Pickled Politics senior editor Sunny Hundal briefly mentioned the following subject in his recent article discussing the fact that the atrocity in Norway highlights “a new form of prejudice”, but it’s worth providing further details. Pamela Geller is the American author of the virulently anti-Muslim blog Atlas Shrugs and the executive director of the organisation “Stop Islamization of America”; like SIOA’s co-founder Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch, Geller was repeatedly cited in the 1500-page manifesto of the Far-Right Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik (described by the Norwegian police as a “Christian fundamentalist”).
Geller herself, who is originally from a Jewish background but describes mainstream liberal Jews as “lost souls” and “self-hating wretches”, was given a huge public platform by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News last year during the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy. She has consistently been at the forefront of promoting extremely bigoted anti-Muslim propaganda; you can read a comprehensive list of examples via Media Matters for America here and here, and via The American Muslim here.
It turns out that Pamela Geller received an email in 2007 from a Norwegian contact who sounds disturbingly similar to Breivik. Geller approvingly published the email on her Atlas Shrugs blog on 24 June 2007 without naming the author; in response to a query from one of the commenters there, Geller confirmed that she was deliberately hiding the author’s identity so that he would not be investigated and prosecuted. After the recent massacre in Norway, Geller quietly edited her article in order to remove the email’s explicit references to weapons, ammunition and equipment; unfortunately for Geller, her actions have been noticed by multiple readers and the original unedited version of the article had already been cached elsewhere. (More details, including relevant URL links, can be found here).
Therefore, this has the following possible implications:
1. Pamela Geller had personally been in contact with Anders Breivik and even promoted his email on her own website, but she deliberately hid his identity in order to protect him (and did not report him to the authorities) despite being aware of Breivik’s extremely violent rhetoric and the fact that he was stockpiling weapons & ammunition;
2. Alternatively, Geller was not emailed by Breivik himself but there is currently another violent Norwegian out there with aims and attitudes which are disturbingly similar to those of Breivik, and whose identity Geller is deliberately hiding.
The original email to Geller
The original unedited version of the aforementioned email sent to Pamela Geller by the unnamed Norwegian is displayed below. (The screenshot highlights the incriminating remarks which Geller has recently removed). You can also see screenshots of both the original version and Geller’s recently edited version here. Readers will notice that the author of the email sounds strikingly similar to Anders Breivik.
Considering the implications, presumably this matter should be formally investigated by the FBI along with the relevant authorities in Norway.
Incidentally, it is also worth noting that Geller and Spencer’s website for SIOA has suddenly been completely wiped of all content, including all the articles. All that now remains is the homepage displaying the organisation’s name.
Geller’s public response to the terrorist attacks in Norway
Pamela Geller, who spoke at a rally in Norway in 2009 and has published a string of articles attacking Norwegian Muslims, has publicly responded to the recent massacre of children by echoing some of Anders Breivik’s rhetoric; she has derisively described the island camp as a “youth indoctrination centre” and a “Communist/Socialist playground” with a “pro-Islamic agenda”, and has claimed that the children killed would have grown up to become “future leaders of the party responsible for flooding Norway with Muslims”. Geller even blames Muslims for Breivik’s terrorist attacks.
Furthermore, Geller has made disturbing remarks about the now-famous group photo of the children (taken a day before the tragedy) by pointedly adding the caption “Note the faces which are more Middle Eastern or mixed than pure Norwegian”, although she subsequently removed her comment from her website after it was widely publicised. And to make matters even worse, due to their connections to Breivik and the resulting backlash, Geller and Robert Spencer are currently soliciting financial donations to protect them from what they claim is a “liberal witch-hunt” against them.
Geller’s connections to the EDL
Pamela Geller also has connections to the English Defence League, the anti-Muslim organisation which was cited by Anders Breivik more than any other group in his manifesto. (Breivik’s own connections to the EDL were recently discussed on Pickled Politics here). Geller has been a vocal supporter of the EDL – in fact, she is on record as stating that she “shares the EDL’s goals” — and she has direct links to EDL financier Alan Lake, recently confirmed as the author of a Breivik-style “Final Solution” blueprint targeting Britain’s entire Muslim population and anyone perceived to be sympathetic towards them, including death threats against British PM David Cameron.
Alan Lake played a pivotal role in facilitating the EDL’s transatlantic alliance with Geller, and is affiliated with multiple extreme Far-Right groups and Christian fundamentalist organisations on an international scale in order to further the EDL’s agenda. Along with a number of other EDL members, Lake even personally attended a demonstration in New York against the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” which Geller had organised in September 2010; EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”) also tried to attend Geller’s rally, but the American authorities prevented him from doing so.
