SION:  Hate Groups Unite to Form an International Hate Coalition

by Sheila Musaji

David Duke attempted to re-image the KKK as a “moderate” group who are simply proud of their race.  Duke attempted to tone down his rhetoric and present the KKK using positive terms.  Duke, and a number of other Klan leaders, denied being racist, but expressed concern about whites being in danger of losing their culture from an onslaught of Blacks and non-European immigrants.  They said things like Our land is once again being destroyed by the same treason. This time it is not only confined to the South, but it is affecting the nation as a whole and “we don’t hate blacks, we just love whites”.  They presented themselves as “pro-white” rather than anti-Black and anti-Semitic.  They claimed that their “movement” was necessary to combat “anti-white and anti-Christian propaganda” and “to promote “White Christian civilization.”  

Taking a page from this attempt to re-image hatred, a core group of Islamophobes is trying to camouflage their ideology by using and abusing terms like “freedom fighters”, “truth tellers”, and “patriots” to cover their extremism and hatred.

International hate groups have just announced that they are uniting in a global anti-Muslim coalition.  Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) are joining together in a coalition called Stop Islamization of Nations (SION).

These groups like the “new” Klan define themselves in positive terms. They say that they are dedicated to defending human rights, religious liberty, freedom of conscience and the freedom of speech against Islamic supremacist intimidation and attempts to bring elements of Sharia to the West.  They call themselves a coalition of free people determined to stand for freedom and oppose the advance of Islamic law, Sharia.

Here is what SION says about itself:

They have selected Pamela Geller as the first President, and Robert Spencer as the first Vice-President of this International coalition.  They identify Geller as an internationally renowned human rights activist and Executive Director of SIOA. 

In addition to Geller and Spencer, they identify their first Board of Directors as:  Dr. Ali Sina, Dr. Wafa Sultan, Stefan Herre, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Babu Suseelan, and Anders Gravers.  They describe this group as “human rights activists”, “pro-freedom activists”, “freedom fighters”, etc . 

They say that SION stands for 3 principles

•The freedom of speech – as opposed to Islamic prohibitions of “blasphemy” and “slander,” which are used effectively to quash honest discussion of jihad and Islamic supremacism;
•The freedom of conscience – as opposed to the Islamic death penalty for apostasy;
•The equality of rights of all people before the law – as opposed to Sharia’s institutionalized discrimination against women and non-Muslims.

And, they say they will accomplish their defense of these principles by 1.  publicizing the names of politicians, academics, journalists, artists and their networks that promote the Islamization of Western policy and culture.  2.  winning back the culture, with a particular focus on the academic world.  3.  Offering diversity and sensitivity training to corporations and government agencies at the local, state and national levels.

 

How do Geller’s own readers understand this announcement?

— I’d like to reverse the Islamicization of every nation on earth and reduce Islam back to the Quraysh tribe, then lock them all up in a mental ward until they die.  Every Muslim on earth is the descendant of a victim of brutal Muslim invasion and conquest, except for the few idiots who are descended from the original cult members. These descendants of victims are, therefore, unwitting victims themselves. They need to be liberated (de-programmed), whether they like it or not.  I don’t even think Saudi Arabia should be Muslim. They need to remember their pre-Muslim history and throw off the terrible Muslim yoke.
— I won’t be happy til’every Mosque is transformed or bulldozed. Change the immigration laws, turn the tide against these cultists, keep Guantanamo open and make it the destination point for any muslim infractions that may occur. Be kind to people that have been weened away from this horrendous criminal cult, after all we are basically the same at birth, it’s what happens after, brainwashing is lethal, as we have all witnessed. I don’t like bookburning but the koran has to go. And yes, I want a list of all the offenders in media, government and fronts for islam. It will come true if you fight for it!

How do Spencer’s own readers understand this announcement?

—Muslims have no right to any of the territory upon which they are presently squatting, territory that they’ve gained by murder and genocide.  All of what is currently called “dar al-islam” was formerly, and is still by rights, the property of Christians and Jews and others - not muslims.  Free the whole world from the slavery and the threat of islam.  Until the whole world is free of islam, none of us will be free from the threat and intimidation of islam.  Would you allow a viper to share your baby’s crib, just because it is curled up and sleeping in the corner of the crib, and not currently biting the baby?  The viper must be removed from the crib altogether, and islam must be eradicated from the face of the earth.
— Immediate SION actions will include publicizing the names of politicians, academics, journalists, artists and their networks that promote the Islamization of Western policy and culture.  An excellent idea—in fact, an urgent imperative.
Hear, hear!  And do not refer to them as dhimmi.  Dhimmi is someone who is coerced by threat to his or his loved ones life to obey, conform and submit. But the promoters of Islamic invasion of the West do their despicable work willingly, believing in their moral superiority while parading their contempt for our history, identity and tradition.  The correct term is TRAITORS. Let the word ring in their ears always, reminding them the gravity of their crime and the possibility, however remote, they may one day meet the fate of Quisling.  It is about time they should start feeling fear.

It would seem that their followers themselves misunderstood all of the camouflage propaganda about “human rights”, “religious freedom”, etc. but received the actual underlying message of HATE quite clearly.  (BTW, Quisling was a Norwegian executed as a traitor during WWII.)

SION’s statements of what Muslims themselves believe as opposed to what they believe are misleading.  For example, see A Defense of Free Speech by American and Canadian Muslims and Apostasy and Freedom of Faith in Islam. 

Their methods for accomplishing their “defense” of their key principles are redundant.  In August, the SIOA released what they say is the first list of individuals that they consider a “threat to freedom”.  At that time they said this was just a partial list and more would be forthcoming.  As to their diversity and sensitivity training see Where is the U.S. Government Getting It’s Information on Islam and Muslims? for information on the sorts of programs they have offered, and which are currently being seriously questioned by government agencies.  The only thing “new” here is that SION will be International.

Who are the SION leaders?

Most of the names mentioned as leaders and participants in this “new” group are listed in TAM’s Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry.  Ali Sina, Wafa Sultan, Stefan Herre,  Mordechai Kedar, Babu Suseelan, and Anders Gravers.

Mordechai Kedar and David Yerushalmi published the anti-Muslim report Shari’a and Violence in American Mosques which I discuss at length here. Yerushalmi, by the way is the attorney for SIOA, and he is the leader of another hate group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE).  The ADL says about Yerushalmi One of the driving forces behind Shari’a-related conspiracy theories and growing efforts to ban or restrict the use of Shari’a law in American courts is David Yerushalmi, an Arizona attorney with a record of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry.

Stefan Herre runs a German anti-Muslim site called Politically Incorrect.  This month German authorities announced a plan to place anti-Islamic websites under surveillance because of growing concern that they are becoming more radical and fomenting right-wing violence.  The domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said last week it had set up a working group to assess whether German-language sites such as Politically Incorrect and Nürnberg 2.0, whose stated aim is to oppose the “Islamisation of Europe” are in breach of the German constitution. ***  Richard Bartholomew reported on Herre

PI is run by a certain Stefan Herre (var. Stephan Herre), a former sports teacher, and the site reportedly receives a large number of visitors. In 2008 there was controvery when it took advertising from the Jewish Task Force, a US-based Kahanist organisation, as reported in Der Speigel here. Details about PI in English are scarce, although Google Translate provides some gleanings for those of us who cannot read German. A journalist named Stefan Niggemeier is one prominent critic of the site (Herre reportedly threatened a libel action in 2008 over his remarks on the JTF advertising), complaining in particular of the excesses of the discussion boards. The site has also been studied by Yasemin Shooman of the Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism at the Technical University of Berlin (in 2008 the Centre organised a controversial conference comparing anti-Muslim discourse of today with traditional anti-Semitism). In 2007, a South African writer for the site named Jens von Wicht repudiated his involvement with PI, complaining of its “cultic character”.

AFDI/SIOA/GFI/SION/etc.

One can only wonder why so many organizations with the same cast of characters and the same goals and objectives are needed?  Perhaps, they think that once one organization is tainted with the designation of a hate group, simply starting another organization with a slightly different name, but the same cast of characters, might somehow not be noticed as simply the same old hate repackaged. 

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer co-founded the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) in 2010. That same year, Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA) was formed.  SIOA grew out of SIOE Stop the Islamization of Europe whose motto is, “Racism is the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia is the height of common sense.”   SIOE has called for the total boycott of Muslim countries, and boycotts of any businesses who sell products to Muslim countries.  The leader of the SIOE, Anders Gravers early in 2010 announced that  We have now formed a new board for SIOA. The new board of SIOA: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Stephen Gash and Anders Gravers.  The leaders of SIOA are Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.  Also in 2010, Geller announced the creation of a coalition of the same groups, which at that time was going to be called The Global Freedom Initiative (GFI) which was to have held a “transatlantic summit” which was to have also included the EDL, but that was cancelled for confusing reasons.  The GFI has a website, but not much else.

SIOA’s declared mission is to “educate Americans about the threat that Islamic doctrine and those who support it present to our freedoms, and the future of our democracy and country.”   As Loonwatch points out “The declared mission gives us a scent of the absurdity that is SIOA, what else can “the threat of Islamic doctrine and those who support it” mean except “Muslims.” In other words the groups mission is to educate Americans about the “threat that Muslims present to freedom.”

Eli Clifton points out that The group, Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), stands out for its extensive ties to far-right bloggers in the US and Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy. It also has links to the European Far Right and Nazi apologists.  The choice of September 25 as the launch date is designed to coincide with “Jumah Prayer on Capitol Hill: A Day of Islamic Unity,” a gathering of Muslims on the National Mall.”

D.L. Adams, President of Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) said “Neither our Founding Fathers, nor Lao Tse, Confucius, Gautama Siddartha, Saint Paul, Jesus, Isaiah, Moses, nor Abraham would recognize Islam as a bona fide religion, but would instantly understand it as the massive intellectual fraud that it is. Our cowardly leaders, in both Church and State, who claim it doesn’t matter what people believe, are fools.’’

The SIOA and its’ European equivalent the SIOE planned a big rally in July, 2011 but the French and European authorities denied them a permit to hold the rally.  Geller claimed that this was a sign of the “collapse of democracy in Europe” and wrote a vicious article attacking the government for “capitulation to Islamic supremacists and violent radical Leftists” for cancelling a rally planned by their “human rights organizations”.  Loonwatch discusses this at length and provides actual facts.

In September of 2009 SIOE co-sponsored an anti-Mosque program in Harrow with the EDL.  An article by Tristan Kirk in the local Harrow Times noted that

LEADING members of Harrow’s Jewish community have joined together to condemn anti-Muslim campaigners who are planning a protest in the borough this weekend.  Rabbis Aaron Goldstein, Hillel Athias-Robles, Kathleen Middleton, Frank Dabba Smith, and Michael Hilton have signed a letter offering unequivocal support for the borough’s Muslim community.

They wrote: “As leaders of the Jewish community in Harrow, we are writing to express our support for our Muslim friends and neighbours, especially those at Harrow Central Mosque, who are under attack from those whose only purpose is to spread hatred and fear.  We share the desire of the Muslim community of Harrow to respect our mutual traditions, to learn from each other’s cultures and ways of life, and to live together in peace.”

...  The show of unity from the Jewish community is in defiance of a direct appeal by SIOE on its website for 1,000 Jews bearing the Israeli flag to turn up.  However, the Rabbis hit out at SIOE’s “outrageous lies” which are “entirely without foundation” and accused the self-confessed islamaphobic organisation of spreading hatred and violence to divide the Harrow community.

The Harrow Council also backed the mosque against the protestors. And, the Community Security Trust (CST) also urged the Jewish community not to lend their support to this protest.  They pointed out that

The CST has drawn attention to the Islamaphobic comments on SIOE’s website, and compared the group to the English Defence League, and the BNP’s Nick Griffin, who have attempted to gain support from Jews through pro-Israel and anti-Muslim statements. __The blog singled out an central image on the SIOE’s website, which shows a skull with blood dripping from its mouth on the front of a mosque, where the minaret and crescent moon and star symbol is also covered in blood. On its blog, the CST says: “This image tells us everything we need to know about SIOE and Islamophobia. __“If a Jew cannot understand why the image is racist, or hateful, or bigoted then they should try imagining it as a synagogue: with blood dripping from a Star of David; with blood dripping down the rabbi’s pulpit; and with blood dripping from the mouth of a skull that wears an Israeli army helmet.”__The CST emphasises that while the Jewish community should be concerned about extreme Islamist groups. Jews had a duty to stand up to prejudice and hatred:  “The fact that Muslims are the current target simply means that it is Muslims who should be the recipients of anti-racist solidarity.  Hatred, division, cycles of inter-communal violence, intimidation and polarisation feed the extremists on every side. They encourage social division and leave all minorities vulnerable. Anti-Muslim bigotry is a vital recruiting sergeant for both the far right, and its Islamist extremist counterparts.  It generates votes for the BNP and, at the furthest ends of this political spectrum, it even provides the fuel for terrorism. British Jews should have no part of it.”

__In an article I recently wrote about the [url=http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/robert_spencer_pamela_geller_and/0018701]many incidents of scrubbing, cleaning up, or simply disappearing articles from Spencer and Geller’s sites, I noted on 8/6/2011 that Geller and Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA) website at http://sioaonline.com/ has now been completely scrubbed.  If you go to the link, all the articles and everything is gone.  There is nothing there except a main page with the name of the organization.  According to Richard Bartholomew, access to cached versions has been blocked.  This came at the same time as the release of Geller’s new book of the same name as the organization (named a hate group by the SPLC).  No longer just one article, or one paragraph from an article, but an entire website “disappeared”.  The SIOA site is now back online, but very sparse.

The Southern Poverty Law Center published a report citing Geller for hate speech.  The AFDI has been named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  The American Freedom Defense Initiative is the parent group of the SIOA.  Spencer, Geller, and Yerushalmi are featured in the SPLC reports Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle.

Pay Pal at least temporarily suspended Geller’s site Atlas Shrugs for being a hate site. 

Spencer and Geller attempted to patent the SIOA trademark, but were refused by the U.S. patent office The government response, posted on the site, states, “The applied-for mark refers to Muslims in a disparaging manner because by definition it implies that conversion or conformity to Islam is something that needs to be stopped or caused to cease.  “The proposed mark further disparages Muslims because, taking into account the nature of the services (‘providing information regarding understanding and preventing terrorism’), it implies that Islam is associated with violence and threats,” the government agency said.  Again, Loonwatch has more here which include a number of hateful screen grabs from the SIOA facebook page.  Geller says that I engaged David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center to pursue this matter legally. Once again, these legal warriors did not hesitate to take the case pro-bono.

The Center for American Progress released a groundbreaking report Fear Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America.  The key researchers for this report were Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and Faiz Shakir.  The report itself is the result of a six month investigative project, and is 132 pages in length.  Geller is cited as part of this network.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) notes in a backgrounder about the SIOA “Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), created in 2009, promotes a conspiratorial anti-Muslim agenda under the guise of fighting radical Islam. The group seeks to rouse public fears by consistently vilifying the Islamic faith and asserting the existence of an Islamic conspiracy to destroy “American” values. The organization warns of the encroachment of shari’a, or Islamic law, and encourages Muslims to leave what it describes as the “falsity of Islam.”

Abraham H. Foxman of the ADL wrote an article The new shape of anti-Muslim hatred in which he calls out Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller (the co-founders of SIOA) by name as purveyors of this hatred.

Geller is featured in the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism, and the NYCLU report Religious Freedom Under Attack:  The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State, and the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security. 

SEE ALSO

Colorado Klansman Refines Message for the 90’s http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/23/us/colorado-klansman-refines-message-for-the-90-s.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Pamela Geller Announces Another “New Global Force”, Richard Bartholomew http://barthsnotes.com/2012/01/18/pamela-geller-announces-another-new-global-force/ 
Islamophobia, Real or Imagined (major collection of articles about these Islamophobes) http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islamophobia_real_or_imagined 
The Ku Klux Klan: Burning Crosses in Cyberspace http://www.adl.org/poisoning_web/kkk.asp
SIOA and SIOE “Transatlantic Summit” Cancelled, Richard Bartholomew http://barthsnotes.com/2011/07/02/sioa-and-sioe-transatlantic-summit-cancelled/