Opinion:The real truth about Pamela Geller

It’s incredible how one Jewish woman speaking to one Long Island synagogue’s men’s club can generate the wrath of so many progressive-first “Jewish” organizations. As soon as the word spread that Pamela Geller, blogger and fighter of radical Islam, would be appearing at Great Neck Synagogue April 14, the PC Police began an e-mail and phone campaign seeking to get the talk canceled.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should let you know that Pamela Geller has been my friend for six plus years, ever since I was a newbie blogger and she was already the famous proprietor of blog Atlas Shrugs. I will also tell you the anti-Muslim “monster” portrayed by the mainstream media and progressive Jewish organizations has no relation to the real Pamela Geller.

She fights against radical Muslims a fight that grew out of her love for Israel and her frustration with the anti-Semitic, anti-American and anti-Israel sermons and commentary originating from the radical Muslim community.

One of the leaders of the stop Geller from talking movement is the “Jewish Voice For Peace” (JVP). The group sent an email to its members on April 3rd, urging them to contact the Great Neck Synagogue and ask it to cancel the event. Rebecca Vilkomerson, JVP’s executive director, told the Forward on April 4 that at least 50 people had contacted Great Neck Synagogue at the group’s behest.

“Our hope is that the synagogue will cancel her appearance,” Vilkomerson said. “The kind of venom that she spews against Islam is completely inappropriate for a synagogue.”

That the JVP is leading the charge should tell you all you need to know about who is trying to stop Pamela from speaking the truth.

In a rare moment of putting its mission before progressive politics, the ADL once called the JVP one of the 10 most anti-Israel organizations in America (Top ten? I am sure their mothers are so proud).According to the ADL analysis, the JVP: “…calls for an end to U.S. aid to Israel, accuses Israel of “apartheid” policies, and supports divestment campaigns against Israel. Like other Jewish anti-Zionist groups, JVP uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide a greater degree of credibility to the anti-Israel movement. JVP recognizes its role as such, specifically noting that the group’s Jewish nature gives it a “particular legitimacy in voicing an alternative view of American and Israeli actions and policies” and the ability to distinguish “between real anti-Semitism and the cynical manipulation of that issue.” JVP activists regularly attend anti-Israel events wearing t-shirts and holding signs proudly broadcasting their Jewish identity. In March-April 2010, leaders of JVP unsuccessfully lobbied for the passage of a divestment resolution at the University of California, Berkeley, targeting companies that do business with Israel.”

Here is the truth about Pamela Geller. There are people in the world who see a wrong, give a quick “oh that’s so sad” and get on with their lives. Then there are others who see a wrong and go all out to right it. That’s Pamela-- someone who goes out of her way to do what we call in Hebrew, Tikun Olam, repair the world.

Let me explain what I mean with a story the Progressives would never repeat.

On the morning of December 10, 2007 Aqsa Parvez, huddled in a Mississauga, Canada bus shelter with another grade 11 student, a girl she had been staying with for the past few days. They had plenty of time to make it to their first class at Applewood Heights Secondary School. As they waited, Aqsa’s 26-year-old brother Waqas, a tow-truck driver, showed up at the bus stop. He said that she should come home and get a fresh change of clothes if she was going to be staying elsewhere. Aqsa hesitated, and then got into his car.

Less than an hour later, Muhammad Parvez phoned 911 and told the dispatcher that he had killed his daughter. Within minutes, police and paramedics arrived at 5363 Longhorn Trail, a winding suburban street near Eglinton and Hurontario, and found Aqsa unconscious in her bedroom. The 16-year-old wasn’t breathing. The paramedics started CPR, found a faint pulse, and rushed her to Credit Valley Hospital, 10 minutes west. She died just after 10 that evening. The official cause was “neck compression”—strangulation.

Aqsa Parvez was buried in an unmarked grave. Her family refused to acknowledge her life, because she “dishonored” them. In defiance of her devout father she began taking off her hijab, the traditional Islamic headscarf, when she went to school, and would put it back on when she returned home. Her dad would go to her school during school hours and walk around trying to find her, trying to catch her not wearing Islamic garb, talking to boys or hanging out with “non-Muslims.”

Pamela grabbed that wrong by the neck and did what she could to eradicate the evil. She raised money (and threw in her own) for a tombstone for Aqsa’s grave. When the family refused to allow the stone:

“.. we inquired as to purchasing a plot near Aqsa’s body, we could not. Not a tree. Not a rock. Not a bench. All the plots were owned by the Islamic Society of North America. I tried to contact the family at that time, but they would not take my calls -- I spoke to them once, but they pretended not to speak English. And they were adamant: the family refused to allow the headstone to be put on Aqsa’s grave, and according to the cemetery, could remove it if it were placed there by others.”

Feeling that this Muslim girl’s memory shouldn’t be tossed out like the trash, Pamela found a way to honor her memory— Aqsa Parvez grove and plaque in the American Independence Park in Nes Harim, Israel.

This is only one of many examples of the hard work of Pamela Geller to protect and honor Muslims, how she has provided safe-houses for Muslim girls threatened with honor killings, how she has fought against those who would destroy Israel.

I called Pamela today and asked about the leftist groups trying to stop her Great Neck appearance. She told me that it wasn’t about her—not at all personal, they were fighting against her pro-Israel, anti- radical message.

Perhaps she is right, but I do take it personally because I know the real Pamela Geller, not the twisted stereotype created by the progressive attack force. There are very few people that I have met in my life who risk as much as she does to help others. None of those who brand her as anti-Muslim have done one tenth of what she has done to help Muslims (and others) in distress. Pamela’s heart is larger than the Empire State Building, which is why she invests so much of her own time and resources to help others (not that one would know any of this by reading the mainstream media).

In the end, I am very proud to have the REAL Pamela Geller as a friend.

Jeff Dunetz is the Editor/Publisher of the political blog “The Lid” (www.jeffdunetz.com). Jeff contributes to some of the largest political sites on the internet including American Thinker, Big Government, Big Journalism, NewsReal and Pajama’s Media, and has been a guest on national radio shows including G. Gordon Liddy, Tammy Bruce and Glenn Beck. Jeff lives in Long Island.