By Jamshed Abbas
Back in 2008, a Zionist Jew named Barre Seid living in the US issued a check for just under $17 million. The purpose was to fund the distribution of 28 million copies of a hate-filled documentary whose premise was that Islam is equivalent to Nazism and is the greatest threat the West faces. The CDs were distributed by the Clarion Fund, which has been linked to the Israeli group Aish HaTorah.
Clarion is listed as a non-profit foreign organization in the US. That was at the height of the campaign between John McCain and a new kid on the block: Barack Husain Obama. Seid’s contribution to this attempt to spread hatred and fear against Muslims was supposed to remain a secret. Fortunately for us, his accountant made the mistake of including his name in a public filing.1
Muslims in America are very scared these days. Donald Trump is president. The right wing is in the ascendency. It is easy to fear the throngs of white voters who turned up for Trump. They are the ones with red, angry faces who often get caught on camera saying things about Muslims and minorities that send shivers down the spine of Muslims.
Many Muslims wish Hillary Clinton had won. After all, she had hijab-clad women at her campaign rallies, she gave speeches defending Muslims and their rights under the constitution. And who can forget the Harvard-trained Pakistani lawyer who spoke out at the Democratic convention where he held up a small booklet of the constitution and assailed Trump with the words, “Let me ask you: have you even read the United States constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy.” Khizr Khan’s words appealed to many Muslims who were (and are) scared and confused.
It didn’t matter that President Obama had embarked on a deadly campaign of mass killings by indiscriminately bombing Muslims all over the world. It didn’t matter that Hillary Clinton had threatened to “obliterate Iran” if Israel were ever threatened with attack during a speech punctuated by frequent applause at the AIPAC convention. It also didn’t matter that all the neoconservatives who were responsible for the disastrous invasion of Iraq had endorsed Clinton. Palestine or the issue of Palestinian rights wasn’t on anyone’s radar. In fact, Clinton went out of her way to show her unflinching support for Israel, but most Muslims still flocked to her. None of that mattered. As far as most American Muslims were concerned, domestic considerations came first. And that is all that mattered.
If these Muslims had ever bothered to dig a little deeper, they would find that the main engine of hatred against Muslims in America, Europe, and Canada isn’t disgruntled white people and their orange saviour; it is Zionists. The Zionists have contributed huge amounts of money to fund books, videos, think tanks, radio talk shows, websites, and other platforms with one and only one goal in mind: to solidify in the minds of angry whites the notion of Islam — and by extension Muslims — as an existential threat.
Disgruntled white people are angry because they feel the elites have cheated them. They are right. Their hatred and anger isn’t exclusively for Muslims. They are equal opportunity haters. Furthermore, the caricature of all “right wing” white voters as racist and Muslim haters is unfair and perhaps untrue.
Pro-Israel individuals and groups are dedicated to destroying Islam and making life for Muslims in the West untenable. They have expended vast amounts of money in this effort. For example, in the 10-year period from September 11, 2001 to 2011, a total of $42 million in donations were made to organizations that the Center for American Progress deemed anti-Muslim hate groups. Of this, almost 50% was contributed by one man: the aforementioned Barre Seid,2 a Zionist Jew awarded an honorary degree by the Israeli university Bar-Ilan for his many works that “fortify Israel’s position in the world.”3 They do so because they feel that Islam poses the greatest challenge to the illegal Zionist entity. They are right. Islam does not tolerate oppression, whether it be against Muslims or non-Muslims. And none but the most indoctrinated and/or ignorant would argue that the Zionist entity is anything but unjust.
Of course, this is not to deflect from the inherent racism that white, working class individuals in many Western countries exhibit. The issue of the West’s imperial history and racist attitudes that underpin this imperial legacy deserve an article or book of its own. But the point here is this: the racism that the right wing of the political spectrum displays is not exclusively directed at Muslims. It is a burning rage that often finds succour in Islamophobia. The reason that Zionist groups and individuals are dangerous is because they want to exploit this hatred to crush any political dissent by Muslims in the West. Israeli officials meeting with right wing groups with a pro-Nazi past is just one example of this effort by the Zionists to partner with anyone who is willing to stem the potential political clout of Muslims before it grows.
There is a tendency within the Muslim community in North America to compartmentalize their lives from the rest of the Muslim world. This applies to all issues, but especially when it comes to the issue of Palestine. The argument is often framed thus: the issue of Palestine, or Kashmir, Afghanistan, Syria, Burma, Chechnya, or any other place in the world where Muslims are being oppressed is secondary. The well-being and prosperity of local Muslims is primary.
When pressed on the lack of moral substance to this argument, the plaintive response is often along the lines of “if we can’t take care of ourselves first how can we help others?” But the reality is, Muslims in the West and their brethren the world over face the same existential threat: Zionism. Whether it be Fox News and its Zionist Jewish owner or Israeli organizations and their secret funding of hatred against Muslims, Muslims need to unite. Indeed, if one examines conflicts that involve Muslims, whether it be Kashmir, Iraq, Syria, or others, Zionist hands are at play behind the scenes. Israel is one of the main backers of the corrupt Saudi regime and has provided medical and other aid to ISIS and other groups. The former defense minister of the Zionist entity recently gave a speech in which he said that ISIS apologized when it mistakenly attacked Israel in November of 2016.4
More ominously, the Zionists have dedicated vast resources to conflating takfiri groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, and others with liberation movements like Hizbullah, Hamas, etc. The goal is to turn Israel’s fight into the West’s fight when in fact Hizbullah and Hamas and others have made it clear that they have nothing against the West other than its support for Israel and blatant interference in their internal affairs. For instance, Pentagon officials have branded Hizbullah, the “A-team of terrorism.”5 This begs the question: why hasn’t Hizbullah ever attacked the US mainland? The answer is obvious, but the Zionists are determined to obfuscate the truth. They want the West to fight the very groups that are the vanguard of fighting ISIS, al-Qaeda and other groups dedicated to killing Western civilians.
One important caveat here: Muslims need to stop being fooled by “liberal” and “conservative” Zionism. This is the good cop bad cop routine that has beguiled a lot of Muslims and makes them lose focus. Instead of swooning every time a liberal Zionist such as Jon Stewart defends Palestinians and criticizes Israel, we should ask, is Jon Stewart in favour of the Zionist entity’s theft of Palestinian lands? The very existence of the apartheid state should be opposed and nothing less should be settled for. Having said that we should educate Jews and unite with those people of the Jewish faith that are dedicated to the dismantlement of the Zionist entity. Israel has not made Jews any safer. Safety was one of the most important factors that contributed to the brainwashing of world Jewry in favor of the Zionist State. This is not a minor point, and should be used effectively as a counter propaganda tool. The safety of Jews has nothing to do with Israel. In fact, one state that affirms and protects the civic rights of all — Jews, Christians, and Muslims as well as others in Palestine — is a much better guarantee of long term Jewish safety in the Muslim East and around the world.
Zionism in the West is the true fifth column within our midst. When I say “our” I mean all the people who inhabit Western societies. Muslims need to cultivate an understanding that the countries they live in belong to them just as much as their neighbours. Their anti-Zionist rhetoric should rest on defending Muslims around the world and defending the interests of gullible Westerners who often fall victim to the platitudes of their political elites. Again, Jews cannot be ignored in all of this. It seems that increasing numbers of Jews are waking up to the reality of Zionism and the indoctrination they have undergone.
Instead of always being on the defensive, Muslims in the West need to unite against Zionism. This begins by setting all their sectarian, nationalist, ethnic, and tribal differences aside. Muslims need to embrace the Qur’anic notion that only the most muttaqi are superior (49:13). All petty disagreements should be subsumed within the fight against Zionism. Its credibility should be uprooted from the very fabric of the Western body politic. Zionism does not pose a threat just to Muslims, it poses a threat to all Westerners in its desire to draft young men and women in its fight against Islam and Muslims. An example of how this can be done is to fund think tanks that produce white papers detailing the strategic liability that Israel is to the West in the Muslim East, for instance.
Zionism is an existential threat to Muslims, both in the West and abroad. It is also an existential threat to the West because it sees a clash between Islam and the West as one of the tools for its survival. All peace-loving people, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, should unite and dedicate themselves to uprooting Zionism by identifying and uprooting agents and influences of Zionism within the Western body politic. If the Zionist apartheid state loses the backing and funding of America and others, it wouldn’t last long.
Further, the role of imperialists should not be ignored either. The focus should be on helping people realize that the very elites they are fighting are also the ones with whom the Zionists are hand in glove. It is these very elites that birthed the Zionist entity to further their criminal activities. This point is important. By focusing on Zionism, one should not fall into the trap of thinking that the Western elites are gullible children in the hands of some vast Zionist conspiracy. As Sayyid Hasan Nasrullah noted in a speech, it is not necessarily Israel that controls the West; Zionists have great power in the West but it was the Americans who pushed the Israelis to viciously attack Lebanon, not the other way around. Western elites are motivated by what they perceive as their global, capitalist interests. Zionists are motivated by the survival of the Zionist entity. The difference here is crucial in terms of the political future of Muslims in the West. Zionists want to destroy Muslim political capital and influence. Imperialists want to control it.
Both must be confronted, but the former is a greater short term threat and needs to be tackled quickly. In addition, both are inextricably bound. Zionism is the illegitimate child of imperialist Britain and America. The eradication of its political influence in Western public and political discourse will lead to a simultaneous weakening of the imperialist, capitalist elites who are at the root of many wars and misery around the world. So, how do Muslims rid the West of Zionist political influence when Zionism is a tool of Western imperialism and is supported by the elites for self-preservation? Public opinion should become so overwhelming that they are forced to back track. And Muslims must be at the forefront of shaping public opinion, not being buffeted by it. This point must inform all political decisions.
Finally, a cause must not be abandoned because it seems difficult or impossible. A monotheist is not intimidated by any man-made obstacles. All justice seeking people need to unite and fight against injustice. Zionism is just one aspect of the political reality in the West that Muslims face, albeit a significant one. Timing, political strategy, political vision and a united Muslim body politic are crucial if Zionism is to be confronted effectively. The purpose here is that Muslims need to be aware of the threat that Zionism poses. Muslim interaction in all spheres of Western life along with the goal of fostering interfaith dialogue and humanitarian works are just as important.
References
- J. Elliot, Mystery of who funded right-wing “radical Islam” campaign deepens. (Salon.com website, November 16, 2010). http://www.salon.com/2010/11/16/clarion_fund_obsession_dvds/
- W. Ali, E. Clifton, M. Duss, L. Fang, and S. Keyes, Fear, Inc: The roots of the Islamophobia network in America. (Center for American Progress website, 2011). https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wpcontent/uploads/issues/2011/08/pdf/islamophobia.pdf
- J. Elliot, Mystery of who funded right-wing “radical Islam”…
- Chloe Farand, Isis fighters “attacked Israel Defense Forces unit, then apologised” claims former commander. (The Independent website, April 25, 2017). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-israel-defence-force-apology-attack-unit-golan-heights-defense-minister-moshe-ya-alon-a7700616.html
- E. Bradley, Hezbollah: “A-team of terrorists”. (60 Minutes program, CBS News, April 18, 2003). http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hezbollah-a-team-of-terrorists/
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