Muslim Rights Group Asks FEC for 'Obsession' Probe

We've been following for days the distribution of tens of millions of copies of the DVD "Obsession" by dozens of newspapers across the country, the refusal of a few to do so, and the reaction from readers.  Here's an AP story on a group's response.

(AP) A U.S. Muslim advocacy group has asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether a non-profit group that distributed a controversial DVD about Islam in American newspapers is a "front" for an Israel-based group with a stealth goal of helping Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The promoters of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" denied trying to promote any presidential campaign. They said it's also incorrect to tie the DVD campaign to Jerusalem-based educational group Aish HaTorah International, although current and former employees are involved with the project.

The Council for American-Islamic Relations asked the FEC to investigate the DVD distribution, which targeted about 28 million households mostly in battleground election states.

The DVDs - which critics call anti-Muslim propaganda - were inserted this month into more than 70 newspapers and paid for by the Clarion Fund, a non-profit group founded in 2006. The fund's focus is "the most urgent threat of radical Islam." It has declined to identify board members or its funding. 

The DVD features scenes of Muslim children being urged to become suicide bombers, 9/11 carnage and interviews with critics of Islam.

Another organization, the Endowment for Middle East Truth, is a partner with the Clarion Fund in "The Obsession Project," which will also include research publications and issue forums.

Ari Morgenstern, a spokesman for that group, said targeting swing states was designed to attract media attention, but is not meant to influence the election result. He said the film "makes a very clear and upfront distinction between the majority of peaceful followers of Islam and those people who subscribe to a radical Islamic ideology."

In its complaint, CAIR cites New York Secretary of State records showing that three people who incorporated Clarion Fund also are employees or have been employees of Aish HaTorah International, a Jerusalem-based Jewish educational organization that has offices around the world.

"American voters deserve to know whether they are the targets of a multimillion-dollar campaign funded and directed by a foreign group seeking to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria as a way to influence the outcome of our presidential election," Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, said in a statement.

As evidence of a McCain bias, CAIR cites a story in the Patriot News of Harrisburg, Pa., which reported that a Clarion Fund Web site ran a pro-McCain article before it attracted notice and was taken down.

"If you heighten the hysteria over national security or terrorism or do anything to make people more fearful, it's clear they would trend toward McCain because that's been his mantra throughout the campaign," said Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman.

Under federal election law and the tax code, nonprofit groups are restricted from getting involved in candidate races and foreign nationals may not contribute to American campaigns. The DVD's distributors say their efforts are issue-based and don't break election laws.

The Canadian producer of the film, Raphael Shore, is a full-time employee of Aish HaTorah International, an educational group that avoids politics, said Ronn Torossian, a New York-based spokesman for the group. Shore's work on the DVD project was not done under the banner of Aish HaTorah, Torossian said.

"These are independent activities of individuals," he said.                

Gregory Ross, spokesman for the New York-based Clarion Fund, declined to discuss the complaint's specifics. He pointed out that it's normal for nonprofits to keep donors' identities private. He said the group has "thousands of donors that span the political spectrum."

"We are not telling people who to vote for," said Ross, a former employee of Aish HaTorah International. "We're just saying no matter who gets in office, the American people should know radical Islam is a real threat to America. We don't feel radical Islam is getting its fair share of press."

The group is preparing to release another film, "Third Jihad," but has no plans for mass distribution, Ross said.                

Comments

[Lola]

I couldn't care less if it's the pope that produced the movie OBSESSION, it's imperative for all to see the danger to humanity coming from radical Islam.

We should all stop protecting (CAIR, or) those that want to slit one's throat no matter what your "politics" is!
Do lefy-extremists realy dream that Islamofascists militants care if a christian or a Jew is religious or not a Republican or a Democrat?
Reminder, Pearl was a liberal Jew (killed in Pakistan), Tom Fox Canadian Christian pacifist (killed in Iraq) then again, Christians & Jews are APES & PIGS Says radical Islam.

It's not about politics but about your and mine safety, nor do they care if you are afraid of them or not, and yes, CAIR is no "human rights group" but a protestor of terror and its founders declared "Islam isn't in America to be equal but to DOMINATE!", it is also implicated in the "holyland foundation funding for terror trial".

[Lola]

I couldn't care less if it's the pope that produced the movie OBSESSION, it's imperative for all to see the danger to humanity coming from radical Islam.

We should all stop protecting (CAIR, or) those that want to slit one's throat no matter what your "politics" is!
Do lefy-extremists realy dream that Islamofascists militants care if a christian or a Jew is religious or not a Republican or a Democrat?
Reminder, Pearl was a liberal Jew (killed in Pakistan), Tom Fox Canadian Christian pacifist (killed in Iraq) then again, Christians & Jews are APES & PIGS Says radical Islam.

It's not about politics but about your and mine safety, nor do they care if you are afraid of them or not, and yes, CAIR is no "human rights group" but a protestor of terror and its founders declared "Islam isn't in America to be equal but to DOMINATE!", it is also implicated in the "holyland foundation funding for terror trial".

[Erik]

Of all this hysteria people need to step back and ask themselves "Have I ever met a muslim or Arab that has threatened to kill me or insult my culture as decadent or imperialist?" 99.9% of the U.S. populace will say "No" because their image of Islam is shaped by the news media who have a history of sensationalizing violence.

Prior to 9/11 the majority of terrorist attacks were in Latin America. Nevertheless, when terrorism is discussed it doesn't take long to drag in "Islamofascism" (Despite the fact that Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc were not Muslims, the religion still gets labeled as genocidal.) because in the U.S. the left is firmly secular and the right is staunchly Christian. CAIR is the only real group muslims in the west have to fend off all of the accusations from special interest groups that for whatever reason slander and unfairly criticize 1.2 Billion people's beliefs.

Islam really hasn't had a fair shake in the U.S. media. Obama is "accused of being muslim" to take votes away from him. What would happen if Obama had accused McCain of being a Jew? The media would have a field day and Obama would lose the election simply from all the bad press.

Right now I'm deployed in Iraq and I can tell you most of the portrayals of muslims and arabs in the news are off, way off. I talk to Iraqis every day and I've talked more about Jay-Z than I have about Allah. Iraqis themselves don't fight Coalition Forces because they think Americans are "Evil Satanist pigs" but rather the fact that we're occupying their country. Imagine if China were occupying the US: Pat Robertson would behead Chinese on TV for offering checks.

Just step back America, and put this issue of Islam into perspective. Don't let the media guide you into a close-minded train of thought.

[Niles Kingery]

This is clearly an attempt to influence the U.S. election. Otherwise, why would they be sending it now, instead of during a period of time when frankly a lot more could actually get done (i.e. right after the election to put it on the agenda for the new Congress.)

I personally have no problem with any U.S. group doing whatever they want to to influence American elections (so for example my response to the Swift Boat Veterans was that it was Kerry's fault for not responding to their ads that made them effective.)

But the whole Israeli-Canadian angle does bother me. Shouldn't Americans be the ones deciding American elections? There are already those who espouse the 'new world order' in which national boundaries become irrelevant in a global economic and political structure, and allowing foreigners to decide U.S. elections (as the Chinese came very, very close to doing in 2000 when they sent a lot of money illegally to Al Gore) does bother me. It bothers me a lot. If this video does turn out to be produced by foreigners it might be about the one and only thing that might make me vote for Obama (who I do consider an American, by the way-- just a wrong thinking one.)

[J.C.]

People such as Lola are way too ignorant and weak minded. American's opinions are and always will be shaped by the media and Bush/McCain like rednecks. Watch 30 days show about that redneck from Virginia and see what his views of Islam are now after he spent a month living with a muslim family in Dearborn Michigan.

All this is orchestrated by the Jews who arethe cause of the biggest problems in this world. It's not wonder that Hitler wanted to get rid of them and Nostradamus predicted that this world will never have peace as long as the Jews live.

Do you idiots even know your own history? Do you know what US did to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq during 70's and 80's? Do you know that US educated, trained, and funded Osama for years? Do you know that everything that has happened was just the result of US government trying to screw other people over?

Well, for those ignorant morons out there, there are 1.5 billion muslims in this world, it is the 2nd largest religion and has been the fastest growing for a long time and the number of muslims and those converting to Islam is growing, even after everything the Jews and the Republicans are trying to do. Before all you rednecks start judging, you should take a world history class instead of drop out of high school and think you know shit just cuz you watch FOX news but at the same time only understand every third word.

Bad marketing for Clarion. They apparently do not understand that muslims are not just Middle Eastern, but they are everywhere with non arabic names as well. They sent this gay ass video to a lot of muslim people that live in this country, which is very offensive. Not to mention that the idiots that made this movie are Jews.

But you know what, while all these Jews in charge of American banks, jewlery shops, house of reps, senate, are making millions of dollars a year, you poor dumb dirty rednecks are working the fields and factories for $8/per hour. Sad thing is that you still let them shape your opinions. I don't know about you, but I agree with Hitler and Nostradamus, thiw would would be much better off without Jews. Nobody talks about the extremist Jews that are killing people in Palestine every day, taht started bombing Lebanon and Syria. It's never the Jew's fault. They're always innocent cuz of the holocaust. Fuck that and fuck most of jews out there.