No Script

Please Wait...

Al-Ahed Telegram

New US NS Adviser Bolton Presided Over False Anti-Muslim Publisher

New US NS Adviser Bolton Presided Over False Anti-Muslim Publisher
folder_openAmericas... access_time5 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

US National Security Adviser John Bolton recently served as the chairman of a nonprofit that shared inaccurate anti-Muslim news reports, according to NBC News.

New US NS Adviser Bolton Presided Over False Anti-Muslim Publisher

Bolton was the chairman of the Gatestone Institute, a group that was found to have shared false or misleading news items about Muslims, the network reported, adding that he joined the nonprofit in 2013 and resigned last month before entering the Trump administration.

The lurid headlines, which are translated into multiple languages and distributed widely through Gatestone's social media page and its partners in conservative media, are rarely supported by the evidence.

The website routinely portrays Muslim migrants and refugees as an existential threat to Europe and the US, claiming that immigrants bring "highly infectious diseases," genital mutilation practices, and terror to any nation that accepts them. The site spent years sharply criticizing the Obama administration for having a "traditional Muslim bias" against Christians.

Furthermore, the site has published and promoted stories with headlines like "Germany Confiscating Homes to Use for Migrants," which focused on one apartment in the city of Hamburg going into temporary trusteeship, NBC News noted.

Though, German media noted that under Hamburg's strict housing laws, a single house in the city was placed into temporary trusteeship after it remained vacant. "Refugees did not play a role in the district's decision," noted Correctiv, a local watchdog group

Another piece from September 2017 features the headline "Europe: The Great White Death?" It focuses on a study by an author who argues that "the native population - by which he means the white population - of Europe face[s] extinction."

Gatestone describes itself as "a non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council and think tank ... dedicated to educating the public about what the mainstream media fails to report," including topic like "threats to our individual liberty, sovereignty and free speech."

The US National Security Council told NBC News it doesn't comment on articles on outside groups, but said that Bolton was aware of the report.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told NBC News that the institute is "a key part of the whole Islamophobic cottage industry on the internet" and that Bolton's association with the group "is very disturbing."

Bolton has made no effort to conceal his close ties to the forces of Islamophobia. As reporter Eli Clifton noted, Bolton wrote the foreword to a book authored by Robert Spencer and Pamella Geller, two American activists that have led the charge in protesting mosques and spreading conspiracy theories about the alleged threat posed by Islam.

According to the Intercept, the hate has in some ways been a lucrative career path. Bolton, for his efforts, has collected at least $310,000 from the Gatestone Institute in payments, according to publicly available tax disclosures.

Trump tapped Bolton as his new national security adviser in March, and he began serving in the post earlier this month. Bolton did speak out against Trump's plan to ban refugees from majority-Muslim countries in the past.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

Comments