mael, daniel
<div><div>anti-muslim</div><div>
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</div><div>As seen onFavicon for http://news.google.comnews.google.com</div><div>
</div><div>Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Neoconservative Honor Brigade</div><div>A look at the militant neoconservative network that has mobilized to defend the honor of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the world's leading Islamophobes, against my factual reporting.</div><div>
</div><div>byAvatar for Max BlumenthalMax Blumenthal4 days ago1 Like4,588 Views</div><div>Embed</div><div>
</div><div>My piece for Alternet calling into question Ayaan Hirsi Ali's claim that Muslims are "responsible" for most global conflict deaths and exposing her history of fraud and religious bigotry sent her anti-Muslim supporters into a rage. Leading the charge was her husband, the British right-winger and imperial cheerleader Niall Ferguson:</div><div>
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</div><div>Ferguson has previously referenced IISS data on global conflict deaths in his own writing for the Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303945704579391492993958448 </div><div>How did such apparently misappropriated IISS data wind up at the top of an anti-Muslim polemic by Ferguson's wife, Hirsi Ali, also published in the Wall Street Journal? Why was Ferguson so defensive about the dubious statistic?</div><div>On March 23, Hirsi Ali went on the Daily Show to claim: “If you look at 70 percent of the violence in the world today, Muslims are responsible.” Below, Ferguson attempted to spin her wild statement.</div><div>
</div><div>Acting apparently on Ferguson and Hirsi Ali's behalf, right-wing pro-Israel campus activist Daniel Mael accused me of lying about IISS comments in an article for the National Review. </div><div>I produced my original email query to IISS Media Relations and Communications Officer Kat Slowe, which I sent through an official media form. Following standard journalist protocol, I identified myself as a journalist and directly, exactly quoted the comments she supplied to me in writing and on the record.</div><div>
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</div><div>Ferguson had previously accused me of collaborating with an Islamist-oriented "honor brigade" to shut down honest intellectual debate. </div><div>
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</div><div>After a salvo of bogus claims, Ferguson promoted an earlier piece by Daniel Mael that painted me as (what else?) an anti-Semite. </div><div>
</div><div>Mael is a far-right pro-Israel campus activist who was accused of harassment by Brandeis University. Brandeis backed down only after Mael's friends at the pro-Netanyahu Emergency Committee for Israel hired the corporate law firm Covington & Burling to intimidate Brandeis administrators: http://www.cov.com/media_mentions/</div><div>
</div><div>Here is Daniel Mael claiming that Ayaan Hirsi Ali risks her life to keep Hamas from killing innocent civilians:</div><div>
</div><div>Delivered to Mael by her handlers, Hirsi Ali claimed to the young anti-Palestinian activist that "nerves and fatigue" caused her to hold Muslims directly responsible for most of the conflict-related deaths in the world:</div><div>
</div><div>Mael's attack piece was published in the Weekly Standard, a neoconservative magazine run by William Kristol, the orchestrator of Sen. Tom Cotton's notorious letter to the leaders of Iran. Kristol promoted Mael's piece here:</div><div>
</div><div>Niall Ferguson served as an advisor to John McCain's 2008 campaign for president. McCain was backed heavily by Kristol and his neoconservative political network.</div><div>
</div><div>On the McCain campaign, Ferguson worked alongside neoconservative cadre Michael Goldfarb, a close understudy of Kristol: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Goldfarb_Michael Goldfarb also happens to be the founder of the Free Beacon. </div><div>Before I published my piece on Hirsi Ali, she or someone close to her (Ferguson?) forwarded a query I had emailed her to the Free Beacon. </div><div>
</div><div>On her personal Twitter account, Hirsi Ali promoted the Free Beacon article attacking me for attempting to fact check her. </div><div>She did so by retweeting Avi Mayer, a professional social media troll paid by the Israeli government-funded Jewish Agency to propagandize on behalf of Netanyahu and the Israeli army.</div><div>
</div><div>In his 1500 page manifesto, Anders Breivik reprinted a far-right article declaring that Ayaan Hirsi Ali deserved a Nobel Peace Prize. </div><div>For her part, Hirsi Ali said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserved a Nobel Prize for overseeing the military assault on the Gaza Strip in 2014 that left over 2200 dead, most of them civilians. </div><div>
</div><div>At a recent Israeli government sponsored event, the anti-Islam atheist Hirsi Ali said she considered converting to Judaism.</div><div>
</div><div>Among those who mobilized to defend Hirsi Ali from my factual reporting was her close ally, the self-styled "New Atheist" Sam Harris.</div><div>
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</div><div>Harris has a lengthy record of attacking Muslims, cheering on the self-proclaimed Jewish State and defending the foreign policy of George W. Bush, an evangelical Christian who said his faith influenced his decision to invade Iraq.</div><div>Read next page</div><div>1Share</div><div>Related stories</div><div>
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