I just received an email about the Hamas-linked Islamic Society of North America honoring Jacob Bender, the former top dog of the Philadelphia chapter of the likewise Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In the course of his remarks at ISNA’s banquet, Bender brought up Jihad Watch, and got everything wildly wrong.
“Jacob Bender Honored at ISNA Interfaith Banquet,” CAIR-Philadelphia, September 12, 2022:
With Dr Syeed’s support, and the help and support of many other leaders and scholars in the American Muslim community, I applied for funding to the Alwaleed bin Talal Foundation of Saudi Arabia. About a year later I received an email informing me that the Foundation was donating the sum of $200,000 to the help turn “Out of Cordoba” from a proposal into an actual film.
I was obviously very honored that a Saudi prince was a contributor to a film about a 12th century rabbi and Jewish philosopher, and both the Foundation and I publicized news of the donation on the internet.
Enter Islamophobe Daniel Pipes, who in his online newsletter JIHAD-WATCH, wrote that the only reason Prince Alwaleed gave me money for the film was because I was an agent of the Saudi Secret Police, a traitor to my people, and, oh yes, a “self-hating Jew.”
Jacob Bender has achieved a remarkable distinction: he has made a statement about which absolutely not a single detail is true.
1. Daniel Pipes is not an “Islamophobe.”
2. Jihad Watch is not Daniel Pipes’ online newsletter.
3. Daniel Pipes has never written for Jihad Watch.
4. Jihad Watch is written neither in all capital letters or with a hyphen in between the two words.
5. No one ever wrote at Jihad Watch that Bender got money for his film because he was an agent of the Saudi secret police. The film has only been mentioned once at Jihad Watch here. None of what Bender claims is said is actually stated.
6. No one ever wrote at Jihad Watch that Bender is an agent of the Saudi secret police.
7. No article at Jihad Watch states that Bender is a traitor to his people.
8. No article at Jihad Watch states that Bender is a “self-hating Jew.”
Eight major falsehoods in one brief sentence. Most impressive. Bender’s remarks highlight the fact that the Left and its Islamic allies such as CAIR and ISNA have no concern for accuracy. They have no interest in the truth and no commitment to it. Their only interest is furthering their narrative, which in this case involves casting Pipes and Jihad Watch as sinister conspiracy theorists throwing out ad hominem attacks and falsehoods in order to cast aspersions on a worthy endeavor. In reality, Bender is the one who is doing all that in his false statements about Pipes and Jihad Watch. It’s another common tactic of authoritarians and propagandists: accuse your enemy of what you yourself are guilty of doing.
