John Esposito responds! (Here, Dhimmi, Dhimmi!)

Site Admin Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 7783

***Dhimmi of the day award***

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/020823.php

April 28, 2008

John Esposito responds!

Jihad Watch reader A. asked Saudi-funded dhimmi academic John Esposito about this post, in which I detail some of his unsavory associations. Esposito responded by sending his bio, along with this:

Robert Spencer has no credentials/training in the fields of Islamic studies, Middle East Studies, Muslim studies and runs a "madwatch" website. I attach my bio info. The fact that Spencer now criticizes Dinesh D'Souza shows his desperation.

Heh. I guess that means I've been desperate for some time now -- or rather, that Dinesh himself is desperate, since he started the whole thing between him and me with a gratuitous attack on my work in his farrago The Enemy At Home.

But in the real world, how exactly does the question of my academic credentials have anything to do with whether or not John Esposito has said these things about Sami Al-Arian and worked with Azzam Tamimi?

In other words, if I don't have a PhD, does that mean John Esposito hasn't been palling around with PIJ and Hamas operatives?

I will debate John Esposito on Islam and Jihad anytime or anyplace. Or Dinesh D'Souza, for that matter. Of course, I have already debated him, and I doubt he would be willing to repeat the experience.

If I am wrong in what I say, it should be easy for John Esposito to mop the floor with me and discredit me once and for all, ridding the world of my baneful influence.

But it's easier to deflect questions about one's associations and allegiances by casting aspersions on the one who asks the questions, isn't it?

I'm still waiting for John Esposito, for all his vaunted training in Islamic studies and Saudi millions, or anyone else to establish that even one thing I have ever said about Islam or jihad is false. This would require, of course, that he actually read what I say instead of relying on the venomous caricatures of his character-assassination-minded friends.

I won't be holding my breath. But I have written this to John Esposito himself.

Site Admin Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 7783

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/020820.php

April 28, 2008

Dinesh D'Souza: John Esposito "is one of the most respected American authorities on Islam"

On Friday I commented here on a post at Dinesh D'Souza's blog, in which he praises Saudi-funded dhimmi academic John Esposito. Now D'Souza has repeated this praise in his Townhall column (thanks to Doc Washburn), so it's worth repeating some things D'Souza almost certainly doesn't know about this "respected" American "authority" on Islam.

Esposito has called Bernard Lewis, whom D'Souza has repeatedly cited and praised, "one of the Darth Vaders of the world."
Esposito has spoken at a Council on American-Islamic Relations fundraiser in order to "show solidarity not only with the Holy Land Fund [that is, the Holy Land Foundation], but also with CAIR." The Holy Land Foundation is accused of funneling money to the jihad terror group Hamas, and CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.

Esposito has said of a man who is in prison for aiding the jihad terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad that "Sami Al-Arian's a very good friend of mine."

Esposito has co-edited a book with Azzam Tamimi. Palestinian political scientist Muhammad Muslih calls Tamimi "a Hamas member." Tamimi has said: "I admire the Taliban; they are courageous." About 9/11, he has said: "In the Arab and Muslim countries, everyone jumped for joy." He has said: "I support Hamas."

At his Sandbox blog Martin Kramer neatly demolishes the smooth propaganda of this Saudi-financed pseudo-academic Islamic apologist and friend of jihadists, John Esposito. By falling for Esposito's propaganda, Dinesh D'Souza demonstrates definitively (as if there were really any doubt at this point) that when writing about Islam, jihad, and terrorism he is in way over his head. D'Souza shows that he has done no research, has no idea of the players involved or the territory, and is about as far from being the authority on Islam that he preens himself on being (he grew up in India!), and that the Hannitys of the world are eager to anoint him as being, as anyone can get.