I noted tonight that Haaretz’s English language website features a banner ad promoting the anti-Muslim propaganda film, Third Jihad. You’ve got to ask yourself what brought the swamp rats out of the sewer to show their faces in the pages of Haaretz? Clearly, in the Ft. Hood shooting, with the shooter’s alleged Al Qaeda sympathies, the Muslim-haters Rabbi Raphael Shore and Wayne Kopping of Clarion Fund and Aish HaTorah see a golden opportunity for scoring points in the anti-jihadi battle.
It’s pathetic that Haaretz accepts blood money from this pro-settler scum who’d like nothing better than to foment increasing hatred and violence between Islam and “civilized western religions” like Christianity and Judaism.
Promoting the film now, combined with the “timeliness” of the Hassan shooting, provides a terrific distraction from the arrest of accused Judean settler terrorist, Jack Teitel, thought to have murdered two Israeli police officers, two Palestinian farmers, bombed a Hebrew University professor and possibly aided and abetted the gay community center murders.
Los Angeles’ Museum of In-Tolerance, named in honor of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, is now steeped in Muslim hatred. Rabbi Marvin Hier, its current leader, has endorsed the Iran yellow star hoax. Now, he’s actively promoting one of the most Islamophobic films ever produced, Third Jihad.
The Clarion Fund is listed as the sponsor of the film, though its creators (including Rabbi Raphael Shore) are affiliated with the pro-settler Aish Hatorah, a group based in Israel. Clarion appears to be little more than a domestic shell organization designed to enable the producers to claim the film was made in the U.S.
Third Jihad features Zuhdi Jasser, who though he professes to be Muslim, seems to detest almost everything about his religion, especially anything that remotely hints of Islam existing in a political context. Jasser runs a one man Muslim organization which is characterized in an IPS story thus:
American Islamic Forum for Democracy…according to its website, is a non-profit which seeks to “intellectually stand against the religious fanatics who exploit the religion of Islam for a nihilistic, anti-American anti-Western war.”
Jasser makes common cause with Muslim haters like Daniel Pipes and other Jewish neocons. Years ago, he was active in CAIR but that relationship turned sour. Now he detests everything to do with the national Muslim organization and takes every chance he can to attack it. Third Jihad provides him all the opportunity he needs.
In the film, he purports to have discovered a radical Muslim version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion:
“The Third Jihad” is largely based on a document the producers say the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) discovered in 2003. The film’s creators purport the document is a “’Grand Jihad Manifesto’ authored by the Muslim Brotherhood in North America, according to the promotional materials.
“The 15-page document outlines goals and strategies for the infiltration and domination of America from within,” says the release. “Among the strategies discussed is the establishment of ‘moderate’ groups, mosques and Islamic centers across North America in an effort to strategically position Islam so that it might weaken western culture and promote the implementation of Sharia Law.”
CAIR wrote a letter of protest to Rabbi Hier about the profound insult that this film poses to all American Muslims. But Hier has about as much sensitivity to the concerns of Muslims as a deaf person would have to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
The Wiesenthal Center screenings were co-sponsored by another extremist group, the American Freedom Alliance. One look at its website makes you realize you’re visiting territory so far off the right side of the universe it might as well be Pluto. Here’s but a taste:
The American Freedom Alliance is a non-political, non partisan, movement of concerned Americans which identifies threats to western civilization. The organization promotes networking, activism and education in the following six areas:
* The Islamic penetration of Europe
* The collapse of academic freedom
* The identification and sources of media bias
* The growth of radical environmentalism
* The necessity for missile defense
* The dangers presented by the global governance movement
IPS notes that the Washington, D.C. screening of the film was promoted and documented by the International Free Press Society, which also heavily publicized the U.S. speaking tour of far-right Dutch Muslim hater, Geert Wilders. He himself produced an anti-Muslim film screed, Fitna, which I jokingly called here “Dutch for garbage.” Even the ADL has labelled Wilders “inflammatory” and Britain has refused him entry. Both Wilders and some members of IFPS have been linked to the Belgian neo-fascist group, Vlaams Belang.
All in all, this is a nice set of bedfellows with whom the Clarion Fund and the Museum of Tolerance are sleeping. But Rabbi Hier and Raphael Shore should remember what happens when you lie down with dogs…
I find it sad to report that just as Wilders spoke to synagogue audiences during his tour here, Detroit’s Temple Israel also screened Third Jihad. Someone should ask Rabbi Joshua Bennett what he was thinking when he invited these hatemongers into his shul.
The brutal truth of the matter is that instead of awakening the world to the danger of radical Islam, films like this actually promote Islamophobia and are conducive to an atmosphere that provokes violence against American Muslims.
Thanks once again to my anonymous researcher who dug up this gold nugget.
I’ve been trying to “follow the money” for the past several weeks behind Clarion Fund’s anti-Muslim documentaries, Obsession and Third Jihad; including tens of millions provided for production and promotion. Raphael Shore, Clarion Fund boss and also director of Aish HaTorah, refuses to divulge who the sugar daddy is. Which has left many in the press and blog world to speculate. Until now our speculation hasn’t been grounded in anything more than suppositions and theories.
But thanks to the big mouth of an extremist evangelical preacher, O’Neal Dozier, we know that none other than an Aish HaTorah donor funded his distribution of 325,000 copies of Obsession, a separate video equating abortion with child sacrifice, and a new magazine, Judeo-Christian View. All these “goodies” were mailed to every “Judeo-Christian” clergy member in the U.S. (that left out imams, natch).
Now comes word from the good reverend that a donor under the direction of Aish HaTorah not only provided the DVDs, but paid for the mailing costs. The total I’m guessing would come to around $400,000, which would come on top of the $15-20 million+ Aish previously spent to distribute 28 million copies of Obsession to swing state voters:
The Rev. O’Neal Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, Fla., said he mailed 325,000 copies of “Obsession” three weeks ago along with another video “on same-sex marriage and child sacrifice” in the first issue of “The Judeo-Christian View.”
Dozier said he was the “general publisher” but did not pay for the mailing. He refused to name the funder but said that person had been in touch with officials from Aish HaTorah.
All this begs the question: who in Aish has that kind of money? Clearly, Raphael Shore doesn’t. But my researcher is holding out for Aish co-founder and billionaire international business consultant, Rabbi Irwin Katsof, as the funder. Again, this is speculation and we don’t as yet have a smoking gun. But Katsof is very cozy with Republican leaders like Tom Ridge (who is featured in Third Jihad), John McCain and Joe Lieberman. I’ve also written that he does a great deal of business in the Ukraine, where McCain campaign manager, Rick Davis, also has business interests. Thus, he has the motive and certainly the opportunity to engage in this kind of thinly veiled pro-Republican electioneering. But proving that Katsof did it is another matter.
I want every Jew within the sound of my voice to know that Aish HaTorah can no longer, if it ever could, be considered a group devoted to studying Torah and bringing Jews back to their religion. Forever more, we must see Aish as a militant group which uses Clarion Fund as a political front since for various reasons, it feels it cannot wear its partisan politics on its sleeve.
Let no Jew be fooled by Aish or Clarion or these films. Just as Clarion is fake, so are its films fraudulent misrepresentations of Islam. All this makes Aish a group of fraudsters and dissemblers. And hey, lest anyone reading this dismiss it as the words of a partisan, I suggest you read Jeffrey Goldberg’s “take down” of Aish and Obsession in the current Atlantic:
Aish HaTorah…is just about the most fundamentalist movement in Judaism today. Its operatives flourish in the radical belt of Jewish settlements just south of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, and their outposts across the world propagandize on behalf of a particularly sterile, sexist and revanchist brand of Judaism. Which is amusing, of course, because “Obsession” is meant to expose a particularly sterile, sexist and racist brand of Islam.
Whatever anyone says about my politics, Goldberg has unimpeachable pro-Israel credentials. If you don’t like what I’m saying here go argue with him.
UPDATE: I misread one word in the following news report as saying that the mailing described below was a donation “from” Clarion Fund when the text actually reads “to” Clarion Fund. Nevertheless, I’m guessing that Clarion did pay for the cost of reproducing the DVDs; while the magazine paid for the mailing itself.
Upon closer reading, I note the magazine mailed out 325,000 DVDs to all U.S. clergy. The magazine content was made available online to another 10 million individuals. Hence the reproduction and mailing costs I mention below should be adjusted significantly downwards.
I also note that the article linked below is actually a press release circulated by PRNewsWire and written by the evangelical magazine mentioned in it. So virtually all the claims presented should be considered unsubstantiated.
***
Just when you catch your breath and think the Clarion Fund can’t do any more to promote anti-Muslim, anti-Obama hate during the election season, they surprise you by coming up with an even more outrageous act of incitement. Marketwatch reveals that Clarion is funding a mailing of the Islamophobic film, Obsession and other anti-Muslim material by a right-wing evangelical publication, the Judeo-Christian View, to 325,000 rabbis and ministers and 10-million congregational leaders and laity. This means that virtually every church and synagogue in the U.S., including their presidents and boards of directors will be inundated by this propaganda.
Marketing experts have already estimated a previous mailing of 28 million DVDs to swing state voters cost anywhere from $15-million to $50-million. The new mailing might easily run to $5-to $10-million. Unfortunately, Clarion is flying under the radar as a non-profit which doesn’t have to reveal its donors. It also refuses to reveal its funding sources despite repeated questions from various reporters.
There have been at least two complaints to the IRS about potential violations of 501c3 regulations prohibiting partisan intervention in electoral contests. The complaints related to the massive mailing to swing state voters in a clear attempt to deter voters from choosing Barack Obama.
The most recent mailing, while continuing the anti-Obama message, also emphasizes the religious objections that Christians and Jews might have to purported Muslim beliefs (as defined by the film):
…An “interfaith video sermon” on DVD and online…discusses Obama’s support for repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, which shields states from forced recognition of same-sex marriages…
The mailing is accompanied by a letter signed by endorsing evangelical and Orthodox Jewish clergy which contends in part:
…Obama’s policy to liberalize abortion, “combined with his effort to kill a bill that would protect babies who survive abortions, tends to gut the USA’s moral standing to condemn jihadic use of Muslim children as suicide bombers; both are horrific cases of child sacrifice that support a Culture of Death and demonstrate utter contempt for the Judeo-Christian Culture of Life.”
…”Full embrace of homosexual unions by our nation and the next administration would tell violent Islamists that the infidel USA has expressly rejected once-shared Abrahamic, Mosaic and Christian teaching regarding ’sodomy’. So too would flagrant ‘gay integration’ of our overseas military forces [a policy Obama supports]. We advocate “love the sinner, hate the sin”; militant Islamists would murder our fellow Americans for sexual error, as well as us for offering them hope and forgiveness!” The online edition graphically condemns Islamist executions of gays, young girls and women domestically and abroad.
It seems a tad ironic for evangelicals like these to decry “backward” Muslim attitudes toward gays and women when evangelical attitudes are hardly much more progressive. In truth, the signers of this letter have more in common with fundamentalist Islam on these two issues than they do with liberal western democracy. The irony has naturally been lost on those who’ve organized this mailing.
A review of the magazine’s website finds the most blatant pro-McCain and anti-Obama propaganda. Given that Clarion has fully funded the mailing on behalf of a partisan political operation, it seems beyond doubt that Clarion, in effect, is aiding and abetting violation of 501c3 statutes.
The site, as you can see from the accompanying image (click to enlarge), likens abortion to the Holocaust and the pagan practice of child sacrifice.
Another interesting element of the site is its vociferous objection to what it calls a “gag order” on evangelical churches’ partisan political activity:
First Amendment Freedoms – Religion and Speech
There are “false prophets” out there who say that pastors, priests and rabbis cannot teach, preach and pray before their congregations on what the Bible says regarding homosexuality and child sacrifice — while explaining where sitting officials and candidates stand on those issues.
Free Exercise in America’s Pulpits? Only if Exercised. Speak Truth to Power.
These “secular imams” say a church or synagogue must observe a “gag rule” against moral criticism or application of Judeo-Christian standards to our leaders. Well, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – which protects the American freedoms of Speech, Religious Exercise, Assembly and the Press — says that view is dead wrong…
Actually, this interpretation is a fraud. Certainly, churches or pastors may say whatever they wish about politics. In that sense, they do have First Amendment rights. But there is nothing saying the federal government must continue a non-profit status if the church violates IRS guidelines. So it has nothing at all to do with freedom of speech or freedom to practice one’s religion. It has everything to do with federal policy regarding following non-profit rules.
These religious charlatans even have the chutzpah to note the following:
…No church has ever lost its tax-exempt status for endorsing or opposing political candidates. This history alone should alleviate any unfounded fear.
This reminds me of tax-resisters like Wesley Snipes who assure everyone there IS no federal law compelling a citizen to pay taxes. The claim is bogus in Snipes’ case. While no church may’ve YET lost tax exempt status, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have happened and might not happen. These people are just asking for trouble and the IRS MUST tackle this issue sooner rather than later.
I call on all tolerant, progressive churches and synagogues to raise a hue and cry about this matter. No religious organization has any right to send such an insulting, racist mailing to every single religious institution in the United States. The mailing should offend anyone of faith who values tolerance and inter-faith dialogue. I also call on the Jewish press to cover this story and interview rabbis seeking their opinion about this chutzpadik infringement on their relations with the Muslim community. I also call on the IRS to expedite their investigation of Clarion and put a stop to these egregious violations of its non-profit status.
While it is clear that Obama will win the presidential election, the intent of the mailing seems to be to poison the well against him in the religious community after he assumes office.
In today’s Times, Jim Rutenberg writes a piece wondering why the white supremacist right hasn’t made a bigger clamor against Obama. I think a far more interesting and important story would be about racist campaigns like those of Clarion and Judeo-Christian View seeking to influence the election. There’s a lot more money being spread around by Clarion than by the white supremacists and almost as much hate.
Thanks to my trusty reader/researcher RM for bringing this story to me.
UPDATE: I just spoke with a technical specialist in the IRS fraud division and they unfortunately say that a non-profit cannot be penalized if its materials are used by a second party in violation of non-profit regulations. It seems a policy designed to encourage abuse. Any non profit that wishes to violate the rules and engage in partisan political activity only needs to find or create an “independent” group that will use its materials for electioneering. And the non profit gets off scot free. This is yet another example of Clarion skating free of responsibility for its misdeeds. If Ronald Reagan was the “teflon president,” then Clarion is the “teflon non-profit.”
Many of the journalists who’ve reported on the Clarion Fund and its anti-Islam “documentary” Obsession have wondered why the film credits listed fake names for the two producers. Yesterday we reported that the real name of one of the producers is Erik Werth. Thanks to Meg Laughlin of the St. Petersburg Times, we may have the answer. The Charlotte Observer reported the following in 1995:
Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)
August 2, 1995 Wednesday THREE EDITION
Man charged in Secret Service ruse
COLUMBIA – A former U.S. Treasury Department adviser has been charged with impersonating a Secret Service agent in order to get a airline service charge dropped, U.S. Attorney Pete Strom says.
A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted Erik Werth, 25, of Rosslyn, Va., a former policy adviser to the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for enforcement, Strom said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Ruschky said the undersecretary oversees agents in the Secret Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the Customs Service.
The indictment accused Werth of impersonating a Secret Service agent by threatening to have an employee arrested at the Columbia airport on May 22. He caused a disturbance by demanding a waiver of a service charge for changing his plane ticket, Ruschky said. If convicted, Werth faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
I can imagine why Clarion might’ve given Werth a false identity in fear that his past would damage the credibility (if it ever had any) of the film. I also find it ironic that Werth was arrested for assuming a false identity and Clarion did precisely the same thing in shielding Werth from scrutiny.
All of this skullduggery becomes all the more confusing given that the new Clarion documentary Third Jihad DOES list Werth as producer. I guess Clarion decided that they were no longer embarrassed by having someone accused of a federal crime connected to their project.
Maybe Hank Scheinkopf, Clarion’s new PR flack will have a ready explanation for this to journalists who call him asking for one. And to anyone in the Jewish community either contemplating hosting a screening of this film or attending one, I’d urge you to factor this little bit of sleaziness into your calculations.
If someone is sleazy enough to believe they can abuse their former role in the U.S. government’s national security apparatus in order to weasel out of an airline ticket fee, who knows what they wouldn’t do to smear Muslims in pursuit of a juicy story.
To any intrepid researcher who can confirm how this case was disposed I’d be grateful.
Yes, you read me right. Those crazy imams and ayatollahs want to destroy our American way of life and institute Sharia here in the U.S. of A. They plan on dismantling the Constitution and creating an Islamic state in place of our beloved republic. How do I know? Third Jihad tells me so. What’s Third Jihad? Brought to you by the Clarion Fund, the same folks who brought you Obsession. Their new film debuts October 5th. And not a moment too soon I might add, since those radical jihadis are burrowing into the American heartland as I write these words.
As reader Robin wrote, Third Jihad is “Obsession on steroids.” Right from the opening scene displaying the World Trade Center in ruins as ominous Arabic sounding music plays on the soundtrack, this film hammers you with one message and one message alone: radical Islam wants what you love and will do anything to get it.
For those of us who lived through the 1950s and remember the horrible TV shows and movies (i.e. I Married a Communist, I Was a Communist for the FBI, etc.) depicting American Communists insinuating themselves into the very fabric of American life in order to subvert and destroy it–Third Jihad will give you a sense of deja vu all over again (to quote Yogi Berra allegedly). Something there is in a human being which loves a bogeyman, someone to fear, someone who represents almost pure evil. I don’t quite understand this primeval urge that lurks within us. But it is there.
One of the MOs of the producers of Obsession and Third Jihad is to feature a “good,” moderate Muslim informant to “educate” their audience about the evils of radical Islam. In Obsession, those roles are played by faux PLO-terrorist Walid Shoebat, Nonie Darwish and Kahleel Mohammed (who has angrily disavowed the film and his participation in it).
In the new film, the “good” Muslim is played to the hilt by its “star,” one M. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. He is a “devout practicing Muslim” (and he won’t let you forget that to distinguish himself from Christian-Arab Muslim haters, Shoebat and Darwish), former Navy Lieutenant Colonel, physician, and wannabe political thinker. He seems to have no special qualifications for taking on the role of analyst of political Islam, but assume it he does and with a vengeance.
To put it plain and simple, Jasser is a Muslim neocon. It’s a strange animal considering how hostile the Republican right is to Islam and Muslims. But if Jasser didn’t exist then the neocons would have to invent him (which is pretty much what they did in the case of Shoebat–or I should say that the latter re-invented himself to ingratiate himself with his neocon sponsors).
If you read Jasser carefully, he reminds me of the Log Cabin Republicans, American gays who believe that a Republican Party with no gay members is a Party that will treat gay interests even more shabbily than it does already. In other words, Jasser seems to have chosen to become a staunch Republican in order to, in his eyes, advance the Muslim agenda through the ranks of the Republican Party.
AIF’s political agenda is barely concealed radical-right Republicanism (though the group has 501c3 designation):
As United States citizens we support our American armed forces.
As United States citizens we support absolute and literal adherence to our citizenship pledge. [in case you feared Muslims as a potential fifth column]
…We will work to educate the public regarding the current threat to America of radicals who exploit Islam through militancy.
…We will work to express the consistency of the principles of Islam with economic principles of free markets and capitalism.
…We will work to promote the appreciation of the integral role of American patriotism and nationalism in the life of Muslim youth in America.
…we feel it is necessary to make a foundational position statement regarding the state of Israel. We stand in support of the existing unqualified recognition of the state of Israel
Let’s return to that AIF 501c3 designation, which requires the group not to meddle in partisan politics. Given that Jasser is clearly a neocon Republican, that would seem almost a contradiction in terms. Indeed, Jasser has himself publicly participated in the political process. In this endorsement of a far-right pro-Israel Colorado Republican legislative candidate, he strangely takes aim at the candidate’s Republican American Muslim opponent:
A brief word about Mr. Sharf’s primary opponent. Mrs. Rima Barakat Sinclair has no apparent record, prior to this election of…any traditional conservative issues. Previously, her sole political agenda seems to have been anti-Israel activism. Her candidacy seems to be more a product of Islamist politics than of ideas central to conservative American principles and activism. Sadly, candidates out of this mold, who conflate the Israeli-Palestinian crisis with their Islamic identity actually harm more than they help the genuine pluralistic advancement of American Muslims. Most Muslims are actually quite diverse in their domestic and foreign policy politics and do not accept the collectivist agenda of political Islam (Islamism).
It is certainly no accident that Sinclair’s opponent, Joshua Scharf, is a right-wing pro-Israel militant.
Lopez: Do you like what you’re hearing out of any of the presidential candidates?
Jasser: (First a necessary caveat — the following is my personal opinion only and in no way that of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy).
Yes, I think most of the Republican presidential field is much more honest than the Democrats in articulating the real stakes in this war of ideas of the free world versus the Islamists. While most of the Republican candidates are in the right anti-Islamist arena, only a few have been able to articulate it clearly enough and with enough candor to get my attention. I am far from making up my mind on a candidate yet, but am encouraged by a lot of what I see from some of the candidates.
I am most heartened by what I am hearing from Rudy Guliani’s campaign, with Governor Mitt Romney very close behind in my mind. Mayor Guliani understands the toxicity of the Saudis and their Wahhabis…He is not afraid to articulate the conflict in ideas between Western freedom and Islamist theocracy…He names our enemies by name, and is not afraid to stand for principle and substance in foreign policy over diplomatic platitudes (i.e. against the Saudis, Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood), and other Islamists.
Governor Mitt Romney’s campaign has also demonstrated a willingness to mince no words when discussing the ideologies we are facing. He identifies jihadists as our enemies and uses his important position of national and global leadership to clearly frame the debate as one between the ideology of Islamism (Caliphism, jihadism, and theocracy) versus freedom.
…John McCain’s articulation of the stakes in the Iraq war has always been very impressive, and I hope that other candidates can look to his clarity on the issue as an example of principle.
His disclaimer is a laugh since the group’s website lists him as founder and president. Only one other individual is listed on the entire website as a staff member of the group. No board members are listed (though he refers to the existence of one). So Jasser IS AIF. If Jasser is a right-wing Republican, so is AIF. Which makes a 501c3 designation problematic.
This blog post notes that the author heard Jasser speak at a Republican women’s group dinner.
If you review Jasser’s credits, he largely inhabits the right-wing media universe: he’s appeared on Fox News and Glenn Beck, and in the pages of the Washington Times and National Review. He is a member of Podhoretz-Dechter creation, the pro-Israel and neocon Committee on the Present Danger. He has spoken before the Hudson Institute. He writes for Family Security Matters, a far-right website graced also by the elegant stylings of Rachel Neuwirth, my failed libel accuser. It’s a veritable who’s who of the neocon political-media universe.
Jasser has also been attacked from within the Muslim community. Apparently, he denies Islamic clerical authority (not just radical clerics), a system built over fourteen centuries. Islam, according to Jasser, provides complete freedom to the individual Muslim to interpret Koran as he wishes. No need to grapple with ideas and analysis from generations of Islamic scholars who’ve preceded. Just do your own thing. It’s quite a wild and radical idea. Especially coming from someone who freely concedes he has no training in the field.
I hope everyone reading this will put out the word that Third Jihad is an anti-Muslim train wreck of a film. That it reeks of partisan political bias. That it has no place in any fair political discourse. Let’s put Third Jihad back in the toilet bowl where it belongs.
JTA’s Eric Fingerhut reports that after EMET’s participation in a campaign to promote the anti-Muslim documentary, Obsession, was uncovered by Inter-Press Service, and CAIR filed an FEC complaint against the project, EMET backed away as fast as its little feet would carry it. Frankly, it makes EMET and its director look quite foolish. Before I quote from the story, you should know that Clarion Fund has created a vehicle to promote Obsession called the Obsession Project:
[EMET] had agreed to write a policy paper and lead an educational outreach effort subsequent to the distribution of 28 million DVDs of the film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.” The DVD distribution was funded and arranged by the Clarion Fund, and EMET was not involved with that portion of the project.
EMET founder and president Sarah Stern initially told JTA on Friday that she had been taken advantage of by the group and had never spoken with Ari Morgenstern, who was quoted in press reports as speaking for EMET and the Obsession Project.
But the communications strategists for the Project, Baron Communications LLC and 30 Point Strategies, shared e-mails and phone records that showed Stern had at least four telephone conversations earlier in the week with Morgenstern. In addition, they produced an e-mail from Sept. 22 which showed Stern approving of a press release and other materials announcing EMET’s participation. Another e-mail a day later from Stern included a lengthy note backing the project’s mission and the sign-off “Soldier On!”
Stern now does acknowledge having spoken to Morgenstern and approving involvement with the project, but now says she “made a mistake” in not getting approval from EMET’s board before agreeing to became a partner.
PR flacks are supposed to be loyal to their clients, but the Obsession Project’s publicists have dumped on poor Sarah Stern like an overflowing toilet. They really have the goods on her and gave Fingerhut a great story.
What is truly bizarre about this report is that Fingerhut claims EMET was not involved with the controversial DVD distribution, yet IPS reported earlier:
…While the initial press reports about the mass distribution focused on the Clarion Fund’s financing role, it was Endowment for Middle East Truth that organised and oversaw the distribution, EMET’s spokesman, Ari Morgenstern, told IPS.
Unfortunately, Fingerhut’s report does not address this very important discrepancy or refer to the earlier IPS story. So my question is: why would Avi Morgenstern say EMET was funding the distribution and Stern deny this? Who, if anyone, is telling the truth? And an even more important question: who is the specific fatcat funding this sucker? Neither EMET nor Clarion on their own have the kind of funding to do this. The money comes directly from a private source. But who is it? I’d also like to know who is paying for the promotional work being done on behalf of the Obsession Project.
Fingerhut has unfortunately allowed an overly narrowly framed comment to enter into his reporting about the CAIR FEC complaint:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations asked the Federal Election Commission on Sept. 23 to investigate the distribution of the DVDs and whether it was intended to influence the election — even though the film includes no partisan political content.
Fingerhut here neglects important aspects of this case. That Clarion specifically endorsed McCain on its Radical Islam website. That the promotional packaging accompanying the DVD mailer specifically called on viewers to consider the message of the film when making their November election choice. That sending 28 million copies of the film to voters in swing states WAS a partisan political act. CAIR complained to the FEC not about the film per se, but rather about the film’s distribution in the context of a presidential election. This distinction seems to have escaped Fingerhut.
Raphael Shore: from Aish to anti-Muslim impressario
Here’s an update on last night’s post about the dirty tricks campaign involving the circulation of 28 million DVDs of the anti-Muslim propaganda film, Obsession, in U.S. swing states. In my last post, I noted that Obsession was produced by Raphael Shore with the financial backing on an anonymous backer.
Haaretz has already reported that Sheldon Adelson personally distributes copies of Obsession to participants in the Taglit-Birthright Israel indoctrination tours he funds. Given this, plus his deep pockets support for neocon groups like Freedom’s Watch, it almost seems a no-brainer to guess that Adelson may be the sugar daddy.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has also distributed free copies of the film in promotional mailings to U.S. rabbis and other Jewish mailing lists.
Jews on First reports that Obsession has been distributed by other highly partisan neocon/Islamophobic groups:
Tom Trento, who heads www.watchobsession.org, the group that distributed the movie at the Democratic and Republican parties’ nominating conventions, told JewsOnFirst that their goal is to awaken the country…before the election so everyone can “see the insidious nature of radical Islam.” Trento said, his group’s website then directs viewers of the video to “a scorecard that shows how elected officials have voted” on terrorism-related issues so they can decide “how they can intelligently vote” in November.
The scorecard is on the website of Act for America, a group that says it has tabulated electeds’ “votes related to national security and the threat of Islamofascism.” Its Senate scorecard consistently favors Republicans over Democrats…
Brigitte Gabriel heads Act for America. In an interview last month with the New York Times about her anti-Muslim book They Must Be Stopped, Gabriel said “The moderate Muslims at this point are truly irrelevant.” The Timescalled Gabriel a “radical Islamophobe.”
Asked how he thinks the political parties compare on the issues raised by Obsession, Tom Trento said, “In my personal opinion, the Republicans seem to get it much better than the Democrats — and they get it that the problem is not a police problem, but a military problem.”
NEW EXCITING JOB OPPORTUNITIES AT AISH HATORAH
……………………..
1. ONLINE ACTIVISM FACILITATOR: NY, JERUSALEM OR HOME-BASED
The Clarion Fund – a new organization dedicated to educating people about the threat of radical Islam – is seeking to hire an Activism Facilitator for a new website-based project.
Launching in conjunction with the new documentary film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West”, this website will serve as a resource of historical and current information about the issue, and ultimately facilitate the transfer of people’s desire to get involved into organized, concrete action…
2. “OBSESSION” WEB AND RETAIL MARKETER: JERUSALEM
The Clarion Fund is seeking to hire a web and retail marketing professional for the new film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.” This rewarding and exciting role requires an experienced web marketing expert with superior communication and writing skills.
Your primary responsibilities will include marketing “Obsession” over the web, which involves advertising on a variety of websites and generating links from other sites as well as promoting the film using e-groups and e-lists. You will be required to form retail deals with major stores, distributors, chains and websites for the purpose of maximizing exposure and public access to the film. You will also need to coordinate press with “Obsession’s” PR firm in the lead-up to the March 2007 launch of the film…
A Haaretz story about the film reveals Shore’s direct affiliation with Aish:
Shore, incidentally, was the director of both Aish HaTorah International and the Hasbara Fellowships, a pro-Israel advocacy group.
Aish Hatorah is making common cause with Jewish anti-Muslim activists. Several weeks ago the N.Y. Times featured a glowing article about Aish rabbis tutoring Jewish alpha male executives in the comfort of their own corporate lairs for the cool sum of $10,000+ a year. I’d urge anyone who knows such a corporate titan to point them to this post and the film to see if this is the way they’d like their donation to Aish spent. Teaching Torah is one thing and a goal almost every Jew approves of–but teaching hate? Is that something Aish wishes to be known for?
Shore also helped found the pro-Israel media watchdog, HonestReporting, which serves similar functions to advocacy groups like MEMRI, CAMERA, and the Israel Project.
The Haaretz story also notes the surreptitious funding of Obsession:
…Funding sources for the film remain hazy. Shore and director Wayne Kopping of South Africa are the only figures associated with the film willing to release their real names and appear in media interviews; the executive producer is listed as Peter Mier, while the production manager is listed as Brett Halperin.
But Mier and Halperin are just aliases, Shore says.
According to Shore, about 80 percent of the film’s $400,000 budget was provided by Mier.
I find it odd that some of America’s finest newspapers would allow themselves to disseminate propaganda of this “quality” essentially meant to bolster John McCain’s campaign. They’re sending 28-million Americans copies of a film whose producers won’t even reveal who financed their project? One has to ask why the latter are holding back? What are they afraid of? Why would a Sheldon Adelson, Michael Steinhardt or other similar Republican Jewish Coalition donor try to hide their association with this film? And why should America’s newspapers be a party to this fraud?
Joachim also reveals that besides Shore, another Clarion Fund director is Richard Green of Miami-Ft. Lauderdale.
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I noted tonight that Haaretz’s English language website features a banner ad promoting the anti-Muslim propaganda film, Third Jihad. You’ve got to ask yourself what brought the swamp rats out of the sewer to show their faces in the pages of Haaretz? Clearly, in the Ft. Hood shooting, with the shooter’s alleged Al Qaeda sympathies, the Muslim-haters Rabbi Raphael Shore and Wayne Kopping of Clarion Fund and Aish HaTorah see a golden opportunity for scoring points in the anti-jihadi battle.
![Image of West-East Divan [DVD Video]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MAqFcHK-L._SL110_.jpg "West-East Divan [DVD Video]")
