Pamela Geller’s Aug. 23 WorldNetDaily column is one long tirade against the charity Islamic Relief, declaring “I equate ‘Islamic Relief’ with dhimmi pain,” accusing it of guilt-by-association with terrorists, and calling it a “jihadist group.”
Funny thing about that: WND had to retract a similar attack on Islamic Relief.
As we detailed, in December 2004, WND published an article by Aaron Klein claiming that Islamic Relief “is connected to several organizations that support terrorism,” has taken money from “a front group for Al-Qaida,” and suggesting that the orphans it claimed to be raising money for don’t exist.
Six months later, after what can be presumed to be a threat of a libel lawsuit by Islamic Relief, WND deleted Klein’s article and published a retraction:
WorldNetDaily hereby retracts its Dec. 3, 2004, article titled “College concert for terror-supporting charity,” about a California-based charity organization, Islamic Relief. WorldNetDaily regrets any adverse consequences caused by this publication to Islamic Relief and its worldwide founder, Dr. Hanny [sic] Al Banna.
WND never explained what in the story was false — which can only lead to the conclusion that so much was wrong with it that a simple correction would not suffice.
And that, of course, means that Geller’s playing guilt-by-association with Islamic Relief and terrorism is highly suspect as well. After all, WND has already retracted essentially the same claim by one of its own reporters, so there’s no reason to think Geller is any more accurate.
It seems that WND and Geller’s anti-Muslim fanaticism have set themselves up for another battle with Islamic Relief.