Jewish Group Behind US Anti-Islam Film

[amirah80]

:salam2:

Jewish Group Behind US Anti-Islam Film


Source IslamOnline.net & Newspapers



"American voters deserve to know whether they are the targets of a multi-million-dollar campaign funded and directed by a foreign group," Awad said. (Google)

CAIRO — A Jewish charity is seen behind the funding of a controversial anti-Islam documentary being widely circulated across the United States to scare Americans from Islam and Muslims, reported the St. Petersburg Times on Friday, September 26.
"We don't have to say who its directors are or give financial information until Nov. 6, 2008," Gregory Ross, spokesman for Clarion Fund, said.

Clarion Fund, a shadowy NGO founded in 2006 by Canadian filmmaker Raphael Shore, has shipped out millions of copies of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West" documentary in 14 US states by mail and as an advertising supplement of major newspapers.

The film, produced by Clarion, features interviews with commentators famed for their notorious anti-Islam views, including Martin Gilbert, Daniel Pipes and Steve Emerson.

It also shows footage of terror attacks, clips from Arab TV and historical films.

Clarion Fund has declined to unveil the source of its funding for the film.

But an investigation by the St. Petersburg Times found that the fund is connected to Aish HaTorah, a charity founded in Israel in the 1970s.

According to the daily, Ross, the Clarion spokesman, was listed as an Aish HaTorah international fundraiser on a federal election donation form in June 2007.

The name written on the mail permit for the bulk mailing of the anti-Islam film was Elke Bronstein, who worked for Aish Discovery, which produces high-tech programs and films for Aish HaTorah.

Clarion's address, according to Manhattan directory assistance, is the same address as Aish HaTorah International, a fundraising arm of Aish HaTorah.

The Clarion Fund and Aish HaTorah International are also connected to a group called HonestReporting, which produced the anti-Islam documentary.

Two of three Clarion Fund directors appeared in 2006 as Aish employees on Aish websites. The third appeared on the Aish executive committee.

Front

The revelation comes two days after the umbrella US Muslim group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate whether Clarion was a front for the Israeli charity.

"American voters deserve to know whether they are the targets of a multi-million-dollar campaign funded and directed by a foreign group seeking to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria as a way to influence the outcome of our presidential election," said Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

In the complaint, CAIR said that Clarion acted as a front for Aish HaTorah to help Republican presidential nominee John McCain win the November elections.

"The Clarion Fund recently financed the distribution of some 28 million DVDs containing the film ‘Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West’ in what many political analysts describe as ‘swing’ states in the upcoming presidential elections," said the complaint.

"Those same analysts say the distribution of the ‘Obsession’ DVD was designed to benefit a particular presidential candidate, namely Sen. John McCain…

The complaint said Clarion Fund is incorporated in New York as a Delaware based foreign not-for-profit corporation.

"According to the Delaware Department of Corporations, Robert (Rabbi Raphael) Shore, Rabbi Henry Harris and Rebecca Kabat incorporated Clarion Fund. All three of whom are reported to serve as employees of Aish HaTorah International, an organization apparently based in Israel.

"Also according to the Delaware Department of Corporations, the incorporators of the Clarion Fund used Aish HaTorah’s New York City address to incorporate Clarion Fund in Delaware…

"It appears that the funding for the production, marketing and distribution of ‘Obsession’ may have originated from Israel-based Aish HaTorah International."

 

[Waseem203]

Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the Believers wilt thou find those who say: "We are Christians:" because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant. (82)

لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَدَاوَةً لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ الْيَهُودَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُواْ وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُمْ مَّوَدَّةً لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ الَّذِينَ قَالُوَاْ إِنَّا نَصَارَى ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَانًا وَأَنَّهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

La tajed'ena ashidda al'nasi adow'atan lel'lathena aminu al ye'hud wa lathena ashrako wa la tajed'ena aqrabahum mawadat'en lel'lathena aminu alatheen ya'koolu inna nasara thalika bianna min'hum qis'seena wa rukh'bunan wa'anahum la yes'tukburon

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,


There was a newspaper in North Carolina that refused to promote the DVD's. The lies will fall apart. Let us remain solid. Insha'Allah.

 

[amirah80]

:salam2:

This is a quote about the News & Record declining to promote the DVD's.

But at least one newspaper, the News and Record of North Carolina, declined to carry the DVD.

'We did not distribute it. I was not involved in the decision; it was an advertising call, in keeping with advertising policies,' wrote John Robinson, the editor of the News and Record on his blog. 'I asked our publisher about it. He said it was divisive and plays on people's fears and served no educational purpose. The revenue it would have brought in was not a motivator.'

Source ipsnorthamerica.net

 

[cmelbouzaidi]

Well, I don't want to generalize about a whole race of people but it is a very sorry state of affairs when any group will invest milions upon millions of dollars merely to trash another group. Sadly, those who will get sucked in will not care who was behind it though..... Wassalam

 

[lambchop]

Ive stopped watching hollywood movies (unless theyre really good one).

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,

This is still another attempt to brainwash the brainless. What I find interesting in the news is the fact the media is not focusing on McCain..it is is running mate that is the center of attention. It gives the American people a choice: do you vote for a woman and please the female voters or do you vote for a Black man and please the minorites who are eligible to vote. Thus, we have another moral bind..either way those who think they are running the game sit back and smile.

 

[wanderer]

I'm sorry, but is that really constructive my friend?

 

[justoneofmillion]

:salam2:No my friend not at all, welcome to the site i think the brother did not mean it in the way you understood it,what he meant was certainly Zionists, as Jews are people of the book to us.Just Muslim slang what do you say?should we take it that way to be constructive... .ONe of the wives of prophet Muhammad S A W was a Jewess and so were a lot of our prophets as well.There are some Jewish Muslims on this site too and they are our brothers and sisters they got the vibe you know.
Be well
respectfully
jameel

 

[TheHumbleWun]

Salaam,

We've seen it all. They've failed to realized that the light of Allah swt is perfected even in the most hostile environments. Just look at the rate (& videos) of how many Americans & Westerners are reverting to Islam.

May Allah destroy their propaganda.

 

[goldenmuslimah21]

When will people learn the more you try to sabotage Islam the more, ppl want to learn about it, and become Muslims. Its like telling a child not to touch the stove repeatedly because he or she will get burn, despite repeated warnings the child touches the stove and gets burn. They are simply doing Dawah for muslims but will not get a reward for it.

 

[jaffarabduraheem]

An interesting film to say the least.

So, I watched Obsession and as horribly biased as it was, I came away with one observation that I would like to share. My observation centers primarily on the woman with no hijab who pretty consistently bashed Islam and more particularly the concept of jihad. When she mentioned Muslims she frequently associated herself with us ("We need to..." "We should..." etc.). I don't know whether she actually considers herself Muslim and of course it isn't for me to say, but it seems sad to me that the only "Moslims" (as she pronounced it) they could get to consistently bash the deen and try to make a case for so called moderate Islam clearly made no attempt to actually follow Islam.

I would also like to note, please correct any mistake, that there is no such thing as moderate Islam. There is Islam, then there is everything else. The haram is haram, the halal is halal and anyone who believes other than Qur'an and sunnah as we have it does not follow Islam.

Of course Allah knows best.

 

[Abel213]

So, I watched Obsession and as horribly biased as it was, I came away with one observation that I would like to share. My observation centers primarily on the woman with no hijab who pretty consistently bashed Islam and more particularly the concept of jihad. When she mentioned Muslims she frequently associated herself with us ("We need to..." "We should..." etc.). I don't know whether she actually considers herself Muslim and of course it isn't for me to say, but it seems sad to me that the only "Moslims" (as she pronounced it) they could get to consistently bash the deen and try to make a case for so called moderate Islam clearly made no attempt to actually follow Islam.

I would also like to note, please correct any mistake, that there is no such thing as moderate Islam. There is Islam, then there is everything else. The haram is haram, the halal is halal and anyone who believes other than Qur'an and sunnah as we have it does not follow Islam.

Of course Allah knows best.

:salam2:

I think they are just frustrated that they cannot do to Islam, what they have done to Judaism and Christianity. Jews and Christians dont really follow their religion anymore, most of them treat it with disdain. In the US, it is OK to make fun of Jesus(peace be upon him). Isn't that crazzy? If you haven't noticed, most anti-Religious legislation comes from their countries and they stick it down other countries throats.

 

[Waseem203]

:salam2:No my friend not at all, welcome to the site i think the brother did not mean it in the way you understood it,what he meant was certainly Zionists, as Jews are people of the book to us.Just Muslim slang what do you say?should we take it that way to be constructive... .ONe of the wives of prophet Muhammad S A W was a Jewess and so were a lot of our prophets as well.There are some Jewish Muslims on this site too and they are our brothers and sisters they got the vibe you know.
Be well
respectfully
jameel

Salam.

I'm not aware of the fact that we have had Jewish prophets - Islam was always the deen preached by the nebi'en - making them all Muslims. Also, one cannot be a "Jewish Muslim"- being a Jew is being part of a religion, not a race.

Salam

 

[justoneofmillion]

Salam.

I'm not aware of the fact that we have had Jewish prophets - Islam was always the deen preached by the nebi'en - making them all Muslims. Also, one cannot be a "Jewish Muslim"- being a Jew is being part of a religion, not a race.

Salam

:salam2:

"While a Christian is defined as one who follows the teachings of Jesus, a Jew is defined as one born from a Jewish mother or converted according to Jewish Law. That being said - a person remains a member of the Jewish nation for the rest of their life regardless of what religious practices that person chooses to follow/reject. And yes, as a nation we have our own culture, foods, land, and even diseases."

I hope this helps,
Rabbi Ari Enkin

Were the prophets Scandinavians....what were they then ethnically speaking?They were Semites a lot of prophets were ethnically Jewish because born of Jewish mothers,this doesn t mean they were preaching Judaism.In the word Judaism are both a geographical tribe (the tribe of Juda) and certain religious practices described the same with Hinduism.While we know that all the prophets were teaching was Islam the submission to Allah swt will.

 

[Waseem203]

:salam2:
While we know that all the prophets were teaching was Islam the submission to Allah swt will.

:salam2:

Thus being Muslims! The point I was trying to make was that they tagged by religion before ethnicity.

Allah knows best.

 

[justoneofmillion]

:salam2:Yes they were Muslims.They did not preach Judaism or edit the talmud it is not the prophets who corrupted the scriptures but the scribes According to Jeremiah.... Just as much as Jesus pbuh did not preach Christianity.He never said that the law be abolished the way Paul did.What he said was thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven ,thy kingdom come...etc when praying to God not my will but god s will.And thats called surrendering to the will of Allah .Islam.

And as you said Allah swt knows best

wassalaam
jameel

 

[Nichole]

Asalaamu Alaikum,

Subhan'Allah. They are scared because so far all of their lies and propaganda against Islam has backfired and actually caused more to convert to Islam.

They keep calling attention to Islam, people want to find out about what they hear and then the Truth resonates and we get a new brother/sister!

[8:36] Those who disbelieve spend their money to repel others from the way of GOD. They will spend it, then it will turn into sorrow and remorse for them. Ultimately, they will be defeated, and all disbelievers will be summoned to Hell.

Let them spend their money. We are seeing the consequences of countries spending their money to fight Islam. Recession anyone?

 

[amirah80]

UPDATE.....HOW DID SOME RESPOND TO THE DVD'S

:salam2:

By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Business Writer
2 hours, 31 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Newspapers that carried an advertising supplement in recent weeks containing a DVD critical of radical Muslims have faced complaints from readers and questions about whether newspapers should offer a platform to everyone willing to pay for distribution.

ADVERTISEMENT

Although a few papers refused to carry the DVD, about 70 including The New York Times distributed it on the grounds that rejecting it would violate the sponsor's right to free speech. The decision generated letters, cancellations and even a protest.

The Clarion Fund, a nonprofit founded in 2006 to address "the most urgent threat of radical Islam," spent millions of dollars distributing the DVDs mostly in battleground election states. That targeting led to further outcry about the group's motives.

"This is definitely the most feedback that I've gotten to an ad," said Ted Vaden, public editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. "It's among the heaviest reaction I've gotten to anything. The great majority of the reaction was negative."

Vaden said the paper received about 500 e-mail and phone messages and had some 50 cancellations. He said the paper may have sparked some of the complaints by writing a front-page story calling attention to "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," the DVD insert that critics have denounced as anti-Muslim propaganda.

The decision over running the ad was similar to what online services like Google Inc.'s YouTube and Yahoo Inc.'s Flickr face when they let users freely share provocative video or photos. They get complaints of promoting unpopular viewpoints when they try to uphold free-speech principles; they get complaints of censorship when they don't.

Newspapers generally insist on giving a platform to a variety of viewpoints, but readers who complained were largely critical.

"I cannot believe that I was sent the hate-inflaming, fear-mongering video disk `Obsession' in my newspaper!" Margaret Lewis of Durham, N.C., wrote to The News & Observer. "What will you enclose next? KKK robes?"

Kelly McBride, head of the ethics faculty at the journalism think tank Poynter Institute, said papers generally reject ads only if they promote illegal activity or might incite violence. The "Obsession" DVD, at most, makes people angry, she said.

"It's pretty hard to make an argument to reject it," she said. "It's hard to articulate a standard that would give you the opportunity to reject something like the `Obsession' DVD but allow other types of political, religious or anti-religious speech."

The Clarion Fund, which has declined to identify all of its board members or the sources of its funding, is working with the Endowment for Middle East Truth on "The Obsession Project," which is to include research publications and issue forums.

Clarion Fund spokesman Gregory Ross said the group spent several million dollars in donations from individuals he would not name, and he said running the ad in swing states was a means of drawing media attention and not meant to influence the election's result, a move barred by federal tax law covering nonprofits.

"We found (newspapers were) the most economical and best way to get it out there," Ross said.

Dozens of people protested outside The Oregonian's offices on Monday, the morning after the Portland, Ore., newspaper carried the DVD. One said he canceled his subscription. Mayor Tom Potter had tried to persuade the paper not to run the ad.

Publisher Fred Stickel, who did not return phone calls from The Associated Press for comment, has said The Oregonian tries to keep its advertising channels open, regardless of whether the paper agrees with the sponsor's message.

But Elizabeth Brenner, the publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, told reporters at the Milwaukee Press Club that based on complaints from its readers, the paper likely would not carry it again if faced with the same decision. She declined further comment to the AP, saying she didn't want to re-ignite the issue.

"Obsession," an hour-long movie that features graphic images of terrorism, video of anti-American speeches from Mideast television and comparisons with Nazi Germany, has been sent to about 28 million households through newspapers and direct mail.

Ross questioned whether many of the video's critics actually had seen it, and he noted that it carried a disclaimer saying it was not about the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful.

Some readers expressed support.

"It's refreshing to see something other than the `politically correct' drivel most Americans seem to accept as fact," Steven Earle of Clifton, Colo., wrote to The Denver Post, which distributed a half million copies.

The News & Record of Greensboro, N.C., rejected the DVD, considering it inflammatory and hateful without contributing much educational value.

"We got a lot of e-mails from across the country applauding the decision," Editor John Robinson said, adding that most feedback for and against came from outside his paper's region.

The Detroit Free Press, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch also declined to carry the ad.

The glossy color insert to which the DVD was attached described it in tiny print as a "Paid Advertising Supplement."

As at other newspapers, The New York Times' decision to run the ad in some markets outside New York came from its advertising department, not the newsroom.

"Just as we print advertisements that rebut New York Times editorials, news articles or critical reviews, we print ads that differ from our editorial position," spokeswoman Diane McNulty said. "We do so in the belief that it is in the best interests of our readers for our pages to be as open as possible."

The Miami Herald got dozens of letters and e-mails, mostly critical. But Anders Gyllenhaal, the newspaper's executive editor, said the outcry led to good discussions with the region's Muslim community about the principles of free speech.

 

[Abel213]

:salam2:

:salam2:

By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Business Writer
2 hours, 31 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Newspapers that carried an advertising supplement in recent weeks containing a DVD critical of radical Muslims have faced complaints from readers and questions about whether newspapers should offer a platform to everyone willing to pay for distribution.

Sad fools, don't know what's coming to them. If they knew, they would weep not laugh.