Fjordman followup

Islamophobic policies and rhetoric increasingly permeate everyday life in North America and Western Europe. Helping to shape this reality is a well-resourced and organised network of anti-Muslim think tanks, activists and journalists. At the heart of this constellation is an American think tank called the Gatestone Institute. A relative newcomer on the anti-Muslim hatemongers scene, it did not rate a mention in the Centre for American Progress’s (CAP) ground-breaking 2011 study, Fear Inc. But, backed by big money, it has rapidly since become a central player in what Nathan Lean has called the ‘Islamophobia industry’.

A counterjihad echo chamber

The family of Gatestone’s founder and president, Nina Rosenwald has long pumped millions of dollars into this anti-Muslim network, through various trusts and foundations including the Abstraction Fund, discussed shortly. For this reason, Rosenwald herself has been dubbed, by journalist Max Blumenthal, ‘the sugar mama of anti-Muslim hate’.

Blumenthal notes that Gatestone emerged in 2011 as an offshoot of the right wing Hudson Institute. Since then it has become a hub for anti-Muslim ideologues of all hues; neoconservative, ultra-Zionist and so-called ‘counterjihad’. It has acted as a clearing-house, for example, for claims about Muslim ‘no-go zones’ (the likes of which ‘terrorism expert’ Steven Emerson was widely ridiculed for, including by UK Prime Minister David Cameron). Its articles carry fear-mongering titles such as: ”Spain: Soon the Muslims will be kings of the world’, ‘Britain’s Islamic future’, ‘The Islamization of France’, ‘The Islamization of Germany’ and ‘The Islamization of Belgium and the Netherlands’.

More: Is Notorious Islamophobic Think Tank Inspiring More Far-Right Terrorism?