Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer Discover “Food Jihad”
Posted Jul 17, 2012

Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer Discover “Food Jihad”

by Sheila Musaji


Today, Geller posted an article Food jihad: FBI investigates needles in airplane sandwiches.

Geller refers to an article on MSNBC Authorities investigate needles in airplane sandwiches (She didn’t provide a link but I found the original article).  That article says only that

Federal and international authorities are investigating the discovery of needles in turkey sandwiches on Delta Air Lines flights from Amsterdam to the United States.

Dutch authorities—military police and a team of special detectives and prosecutors—are working working closely with their American counterparts to investigate the incidents, Robert Van Kapel, Marechaussee Police Department spokesman, told NBC News.

He added that it appeared the needles were deliberately placed in the sandwiches, but had no further information on the matter.

Delta says what appear to be sewing needles were found in five sandwiches Sunday. One passenger on a flight to Minneapolis was injured.

The other needles were on two flights to Atlanta and one to Seattle.

The needles were found in sandwiches made by the airline’s Amsterdam caterer, Gate Gourmet, Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly said Monday.

“Delta is taking this matter extremely seriously and is cooperating with local and federal authorities who are investigating the incident,” the airline said in a statement.

“Delta has taken immediate action with our in-flight caterer at Amsterdam to ensure the safety and quality of the food we provide onboard our aircraft,” the statement said.

FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett in Atlanta confirmed Tuesday that the agency is investigating but declined to comment further.

The Transportation Security Administration says it’s closely monitoring the situation. The agency said it immediately notified U.S. carriers with flights from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

So the facts that are so far known are that an unknown person in Amsterdam tampered with food items that were to be served to Delta Airline passengers.  The FBI and TSA are investigating.

This is a despicable and criminal act, and whoever did it should be found and arrested.  Where might Geller have gotten the information that this act was committed by a Muslim engaged in “food jihad” or any form of jihad?  There is no such evidence. 

In Geller’s comments she refers to a previous case in Canada where a woman named Mastoora Qezil was arrested for putting needles into food products, and she provides links to her articles about that case.  I had to do some searching but found this information from actual news sources about that 2009 case.  The Guelph Mercury reported:

A terminated Maple Leaf Foods employee admitted in a Guelph courtroom she inserted 13 sewing needles into packages of meat products at a local No Frills store in March.

Mastoora Qezil, 42, pleaded guilty earlier this week to common nuisance, which is the charge for endangering the lives, safety or health of the public, or causing physical injury to any person. The charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail. Qezil is to be sentenced on Oct. 27.

Qezil, who had worked for Maple Leaf Foods for nearly seven years, lost her job on March 16, Assistant Crown attorney Pamela Borghesan said Friday in a phone interview. On March 17, Qezil entered Willow West Mall in Guelph, bought a set of sewing needles and then went into the No Frills store, where she inserted the needles into meat products, Borghesan said.

The accused then bought one of the products, along with other groceries, and left the Silvercreek Parkway North store, Borghesan said. Then “she comes back and says that her daughter had one of the lunchables and found a needle,” Borghesan said.

The supermarket, city police and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency pulled almost 340 packages of meat products from the refrigerator unit for inspection. The needles had been inserted into 12 Schneiders and Maple Leaf products. Loblaw Companies Limited checked all other stores within a 25-kilometre radius of Guelph, including Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Fergus and didn’t find any further tampering.

Borghesan said Qezil was seen on No Frills’ video surveillance, hiding the needle packaging in one of the bins. The accused initially gave a police statement denying her actions, but confessed when police told her about the video, Borghesan said.

Qezil’s 10-year-old daughter also gave a statement to police and Maple Leaf Foods. “She said she ate the meat and it made her throat feel funny,” Borghesan said.  Qezil was arrested March 26.

The Crown concedes Qezil didn’t intend to harm others, Borghesan said. Qezil’s lawyer John Kieffer couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

The Toronto City News reported on the possible motive as the employees termination of employment.  After this incident a man falsely claimed that he had purchased a banana with a needle in it at the same store.

So, such an incident did happen in 2009,  and Robert Spencer reported it as Food jihad? Muslim woman puts needles in meat in Canada  and Geller also reported it as Food Jihad.

Other than that I could find nothing in any articles anywhere that identified the nationality or religion of Mastoora Qezil, other than articles referring to Geller or Spencer as their source. 

Mastoora/Mastura Qezil might be a Muslim name, or it might not.  This person may be a Muslim, or may not.  Only Geller and Spencer seem to have known the religion of the woman who committed this crime.  In none of their articles do they say where they got the information that she was a Muslim.  Even if in this or any other case, the perpetrator of a crime turns out to have been a Muslim, Muslims can be crazy, criminal, or perverted too!.  Every community has its share of individuals belonging to all of these categories.  Every crime committed by a Muslim is not an act of jihad.

These people are stark raving mad!  They see Jihad everywhere and in almost all cases it doesn’t exist except in their fevered Islamophobic brains.

Here are just a few ridiculous claims about nonsensical Muslim plots:

An Eid Celebration for Muslim Special Needs Kids was described as a “stealth jihad”.  A children’s page in a newspaper focusing on Eid was described as a toxic propaganda plot.  Joel Hinrichs (a Christian) had a beard and had walked through the parking lot of a campus mosque thus proving that his crime was an example of sudden jihad syndrome.  The awful April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech by a Korean student was also called Islamic jihad because Cho’s father had once worked in Saudi Arabia (before he was married and before Cho was born).  A Muslim doctor had a heart attack and died at the wheel of his car which then crashed into a shopping mall and this was described as “vehicular jihad”.  A Muslim cab driver objected to what he considered pornographic ads on the roof of his cab, and that became a stealth-jihad plot to impose Sharia on America.  Any Muslim who has sued an employer for violation of their rights under the EEOC is engaged in employment jihad, or litigation jihad.  Muslim environmentalists are said to be actually engaged in “civilizational jihad”.  A cartoon series “The 99” aimed at young Muslims was described as “cultural jihad”.  The victims of the terrorist attack of 9/11 included Muslims, they were accused of dying as martyrs in an act of jihad.

The Islamophobes have uncovered countless examples of “shocking” Muslim jihad plots.  They have uncovered:  bumper sticker jihadThanksgiving turkey jihad, an incredible paisley scarf jihad, marriage to important men jihad, spit jihad, fashion jihad, spelling bee jihad, rape jihaddefacing dollar bills jihad,   population jihad, creeping Sharia jihad,   mosque building jihad, terror baby jihad, “creeping Sharia” jihadpedophilia jihadbus driver prayer jihad, forehead bruise jihad, postage stamp jihad, soup jihadbanning alcohol jihad, fake hate crimes jihad, piggy bank jihadtv reality series jihad, handshake jihad, prom jihad, interfaith jihad, Arabic language jihadpublic school jihad, religious accommodation jihad, Crescent moon jihad, Christmas tree tax jihad, oath of office jihad, immigration jihad, community fundraiser jihad.  Christina Abraham (a Muslim) has a name that is not recognizably Muslim enough and so we have stealth name jihad.


There is a reason that many, even outside of the Muslim community see such demonization of Muslims as Islamophobic.  There is a reason that the ADL has stated that Brigitte Gabriel’s Act for America, Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE)  are “groups that promote an extreme anti-Muslim agenda”.  There is a reason that The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SIOA as a hate group, and that they are featured in the SPLC reports Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle.  There is a reason that Geller and Spencer are featured prominently in the Center for American Progress “Fear Inc.” report on the Islamophobia network in America.  There is a reason that Geller is featured in the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism.  There is a reason that Geller is featured in the NYCLU report Religious Freedom Under Attack:  The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State.  There is a reason that Geller is featured in the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security.  There is a reason that the SIOA’s trademark patent was denied by the U.S. government due to its anti-Muslim nature.  There is a reason that they are featured in our TAM Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry.  There is a reason that these individuals are featured in just about every legitimate report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. 

These people consistently promote the what everyone “knows” lies about Islam and Muslims.  They generalize specific incidents to reflect on all Muslims or all of Islam.   When they are caught in the act of making up or distorting claims they engage in devious methods to attempt to conceal the evidence.

The claim that “truth tellers” are being accused of Islamophobia for no reason other than their legitimate concerns about real issues and that in fact there is not even such a thing as Islamophobia is nonsense.  The further claim that the fact that there are fewer hate crimes against Muslims than against Jews also proves that Islamophobia doesn’t exist is more nonsense. 

The reason that this is so obvious to so many is that rational people can tell the difference between legitimate concerns and bigoted stereotypes.   The Islamophobia of these folks is very real, and it is also strikingly similar to a previous generations’ anti-Semitism.