SEPTEMBER 29, 2017
The Jewish Voice
PAGE 23
Al-Arian and the Georgetown Gang Ride Again – Now in Turkey By: Teri Blumenfeld
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connected to his Palestinian Islamic Jihad support. A computer scientist by training, he now works as "director of the Center for Regional Politics at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University."
as the head of "the active arm of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine" in the United States. It may be part of a public comeback Al-Arian is staging as he starts a new life in Turkey
alestinian Islamic Jihad board member Sami Al-Arian appears to be thriving in his new environs after his 2015 deportation from the United States. He is scheduled to speak next month at a conference in Istanbul sponsored in part by his old pals at Georgetown University's Saudi-endowed Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Center Director John Esposito, a Muslim Brotherhood apologist, also considers himself a "very close friend" of Al-Arian's. And as we noted last spring, family ties strengthen the Al-Arian/Georgetown connection. Al-Arian was deported to Turkey in 2015, pursuant to Palestinian Islamic Jihad board member Sami Al-Arian (pictured terms in his 2006 guilty plea above) appears to be thriving in his new environs after his 2015 deportation from the United States.
It also omits a 1991 introduction of Al-Arian captured on videotape in which he speaks after being described as the head of "the active arm of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine" in the United States.
His conference biography casts him as a civil rights activist and thinker. It is silent about Al-Arian's documented role as secretary for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Majlis Shura, or board of directors. It also omits a 1991 introduction of Al-Arian captured on videotape in which he speaks after being described
and supports its Islamist regime. Following the failed coup attempt, Al Arian offered his analysis on its suspected instigators, twice hinting that Israel was connected to it. TRT World – Turkish Radio and Television – is an active arm of the Turkish government which incurred harsh criticism over its coverage
of the coup attempt. Al-Arian appeared on TRT World again in July, opining on the favorite Islamist topic of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque and identified as a 'civil rights
sis – was created." Next month, Al-Arian will speak at the Istanbul "International Conference on The Muslim Ummah," sponsored by Georgetown's Alwaleed Center
While the Hamas charter has always been public, officials did not know PIJ had a similar document until federal investigators found it in Al-Arian's possession during 1995 searches of his home and offices.
Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna – and Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkey's Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kalin joined Erdogan during visits with U.S. Muslim groups last year. Al-Arian also is slated to lead the conference's final session, which features Ramadan, Kalin and Esposito discussing "The Muslim Ummah in Today's The Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian World." Understanding (ACMCU) The Oct. 8 conference is activist & writer." First, he ra- along with Qatar's College of called, "International Confertionalized a terrorist attack that Islamic Sciences, Hamad Bin ence on the Muslim Ummah: killed two Israel police officers, Khalifa University. His pre- Synthesizing a New Paradigm, both of whom were Druze Ar- sentation is called, "The Chal- Analyzing Modern Challengabs. Then he repeated the false lenge of Settler Colonialism in es." Since the Ottoman Empire's fall, the concept of the 'Muslim and incendiary claim that, Palestine/Israel." He'll be joined by his son, Ab- Ummah' [community] has lost "This right-wing Israeli government has been trying for many dullah Al-Arian, and son-in-law its historical meaning as many years now to partition Al-Aqsa Jonathan Brown, along with Es- scholars and academics from Mosque. And this is where this posito and Islamist luminaries whole episode – this whole cri- as Tariq Ramadan – grandson of See Al-Arian and the Georgetown , page 36
A Master's Degree in Whitewashing Islam - The University of Oslo Rewards a Promising Apologist By: Bruce Bawer
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n Norway, where the mainstream media systematically bury or whitewash news stories that might reflect badly on the nation's misguided immigration policies, its failed integration policies, or on Islam, a handful of small but heavily trafficked websites serve a vital function: getting out information that is being suppressed and providing a forum for opinions that are being silenced. Perhaps the most prominent of those websites is Document.no, founded in 2003 by Hans Rustad, who still serves as editor and publisher. It is an intelligent, serious, and responsible site, whose contributors tend to know more about the above-mentioned subjects — and to be better writers — than the staffers at the major Oslo newspapers. I have yet to read a bigoted word by a contributor to Document.no, and I routinely find the site to be more reliable on the facts than the stateowned TV and radio stations or any of the big private (but, in many cases, state-supported) dailies. For countless Norwegian citizens, Document.no is essential reading. For the nation's cultural elite, however, it is anathema — a major chink in an otherwise almost solid wall of pro-Islam propaganda. So it is no surprise to learn, via Universitetsavisa, the stu-
dent newspaper at the University of Oslo, that a Religious Studies student there, Royer Solheim, has written a master's thesis on Document.no, in which he describes it as a locus of "hate rhetoric," "Islamophobia," and "conspiracy theories." Nor is it a surprise that he was graded an A. Solheim describes the thesis itself as "a qualitative study based on a critical discourse analysis of a Norwegian Islamophobic website, document. no." His conclusion: "The Eurabia conspiracy theory permeates the Islamophobic discourse on the website. The Eurabia theory is based on an idea that Arabs or Muslims are increasing their influence and are in the process of turning Europe into an Islamic colony." The idea that there are Muslims who seek to turn Europe into an Islamic colony is, of course, no "conspiracy theory." Jihad and the Caliphate are core Islamic doctrines. For over a decade, however, Norwegian academics and intellectuals have accused those commentators, who face up to the reality of these doctrines, of "peddling paranoia." Their useful shorthand for this is "Eurabia theory," a term derived from the title of Bat Ye'or's 2005 book Eurabia. Universitetsavisa reports that after last year's terrorist attacks in Nice and Berlin, reader comments on Document. no were "thoroughly marked
by anti-Muslim prejudice, hate rhetoric, and aversion to Islam and Muslims." I am very familiar with the comments field at Document.no. Its level of discussion is quite high. What
have rendered the continent vulnerable to these atrocities, who can blame them? In any event, the editors of Document.no are not responsible for statements made by
The University of Oslo, in Oslo, Norway. (Image source: Dan Lundberg/Flickr)
Solheim is plainly reacting to here is the fact that the readers of Document.no have no illusion about the motives for terrorist acts such as those that took place last year in Nice and Berlin. The readers are simply not shy about acknowledging that there is a clear, straight line connecting core Islamic doctrines with repeated mass murders of infidels. If these murders sometimes lead those readers to express even outright anger at Islam, and at the reckless European governmental policies that
their readers — although, as even Solheim admits, they do make an effort to "moderate the debate and do not tolerate racism." The fact is that the opportunity Rustad's website affords citizens to sound off on matters vital to their own (and their children's) future is becoming increasingly valuable. Why? Because more and more Norwegian news media are closing down comments fields on their websites when the topic is Islam — precisely because they do not want to host honest, vig-
orous debates about this most forbidden of issues. There is a good reason why Document.no has more than 200,000 unique readers per month — which, as Solheim acknowledges, makes it bigger in this regard than the country's newspaper of record, Aftenposten. "Within a discourse there are certain norms as to what is acceptable to say," scolds Solheim. The debates on Document.no, he pronounces with dismay, are heavy on "skepticism toward authority." Some of the contents, he insists, violate "fundamental human rights." Well, isn't he a good little policeman-in-training. Unfortunately, knifings, car-rammings, and abusing women, children and homosexuals would also seem to violate "fundamental human rights." The Universitetsavisa article briefly recounts Solheim's defense of his thesis, at which he answered questions. I wonder if anyone asked him how a statement of opinion can violate "fundamental human rights." I also wonder if anyone asked him any questions about basic Islamic theology. His thesis adviser, Asbjørn Dyrendal, is apparently an expert in Christianity, Satanism, Wicca, and in — surprise! — "conspiracy theories." In his work, Dyrendal has sounded the alarm about the supposed dangers of evangelical Christianity in America — all the while dismissing as "conspiracy theorists" those
who dare to sound the alarm about the dangers of Islam. In other words, he is a prototypical member of the European academic establishment. Fortunately, Universitetsavisa, like Document.no, has a comments field for readers. One of the readers of the article about Solheim wondered what he thinks of born-andbred Muslims who, writing for sites like Document.no, agree with pretty much everything that Rustad and others say there about the "religion of peace." Another asked how Solheim distinguishes "between Islamophobia and entirely legitimate Islam criticism" and whether his "research" had included checking the supposedly "hateful" claims made by Document. no's contributors against the facts about Islam. A third wondered if Solheim was familiar with the frequent references, in the works of the popular Islamic theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to a future and fondly hoped-for Islamic conquest of Europe. As yet another reader of Universitetsavisa put it: "It stops being a conspiracy theory when you have evidence that it's happening." (WWW.GATESTONEINSTITUTE.ORG) Bruce Bawer is the author of the new novel The Alhambra (Swamp Fox Editions). His book While Europe Slept (2006) was a New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.