By Richard Edmondson
Some months ago I wrote a poem entitled As America Falls. The poem contains a line comparing Christians in the U.S. to a bull in a bullfighting ring “constantly confused by the waving of the red cape of the Zionist matador.” The Florida Family Association would seem to be just such a confused “Christian” organization.
The FFA is the advocacy group at the heart of the recent controversy over Loews and its decision to withdraw its ads from the All-American Muslim TV series. The program, in the FFA’s feverishly authoritative view, spreads “propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law.”
Apparently Loews isn’t the only advertiser to succumb to FFA pressure. At least one other, Kayak.com, is known to have withdrawn its ads as well, and the FFA claims on its website there have been others.
“We have NOTHING against Muslims,” insists FFA Executive Director David Caton. “We just want to make sure that only American laws are enforced in America and that Islamic code or Sharia law does NOT change our way of life or diminish our liberty.”
The FFA website, so far as I could tell, gives no evidence of any legislative body in America adopting or even considering Sharia law. Possibly what Caton might have in mind, however, is S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act, which recently passed the US Senate by a lopsided vote of 93-7. Containing a provision authorizing the US military to arrest American citizens and hold them indefinitely without trial, the NDAA certainly is a law with the potential to “change our way of life and diminish our liberty.” Our liberty in fact stands to be shriveled and shredded quite drastically by this legislation. Why, one commenter even went so far as to describe the law as being not a slap in the face but, rather, “the killing blow” to our Constitution. And of course because of all this it is vital that we keep in mind that that the NDAA was introduced by two Muslim members of the Senate, and that—oh, wait! Perhaps I have that wrong!
The NDAA was actually introduced by Senator Carl Levin, who is Jewish and an avid supporter of Israel, and by Senator John McCain, who is not Jewish but who nonetheless is one of the most delirious, head-over-heels adorers of Israel in the entire US Senate with the possible exception of Joe Lieberman (who also voted in favor of the NDAA). The House version of the bill, HR 1540, passed by a vote of 283-136, and if you check the roll call, you’ll see what a lengthy parade of all the usual suspects—that is to say the most notorious Israel-firsters in Congress—fall into the “aye” column. This would include Eric Cantor, Steny Hoyer, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Steve Rothman, Steve Israel, Howard Berman—all champions of Israel, all of whom can be counted upon to toe the AIPAC line on everything from Palestinian statehood to illegal Israeli settlements…and all voting in favor of indefinite detention for Americans.
This is not to say that no Jewish members of the House voted against the bill. Some did. Honorable mentions here would include Marcy Kaptur and Jan Schakowsky. However what may come as a shock to those Americans who’ve succumbed to raging Sharia law paranoia is that Kaptur and Schakowsky were joined by Keith Ellison and Andre Carson—the only two Muslim members of the entire 535-member US Congress.
It would appear, then, that Muslims are not quite the threat to our freedom that some believe, and commendably a number of Americans have managed to figure this out, including some high profile figures like actress Mia Farrow and hip-hop music promoter Russell Simmons, both of whom jumped on the “boycott Loews” bandwagon. I certainly have no problem with boycotting Loews or any other major corporation, but with all due respect to those seeking to address the issue in this manner, Loews is not really the problem here. The problem is Zionism. This is where the Islamophobia comes from—more specifically, it originates from Israel’s war-awaiting, terror-trumpeting Zionist neocon American supporters, who of course get generous help and assistance from elements within the mainstream media and Hollywood. These are the people spreading hatred of Muslims—not Loews, whose panicked behavior through all of this has been more like unto a deer caught in headlights than a corporate evildoer. After all, we’re talking about a big-box home improvement retailer, not a criminal enterprise the likes of BP or Goldman Sachs, institutions far more deserving of boycotts.
So to be clear: Loews’ “crime” was succumbing to pressure from an ultra-conservative religious group, a group that has been around for 24 years and that has waged similar campaigns of intimidation in the past (more about which in a moment). To be sure, pulling its ads from the All-American Muslim show was not an admirable thing for the retailer to do, but people need to try and develop some perspective. Those calling for boycott have in a sense fallen under the spell of the matador’s cape in a manner not strikingly different from the misinformed masses presently up in arms over Sharia law. In fact, in a very real sense it’s an arc: from the propaganda spoon-fed over Fox News—to the ADL’s use of the “anti-Semite” label to club people into silence—you could think of it all as one really long, very smooth, and extremely masterful wave of the cape. Until those on America’s “progressive Left” recognize Zionism for the poisonous ideology that it is, and until they summon the courage to confront Israel and its lobby head-on, they will continue to helplessly tread water like mice on a sinking ship, squeaking as the sea overwhelms them.
But I’d like to get back to the subject of the FFA. Founded in 1987, the group touts itself as “defending American values,” while articulating its mission to be educating the public on what it can do to “promote traditional, biblical values.” Though granted a 501(c)(3) status as a tax exempt corporation, the FFA offers no information on its website as to who its principle funders are. What can be found on the site, however, are at least two separate posts—here and here—on the All-American Muslim/Loews controversy. One of these includes an article by Jewish Zionist blogger Pamela Geller, a woman who seems to have resolutely endeavored to establish for herself a reputation as an Islamophobe par execellence and succeeded.
“The premise behind the creation of the show is the fictional construct ‘Islamophobia,’” explains Geller. “All-American Muslim is designed to counter ‘Islamophobia’ by showing Muslims who aren’t terrorist monsters, but ordinary people living ordinary lives, balancing tradition and modern life, dealing with their families, their jobs, etc.”
In other words, Geller not only spurns the notion that Muslims suffer inordinate and undue discrimination in America, she even rejects the very concept of Islamophobia—the name usually given to such discrimination—construing it as a “fictional construct” rather than a genuine issue of social concern. And of course she doesn’t neglect to mention that “devout Muslims attacked this country and killed 3,000 Americans in the name of Islam.”
If Geller really and truly wanted to set her sites on a faulty “fictional construct,” she need look no further than the government’s official version of 9-11, a lean-to which grows more crumbly and dilapidated with each passing year. Geller perhaps would be especially fascinated to learn that jet fuel burns at a temperature of about 750 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not nearly hot enough to melt steel beams in buildings; that buildings seldom if ever collapse in their own footprints other than under conditions of controlled demolition; that reaching 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit—the temperature at which steel melts—requires use of an incendiary, such as nano-thermite, a substance coincidentally found in nearly all 9-11 dust samples collected by independent investigators; and Geller might have been surprised to learn, too, that the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in doing its own “official” investigation of 9-11, did not even test for thermite. All of this, of course, is brought out in 9/11: Experts Speak Out, a two-hour sixteen minute video produced by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth and released on the tenth anniversary of the terror attack that triggered America’s involvement in multiple ongoing wars, wars that have claimed the lives of probably upwards of two million people by now.
Thermite dust samples? Controlled demolition? Yes folks, it is beginning to look a lot like there may have been more to 9-11 than 19 Muslims with box cutters (are you paying attention, Ms. Geller?), and, quite justifiably, A&E for 9-11 Truth is calling for a new investigation. To be sure, this relatively conservative organization—made up almost entirely of scientific and engineering professionals—is not, repeat not, pointing any fingers of guilt at anyone, Muslims or otherwise.
But Geller, should she have the abdominal fortitude, might also wish to consult with Yahweh about possible Jewish involvement in 9-11 (that’s right not Muslim, Jewish), though on the off chance her vengeance-seeking god should have no time on his calendar for her, Geller could simply pay a visit to Wikispooks or the Information Underground instead. Here, on either of these sites, she could glean some interesting facts:
a) that ICTS International N.V, an Israeli security company, was in charge of security at all three of the airports from which hijacked flights took off on 9-11;
b) that Larry Silverstein, a Jewish businessman and close friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, acquired a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center on July 24, 2001, less than two months before the attacks;
c) that the lease transfer was approved by Port Authority head Lewis Eisenberg, a Goldman-Sachs partner as well as member of the Planning Board of the United Jewish Appeal;
d) that the WTC buildings were filled with asbestos and deemed nearly worthless, but for some reason Silverstein “felt a compelling urge” to acquire them…and in a preeminent stroke of luck collected $4.5 billion in insurance money after their destruction.
And these are just for starters. There’s more. A lot more. A whole lot more. The list includes dancing Israelis and a pack of Mossad spies posing as art students, and when we add it all up it becomes a rather copious larder full of evidence suggesting Zionist involvement in 9-11. What kind of somersault Pamela Geller’s stomach might do upon her opening the door of this larder and examining the contents we can only speculate. Perhaps she would rapidly dismiss it all as “coincidence” (as in “coincidence theorist” as opposed to “conspiracy theorist”), but the fact of the matter is, these are incontestable facts—truths not well-known, at least not at present, but that hover, in a somewhat volatile and gaseous state, at the periphery of the collective body of human consciousness. My guess is that at some point they will, inevitably, make their leap from periphery into the mainstream. The only thing holding them back now is the waving of the matador’s cape.
The FFA website also features commentary by Robert Spencer, an associate of Geller’s (the two co-founded the group Stop Islamization of America) who also believes All-American Muslim is practicing the art of deception by presenting Muslims who are not typical or average. Those featured on the show are “undoubtedly harmless, completely uninterested in jihad and Islamic supremacism,” Spencer feels. (Note: both Spencer and Geller use the term “Islamic supremacism” frequently in their writing.)
“But Americans aren’t suspicious of Muslims who are trying to get married, open clubs, and play football,” Spencer goes on to say. “Americans are suspicious of Muslims who are trying to blow up American buildings, subvert American freedoms, and assert the primacy of Islamic law over American law. The problem people have with Islam is not with every Muslim person. It is with Islam’s teachings of violence against and the subjugation of unbelievers. It is with the supremacist ideology and the fervent believers in those noxious doctrines of warfare and subjugation.”
Where to begin? Perhaps with Spencer’s Wikipedia page, which informs us he is a “practicing Melkite Greek Catholic” who also holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in religious studies. “He has said he has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history on his own since 1980,” says the Wiki article. “He worked in think tanks for more than 20 years, and in 2002-2003 did a stint as an adjunct fellow with the Free Congress Foundation, an arm of the Heritage Foundation.”
One wonders if at any time in his pursuit of his studies Spencer ever chanced upon the Talmud, and whether or not he might possibly be familiar with its depiction of Gentiles as subhuman. Behold this gem of a passage from the Talmud’s Sanhedrin 57a: “When a Jew murders a gentile (“Cuthean”), there will be no death penalty. What a Jew steals from a gentile he may keep.” Does Spencer consider that there might be a problem here? Or is it only the “supremacist” Muslims he is concerned about, not the supremacist Jews?
“It would never happen for obvious reasons, but All-American Muslim would be much more interesting if it tracked one of its secular, attractive nominal Muslims as he decided to get more serious about his faith, and ended up participating in jihad activity or Islamic supremacist efforts to demonize and marginalize those who resist that activity,” says Spencer.
It might be interesting also if we had a TV show about some secular, attractive Israeli soldiers destroying Palestinian olive trees, or possibly a documentary on the burning of mosques or the assaulting of Palestinian children on their way to school by supremacist Israeli settlers—interesting yes. But I suspect it will “never happen for obvious reasons.”
We can of course look at Christians going all spumous over Sharia law and shake our heads at the wonder of it. But perhaps the mother of all ironies—what makes Christian support for Israel so astounding—is the Talmud’s depiction of Jesus. Ever thought about being cast into hell and spending eternity in a vat of boiling excrement? This, according to the Talmud, is Jesus’ fate for his crime of heresy against the Jewish establishment. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Click here or here to view the precise passage from the tractate Gittin, or, should you prefer, you can read Princeton Jewish Studies professor Peter Schäfer, who quotes the same passage in his book, Jesus in the Talmud. But the boiling excrement isn’t the only disturbing image of Christ the Talmud serves up. A number of other tortures are imagined as well. And, moreover, it isn’t only Jesus. The rabbinical authors of this putridity also revile his mother, the Virgin Mary, whom they portray as a whore who “played the harlot with carpenters.” (See here, here, here, and here ).
Now for the $64,000 question: With the Talmud parceling out such noxious and mephitic characterizations of the central figures in Christianity, one can only wonder, in gobsmacked amazement, at so many Christians coming to view Jews as their most excellent friends while at the same time regarding Muslims—whose texts revere not only Jesus but pay highest tribute to his mother as well , who refer to him respectfully as “the son of Mary,” who view him as a messenger from God, leader of a group of disciples, and performer of miracles—one cannot help but wonder how is it possible Christians can be made to think of Muslims as the blackest and most menacing and fearsome of all their enemies, while simultaneously regarding Jews as their chosen chums and closest religious kinsmen?
Clearly the Zionist matador is an accomplished illusionist.
As I say, the FFA is ostensibly a “Christian” organization, although I sometimes wonder how many Jews might also be involved in some of these groups in addition to the native Christians. For instance, David Brog, executive director of Christians United For Israel, the nation’s premiere Christian Zionist organization, is not actually a Christian; he is Jewish. The CUFI’s website describes Brog as a former Senate staffer and Tel Aviv lawyer. Which perhaps is neither here nor there, but it does give one pause to wonder.
The FFA and its supporters make use of a computer program that sounds somewhat similar to the Megaphone software developed by GIYUS and used by Israel’s legions of hasbara supporters. “Florida Family Association’s monitoring software sends an average of 6,000 emails to the ceos and marketing vps of advertising companies each month,” confides the FFA. “Supporters send tens of thousands of emails to advertisers each month.” Most of the group’s efforts seem aimed at pressuring advertisers to drop certain television or radio programs, the majority targeted for their sexual content and/or promotion of the “gay agenda.” By contrast, All-American Muslim seems to be the first show singled out over content pertaining to Muslims, although the FFA in the past has taken aim at Muslim conferences, and recently it launched an anti-Muslim website at WelcometoTampaFL.org. The new site, quite predictably, plays the fear card, lamenting that “Tampa could be one of America’s first Sharia compliant cities” (the city has a Muslim on its Human Rights Board), while warning direly of “President Barack Obama’s Muslim heritage and allegiance to Islam.”
Despite all the distress flares sent up by the FFA about threats to our liberties, a Google search turns up no instances of public statements ever made by the organization regarding the National Defense Authorization Act or what it could mean to the Bill of Rights and the waning vestiges of American freedoms. (A version of the bill has now passed both houses of Congress and awaits presidential action.) No. Instead we find concern expressed over an innocuous TV show about five Muslim families from Dearborn, Michigan—followed by a national advertiser’s panicked reaction to the silliness. How can such be? What accounts for it? Chalk it up to the waving of the cape.
So who is this Zionist matador? Does he have an identity? Is he the Father of Lies? The Prince of this World? Will an even more specific identity emerge at some point in the future? I do not have the answers to these questions. But here is what I do know—that his power over us decreases the nearer we come to God, but that, by the same token, the further we wander, venture, and navigate from this Sacred Well and the living water it contains, the more sharply his ascendency over us grows. Something else I know as well—something which “Christians” who support such groups as the Florida Family Association would do well to remember: that Jesus had an extremely low tolerance level for hypocrites.
Finally, one other thing to keep in mind regarding the poisonous ideology of Zionism, and that is this—that not all Jews are Zionists, and that some of the most rabid, hate-spewing Zionists around are Gentiles. As most of us by now have figured out, the matador’s servants and slaves come from both sides of the ethnic divide.
UPDATE:
The NDAA was signed into law by Obama on December 31
UPDATE:
The NDAA was signed into law by Obama on December 31
For additional information:
1. Fear, Inc. is the title of a recent study carried out by the Center for American Progress on what it refers to as the “Islamophobia network in America.” The study delves into a “core group of deeply intertwined individuals and organizations” whose goal clearly seems to be fostering and perpetuating fear of Islam. Additionally, it names “the seven largest donors” to such individuals and organizations. Click here to download the study in pdf.
2. My Fellow American is an online film and social media project that calls upon Americans to take a pledge and spread a message that Muslims are our fellow Americans. Click here to view Russell Simmons taking the pledge, or here for Peter Yarrow (of the Peter, Paul, and Mary folk trio).
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