They say you're known by the company you keep.
If that's true, I'm proud to keep company with three freedom fighters who have come to my aid in a time of challenge.
One is a former terrorist who saw the light and now campaigns against the jihadists with an understanding and fortitude unmatched in America today.
Another is an anti-Shariah activist known for her courage forged in the rubble and crossfire of southern Lebanon.
And the third is a fearless grass-roots American activist who is on the front lines of the battle to kill New York’s 9/11 mosque and organize the 10-year memorial activities of the worst-ever attack on U.S. soil and citizens.
Meet Walid Shoebat, Brigitte Gabriel and Pamela Geller – my friends.
They are stepping forward today to aid me and WND in our fight against the Muslim Mafia.
As many of you know, I published a historic and breakthrough book in 2009 called "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America."
A combination of investigative reporting and a courageous penetration of the Council on American-Islamic Relations resulted in the acquisition of a treasure trove of internal documents from the most prominent Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas front group in the country – one boasting more than a dozen employees, board members and officers charged or convicted with terrorism counts.
Once the book was released, CAIR set out to destroy it with a propaganda campaign and lawsuits. When one of the co-authors of the book, along with his son, were named in a lawsuit by CAIR, WND and I stepped in to defend them.
Our legal team immediately showed the federal judge that CAIR was not even legally incorporated and therefore did not have standing to file the bogus charges. But the judge allowed CAIR to get its papers in order and refile their frivolous counts that stand the First Amendment on its head.
When the judge ordered our author to turn over all the documents he acquired from CAIR, the FBI stepped in with a subpoena and seized them as part of its on-going investigation of the group.
More recently, CAIR's tax-exempt status was suspended by the Internal Revenue Service for failure to file annual reports on its funding sources.
But still the legal jihad continues.
WND has borne the brunt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses defending this important book and its author – even though WND is not a party to the lawsuit.
I'm proud to say that my friends – Walld Shoebat, Brigitte Gabriel and Pamela Geller – are stepping forward and rallying around us at this time of need.
Here's what Geller told her own supporters: "The publisher of the must-read exposé on the Hamas-tied CAIR is under siege by the Muslim Brotherhood group and its jihad millions. Step up and help fight the bastards."
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Here's what Gabriel told her own supporters: "CAIR is using relentless legal attacks against WND trying to silence them and suppress the truth. It has become the modus operandi of our enemies to use our legal system, with Middle East oil money, to attempt to silence and intimidate those patriotic Americans who are standing courageously on the front lines fighting to defend our freedoms and expose those who wish America harm. WorldNetDaily needs our help in its legal defense to continue fighting and exposing CAIR."
Here's what Shoebat told his own supporters: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, is an organization that never disclosed its foreign sources of funding, which pours petrodollars into their pool, swimming with the slime of humanity. Despite this organization's very name being a lie, it continues to file frivolous lawsuits in an attempt to break the back of our friend and great American warrior, Mr. Joseph Farah of World Net Daily. Joseph has stood tall and unfettered. However, Farah is currently standing alone in his defense of free speech. He published a book which exposes CAIR's ties to radical jihad through original documents secured in a daring undercover operation. Joseph refuses to kowtow to CAIR and its demand that the blockbuster book 'Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America' be removed from bookstores, online retailers and any supplier and 'returned' to the Muslim group. … Farah should not have to fight this battle alone. It is time for patriotic Americans to show their solidarity with Farah."
I am deeply indebted to my good friends – each of whom has their own fights to wage, but, nevertheless, has come to my aid.
I wanted to share that story of camaraderie and unity – hoping it might inspire you to join me in this titanic battle over the First Amendment and our very way of life.