But they say things!@JonahNRO @NewRepublic
— coshoct (@coshoct) June 13, 2017
So, whatever’s infected Linda Sarsour is apparently catching. As Twitchy told you, back in 2011, Sarsour declared that outspoken Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali didn’t deserve to be a woman (and that she should have her vagina taken away).
Now, the New Republic’s Sarah Jones has decided that Hirsi Ali — along with fellow radical Islam critic Asra Nomani — shouldn’t be allowed to testify about violent Muslim extremism before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee:
This is shameful. No adults left at TNR. https://t.co/ktmReORhvI
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) June 13, 2017
Jones writes:
Let’s start with Hirsi Ali. In 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center included her on a list of anti-Muslim extremists for her statements about Islam. Islam, she has claimed, is a “destructive, nihilistic cult of death.” She has urged its defeat by the West and asserted that it is “not interested in peace.” Once a Dutch MP for the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, she briefly lost her Dutch citizenship for lying on her asylum application. She is now a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution.
Enmeshed in the conservative think tank world, Hirsi Ali has successfully branded herself an expert on Islamic extremism. She has repeatedly claimed that Muslims are responsible for “70 percent” of all violence in armed conflicts around the world. There’s no evidence that this is true, as Max Blumenthal confirmed with foreign policy experts in 2015. In May, she blamed the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe squarely on Islam—never mind that the continent’s surging far-right fringe has quite a bit to do with it too. Her views on Islam are largely indistinguishable from that of Donald Trump and his administration.
…
Hirsi Ali and Nomani aren’t reliable witnesses, and their extreme views ought to disqualify them from any platform dependent on expertise. On Wednesday, they’ll simply tell Senate Republicans exactly what they want to hear about Islam. It won’t be factual, but for Republicans, it won’t matter.
In other words, Hirsi Ali’s refusal to back down from her brave — not to mention personal — fight against Islamic radicalism makes her woefully unqualified to talk about … Islamic radicalism.
This is a shameful piece with a dearth of intellecual and moral credibility that is as embarrassing as it is malicious
— Fran Johnson (@franjohnson_ie) June 13, 2017
Is the SPLC’s hatred of Hirsi Ali supposed to hurt her? If anything, it reinforces her credibility.
Quoting the SPLC… How cute.
— MDA (@mateosinatra) June 13, 2017
If they're gonna use the SPLC, they should probably note the number of people who stopped donating in disgust at the designation.
— JT (@JTJrJr2) June 13, 2017
Anyone the SPLC hates works for me!
— FederalistMamaBear (@BearingTruth) June 13, 2017
Jones’ contention that Hirsi Ali isn’t a “reliable witness” to Islamic extremism is not only wrong, it’s downright disgusting.
Ayaan is the perfect person to talk about it, she lived it. She has the scars to prove it.
— Dee Brunner (@diann6361) June 13, 2017
Right, the woman who has been a victim of Islam all her life, wherever she went, isn't the right person to talk about Islam.
— Nikhil (@nmhumanist) June 13, 2017
Yeah, Somali women born into a religious Muslim family who had FGM committed to her and escaped an arranged marriage is no expert on Islam
— Skyler Lenchner (@theskycavedin) June 13, 2017
If you were brought up as a Muslima and had your clitoris forcefully removed then suffered death threats from Muslims – ure an expert.
— So Angry (@MisterSoAngry) June 13, 2017
They are clearly experts on Islam. I am grateful the Senate was smart enough to call them.
— Bruce Clemens (@BruceClemens7) June 13, 2017