Right-Wing Media Hype Mosque Study Co-Written By Anti-Muslim Activist With History Of “Bigotry”

Right-wing media figures have recently promoted a study co-written by David Yerushalmi claiming in part that more than 80 percent of U.S. mosques feature texts that promote or support violence. However, as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has noted, Yerushalmi has “a record of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry.”

Study Claims More Than 80% Of U.S. Mosques Feature Texts That Promote, Support Violence

Study: 81% Of U.S. Mosques Feature Texts That Promote, Support Violence. In a recently released study titled, “Shari'a and Violence in American Mosques,” David Yerushalmi and Mordechai Kedar claimed, in part:

The survey's findings, explored in depth below, were that 51 percent of mosques had texts that either advocated the use of violence in the pursuit of a Shari'a-based political order or advocated violent jihad as a duty that should be of paramount importance to a Muslim; 30 percent had only texts that were moderately supportive of violence like the Tafsir Ibn Kathir and Fiqh as-Sunna; 19 percent had no violent texts at all. [Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2011]

Right-Wing Media Hype Anti-Muslim Mosque “Study”

Gaffney: Study By “Formidable Authors” “Describes An Ominous Jihadist Footprint Being Put Into Place Across The Nation.” From Frank Gaffney's June 7 Washington Times column:

Entitled “Shariah and Violence in American Mosques,” this paper describes an ominous jihadist footprint being put into place across the nation. It is made up of ostensibly religious institutions, entities that, therefore, enjoy constitutional protection. According to the data examined by this study, most mosques in the United States are actually engaged in - or at least supportive of - a totalitarian, seditious agenda they call Shariah.

[...]

Still, according to this study's two formidable authors - my colleague, David Yerushalmi, one of the nation's foremost non-Muslim experts on the totalitarian Islamic doctrine known as Shariah, and a highly respected Israeli academic and expert on Islam and Arabic culture, Mordechai Kedar - on-site investigations of a random but representative sample of American mosques in 14 states and the District of Columbia produced chilling insights into the threat posed by many such institutions.

[...]

Mr. Yerushalmi and Mr. Kedar found:

More than 80 percent of U.S. mosques advocate or otherwise promote violence. “Of the 100 mosques surveyed, 51 percent had texts on-site rated as severely advocating violence; 30 percent had texts rated as moderately advocating violence; and 19 percent had no violent texts at all.” [The Washington Times, 6/7/11]

NRO's McCarthy Hypes “Important Study.” From a June 8 National Review Online (NRO) post by Andrew McCarthy:

These are the principal takeaways from an important study just competed by Israeli academic Mordechai Kedar and David Yerushalmi of the Center for Security Policy in Washington. As detailed in a just-published Middle East Quarterly essay, “Shari'a and Violence in American Mosques” (available here), the authors' “Mapping Sharia” project surveyed 100 randomly selected mosques across the United States. Onsite, fully 81 percent of the mosques featured Islamic texts that advocate violence. In nearly 85 percent of the mosques, the leadership (usually an imam or prayer leader) favorably recommended this literature for study by congregants. Moreover, 58 percent of the mosques invited guest lecturers known for promoting violent jihad. [NRO, 6/8/11]

Geller: “An Overwhelming Number Of American Mosques Teach, Advance, Promote Violent Jihad As Dictated By Islamic Teaching.” In a June 7 blog post about the mosque study, Pam Geller wrote:

The empirical evidence is deeply disturbing, but not surprising. An overwhelming number of American mosques teach, advance, promote violent jihad as dictated by Islamic teaching. Is it any wonder that Muslim Brotherhood-tied groups like CAIR are pursuing legislation and policy to restrict law enforcement infiltration of mosques?

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This widely ignored problem must be addressed, and patriots in small towns (like Sheepshead Bay) fighting Muslim Brotherhood super-mosques must be helped in stopping this hostile invasion. [Atlas Shrugs, 6/7/11]

Big Peace: “81% Of US Mosques Promote Jihad.” From a June 5 Big Peace post titled, “81% of US Mosques Promote Jihad”:

Publication of the “Sharia and Violence in American Mosques” study provides irrefragable evidence that the overwhelming majority of American mosques--consistent with mainstream Islamic doctrine and practice since the founding of the Muslim creed--are inculcating jihadism with the goal of implementing Sharia here in America. [Big Peace, 6/5/11]

But Study's Co-Author Has History Of Extreme Anti-Muslim, Racially Charged Rhetoric

ADL: Yerushalmi Has “A Record Of Anti-Muslim, Anti-Immigrant And Anti-Black Bigotry.” From a March 25 Anti-Defamation League (ADL) release:

One of the driving forces behind Shari'a-related conspiracy theories and growing efforts to ban or restrict the use of Shari'a law in American courts is David Yerushalmi, an Arizona attorney with a record of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry.

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Other Hostile Views

Yerushalmi's main instrument, SANE, is also openly hostile to undocumented migrants in the United States. It advocates somehow sealing all American borders and building “special criminal camps” to house undocumented migrants, where they would serve a three-year detention sentence, then be deported. SANE also argues that the “immigration debate” should take into account that America was “founded and made strong by immigrants from western European countries with Judeo-Christian roots.”

Yerushalmi has also claimed, as he wrote in a 2006 article, that the United States is in trouble because it “rejected its Christian roots, the Constitution and federalism,” and because it “embraced democracy” and multi-culturalism. This has rendered it “incapable” of “overcoming the World Stateideology of the Liberal Elites.” These beliefs have caused Yerushalmi to defend people accused of anti-Semitism such as Mel Gibson and Pat Buchanan because they “have the potential to save the West from itself and from Islam.” Liberal Jews, on the other hand, according to Yerushalmi are “the leading proponents of all forms of anti-Western, anti-American, anti-Christian movements, campaigns, and ideologies,” and to argue otherwise one would have to be “literally divorced from reality.” Liberal Jews, according to Yerushalmi, have also destroyed “their host nations like a fatal parasite.”

Nor has Yerushalmi neglected the subject of race. Articles Yerushalmi has written for the SANE Web site argue that the “most of the fundamental differences between the races is genetic.” In a 2006 essay for SANE entitled, “On Race: A Tentative Discussion,” Yerushalmi claimed that “some races perform better in sports, some better in mathematical problem solving, some better in language, some better in Western societies and some better in tribal ones.” He also contended that African-Americans are a “relatively murderous race killing itself.” For Yerushalmi it was obvious: “If evolution and the biologists who espouse the theory are correct, then the idea that racial differences included innate differences in character and intelligence would[,] it seem[,] be more likely than not.”

[ADL, 3/25/11 emphasis in the original]

ADL: Yerushalmi Founded “A 'Think Tank' That Has Published Anti-Muslim, Anti-Immigration And Anti-Black Materials, As Well As New World Order-Style Conspiracy Theories.” From ADL:

Yerushalmi has not only actively promoted his conspiratorial vision of Shari'a law, but has also sought to portray all Muslims as a threat. In one March 2006 article, for example, Yerushalmi even went so far as to claim that “Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization...The Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies.”

That same year, Yerushalmi founded the Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), a “think tank” that has published anti-Muslim, anti-immigration and anti-black materials, as well as New World Order-style conspiracy theories. In 2007, SANE, declaring itself “dedicated to the rejection of democracy and party rule and a return to a constitutional republic [of the original founders of the US],” launched a campaign fueled by suspicion of all Muslims. [ADL, 3/25/11]

ADL: “SANE Also Proposed Legislation That Furthering Or Supporting Adherence To Shari'a 'Shall Be A Felony Punishable By 20 Years In Prison.' ” From ADL:

SANE also proposed legislation that furthering or supporting adherence to Shari'a “shall be a felony punishable by 20 years in prison.” It called on Congress to declare war on the “Muslim nation,” which it defined as “Shari'a-adherent Muslims,” and further asked Congress to define Muslim illegal immigrants as alien enemies “subject to immediate deportation.” [ADL, 3/25/11]

Mother Jones: Yerushalmi's Anti-Sharia Proposal Urged “A WAR AGAINST ISLAM And All Muslim Faithful.” From Mother Jones:

In 2007, [Yerushalmi] pushed legislation to make “adherence to Shari'a” a felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. That same proposal called for the deportation of all Muslim non-citizens, and a ban on Muslim immigration. The United States, he urged, must declare “a WAR AGAINST ISLAM and all Muslim faithful.” [Mother Jones, 3/1/11, emphasis in original]

Yerushalmi: “The Muslim Peoples, Those Committed To Islam As We Know It Today, Are Our Enemies.” From a March 2006 American Spectator op-ed by Yerushalmi:

So the point the Journal missed, publishing a post-9/11 commentary representative of it, is this: Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization. The Journal is obliged to state so transparent a truth, most all to ask what is it that compels Western elites so relentlessly to resist facing this truth about Islam.

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The short answer for our friends at the Journal: American forces, and by implication Israeli, British, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, German, and Danish, need to totally vanquish the Islamic terrorists. War is hell for a reason. The reason is men facing terrorist destruction more explicit than ever came from Japan or Germany are bound to fight enemies if they are to survive. The Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies. [The American Spectator, 3/2/06]

Yerushalmi: “Islam Was Born In Violence; It Will Die That Way.” From a 2006 American Spectator column by Yerushalmi:

Islam was born in violence; it will die that way. Any wish to the contrary is sheer Pollyannaism. The same way the post-World War II German youth were taught by their German teachers and political leaders to despise the fascism of their fathers, with strict laws extant still today restricting even speech that casts doubt on the Holocaust, so too must the Muslim youth be taught from the cradle to reject the religion of their forebears. [The American Spectator, 9/9/06]

Yerushalmi Is Reportedly Behind Anti-Muslim Legislation In Tennessee, Other States. From a March 1 Mother Jones article:

Last week, legislators in Tennessee introduced a radical bill that would make “material support” for Islamic law punishable by 15 years in prison. The proposal marks a dramatic new step in the conservative campaign against Muslim-Americans. If passed, critics say even seemingly benign activities like re-painting the exterior of a mosque or bringing food to a potluck could be classified as a felony.

The Tennessee bill, SB 1028, didn't come out of nowhere. Though it's the first of its kind, the bill is part of a wave of related measures that would ban state courts from enforcing Sharia law. (A court might refer to Sharia law in child custody or prisoner rights cases.) Since early 2010, such legislation has been considered in at least 15 states. And while fears of an impending caliphate are myriad on the far-right, the surge of legislation across the country is largely due to the work of one man: David Yerushalmi, an Arizona-based white supremacist who has previously called for a “war against Islam” and tried to criminalize adherence to the Muslim faith. [Mother Jones, 3/1/11]

NY Times: Yerushalmi “Has Sought To Criminalize The Practice Of Islam, When Defined As Adherence To Shariah, Islamic Religious Law.” From an October 8, 2010, New York Times article:

FOR Ms. Geller, the battle against Park51 is only part of a much larger crusade in which she is joined by an influential if decentralized coalition that includes former generals, new-mediapolemicists, researchers and evangelicals who view Islam as a politically driven religion, barbaric at its core and expansionist by nature. Her closest partner is Robert Spencer, the proprietor of Jihadwatch.org. Incorporation papers for their American Freedom Defense Initiative list as founding members Anders Gravers, a Danish ''anti-Islamization'' activist (''Jihad is the knife slicing the salami of freedom'') and John Joseph Jay (''There are no innocents in Islam''). Their lawyer, David Yerushalmi, has sought to criminalize the practice of Islam, when defined as adherence to Shariah, Islamic religious law. [The New York Times, 10/8/10, emphasis in the original]