| Brigitte Gabriel | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 21, 1964 Marjayoun, Marjeyoun District, Lebanon |
| Other names | Nour Saman (alternative nom de plume)[1] |
| Occupation | Author Activist |
| Years active | 1986-present |
| Website | |
| American Congress for Truth, ACT! for America | |
Brigitte Gabriel (a.k.a. Nour Saman, born October 21, 1964) is the pseudonym, of a Lebanese American journalist, author, and activist.[2][1] Gabriel says that Islam keeps countries backward,[3][4] and that it teaches terrorism.[5][6][7] In order to promote such views, Gabriel founded the American Congress For Truth and ACT! for America so that citizens may "fearlessly speak out in defense of America, Israel and Western civilization."[8]
She frequently speaks at American conservative-leaning organizations such as The Heritage Foundation, Christians United for Israel, Evangelicals and Jewish groups.[9]
Stephen Lee, the publicist at St. Martins Press for Gabriel’s second book, called her views "extreme".[10] Gabriel said she gives voice to "what many in America are thinking but afraid to say out loud, for fear of being labeled a racist, bigot, Islamophobic, or intolerant."[9]
Contents |
Brigitte Gabriel was born in the Marjayoun District in Lebanon to a Christian family.
Gabriel recalls that during the Lebanese Civil War, militants launched an assault on a Lebanese military base near her family's house and bombed her home, and consequently she and her parents were forced to live in an 8'x10' bomb shelter underground for seven years with only a small kerosene heater, no sanitary systems, no electricity or running water and little food. To get water she states that she had to crawl in a ditch alongside a road to a spring in order to evade Muslim snipers.[11]
Later, in 1978, Gabriel says a man warned her family of an impending attack on Christians by militias. She says that her life was saved that night when Israelis invaded Lebanon in Operation Litani. Later, when her mother was seriously injured and was taken to an Israeli hospital, Gabriel noted the humanity of the Israelis in contrast to the propaganda against the Jews she says she saw as a child.[12]
Critics of Gabriel complain that her biographical account is riddled with factual inaccuracies. While she claims that she lived for seven years in a bomb shelter, her former neighbors in Marjayoun recall that her family, like others in the village, might have spent a few nights in their shelter or basement at times, but that they otherwise lived relatively normally.[13] Gabriel, however, says that her home was destroyed by a shell in a militant attack, and that the bomb shelter was all that remained.[14]
An article in an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram Weekly by Franklin Lamb accused Gabriel of at some point erroneously telling audiences that Hezbollah, which was formed in 1982, was the group that terrorized her family for the seven years between 1975 and 1982.[13] However, he did not identify the time or place in which she allegedly made this claim.
After graduating from high school, Gabriel completed a one-year business administration course at a YWCA in 1984.[15]
Using the name Nour Saman, Gabriel was a news anchor for World News, an Arabic-language evening news broadcast of Middle East Television, a Marjayoun-based station that was run by the now defunct SLA and funded by Israel.[16][13] Broadcast in Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, through her work there, Gabriel covered the Israeli withdrawal from central Lebanon, the Israeli Security Zone (occupied South Lebanon), and the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza. The television station moved to Cyprus for a time and was later purchased by Pat Robertson.[13] Gabriel moved to Israel[13] before immigrating to the United States in 1989 where she founded a television production, marketing and advertising agency.[17]
According to the Center for International Policy (CIP), Gabriel, "has made a post-9/11 career out of roundly denouncing Islam, decrying 'political correctness,' and promoting the concept of an existential clash of cultures.[18] The CIP aso states that, "Her pro-Israel, anti-Islam spiel, coupled with her compelling personal history, has made her a popular speaker, writer, and general 'expert.' She appears sometimes as a commentator on television news and radio programs, often speaking out for the rights of Muslim women."[18]
Gabriel is the founder of ACT! for America, a non-profit issues advocacy organization. ACT! for America has hundreds of chapters across America and members in 20 countries outside of America. She is also the founder of American Congress for Truth, a non-profit organization which denounces Islamic fundamentalism.[17]
Gabriel is also a member of the Board of Advisors of The Intelligence Summit and lectures nationally and internationally on Global Terrorism. She has addressed former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, Members of the U.S. Congress, The Joint Forces Staff College, The United States Special Operations Command, the FBI and members of the House of Commons in London.[17]
Gabriel is listed as a member of the Hasbara Fellowship Speakers Bureau, a pro-Israeli advocacy group, on their website;[19] but has denied being a member of that organization.[13]
Gabriel is the author of two books: Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America, and They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. She is a regular guest analyst on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC and various radio stations daily across America.[17]
In her first book Gabriel discusses her experiences as a Maronite (Eastern Catholic) Christian living in Lebanon during the civil war in the 1970s.[20] She describes the story of her family and her childhood, hiding in a bomb shelter. She details her opinions that her country's inherent multicultural acceptance of all faiths and cultures including the then dominant Lebanese Christian phalangists, led to Lebanon's ruin by the continuous attacks from indigenous Muslims, other Christian groups and migrant Palestinians.[21]
Gabriel comments that "anyone who voices his or her opinion contrary to 'politically correct think' is immediately tagged" a "racist" or "bigot" and that this has resulted in a "social paranoia which discourages free thought and expression."[22] Moreover, she states that societies and cultures must be held accountable for their actions and that "by not judging others... we have helped create the monsters we are dealing with today."[23]
The book made The New York Times hardcover best seller list.[24] According to the introduction of the 2008 edition of Because They Hate, the book was put on the reading list at the FBI Academy and was assigned as mandatory reading for Navy SEALs heading to the Middle East.[25]
"We, as infidels in the eyes of our enemy, need to understand the danger we face: A totalitarian ideology — whether its origin is mainstream or marginal — threatens to enslave, dominate, and murder us in order to realize its vision for global conquest."[26]
| Part of a series on |
| Criticism of Islam |
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| Antisemitism · Domestic violence · Islam · Muhammad · Quran |
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| Irshad Manji · Ayaan Hirsi Ali · Maryam Namazie · Tarek Fatah · Daniel Pipes · Ibn Warraq · Geert Wilders · Oriana Fallaci · Pamela Geller · Robert Spencer · Theo van Gogh · Afshin Ellian · Salman Rushdie · Turan Dursun · Wafa Sultan · Magdi Allam · Anwar Shaikh · Walid Shoebat · Taslima Nasrin · Mark A. Gabriel · Brigitte Gabriel · Christopher Hitchens · Pat Condell · Nonie Darwish · Mosab Hassan Yousef · Bruce Bawer · Bat Ye'or · Necla Kelek · Debbie Schlussel · Srđa Trifković · Pastor Terry Jones · Fjordman · Pim Fortuyn · Efraim Karsh · Ehsan Jami · David Wood · Martin Bosma · Tommy Robinson |
Gabriel is critical of Islam and believes that "the degraded state of Arab societies is caused by Islam",[3] and that Arab Muslims are "lagging behind" because of social and religious values.[4] She considers "Islamic terrorists" simply as devout followers of Islam,[7] following an example set by Muhammad's behavior.[5][6] According to the New York Times, she portrays Islam as "thoroughly bent on destruction and domination" and her message is anti-Islam.[1]
| “ | It is not politically correct to say that our Western societies are better than the Muslim Arab societies, but we are, we have been, and we always will be. | ” |
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—Because They Hate[27] |
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Deborah Solomon of the New York Times Magazine, who interviewed Gabriel in August 2008, described her as a "radical Islamophobe."[28]
Gabriel is critical of Americans who "find all sorts of things wrong with America", who "badmouth and put down our culture, government, and country", while having "never experienced life in an oppressive culture or under an oppressive leadership such as is found in the Middle East."[27] She believes that Americans should "acknowledge that our Western culture is.. better than others."[23]
In viewing America as "a powerful and great nation" possessing "superior.. culture and values", Gabriel sees the entitlements that American Western culture has bestowed through "the Judeo-Christian value system" and the ideals of the Founding Fathers, who "worked to establish rights for the individual, rights that did not exist under other forms of government at that time."[29]
According to Gabriel, since Radical Islam views the destruction of Israel alongside the United States as "a parallel strategic objective",[30] she therefore sees the survival of Israel as being of paramount importance as a vanguard of Western culture and as "the only Western-style nation in the Middle East, one that Arabs despise, feel threatened by, and vow to destroy."[29]
In a symposium held in January 2009 titled "Homegrown Jihadis" by FrontPage Magazine, she stated Islam itself "promotes intolerance and violence", and that "Moderate Muslims must organize and engage those enlightened, educated and westernized Muslims in the community to begin a dialogue to discuss the possibility of reform in Islam just as Christianity and Judaism have been reformed."[31]
Gabriel views the Arab-Israeli conflict as being "intractable because the Arab world refuses to accept the right of a Jewish state to exist." This animosity, having once been rooted in Pan-Arabism has evolved, according to Gabriel, into the more sinister spectre of "radical Islamic supremacism" which now appears to seek "bigger game in the West." She cites examples such as the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the rise of Hamas as bringing to the forefront radical Islamic ideologies that are rooted in "religious hatred, humiliation, and resentment" of Israel and the West.[32]
Gabriel believes this can be seen in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict where, in her view, Palestinian nationalism has largely been replaced by "holy obligation" motivating adherents to commit "terrorist murder."[33] She states that the legitimization of Palestinian suicide attacks within Israel has now evolved to where, "Islamists believe that they may commit mass murder anywhere in the world to advance their holy cause." As a result, she believes the world now suffers "from a plague of Islamic terrorism... authored and perfected by the Palestinians."[34]
With regard to the two-state solution, Gabriel states: "Forcing Israel to accept a two-state solution is not going to work unless the Palestinians first are forced to clean up their act and eliminate hatred from their schoolbooks, teach tolerance to their people, and preach acceptance of Israel and the Jews as a neighbor."[35]
When Gabriel was invited to speak as part of a lecture series organized by Duke University's Jewish community in October 2004, many in attendance were angered by her referring to Arabs as "barbarians." The Freeman Centre for Jewish Life at Duke University later apologized for her comments.[13] Following her speech at women's campaign event for the Jewish Federation of Ottawa (JFO) in November 2008, many in attendance registered their protests, leading Mitchell Bellman, president and CEO of the JFO, to write a letter in which he acknowledged that Gabriel made, "unacceptable gross generalizations of Arabs and Muslims," distancing his organization from her views.[28]
In 2007 at the Christians United For Israel annual conference, Gabriel delivered the following speech:
The difference, my friends, between Israel and the Arab world is the difference between civilization and barbarism. It's the difference between good and evil [applause].... this is what we're witnessing in the Arabic world, They have no SOUL !, they are dead set on killing and destruction. And in the name of something they call "Allah" which is very different from the God we believe....[applause] because our God is the God of love.—Christians United For Israel annual conference 2007[36]
This speech was subsequently criticised by journalist Bruce Wilson as being "hate speech" and stated that Brigitte Gabriel "paints a wide swath of humanity as subhuman", comparing her to Goebbel's Reich.[36]
In March 2011 while being interviewed by Eliot Spitzer on CNN, Gabriel defended the speech stating:
I was talking about how Palestinian mothers are encouraging their children to go out and blow themselves up to smithereens just to kill Christians and Jews. And it was in that context that I - that I contrasted the difference between Israel and the Arabic world, was the difference between democracy and barbarism.[37]
She further added:
How easily journalists, or people and comments especially now with the Internet age, can take few words and either paste them together or edit them together to basically express their own point of view.[37]