Following the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January, Pope Francis was asked by reporters about his views. Seventeen people were killed at the satirical home of that magazine by two deranged Muslim brothers. Avenging the satirical cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad. So the Pope was asked about his views: "Isn't the freedom of expression deserving of protection?"
Here is Pope Francis' balanced response: "Freedom of expression is a basic human right. But it had to be exercised without insulting the faith of others." His Holiness did not stop at that. He is an Argentine, the first Latin American to be elected Pope. So in a gaucho (Argentine cowboy) style, he felt the need to be clear.
So he said: "If a friend of mine speaks ill of my mother, he should be prepared to get a punch from me." Then, in his white papal robes, he gestured with a closed fist as if he was delivering that punch.
To the startled reporters, Francis went on to amplify: "This is natural. It is unacceptable to provoke others by insulting their beliefs. There are lots of people who speak ill of other religions. They are provocateurs."
We now turn to a provocateur par excellence. Pamela Geller, a committed Zionist, with millions of dollars to spend on making Muslims and Arabs "savages." That was her chosen epithet. In all cars in the New York City subway system, a hate campaign was launched in 2014.
Posters placed by Geller for millions of subway riders to read. The posters, in effect, proclaimed: "If there is a conflict between the civilized and the savage, support the civilized. Support Israel."
The Muslim community tried hard to get the administration of Michael Bloomberg, the then Mayor of New York City, to get these hate posters removed. But in vain.
The New York City executive claimed that that was "protected speech." It is not. And it is not I who is judging it as "unprotected speech." It is the U.S. Constitution and U.S. case law that say so. The theory of "speech regulation based on content" is abundantly clear.
That non-controverted constitutional theory imposes speech regulation under the principle of public law and order. Thus regulation comes in through the door of "Inciting Imminent Lawless Action." Its legal formulation is as follows:
"Speech can be burdened if it creates a clear and present danger of imminent lawless action. It must be shown that imminent illegal conduct is likely, and that the speaker intended to cause it."
Pamela Geller is calling Arabs and Muslims and others opposed to Israeli practices "savage." In both fact and effect, she has intentionally engaged in "inciting imminent lawless action," and got away with it. Her unprotected speech is not only "unconstitutional." It is an anti-American act which exposes the country to retaliation.
But "non-adjudicated felons" like Pam Geller have a habit of revisiting the scene of their crimes. In early May of this year, Geller did just that. Propelled by her millions of dollars, she struck again. Goading Muslim extremists in the U.S. and abroad, she ventured into Texas. This is a State where one of its two Senators, Ted Cruz, a Republican now running for President in 2016, is calling for having U.S. troops re-invade Iraq.
Using her freedom to engage in unprotected speech, Geller took her organization "The American Freedom Defense Initiative" (AFDI) to Garland, Texas. Described by The New York Times as "an anti-Islam organization based in New York," the Geller organization was organizing an anti-Islamic event. It included a contest for the best caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, with a $10,000 top prize.
Now with Pam Geller back to her criminal forays, so were two irate Muslims who, on May 3, shot at a security officer guarding the Curtis Culwell Center. That is where the Muhammad vilification event was held by AFDI. Both assailants were shot and killed by Garland police officers in response. Material evidence of what Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative can accomplish in the service of unprotected hate speech.
Our age is one of rage. Facts are few; knowledge is even less; and comprehension is dulled by retrograde educational systems, especially in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
In the midst of these overwhelming contradictions, especially as regards to freedom of expression, let us take a tally of these contradictions. Learning begins with a listing of easily recognizable episodes. And episodes are more assimilable when put in contrasting positions.
- Geller calls the Arabs and the Muslims "savages." And Hamas denies Israel the mere right of existence.
- Netanyahu has just appointed Dore Gold to his ultra-right cabinet. Born in Connecticut, USA, Gold's Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs opposes Israeli withdrawal form the occupied West Bank. Saeb Erekat, the so-called "Chief Palestinian negotiator" calls that appointment "an internal Israeli matter." How muted can you get?
- Compare Erekat's utterance with those of Israeli pundits denouncing those appointments as "farcical or worse." In the meantime, one of Gold's six published books is entitled: Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism. Isn't occupation a casus belli?
- The New York Muslims could not assert a legal claim against Geller's Islamophobic campaign. Yet The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) instituted in August 2013 a suit against the New York Police Department (NYPD) on behalf of Muslims. The suit challenged the constitutionality of the NYPD "Muslim Surveillance Program."
- Compare this action on behalf of Muslims, with Geller's mouthing off about Islam. She shrieks on TV shows that "Islam is the problem," and "stand up for free speech."
- As a committed ideologue, Geller does not differentiate between ISIS and the broad demographics of Muslims. Closer home where she stands, she does not differentiate between Judaism, a recognizable faith, and Zionism, a political ideology of assertive territorial claims. In late May, the new Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely counseled the diplomatic corps. He advised that they "should use the Bible as a tool for telling the world that the entire land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River belongs to the Jews." (The New York Times, May 26, 2015)
- Mixing faith with politics puts such declarations at par with those of Muslim extremists and committed terrorists. The new Egypt is engaged in a new revolution, a "Religious Revolution." Under the leadership of Al-Azhar, the term "jihad" is being redefined in textbooks. In accordance with the notion of accepting the other. Israel's new leadership is opting for a greater Israel dressed in a religious garb.
In today's world of rage and non-sensical assumptions, only the course of putting yourself in the shoes of the other shall ultimately prevail. Hate mongers, and those who do not see the other in their midst as equals and deserving, are doomed to failure.
That is why Pope Francis represents "The Sky Above," while Pamela Geller stands for "The Mud Below." No wonder that the Holy See has just recognized "The State of Palestine." For Francis is a peace recruiter. Geller is a jihadi enabler.
Other jihadi enablers, though perhaps unwittingly, are:
- Netanyahu's advocacy of the elimination of the 2-State solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
- Republicans campaigning for the US presidency, calling for "slipping a State of Palestine into Egyptian territory;"
- The Likud characterization of criticism of Israeli practices in the occupied territories as efforts for the delegitimation of Israel;
- Hamas denial of the right of Israel to exist within agreed borders;
- The holocaust deniers. They are worse than history fabricatiors. Because they are blind to a human calamity which, among other things, changed the entire history of the Middle East and beyond.
As in the mold of Pam Geller, such calls are grist for the ISIS mill of barbarism and obfuscation. In spite of the chaos now gripping the Middle East, the use of religion for political ends, or as a cover for hate, shall have very limited shelf life.
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