Bartholomew's Notes

A number of sites have noted a remarkable commentary piece that was recently pulled from the Washington Times website. Take a deep breath:

Less than a year ago, in July 2010, Huma Abedin married Jewish U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Attesting to the strength of her relationship with the Clintons, former President William J. Clinton officiated at the ceremony. Not unlike President Obama, the Clintons, as well as powerful politicos such as George Soros, are devotes of Saul Alinksy [sic] , who is considered “the founder of modern Community Organizing.” From my position, I clearly see that the actions of this group signal their socialist agenda, which includes domination of the U.S. by a Muslim ruled world.

Which begs the question of whether Huma Abedin been groomed by family and political leaders to carry this agenda forward? …Therefore we must consider that Mr. Weiner *may* have converted to Islam, because if he did not, we have to consider the unlikely, that being that Ms. Abedin has abandoned her Muslim faith, even while she still practices.

…The question that begs to be asked, however, is, has Huma been groomed to access leading political movers and shakers to advance the cause of Islam in America, including a politically positioned marriage to Congressman Anthony Weiner?

As “evidence” for all this, the author points out that an Imam in New York has urged “counselling” rather than stoning – therefore he must be in on the conspiracy. This is so absurd that a rebuttal is superfluous: political change in the USA is not brought about by “grooming” women to make “politically positioned marriages”, and the attempt to link the notion to Alinsky’s “Community Organizing” is simply bizarre. A secret conversion to Islam makes little sense, either: the whole point of a nominal conversion to Islam prior to marrying a Muslim woman (as does sometimes occur) is that it’s for show. Why would it be secret, and how could the secret have been conveyed to various Imams without leaking out?

Of course, “crank conspiracy theorist uses internet” is not a particularly original tale, although the article’s author, Eleana Benador (var. Eliana Benador), is of some wider interest. As Max Blumenthal notes:

She is the former CEO and founder of Benador Associates, an outfit that handled PR for a who’s who of the neocon movement, from Richard Perle to James Woolsey to Frank Gaffney. Is this what Beltway neocons are saying about Weinergate?

A profile was published in the Asia Times back in August 2003:

…Benador left the [Middle East Forum (MEF), a Philadelphia-based think tank headed by neo-con Daniel Pipes] in October 2001 to create Benador Associates, and credits Woolsey and [A.M.] Rosenthal, in particular, with helping her get started. “Woolsey really opened his doors for his other friends,” she said.

Clients listed included Richard Perle, Michael Ledeen, Hillel Fradkin, Michael Rubin, Meyrav Wurmser, and Laurie Mylroie, and “a number of Muslims, such as Amir Taheri, Ismail Cem, Fereydoun Hoveyda, Tashbih Sayyed and Mansoor Ijaz” (as well as Shaykh Kabbani), along with “two controversial Iraqis – Kanan Makiya and Khidhir Hamza – associated with the Iraqi National Congress led by Ahmad Chalabi”. And for a bit of variety, there’s “Arnaud de Borchgrave, a right-winger who has opposed the neo-cons’ Mideast policy as tilted too far toward Israeli interests” (the elderly De Borchgave is still “editor at large” for the Washington Times and for the associated UPI). Her most infamous moment was in 2006, as the promoter of Taheri’s bogus story that Iranian Jews were being forced to wear yellow stars.

Benador now promotes herself as a “Goodwill Ambassador” for the “Shomron Liaison Office, Samaria, Israel”. This organisation is run by David Ha’ivri, a militant settler who is regular source of quotes for Aaron Klein at WorldNetDaily.

Benador is not the only pundit to suggest that Weiner is a secret Muslim: the same conspiracy was suggested by a talk-show host named Ben Barrack, and perhaps inspired Benador’s article:

Omar Abu-Namous is the imam of the Islamic Cultural Center in New York and he is encouraging Huma Abedin – a practicing Muslim – to stand by her husband, New York congressman Anthony Weiner. Why would this imam support Anthony Weiner, who was raised Jewish, in a marriage with a practicing Muslim woman?

Every Islamic scholar agrees that it is forbidden for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim. 

…Abu-Namous is in direct opposition to his Islamic superiors? Why?

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