And we in the C-J give thanks to celebrated syndicated columnist and author, Diana West, for being the intelligent, thoughtful, honest and forceful voice that she is, on so many of the issues that she tackles on a daily basis. Truly a force to be reckoned with.
Giving Thanks For The Counter-Jihad Network
Diana West | Nov 21, 2014
I am giving special thanks this year for the hard work of patriots who toil without recompense to expose the many vectors of Islamic subversion currently eroding the already hollowed-out institutions of Western society.
To this end, I will tell a story about a story. It concerns the first Muslim prayer service ever held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. As I wrote last week, this weirdly “invitation-only” service, which took place on Friday, Nov. 14, gathered representatives of Muslim groups with proven links to Hamas and to Hamas’ parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood. This means that, however briefly, jihad-linked groups took over the National Cathedral, where presidents and other great Americans have lain in state. These terror links led some media to label the event overall a “Muslim Brotherhood event,” or an “Islamist” or “extremist” event. As the service itself demonstrated, however, it was all strictly Islamic.
How do I know that? Not from 24/7 media, national or local. Not from the armies of think tanks that occupy Washington and its environs. Not from religious or political leaders, either. No professional organization with experts or a newsroom that I am aware of bothered to analyze the Muslim service at the National Cathedral, even though it was live-streamed on the Internet and available to all.
I am able to tell you about the contents of the service only thanks to the incredible international counter-jihad movement. This movement lives and breathes in the ether of the Internet, on an array of blogs, on YouTube. This case of Islam at the cathedral shows how the network works.
First, the blog Vlad Tepes captured the streaming footage of the 80-minute Muslim service. Next, Arabic translator Rita Malik assessed the English and Arabic service for Gates of Vienna and provided a summary that was posted there. Enter Islamic expert Andrew Bostom, author of several indispensable books on Islamic jihad, anti-Semitism and Islamic totalitarianism, who analyzed several of the Koranic verses used in the service by consulting some of the essential Koranic commentaries that Muslims use to understand their religious book. Bostom posted his findings at his blog, AndrewBostom.org.
Finally, Gates of Vienna and Vlad Tepes compressed everything to create a watchable, educational YouTube video of four and a half minutes. (As a bonus, Gates of Vienna also posted the short video’s transcript.) Soon, the video was mirrored at other counter-jihad sites, such as the Scandanavian blog Tundra Tabloids and Denmark’s EuropeNews.dk.
Swift and seamless volunteer operations like this keep anyone informed who wants to be informed. For their extremely hard work, I am truly thankful.
