Also: Geller on Paul Ray: “He lies. I had a falling out with Ray in 2007 when he tried to strong-arm me into promoting the BNP, and I would have none of it… I am so not his, uh, ‘Jewish friend.'”
A couple of days ago Max Blumenthal wrote a blog post about Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs, contrasting her attacks on the pro-Palestinian writer Ben White as being a “Nazi” with her support for the English Defence League. Observed Max:
So what happens at a typical EDL rally? According to a report by Wales Online, at an October 2009 rally in Swansea by the EDL’s Wales-based affiliate, the Welsh Defense League, “onlookers were confronted with scenes of jeering men giving Nazi salutes.”
Max also noted reports of various far-right elements seeking to infilitrate the EDL, and of possible links (albeit disavowed by both sides) with the BNP. I left a comment on the post, pointing out that although some neo-Nazis appear to have shown up at EDL events, the EDL has made it clear they are unwelcome. There is, though, certainly a lot of crudely-expressed anti-Muslim sentiment; just yesterday, the EDL’s Sikh spokesperson Guramit Singh proffered the theological view “God bless the Muslims – they’ll need it when they’re burning in fucking hell”, and there is an undoubted overlap with hooliganism.
Geller’s response is a predictably abusive tirade, consisting to a large extent of mocking references to Blumenthal’s masculinity and including the crude suggestion that White is his “bitch”. She complains that Max has spun “the most outrageous smears and libels”, which is rather shameless coming from the woman who suggested that Orlando Sentinal journalist Michael Thomas “ought to be charged with incitement to violent honor killing” because he raised some doubts about the Rifqa Bary case.
Geller also raises the subject of Paul Ray, who is not mentioned by Max anywhere in his post. Ray was the originator of the EDL, although he has since been sidelined, and he has launched a number of bitter attacks on the EDL leadership. She writes that:
I have seen Paul Ray’s wild accusations against the EDL, but I trust nothing he says. He lies. I had a falling out with Ray in 2007 when he tried to strong-arm me into promoting the BNP, and I would have none of it. He insisted that the BNP had cleaned up their act, but I wasn’t buying, as I had seen nothing of the kind. He got very ugly, shouting, pejorative with me. He pressed me to have Nick Griffin on my radio show and I refused and he went off on me. Very nasty. I would take anything Ray says with a grain of salt, if that. He continues to lie about me.
She then quotes one of (cough) my blog posts on Ray:
Paul Ray adds that he will have nothing to do with neo-Nazis… because “I have Jewish friends, and friends with a different skin colour to my own.” The link to his “Jewish friends” takes us to an audio interview he had in 2007 with none other than Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs; Geller has continued to support Ray.
She adds that
Lie. I am so not his, uh, “Jewish friend.” I haven’t spoken to him or uttered a word to him in well over 3 years.
In 2007, before the EDL was created, Ray was investigated by the police for incitement – for a short time he was regarded as a “free speech martyr” by American conservatives, and both Pam Geller and Phyllis Chesler interviewed him. However, Ray’s qualified pro-BNP views then came to light (“the Living God is on the side of the BNP”), and Chesler repudiated him. Geller, it seems, simply deleted her post on the subject at some point (it was here, and can be seen on Wayback here).
Geller’s enthusiasm for the EDL is in contrast to her friend Robert Spencer’s attitude. A few months ago, Spencer visited the UK with Martin Mawyer of the Christian Action Network. While in London, Spencer arranged to have dinner at a restaurant with Douglas Murray and some other British “anti-Islamist” types; however, Mawyer had just a few days previously interviewed some EDL leaders, and unknown to Spencer and the other guests, Mawyer’s assistant had invited them along to the restaurant. Murray (who had no idea who Mawyer was) left as soon as he learned that the EDL had been invited; and Spencer subsequently – having been goaded by Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs – made it very clear that he had left the restaurant before the EDL leaders arrived.
Spelling variation: English Defense League
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