Over at his Middle Class Dub blog Colm Ó Broin has a good analysis of Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs and their demonisation of Muslims, which as he points out has clear parallels with 20th century antisemitism. A shorter version of the article has been published in the Irish language paper Gaelscéal.

The only quibble I would have is that the author is being too charitable when he states that Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller should be “presumed innocent” of inspiring Anders Breivik. The “documentary” Islam: What the West Needs to Know, which prominently features contributions from Spencer, so impressed Breivik that he reproduced a 20-page transcript of the film in his manifesto 2083: A European Declaration of Independence. Indeed Breivik’s manifesto contains over fifty approving references to Spencer.

Ó Broin himself demolishes Spencer’s laughable attempt to dissociate himself from the Norwegian mass murderer:

“Reacting to claims his writings inspired Anders Breivik, Spencer said that this was like blaming the Beatles for the Tate/La Bianca murders because Charles Manson said he was inspired to commit them by their song Helter Skelter. This comparison would only be apt however, if Helter Skelter contained lyrics which said Sharon Tate, Leno La Bianca and their friends were involved in an evil conspiracy to take over the US, that the media was helping them and that the US government, police and FBI knew of the plan to enslave the American people but refused to prevent it.”

Pursuing the parallel between Islamophobia and antisemitism, Ó Broin also presents a revealing comparison of statements, on Muslims and Jews respectively, by Robert Spencer and Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher. The accompanying video has been posted on Youtube.