by: Oren Segal
August 25, 2016
The American Freedom Alliance (AFA) held a conference on “Islam and Western Civilization: Can they Co-exist?” in Los Angeles on August 21. The AFA claims to be "a non-political, non-partisan movement which promotes, defends and upholds Western values and ideals," and specializes in promulgating an Islamophobic world view. The conference included the who’s who of the anti-Muslim movement in the United States, with recycled conspiracy theories and offensive claims about immigrants, Muslims, law enforcement officers, various US government agencies and the Pope.
Featured speakers included anti-Muslim extremists Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer (the heads of the conspiracy-minded Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), in addition to other “experts” who peddled baseless theories about a Muslim infiltration of the United States government, and advanced offensive anti-Muslim rhetoric such as branding Muslims, and their religious law [Sharia], as affronts to American freedom.
Geller widened her usual net of conspiracy theories about Muslims, Islam and Sharia law, to include allegations against a long list of U.S. cities, social media companies and other opponents, who she claims have censored her by refusing to allow her anti-Muslim advertising campaigns; attacks on the FBI for the agency’s handling of the terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, when two armed men targeted the community center hosting a SIOA event-- and even insinuated that the FBI wants her dead; and she also alleged that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is involved in an intimate relationship with her Muslim female assistant, stating they are “literally and not figuratively in bed” with each other.
In addition to Geller and Spencer, other speakers included: Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy; Stephen Coughlin, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy; Morton Klein, Executive Director of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA); James Lyons, who promotes conspiracies about the infiltration of the US government by Islamists; Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, an Austrian anti-Muslim activist; and Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-born anti-Muslim activist who exhorted, “There is no such thing as Islam and radical Islam; all Islam is radical.”
The event also highlighted attacks on Khizr Khan, the father of Captain Humayan Khan, who died in Iraq while serving in the US Army. The attacks on Khan were based on allegations made by anti-Muslim extremist Walid Shoebat, who is known for promoting militant Christianity.