ANTI-MOSLEM PROPGANDA ON THE RISE ... Rehov is a radical Zionist Jew who has written mainly about the plight of Israel ... few inaccuracies in Rehov's

ANTI-MOSLEM PROPGANDA ON THE RISE | Malcom Lagauche | September 15, 2006

Since 9-11-2001, we have seen anti-Moslem feelings rise immensely. Today, Moslems suffer the brunt of sick jokes and racist remarks, as well as violent actions. The general public in the U.S. is becoming much better at a trait in which it leads the world: xenophobia. A day doesn’t go by that is free of anti-Moslem statements, whether in a joke or in a speech of a politician.

I am the president of the Atheist Coalition of San Diego and I am active in civil rights for atheists. By law, in the U.S., we are not equal to believers.

Atheists do not believe in God. It’s a simple philosophy that believers have a hard time understanding. For some reason, people with a religion (mostly Christians) try to preach to us and show us the errors of our ways. Maybe someday they will have real faith in their religions and realize they don’t have to mouth off every few minutes about their faith.

We have a Yahoo group in which people post relevant articles. For instance, an atheist family in Oklahoma has recently undergone a terrible ordeal. The daughter, a high school cheerleader, was cut from the squad because she refused to say a prayer before a performance. When the father protested, he was accused of assault. Then, school officials made a "deal" for them. They would drop all charges if the family left town within one week. The family did not leave town. They fought the accusations in court and won. They did not back down.

Stories like this are posted on our Yahoo group. But, a few days ago, I was shocked to read a posting of an interview with a French film-maker. It is one of the most disgusting pieces I have seen about Moslems. Here is the piece. It is fairly long, but well worth the read.
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I was aghast that an atheist would post such an interview. I researched Rehov’s career and discovered he is a rabid anti-Arab person and a militant Zionist. In addition, those in the U.S. who admire him are of the far right wing and Christian Dominionists (those who believe that the end of the world is near). Also, Jospeh Farah, the biggest right-wing nut case alive is a supporter of Rehov. Farah makes Pat Robertson seem like a radical left-wing civil rights activist.

It may seem odd that an atheist would be so upset about denigrating Islam, but atheists, for the most part, are not bigots. And, we are religiously neutral. Here is the response I sent to the person who posted the biased interview:

I read the interview with Pierre Rehov that you published on the Atheist Coalition group page. Did you do any research into Rehov? Or into the U.S. Congressman, Eric Cantor, whom he cites? The interview is outrageous in its assumptions and supposed facts.

Rehov is a radical Zionist Jew who has written mainly about the plight of Israel. His words are about as legitimate as if Osama Bin-Laden gave an interview on Jews. Cantor is a Zionist member of Congress who is considered the most pro-Israel member of the House. But, it is his other views that are scary: he is anti-immigration and supports the Minutemen; he supports the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance; he opposed same-sex marriage and stem cell research; he has voted to eliminate any public funding for family planning (home and abroad); he voting record received a high 92% from the Christian Coalition. These are not the views of someone whom an atheist would cite for anything.

I will only bring out a few inaccuracies in Rehov's article. It would take me too much time to refute them all. He puts all Moslems in the same bag for everything. If you notice his words, they all adhere to the exact same philosophy.

Here is a preposterous statement:

The U.N. has condemned Israel more than any other country in the world, including the regime of Castro, Idi Amin or Kaddahfi

In reality, Israel has thumbed its nose at the U.N. Currently, there are at least 62 U.N. resolutions of which Israel is in violation. If the U.S. wants to bomb a country, it will cite one resolution of a country and use it as justification. However, it is mute on the 62 Israeli violations.

He mentions the 72 virgins that Moslems get on entering heaven. This is not true. There is nothing in the Koran or in any Islamic works that mention 72 virgins. This is just a convenient story made up to denigrate Moslems.

He says that Saddam Hussein paid suicide bombers' families $25.000. Again, this is a twisting of a fact. The Iraq government gave $25,000 to any Palestinian family who had a family member killed by Israelis. This included Christian families as well as Moslem families. From the time of 1999 to 2004, Palestinians killed 1,500 Israelis. This fact is brought up constantly by Israel. However, little mention is made of the number of Palestinians killed by Israel during this time. It exceed 10,000 deaths. That's a lot more than 1,500.

Rehov says all suicide bombings are for religion, not land. He is way off. Not one Moslem wants to convert Jews to Islam, and not one Jew wants to convert Moslems to Judaism. It is all about land and oppression, not religion. ...
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Bigotry in the U.S. against Moslems is ascending rapidly. The stereotypes of Islam mentioned at all levels of U.S. society are ridiculous. However, the results are diabolical and will lead to many more violent incidents.

As an atheist, I do not admire certain tenets of Islam, as well as those of Christianity or Judaism. But, I would never use bogus arguments to denigrate anyone of any religion.

In my experiences with Moslems, I have had many an intelligent conversation in which the Moslem respects me and I respect him/her. Unfortunately, I have to say that I have had many negative conversations with Christians. To many of them, atheists represent all that is vile in society, yet they know nothing about atheism.

The interview I posted with Rehov has been widely circulated. Many right-wing Christian sites have run it. To them, it justifies their suspicion of Islam. To millions of people, Rehov’s views are the gospel. He said what the Christian fanatics want to hear. Unfortunately, it will take years to undo the harm done in one interview. ...