On August 10, a major victory for freedom of speech was achieved. President Obama signed the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act (SPEECH Act) into law, stopping Americans from being sued for libel by individuals in other countries with inadequate First Amendment rights. The legislation is a defeat for those who would seek to silence Americans speaking out against radical Islam by threatening to bankrupt them with costly lawsuits.
The story of the SPEECH Act starts with Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, the director of the American Center for Democracy, who bravely stood up to a Saudi billionaire named Khalid bin Mahfouz who she accused of financing terrorist groups in her book, Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed–and How to Stop It. Mahfouz, who died of a heart attack on August 16, 2009, targeted Ehrenfeld with a lawsuit as he had done to other authors accusing him of having ties to terrorism.
Taking advantage of the United Kingdom’s libel laws that force the defendant to prove their accusations in court, Mahfouz sued 45 publishers and journalists and all settled, except for Dr. Ehrenfeld. The U.N. Human Rights Committee even reported in 2008 that the laws “discourage critical media reporting on matters of serious public interest, adversely affecting the ability of scholars and journalists to publish their work, including through the phenomenon known as ‘libel tourism.’”
The result is that authors and publishers become unwilling to write about characters such as Mahfouz, aware of the cost that a lengthy legal case brings. Those targeted with such lawsuits have great difficulty finding work, as potential employers want to avoid meeting the same fate. This tactic, called “lawfare,” is very effective for nefarious organizations and individuals with the means of suing less wealthy critics into bankruptcy.
Ehrenfeld did not live in the U.K., and did not publish or even promote her book there. However, Mahfouz was able to justify the lawsuit because 23 copies of the book were bought there online. She reacted to the lawsuit by refusing to participate in the proceedings, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction. As a result, she lost by default and she countersued from the United States saying her rights were being violated. The New York Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in her favor, and the state passed the Libel Terrorism Protection Act, often referred to as “Rachel’s Law.” Illinois, Florida, California, Maryland, Utah and Tennessee followed.
Dr. Ehrenfeld’s allegations against Mahfouz have a solid foundation. Mahfouz founded the Muwaffaq Foundation that was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a financier of Al-Qaeda. The individual chosen by Mahfouz to run the charity, Yassin al-Qadi, was also blacklisted for his links to Al-Qaeda and Hamas.
Would theses ruls also aply to Israel and Avigdor Liebermann? Let's wait and see how far "freedom" goes here.
I'm always pleased to read a comment by crackerjack – he makes me feel as if I'm a genius (at least next to him).
Keep 'em coming, crackerjack! Youre good for everyone's self-esteem!
huh ? so who is lieberman suing for libel ?
no one.
more drivel from the 'cracked-bat'.
Hey crackerjack — typical illogical, dumb comment; you obviously totally missed the point and just wanted to say something bad about Jews and Israel. Israel and Lieberman aren't running around suing people libel period, nevermind in countries where their publications were never published or sold ! By the way, I don't like LIeberman at all, not by a long shot But that does not change the fact that your comment demonstrated a complete lack of critical thinking — a quality almost completely lacking the the entire Muslim world and the "conspiracy theory" world. Didin't you ever wonder why Jews constitute only 0.5% of the world populaton, yet they have won 25% of all Science Nobel Prizes, and the Muslim world constitutes nearly 20%, but no Muslim has yet to win a Science Nobel Prize. Hmmmm, I wonder how that could be….
Hey! But they gave the nobel peace prize (I think some cereals have them as prizes now) to the best of the best of the muslims, Yessir Imarat the homosexual, aids infected terrorist leader of the alleged palistinian "people". So they got something going for them, yes?
Arafat was not a homosexual. he was a child-molester.
there is a difference.
Um, no. According to Ion Pacepa, former communist-era Romanian intelligence officer, the Romanian intel service recorded Yassir's antics with his adult bodyguards and underage boys. Using Arafat as an example would lead to the conclusion that there is a significant overlap between the homosexual and molester populations.
One can also look at the background of molester/murderers such as John Wayne Gacy and Jeffery Dahmer, who was active in his local area's gay rights movement, for the homosexual/molester nexus.
Courageous woman. It is people like her who take a stand…and in the process, change the world.
This is a great step forward. THIS is progress. Now, if we can keep them from incorporating the UN's ideas of protecting religions from "hate speech" whereby critical expressions would be outlawed (as is supported by our President RIGHT NOW). On a related note, When will the US Government insist that NO NON-US LAWS will be recognized ANYWHERE in the US? In this way, we may prevent Sharia law from creeping in any further than it has…legally.
Mahfouz was also sorta kinda notorious, as I recall, for his penchant for "rent boys". I recall reading a British tabloid spread about the luxury condo in which Mahfouz kept his latest rent-boy paramour.
In the Ummah, EVERY day is "man-love day". The 7th Century psychotic pedophile prophet Mohammad wouldn't have it any other way….
There was a recent Symposium done by FP on why women are treated so badly in Islamic society. They finally touched on it toward the end (it was a fairly lengthy piece)– that in Arab/Muslim culture there is a lot of repressed homosexuality. But it sounds as though it's not as repressed as one would think.
The story also says a lot about how far the UK has fallen from being a world leader. When your system allows known terrorist backers to terrorize (via the law) someone who points that out, you have lost your way.
it will be a long war, but this indicates a turning of the tide.
Read Rachel's book. It's a great read not only for information but it is a page turner.
OBAMA IS TRYING TO CONVINCE AMERICANS THAT HE IS FOR FREEDOM AND BY DOING THIS HE IS TRYING TO HELP THE DEMOCRATS WIN IN NOV.
HOWEVER, WITH THE STRIKE OF A PEN HE CAN DELETE THIS LAW. DON'T THINK FOR A MOMENT HE WON'T HAVE DEMOCRATS, IF THEY CAN WIN CONGRESS SEATS INTRODUCE A NEW BILL TO NULLIFY THE ABOVE LAW. OBAMA MAY KNOW THE U.N. AND E.U ARE GOING TO PASS THEIR OWN LAW TO ALLOW OTHER COUNTRIES TO SUE AMERICANS.
OBAMA IS PUTTING THE UNITED STATES UNDER THE E.U. AND U.N. CONTROL MORE AND MORE WITH OUT AN UPRISING FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.EXAMPLE THE ARIZONA GOV. FOR SO CALLED MISTREATMENT OF MEXICANS
Did you know that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are conspiring with the anti-gun United Nations to force European-style gun control on American citizens?
WELL THIS IS HOW OBAMA AND COMPANY WORKS. NOT LONG AGO BOTH SAID THERE WOULD BE NO GUN LAWS AGAINST OWNERS IN THE U.S. AFTER THE
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GUN RIGHTS WORKED VERY HARD TO STOP THEM.
THE NRA CAN UP WITH SOME KIND OF A DEAL TO ALLOW THE BILL TO GO THROUGH. SO THANK THE NARA FOR FIGHTING FOR THE FREEDOM TO HAVE GUNS FOR NOW.
You trust Pelosi? Hillary wants a US that we would not even recognise. The big guy wants an Islamic states of America. Some people actually do not yet know he is Muslim.
Without the NRA only criminals would have guns. Makes home invasions so much easier without some gun nut confronting them before they can get to his family.
What do you call a liberal in a gun shop? Someone who had his first mugging.
The bill is now law. If the Republicans win in November, it will stay law. Islamo-fascism has been dealt a blow, but it will be back, using our very freedoms to enslave us. While Obama signed this bill, I will wait to see if he truly believes in freedom of speech. Keep an eye on the FCC trying to impose localism on talk radio stations – a version of the fairness doctrine. If Obama pushes for either of these, he is no friend of freedom of speech.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson
Bazi boys.
"The legislation is a defeat for those who would seek to silence Americans speaking out against radical Islam…"
'Unbelievers' remain ignorant about Islam's true teachings–at least in part–by those politicians, journalists, authors, writers, bloggers, and posters who perpetuates the false notion of 'radical' Islam.
There's no such thing.
There is Islam–a written ideology. And there are 1.2 billion Muslims around the world; the vast majority of whom are–thanfully–not fully compliant with Islam's every command, demand, and expectation.
So, let's retire that phrase; for whether Sunni or Shi'a or any of the minor sects within the Ummah, the failure to adhere to at least Islam's primary document (the Qur'an) does not change this simple fact: every Muslim reads the same 'version' of the Qur'an; for as Muslims gushingly tell us: there is only one.
Amputations and all.
IMO, that sentence should read:
The legislation is a defeat for those who would seek to silence Americans speaking out against Islam…
Sincerely,
Glad to hear a no-brain er was enacted to protect free speech. It does however, remain nothing in the eyes of islamist and the pretender-n-thief obamas Bin Ly'n. This may be a blow to the organizations such as CAIR, MAOA, etc. but, rest assured they have many more evil ways to confront us Kaffars with their version of conversion and intimidation. I will never surrender my GOD given right to either the State, the Fed's or the evilness known as islam.
I prefer a more direct approach to fighting IslamoFascists and that is going after them "directly" where the live or travel – assassination.
All of these supporters of Islamic jihad, indirectly and directly are attempting to subvert Western Democracies including Israel and are waging jihad (warfare) against the United States and all kafirs.
The proper response is to acknowledge their efforts and KILL THEM ALL. Cut off the head of the snake and the snake DIES.