DETROIT — Widely-read reports from the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) expose the multi-million dollar network inciting Islamophobia in the United States. 

According to CAP’s in-depth investigation, “Fear, Inc. The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America”, a small, tightly networked group of misinformation experts is guiding an effort that reaches millions of Americans through effective advocates, media partners and grassroots organizing. 

“The Islamophobia network is a business…it is a large network,” said CAIR-New York Director of Operations Sadyia Khalique. “These anti-Muslim activists get a lot of funding.”

The activists in the network who spread misinformation about Islam and Muslims benefitted from large salaries. CAP’s report shows eight donors contributed $57 million to the Islamophobia network between 2001 and 2012. 

The donors include Donors Capital Fund; Alan and Hope Winters Family Foundation; Scaife Foundations; Russell Berrie Foundation; Fairbrook Foundation; Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker Foundations and Charitable Trust; William Rosenwald Family Fund, Middle Road Foundation and Abstraction Fund and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. 

Donors Capital Fund contributed $27,042,600 in funding. The Scaife Foundation came in second on the list, having contributed $10,475,000. The Scaife Foundations are one of the main funders of anti-immigrant organizations.

The investigation also highlights the 10 main organizations making the Islamophobia Network. They include the Counterterrorism and Security Education and Research Foundation; Clarion Project; Middle East Forum; David Horowitz Freedom Center; Center for Security Policy; Investigative Project on Terrorism; Jihad Watch and ACT! for America Education. The Clarion Project received $18,508,600. 

Six individuals are responsible for spreading the majority of misinformation about Islam and Muslims. CAP’s report identifies them as Daniel Pipes, founder and president of the Middle East Forum; David Horowitz, founder and CEO of the David Horowitz Freedom Center; David Yerushalmi, founder of the Society of Americans for National Existence; Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the center for security policy, Robert Spencer, co-founder of Stop Islamization of America and director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center; and Steven Emerson, founder and executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. 

Spencer and Pamela Geller, another well-known critic of Islam, visited Dearborn in 2012 to speak out against honor killings at an event called the “Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference.” A counter conference was held in response to the event called “Rejecting Islamophobia: A Community Stand Against Hate.”

Geller has led efforts to pay for bus ads that cast Islam in a negative light. One of the ads that appeared in New York City’s transit system depicted a man with his face wrapped in a traditional Middle Eastern headdress next to the message, “Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah.” 

 “I believe Pamela Geller’s actions are wrong,” Khalique said. “But I do not hate her because that is what Islam teaches us; to hate the action, not the person.”

Corey Saylor, the national spokesman for CAIR, told The Arab American News he believes some of the anti-Muslim activists, including Geller, would still be spewing hateful rhetoric about Muslims even if they weren’t receiving financial support.  

“They are true believers, so they would be doing it anyway,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt making money off of it.”

Both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have classified Geller’s Stop Islamization of America as a hate group. On its site, the ADL identifies Spencer and Geller as “anti-Muslim bigots.” 

Yerushalmi is one of the driving forces behind Sharia related conspiracy theories. His Society of Americans for National Existence proposed legislation in 2007 to make adherence to Sharia “a felony punishable by 20 years in prison.”

In 2011 anti-sharia bills were proposed in Michigan. State representatives and civil rights activists condemned the legislation and said it unconstitutionally targets American Muslims. 

The legislation prohibits foreign laws from being used in Michigan courts or administrative agencies and was co-sponsored by more than 40 Republicans. 

Other critics of Islam and activists in the Islamophobia Network include Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. 

There are also political players in the network, such as former Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachman and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. 

CAP lists Walid Shoebat among others as “validators” in the Islamophobia Network. Shoebat established the Walid Shoebat Foundation, which solicits money to support his work and “fight for the Jewish people.” His website shoebat.com publishes misleading information and sensational stories about Muslims and Islam. 

The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies have labeled Shoebat as one of the self described experts whose extremist views are considered inaccurate and harmful. He has been described as a former Palestinian terrorist turned Zionist. 

The media commentators and outlets connected to the network in CAP’s report include FOX News, the National Review, the Washington Times and radio host Rush Limbaugh. 

In February, CAP also released “Fear Inc., 2.0: The Islamophobia Network’s Efforts to Manufacture Hate in America.” It details the consequences of some of the failed counterterrorism polices advocated for by the Islamophobia network.

The Council on American Islamic Relations’ 2013 report “Legislating Fear: Islamophobia and its impact on the United States” showed that the inner core of the U.S.-based Islamophobia network enjoyed access to at least $119,662,719 in total revenue between 2008 and 2011. 

Saylor said Islamophobia in the United States rises depending on certain events. He said the United States witnessed an increase in Islamophobia with the emergence of ISIS and it also appeared more visible with the Charlie Hebdo shootings in France. 

“It is like a roller coaster,” he said. “Sometimes it is up and sometimes it is down. With the emergence of ISIS, it has escalated. It goes through cycles in terms of intensity.” 

Saylor said many anti-Muslim activists, including Geller, strive off conflict, so it is important to ignore them. 

He added that it is uncertain whether there appears to be an increase in funding for the Islamophobia Network in recent years because groups are monitoring it more. 

Islamophobia impacts Muslim communities around the world, including the large concentration here in southeast Michigan. 

Islamophobia has led to attacks against Muslims and their places of worship around the country, workplace discrimination, hateful rhetoric and slurs on the Internet. In many cases, Islamophobia has claimed the lives of innocent people, including a man who was killed when he was pushed in front of a subway train in 2013 for looking like a Muslim. 

Khalique said CAIR and its staff have received a lot of threats and hate mail. 

She said in order to fight Islamophobia, it is important that Muslim groups reach out to non-Muslim organizations and educate them about the core teachings of Islam. 

“We learned that one of the demonstrators who protested outside the Arizona mosque against Islam and Muslims is now having a change of heart after learning about the faith,” she said. 

In 2011, Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian right wing extremist, planted a bomb in an Oslo government building that killed eight people. Hours after the explosion, he shot and killed 68 people. In a 1,500 page manifesto, which details his attacks and encourages others to engage in similar ones, Breivik pledges to fight “ongoing Islamic Colonization of Europe.”

Spencer and his blog, Jihad Watch, were cited 162 times in the manifesto and Geller’s blog, Atlas Shrugs, was mentioned 12 times. 

“They are fueling hate and a lot of people are acting on it,” Khalique said.