Geller's people stir up controversy -- perhaps to avoid a deeper controversy

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jun 1, 2015 at 16:18

It looks as though Pam Geller is behind the ad. I am certainly not a follower of Pam; but thought this statement of hers was interesting:

The Southern Poverty Law Center has named SIOA an anti-Muslim hate group,^[13] calling it a "propaganda powerhouse" that paints moderate Muslims as radical terrorists.^[10] The Anti-Defamation League also lists it as a hate group, saying that it "promotes a conspiratorial anti-Muslim agenda under the guise of fighting radical Islam" and "seeks to rouse public fears by consistently vilifying the Islamic faith and asserting the existence of an Islamic conspiracy to destroy 'American' values."^[7] Geller has described the SPLC listing as a "badge of honor"^[14] and in 2015 stated to CNN, "Who designated the SPLC as a legitimate authority? They are a radical leftist group who targets patriots, vets and even GOP presidential candidates. They have never named a jihadi group as a hate group."

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Islamization_of_America

It is understandable that some Jews, perhaps including Pam (whom I know little to nothing about) to "strike out" against perceived enemies with ads such as this. As you note, Daniel, this sort of thing carries a chance of backfiring.

For my part, I have little confidence in blatantly anti-Islamic (that's -ic, not -ist) propaganda, in helping the Jewish people -- in and out of Israel. Judaism is a religion founded by the King of the Universe; and the Jewish people are chosen by this God. Those who are against the God of Israel, therefore, for whatever reason, do and will hate the Jews and Israel alike; and Israel is promoted by promoting its God. This, of course, leads to conflict; and perhaps Pam and others like her are trying to avoid this conflict (based on Jewish identity with their God) by promoting a "straw man" conflict against the Muslims. She thus promotes her and hers as heroes; yet the motivation for what they do may be based on cowadice -- ironic.

I don't think This ad, and others like it, have garnered much real support for Israel. That support comes, for the large part, from simple, sincere belief in the Bible.

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