Brigitte Gabriel

Born in Lebanon and an emigrant to the U.S. as a result of that country's civil war, Brigitte Gabriel is a journalist, news producer, and founder of the American Congress for Truth (ACT!). She is a contributing editor to Family Security Matters and a member of the advisory board of the U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon, and a member of the Hasbara Speakers Bureau.

Her focus is on radical Islamism, although she believes that in the core "original Islam of Muhammad, there are no innocent civilians...and even so-called 'moderate' Muslims, who don't agree with these jihadists devotion to the purest form of Islam or their terror tactics, respect their passion and commitment." She states this in her book, They must be stopped, a phrase repeated throughout the introduction.

In the book, she does clarify that it is an important question if radical Islam "can or should be viewed as a phenomenon distinct and separate from the Islam practiced by the vast majority of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims...for Americans of all political persuasions, however, the question of radical Islam versus moderate Islam should be considered secondary." She calls for the stopping of "Islamofascism...that says 'enough' to political correctness, that demands that government officials do what is necessary to protect us from this scourge." In a New York Times interview, she said "The moderate Muslims at this point are truly irrelevant. I grew up in the Paris of the Middle East, and because we refused to read the writing on the wall, we lost our country to Hezbollah and the radicals who are now controlling it. "

Public communications

In addition to frequent media interviews, she appears in a 2005 movie, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West", which was re-released as a DVD during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, and depicts the majority of Muslims as supportive of armed jihad. There are controversial allegations that the movie is connected, variously, with the Clarion Fund and Aish HaTorah, an Orthodox Jewish outreach organization. In March 2009, according to Christians United For Israel, she addressed services Word of Faith International Christian Center in Southfield, Michigan for their annual Day to Honor Israel, "who shared how her family was attacked in Lebanon because they were Christians and how Israel helped them." Her presentation, "Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America", appears on the Heritage Foundation website, referring to the "the single-mindedness with which fundamentalist Islam has pursued its goals over the past thirty years."

Recommendations for defense

Her prescription to win the war defines the opposition as having five elements:

1. "Devout Muslims", defined as those who call for and carry out armed jihad
2. "Muslim front organizations that silence any critique or criticism of Islam
3. Enablers of Islamic education
4. Hate-mongers: those who in Western mosques and madrassas, advocate violence, terror and the overthrow of constitutional law and democracy
5. The PC propaganda machine, the purveyors of political correctness in the West."

The ACT! website, calls for grass-roots members to be " vigilant and respond quickly to anti-American and anti-Israel media bias and social, political and religious behavior. ACT civic activism nationwide ensures elected officials remain vigilant in their duties in defending and protecting the United States and its only democratic ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel." . The book calls for monitoring "what the professors are teaching in the Middle East Studies and Political Science departments. You are there to point out when the professor is teaching something other than the truth. The students need to hear another point of view."

To address protection against terrorism, she recommends:

• Stricter border security and visa control
• Treat terrorists as enemy combatants not entitled to due process
• "Define jihadist ideology as terrorism...this kind of speech does not deserve to be protected."
• End FBI discrimination against Christians and Jews who are qualified Arabic translators
• Improve counterintelligence training and coordination
• "Perform thorough background checks and deny government positions and security clearances to Muslim activists
• "Increase financial auditing of Muslim organizations that "purport to be charitable or nonprofit organizations"
• Ask immigrants specifically whether they believe Sharia takes precedence over the U.S. Constitution
• Use profiling at airports
• Apply the same cutoff of tax-exempt status for schools that teach hatred against non-Muslims as was used for schools that taught racial hatred