JANET LEVY
June 13, 2013
The attempted snow job by the
American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC)
of Tennessee which sponsored the joint Department of Justice/FBI event,
"Public Disclosure in a Diverse Society," Tuesday night in Manchester,
Tennessee, did not work with the 2,000 attendees. Claims that American
Muslims are loyal citizens, partners in counterterrorism investigations,
part of radicalization prevention efforts, and an integral part of
American society for centuries fell flat, especially coming from the
host organization that was formed only two years ago in response to
anti-shariah legislation in the Volunteer State.
A well-informed crowd responded with calls of "taqiyyah" when members
of AMAC, a group that bills itself as "a bridge between the Muslim
community and law enforcement," touted Muslim contributions to U.S.
society and their dedication to upholding American values. (Taqiyyah
doctrine obligates Muslims to deceive infidels as part the required
effort or jihad to institute Islamic doctrine or shariah). In actuality,
Muslim organizations have specifically instructed Muslims not to
cooperate with law enforcement and have demanded that all
counterterrorism-training materials be expunged of critical references
to Islam and Muslims, as well the training instructors fired or
retrained who fail to follow along.
When it became clear at Tuesday's event that the promulgation of lies
was falling on deaf ears, one AMAC speaker resorted to shaming the
audience for their alleged rudeness and intolerance. In the crowd's
defense, the passionate response was one of righteous anger against a
doctrine that increasingly threatens Western civilization and values in
the wake of the Boston bombings and the murder and beheading of British
soldier Lee Rigby. That indignation was also a response to the hypocrisy
of a program designed to falsely portray Muslims as victims of
prejudice in dire need of special civil rights protection from hate
crimes. No mention was made of jihadist acts, honor killings, demands
for special accommodations, and the Muslim disinclination to assimilate
to American cultural norms.
To further insult the crowd, the AMAC speaker showed a condensed
version of the video "Welcome to Shelbyville" in which Tennesseans were
portrayed as ignorant, bigoted rednecks. The rejection of the Muslim
presence in Tennessee was explained away by previous resistance to
integrating blacks and Hispanics. The situation was addressed as one of
racism and fear of the unknown rather than a very real fear of what
Islamic doctrine requires Muslims to do. This was an educated crowd well
aware that Islamic doctrine clearly states that Muslims must not
befriend non-Muslims and are required to wage jihad to establish a
global Islamic government under shariah. Attendees appeared very
familiar with the enemy threat doctrine, Muslim aspirations to replace
the Constitution with shariah, and ubiquitous calls from Muslims for
"death to America" and "death to Christians and Jews."
It is particularly telling that no other group in the United States
has been the focus of such a degree of attention and outreach, although
FBI religious hate crime statistics from 2009 indicate that Jews are
more than eight times more likely to be victims of religious hate crimes
than Muslims. Yet there is no special protection afforded to Jews, no
events announcing the prosecution of individuals who post material
offensive to Jews, nor outreach programs to the American Jewish
community to better serve their interests. When it comes to Jews and
Christians, offensive remarks and portrayals are permitted under the
First Amendment.
It is truly remarkable that the mission of an entire government
agency, NASA, was reconfigured from space exploration and aerospace
technology to Muslim outreach by the Obama administration in 2009. At
that time, Obama required NASA to reach out to Muslims and help them
"feel good about their historic contributions to science, math, and
engineering."
Recently, Obama announced that he was launching the Muslim Outreach
Summit to elicit feedback from American Muslims on how the government
can better serve them. It is unprecedented for any group in the U.S. to
receive this level of special consideration.
Following the Benghazi attack, Obama went to the UN and announced,
"The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam"
and that "Intolerance is a form of violence." He didn't reference the
desecrations of images of Jesus Christ and churches or voice concern
about Holocaust denial. He mentioned only the criticism of Islam as a
cause for concern and a reason to curtail free speech rights. Let us not
forget that in the "Audacity of Hope," Obama avowed, "I will stand with
the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
DOJ attorney Bill Killian addressed the crowd by reading statutes
verbatim from PowerPoint slides that defined hate crimes, civil rights
violations, and federally prescribed violations and penalties. Prior to
the event, he had released this statement: "This is an educational
effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and
exercising freedom of religion.... This is also to inform the public
what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are." However,
the DOJ and FBI have not scheduled meetings addressing the concerns of
any other group but Muslims. Twelve such outreach sessions are planned
for Tennessee alone.
FBI Special Agent Kenneth Moore ridiculed the idea that the evening
was intended to threaten citizens with the possibility of prosecution
and imprisonment for offending Muslims. He pointed out that despite the
raucous conduct exhibited during the event and the protests, no one
would be arrested that evening as evidence of the government's
commitment to the First Amendment. However, the crowd remained
unconvinced that their free speech rights were not in jeopardy at some
future point as part of the government's program to accommodate the
demands of Muslim and Islamic doctrine.
The event presented messages on two levels. Overtly, Muslims
attempted to airbrush their image in America as having nothing to do
with supremacy, triumphalism, and terrorism. A few hijabed members of
the AMAC even sported T-shirts with messages supporting the First
Amendment to apocryphally showcase their dedication to American
principles and laws.
As for government officials, they ostensibly conducted an
informational session on legal statutes related to offensive statements
and reassured the crowd that arrests would not take place. But the
covert message was clear: This event was held to reinforce the supremacy
of Muslims and their civil rights as no other group has been afforded
this level of deference or accommodation. It was a veiled threat to
non-Muslims that Muslims and Muslims alone will receive special
protection by the government and hate crime prosecutions are on the
table at some future point. Americans beware.
Janet
Levy, MBA, MSW, is an activist, world traveler, and freelance
journalist who has contributed to American Thinker, Pajamas Media, Full
Disclosure Network, FrontPage Magazine, Family Security Matters and
other publications. She blogs at www.womenagainstshariah.com
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