then it rots in its own ignorance and hatred.
duh_swami says
‘Protect the image of Islam at all costs’, is a many headed hydra…According to an article I read some 10 years ago, the NWO take over artists, want a one world government and a one world religion…The clever among them decided on Islam because sharia is perfect for controlling the masses. In order to accomplish that other religions have to be eliminated or greatly diminished, while at the same time elevating Islam in the eyes of the public…No lies are prohibited in this quest. That’s why we get the ‘Religion of peace, and ‘Islam has nothing to do with established Islamic practices’ lies so often from the west’s leading power figures and the compromised MSM and it’s agents. One main purpose of jihad is to remove obstacles from the spread of Islam…Christianity is one of these obstacles…Over there they are murdered, over here they are ridiculed and marginalized. Beware that over there, does not become over here…
gordon miller says
Quite obviously, the world is full of people who call themselves Muslims who will live out their lives without causing harm to anyone. These people may have some sense of the religion of Islam and many may even engage in practicing some of the innocuous aspects of Islam as found in the Qur’an.
The problem lies in the fact that no one can ascertain, absent a comprehensive vetting of the person, whether or not a Muslim is sufficiently devout, fully accepting and engaged in the religion/ideology of Islam and therefore representing a potential security risk, whether here or abroad.
The foregoing leads me to take the position that we should have a moratorium on allowing Muslim refugees into this country absent an effective interview procedure to determine if they are devout, excluding those who are full-blown Islamists.
kay says
Re “Islamophobia” fears
There is a one liner that shoots that one down. I’ve been using it fairly often. Here it is.
“The only religion I respect is Islam. The only prophet I admire is the Prophet Muhammad.”
— Adolph Hitler, quoted by Ahmed Huber; Kevin Coogan, “The mysterious Achmed Huber: Friend to Hitler”
——————-
There is a strong connection from Hitler to Syria. Syrians ( Sunni ) were strongly supportive of Adolph Hitler for several reasons. One, he was anti-Jewish. Two, he was anti-British.
Hitler made apparently warm references towards Muslim culture such as: “The peoples of Islam will always be closer to us than, for example, France”.[1]
In 1932, Hitler was given the name Abu Ali in Syria, and he was named Muhammad Haidar in Egypt.[21]
After Hitler was elected in March 1933, the Mufti of Jerusalem immediately made contact with the Nazis, according to Heinrich Wolff, the German consul-general in Jerusalem.[22]
Erwin Rommel was almost as popular as Hitler. Some Arabs used “Heil Rommel” as a common greeting in Arab countries. Arabs thought the Germans would free them from the rule of the old colonial powers France and Britain. After France’s defeat by Nazi Germany in 1940, some Arabs were chanting against the French and British around the streets of Damascus: “No more Monsieur, no more Mister, Allah’s in Heaven and Hitler’s on earth.”[23] Posters in Arabic stating “In heaven God is your ruler, on earth Hitler” were frequently displayed in shops in the towns of Syria.[24]
Some wealthy Arabs who traveled to Germany in the 1930s brought back fascist ideals and incorporated them into Arab Nationalism.[25] One of the principal founders of Ba’athist thought and the Ba’ath Party, Zaki al-Arsuzi, stated that Fascism and Nazism had greatly influenced Ba’athist ideology. An associate of al-Arsuzi, Sami al-Jundi, wrote:
“We were racists. We admired the Nazis. We were immersed in reading Nazi literature and books that were the source of the Nazi spirit. We were the first who thought of a translation of Mein Kampf. Anyone who lived in Damascus at that time was witness to the Arab inclination toward Nazism.
See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relations_between_Nazi_Germany_and_the_Arab_world
See
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2015/01/19/the-ignored-historical-nazi-islamic-supremacist-alliance/
See
Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East Hardcover – February 25, 2014
by Barry Rubin (Author), Wolfgang G. Schwanitz (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300140908
revereridesagain says
And then there is this from The Washington Post, which has apparently concluded that the term “Islamophobia” is too, well, “Islamophobic” and has fallen back on that old standard, “xenophobia”…
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/germany-unnerved-by-xenophobic-violence/ar-BBlNyoZ
ALPHAMEL says
I’m an ISLAMOPHOBE and proud of it! I confront Muslims in person and on the Internet. I HATE Islam.
I have Custom T-shirts galore that have large print slogans such as:
I SLAM ISLAM
BAN ISLAM
BAN the QUR’AN
IN YOUR ASS HAMAS
ISLAM IS THE ANSWER…DEATH IS THE QUESTION
HAD IT WITH JIHAD
I ntolerant..mbecilic
S uicidal
L unatic
A nimalistic
M urderers…aniacs
ISIS IS ISIL IS IS IS ISLAM IS THE QUR’AN
Down with Political Correctness!
DUMP THE DOJ!
Impeach Obama
abad says
Amen!
Voytek Gagalka says
“But the fear of Islamophobia runs deep…”
Fear of incoming real danger is the most healthy reaction one can ever experience! And by the way, can someone explain to me why the most of people are so afraid to be branded “islamophobes” to the point that it seems to paralyze absolutely their self-preservation mode, and why “charges of hatred and bigotry… are [such] powerful weapons in the hands of the enablers of jihad”? Are the most of them (branded with those “bad” names) plain cowards or plain stupid?
Dave J says
There are millions of Muslims who are not currently acting out as violent extremists. Yet can anyone believe that “when push comes to shove” that they will choose to speak out and oppose the instructions of the Quran rather than side with there fellow Islamists. Certainly they have not yet done so, despite the global depredations, murders, rapes and slavery imposed by the most devout of their fellow travelers.
A well founded sense of alarm and fear about this “religion” is not a phobia. The charges of “Islamophobia” are the ultimate expression of the deceit implicit in Islam in it’s effort to make you submit. They are playing on white liberal guilt about historic racism – and its working.
gravenimage says
Very true, Dave.There is *no* reason to think that Muslims–even supposed “moderates”–will genuinely oppose their more pious coreligionists and stand with us against their violence.
kay says
Re: “Charges of “hatred,” “bigotry” and “Islamophobia” are powerful weapons in the hands of the enablers of jihad.”
And the opposition, Islam directly fighting free speech and Christian pastors in Europe. I’m not just backing secular frogs, like Stephane Charbonnier of Charlie Hebdo Paris and Caroline Fourest. This just in:
Belfast Pastor on Trial for Offending Islam
by Soeren Kern August 18, 2015 at 5:00 am
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6356/pastor-james-mcconnell-islam
Pastor McConnell’s prosecution is one of a growing number of examples in which British authorities — who routinely ignore incendiary speech by Muslim extremists — are using hate speech laws to silence Christians.
“I think this is an important issue of freedom of speech. I believe a prosecution like this introduces a chill factor into society where people feel that if they speak out on something that they believe passionately they could end up being dragged through the courts.” — Democratic Unionist Party MP Sammy Wilson.
“The police tried to shut me up and tell me what to preach… They have the right to say what they believe in and I have a right to say what I believe… I have no regrets about what I said. I do not hate Muslims, but I denounce Islam as a doctrine and I make no apologies for that… My church funds medical care for 1,200 Muslim children in Kenya and Ethiopia…I’ve no hatred in my heart for Muslims, but I won’t be stopped from preaching against Islam.” — Pastor James McConnell.
“James McConnell didn’t incite hatred or encourage violence against any Muslim…He simply expressed his views about another religion. Freedom of speech should mean that he has every right to lambast Islam, as Islamic clerics have to lambast him and Christianity if they so choose. Those who disagree with Pastor McConnell should challenge him and attempt to win the debate, rather than close it down… silence from civil liberties and human rights organisations here has been deafening. In any democracy worth its salt, freedom of speech isn’t a luxury for your friends, it’s a necessity for your enemies.” — Suzanne Breen, an atheist journalist, Belfast Telegraph.
These are the people on his case: The executive director of the Belfast Islamic Center, Raied al-Wazzan, is leading the push to prosecute McConnell. “This is inflammatory language and it definitely is not acceptable,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
———————–
Right. It’s not acceptable in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Indonesia. But their law does NOT apply to Ireland. And this is NOT incitement. It is straight up theological condemnation. I would back him up with professional theological testimony in this court. I would enter into the record the big fat Andrew Bostom books and say: “Yeah, Sharia and jihad are evil, fascist and psychopathic. And those characterize Islam. Obviously. Done.”
In fact, I can do this with TWO serious credentials. This is CRITICAL frontline struggle, a major case. I guess they better try to ban Dante and Voltaire as well. Stand for what’s right, keep what’s left, and Mind The Gap.
kay says
More on freedom of speech ( East and West ) Catholic and secularist –
(1) See also
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/08/bangladesh-muslims-hack-to-death-fourth-atheist-blogger
(2) New via Religion of Peace: 08/13/2015 BANGLADESH
Islamic extremists send death threat to 19 bloggers and intellectuals
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Islamic-extremists-send-death-threat-to19-bloggers-and-intellectuals-35034.html
Dhaka (AsiaNews) – “Bangladesh is not a safe country for bloggers, but we will continue to write… The Islamic radicals…have no morals.” With these words, a Catholic blogger, anonymous for security reasons, commented to AsiaNews on the latest threatening letter against intellectuals and activists…signed by an unknown group, “Ittahadul Mujahidin”…
The letter is the latest in a long series of threats and violence in Bangladesh. It is the second letter addressed to the activists, after the first delivered in May by…”Al Kaida Ansarullah Bangla Team 13″…
The list includes the names of 19 other people including several politicians, such as Education Minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, Minister of Welfare, Syed Mohsin Ali, and the deputy Minister Suranjit Sengupta, intellectual Makbul Hossain, writers Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and Ananya Azad, sculptors Ferdousi Priyabhashini and Abdur Rahman, and activists of the Ganajagaran Mancha [ secular and anti-fundamentalist movement – ed.]. The largest component of the…threat remains bloggers: Arif Jebtik, Sushanta Dasgupta, Arifur Rahman, Omi Rahman Pial, Nirjhar Majumder, Dr Atik, Ashfaque Anup and Nur Nabi Dulal.
—————-
(3)
Why is Charlie Hebdo Assassination 100% Islam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJgGOCFr83E
Dr. Bill Warner explains motivation behind attacks in Paris.
This is a global issue. And there are lives on the line. I dedicate the merit of my recent posts here to the memories of Niladri Chatterjee Niloy, Avijt Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman, and Ananta Bijoy Das of Bangladesh. They died on their feet rather than live on their knees.
Nous sommes tous Charlie. Spill ink not blood!
Angemon says
Not just ISIS but islamic terrorism in general. And not to mention the culture war.
Shmooviyet says
The constant references to “The Prophet Mohammed” from non-muslims have a false or forced tone and are just obnoxious. One rarely if ever hears these commentators refer to any other religious figure with a title attached. Why, indeed, so much respect??
Seems some individuals on both sides are terrified of the ‘phobic’ label, too, and must time and again remind all who read, watch or listen that, ” I know NOT ALL Muslims are…”
Enough already! Must they use that line during every report of islamic violence?
Dave J says
It is so absurd that Islamists complain about “bigotry” (over speech and cartoons) while threatening to kill every non-Muslim. And actually kill, rape and enslave a growing number of them.
Their rhetoric and actions clearly demonstrate that they are liars and psychopaths.
We must not allow them to silence or intimidate us.
gerard says
Stop Islam.
gravenimage says
“Let’s finish this part of the discussion on a point that you feel often needs to be made,” Cuomo said to Muslim woman’s rights activist Qanta Ahmed. “This feeds the impression that these Muslims are animals, savages and their faith makes them that way. And it feeds an impression of what Islam is. What is your response to that?”
…………………………..
I sent this appalling story in to JIhad Watch.
How many of these dhimmi fools are more concerned with “making Islam look bad” than they are with standing up for the victims of oppression, enslavement, and murder?