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CAIR Asks Tenn. Tea Party to Drop Anti-Islam Speaker Speaker claims Islam 'inspired' Nazis, posts images depicting Islam's prophet as a pig

(CAIR, WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/24/10) --

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the organizers of the inaugural Tennessee Tea Party Convention to be held this weekend in Gatlinburg to drop an anti-Islam speaker who claims that "Hitler and the Nazis were inspired by Islam" and that Islam "mandates" lies and deception.

SEE: Tennessee Tea Party Convention Speakers

The extremist anti-Islam speaker, far-right blogger Pamela Geller, is also head of the hate group Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA). At the convention, Geller is scheduled to speak about "The Threat of Islam."

[NOTE: The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently refused to grant SOIA a trademark because: "The applied-for mark refers to Muslims in a disparaging manner because by definition it implies that conversion or conformity to Islam is something that needs to be stopped or caused to cease."]

Today, Geller posted images on her blog purporting to depict Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Several of those images show the prophet as a pig. Another image, headlined "Piss Be Upon Him," shows one of the controversial Danish cartoons of the prophet covered in urine. ("Piss Be Upon Him" is designed to mock the traditional phrase "Peace Be Upon Him" that Muslims use when mentioning any prophet of God.)

CAIR's request comes just a day after the Washington-based civil rights and advocacy organization called on the Tea Party to repudiate "ignorant" comments made by one of its leaders, who wrote that Muslims worship a "monkey-god." Mark Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express, also wrote on his blog that Muslims are "animals of allah [sic]."

SEE: Tea Party Leader Mark Williams Says Muslims Worship 'Monkey God' SEE ALSO: Tea Party Leader: 'Islam Is A 7th Century Death Cult Coughed Up By A Psychotic Pedophile'

"The Tea Part needs to decide whether it is a legitimate national political movement or just a safe haven for bigots and extremists," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "We ask that convention organizers not legitimize Geller's extremist anti-Muslim rhetoric by offering her an official platform."

Awad also called on Rep. Steve King (IA) to cancel his scheduled keynote address to the convention if Geller is kept on the schedule. Geller has in the past referred to President Obama as a "ball s**ker" and posted a photoshopped image of him urinating on an American flag.

On her personal blog, Geller has written of President Obama: "[O]ne thing is for sure: Hussein is a muhammadan [sic]." Geller also wrote: "[I]t is well known that Obama allegedly was involved with a crack whore in his youth."

Geller has been vocal in her criticism of the black population in South Africa and seemingly supportive of the slain South African apartheid leader Eugene Terre'blanche. Following Terre'blanche's recent murder, Geller wrote: "All I see in South Africa is Black supremacism. Terreblanche [sic] may have been a white supremacist, but he's the dead one."

Her blog has in the past featured categories such as "Advancing Islamic Lies" and "Islam 2008: Religion of Barbarism." She was recently involved in a Florida conference that invited extremist anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders to speak.

In one 2009 blog post, Geller wrote in reference to Islam's Prophet Muhammad: "And frankly I find the whole new 'Abrahamic' narrative really galling. 1,400 years ago some maniaic [sic] decided to spin the origin of a 5,767 year old religion to advance their own evil end and said it was Ishmael that Abraham was to kill and now it's taken as.....gospel? Puhleeeze."

She also claims Muslim groups "control information and how it is processed at senior levels of the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon, and the various branches of the military."

Geller once called for the destruction of Islam's Dome of Rock in Jerusalem. She wrote: "The dome has got to go. It is sitting atop the great Jewish temple. The dome has got to go."

Recently, Geller and the deputy head of SOIA, anti-Islam blogger Robert Spencer, offered support for a call to wipe the nation of Pakistan off the map using India's nuclear weapons. They both used their blogs to promote a video urging the mass killing of all Pakistanis.

Geller wrote of the girl featured in that video making the call to genocide: "Perhaps with an online Colb. (collaboration) we can run her for president in ‘16. She gets it."

Spencer wrote: "The girl is right: do not fear. Fight back against the jihad. Fear hands the jihadis a weapon."

SEE: Pamela Geller: The Looniest Blogger Ever

Geller has even been criticized by other Islamophobes for her extremism and for supporting far-right fascist groups in Europe. In fact, SIOA is an outgrowth of a similar group in Europe that seeks to block the construction of mosques on that continent. That group, Stop the Islamization of Europe, also "considers Islamophobia to be the height of common sense" and, like Geller, claims that Islam "considers lying to be not only acceptable, but obligatory."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT:

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com