Omar
Suleiman's Invocation Triggers Textbook "Islamophobia" Deflection
by Steven Emerson
IPT News
May 12, 2019
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 Facts, in the social
media age, often fail to overcome a simple, emotional punch.
That's especially true when dealing with uncomfortable facts. Rather
than offer contrasting information, or even try to explain how a situation
or opinion might have changed over time, the easier way out is to cry foul.
When Islamists – Muslims and their supporters who merge their faith and
their political agendas – are involved, that cry begins and ends with the
word "Islamophobia."
Omar Suleiman's invocation before the U.S. House of Representatives last
Thursday provides a textbook case. Suleiman's prayer was lovely:
"We pray for peace, not war. Love not hate. Benevolence,
not greed. Unity, not division. And we commit ourselves to not betraying
our prayers with actions that contradict them. Let us be for truth, no
matter who, or for is against it."
As the Investigative Project on Terrorism was first to point out, however, Suleiman's message to
Congress stood in direct contrast to his own statements about Israel, gay
people, and women.
U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin,
R-N.Y., took to Twitter to call Suleiman's invitation to provide Thursday's
House invocation "Totally unacceptable ... He compares Israel to the
Nazis & calls them terrorists, supports Muslim Brotherhood, incites
violence calling for a Palestinian [intifada] & the end of zionism,
etc. Bad call"
Zeldin was specific in his criticism. Suleiman was the issue, along with
the specific topics Zeldin mentioned.
In response, a group called Muslim Matters demanded that House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi censure Zeldin "for his slander against" Suleiman.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Los Angeles chapter responded simply, "Indeed."
The law is clear on this: It's not slander if it's true. Nobody – not Muslim Matters, CAIR or U.S.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, who invited Suleiman to give the
invocation and stood
by that decision Friday – claimed Zeldin or IPT misrepresented
Suleiman's words. That's because they are either recorded for you to see
and hear, or written on Suleiman's own social media accounts.
The strategy was obvious: Call Zeldin and anyone else raising the issue
an Islamophobe and hope people forget Suleiman's record of anti-Semitic,
sexist and gay-hating statements.
Suleiman tried it, too.
"Those fanning those flames today and writing the usual hit
pieces," he wrote Friday, "are either completely unaware of my
work with the Jewish community both in New Orleans and Dallas, or
deliberately omitting that in an attempt to mischaracterize me as an
antisemite to keep playing up the strategy of deflecting and fracturing
coalitions that threaten their power."
Whether he has been kind to Jews in Dallas and New Orleans does not
change what he has said about the overwhelming majority of world Jewry,
which supports the existence of a Jewish state in Israel.
Zionists, Suleiman said in 2014, "are the enemies of God, His
Messengers ... and humanity as a whole."
Denying Israel's right to exist has been part of the U.S. State
Department definition of anti-Semitism since 2010. He has sided with Hamas in denying that the terrorist group
uses human shields despite public evidence to the contrary, including statements
from Hamas officials. Suleiman also has pushed the anti-Semitic trope
that Israel controls American foreign policy, sneering that it is the
"51st state."
On social issues, the IPT pointed out, Suleiman holds conservative
religious views that are not welcomed within the Democratic Party when held
by people of any other faith. He compared gays and lesbians to people who
engage in incest and bestiality.
"When Allah describes homosexuality as a repugnant, shameless sin
and details his punishment of a people that practiced sodomy, how can
anyone who believes in Allah not find it immoral?" he wrote in 2013.
Promiscuous girls face Allah's wrath, he warned in a sermon. "Allah
owns hellfire," he said. "So you'd better be careful. You're
overstepping your bounds. Sisters ... you know what happens with a really
jealous Dad? He kills you and he kills the guy. So you are offending Allah
... whenever you make yourself promiscuous or whenever you open yourself up
to a relationship."
Rather than try to defend the statements, Suleiman's supporters choose
to attack the messenger. That's what CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad did.
So did Women's March national board member Linda
Sarsour.
Awad was as part of a Hamas-support network in the United States,
and openly endorsed the terrorist group in 1994. Sarsour
has never apologized for blaming Jews for police shootings of unarmed black
people in America and blames "Jewish media" for giving her a bad
reputation.
Again, no one has tried to say Suleiman never made the comments, or that
they were taken out of context, or even that Suleiman might now feel
differently. Muslim Matters called it "Islamophobia" and demanded Zeldin's censure, ironically calling for him
to face "censor" before catching the mistake.
They had it right the first time. Muslim Matters' and CAIR's demand that
Zeldin be punished is an attempt to censor him. Zeldin made no
generalizations about Muslims or Islam. He called out specific statements
from a specific person. Muslim Matters and CAIR think that merits censure.
But both groups opposed a similar punishment for U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar,
D-Minn., after Omar's repeated use of historic anti-Semitic canards about
Jews, political power and money. She also raised a dual-loyalty canard against people who support Israel.
Omar's claim that American support for Israel is "All about the
Benjamins, baby," meaning money from "the pro-Israel lobby,"
meaning Jews, was not anti-Semitic, CAIR attorney Danette Zaghari-Mask wrote
in an article published by Muslim Matters.
"If we want to truly understand why women of color
generally have so much resentment towards white liberal women,
case-in-point. Too often white liberal women like [House Speaker Nancy]
Pelosi pose for the photo-op, but we do not rise to the occasion for our
minority sisters.
A true ally is not created from convenience. A true ally will stand
should-to-shoulder on principle and courage. Women like Pelosi will throw a
woman of color under the bus, then on a more convenient occasion, snatch
her back off the ground, scrub off the wheel marks and smile for the
camera."
In the end, Pelosi caved to such pressure. There was no censure vote for
Omar's repeated anti-Semitism. A resolution condemning anti-Semitism never
named Omar. It was broadened to cover "Islamophobia, racism, and other
forms of bigotry."
Apparently, sweeping generalizations about Jews and tropes about their
power and money are just fine when Islamists perpetuate them. But criticism
of one man over things he's actually said is "Islamophobia" that
merits severe punishment.
Welcome to the brave new world.
Related Topics: Islamist
Censorship | Steven
Emerson, Omar
Suleiman, House
invocation, Lee
Zeldin, Eddie
Berrnice Johnson, Muslim
Matters, CAIR,
Islamophobia
smears, dual
loyalty smears, anti-Semitism,
Hamas,
human
shields, LGBT
rights, Nihad
Awad, Linda
Sarsour, Danette
Zaghari-Mask, Ilhan
Omar
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