Anti-Muslim blogger Robert Spencer is at it again, with yet another rant about me, full of insults, vicious hatred, and completely dishonest claims:

When libelblogger and CAIR tool Charles Johnson began to betray all his principles and sling wild false accusations at his former friends and associates, I knew it was only a matter of time before he abandoned Israel and embraced the very same jihadists he used to oppose and mock so vociferously (and sometimes with a cringe-making hatefulness that has now been revealed as the one constant in his approach).

And now it is beginning: he has in a recent post approvingly quoted Elizabeth May, a venomous Israel-hater who spoke in August 2006 at an anti-Israel rally full of supporters of the jihad terrorist group Hizballah.

Thus using the very same fractured logic that Johnson has used to defame me and many others as racists, fascists, supporters of genocide, etc., the conclusion is clear: libelblogger Charles Johnson now supports Hizballah.

Hoist by his own petard.

And fractured logic aside, watch for Johnson’s abandonment of Israel — his new Leftist masters will demand it.

Elizabeth May is a “venomous Israel-hater” and a supporter of Hezbollah? Really?

I’m sure that will come as a surprise to her, and also to the Canadian Jewish Political Affaris Committee, one of the sponsors of the anti-war rally Spencer is raving about. Here’s Elizabeth May’s statement about this incident at the CJPAC website, after right wing bloggers tried to float the same dishonest claims Spencer is now using to smear me: Sep 23, 2008 statement by Elizabeth May on the issue of Hezbollah (‘Party of God’):

OTTAWA - Contrary to rumours circulating on the internet, Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada did not appear at a Hezbollah event two years ago.

August 12, 2006, Ms. May did speak at a peace rally in Toronto along with Jewish and Arab Canadians to call for an end to the violence then raging in the Middle East.

In her remarks she strongly condemned Hezbollah for launching rocket attacks in to Israel as well as Israel for the bombing of Lebanon.

The Green Party of Canada supports peaceful resolution acceptable to all parties in the Middle East.

And the real story of the Hezbollah supporters’ appearance at this rally is contained in a comment on this page, linking to a statement by the organizers: The Shotgun: Elizabeth May at anti-Israel rally.

The original call out letter for this rally contained endorsements from a bunch of moderate peace groups, including the “Jewish Women’s Committee to End the Occupation”. Hezbollah is not on the list of organizers or sponsors of the event.

There is a whole thread on rabble.ca with posts by the event planners. There are also posts from some participants talking about it the next day. The initial call out letter is available and so is a bunch of discussion about the confusion caused by the loose associations of the groups involved.

Most informative is a post from someone called “Ohara” on Aug 13, 2006. To wit:

“Though I was heartened to see that the marshalls took some action in demanding that terroism promoters and anti-Semites should go home.”

“Go organize your own rally, don’t sabotage (ours), he said”

So clearly the rally organizers had no desire to have Hezbollah and their ilk at the rally and told them to leave when they arrived.

The thread is right here read it for yourself: (rabble.ca) tinyurl.com [The link is several years old and no longer works, unfortunately. – ed.]

I think it is pretty clear that Elizabeth May received an invitation to speak at a peace rally (badly) organized by some moderate peace groups and that more radical groups crashed the event.

I would hope that responsible journalists would perform at least 15 minutes of research before posting such inflammatory material.

The ugly, dishonest tactics of Robert Spencer, in your face.

No, I have not abandoned Israel. I am not “aligned with Hezbollah,” and neither is Elizabeth May, who I’m quite sure is a leftist, but not a supporter of Hezbollah. I quoted Elizabeth May’s opinion on the stolen CRU emails, which has nothing to do with this anti-war rally, and Spencer and his friend Pamela Geller dig up a years-old, completely false accusation about May, and use that to smear me.

It’s crystal clear that this latest rant is nothing but a reactionary attempt to divert attention away from Spencer’s and Geller’s own associations with bigots and extremists. For just one recent example out of many, see: Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller’s Rally: ‘Islam Is of the Devil’.

Spencer is simply lying. Again. And what he’s doing here is absolutely libelous.

UPDATE at 12/5/09 12:39:33 pm:

It’s also noteworthy in light of Spencer’s rant to point out that in 2008, Elizabeth May kicked out an antisemitic candidate from the Green Party.

NEW GLASGOW – The Green Party has announced that John Shavluk will not be the candidate for the party in Newton—North Delta, following revelations that he made comments in 2006 on an online discussion forum that could be construed as anti-Semitic.

“Respect for diversity is a fundamental principle of the Green Party,” said leader Elizabeth May. “We condemn anti-Semitism and our members work to encourage respectful dialogue, diversity, peace and cooperation.

“I communicated with John and thanked him for his work on behalf of the Green Party but explained that he will not be a candidate because his views are not consistent with our philosophy. I will not sign his nomination papers and the Green Party will nominate another candidate.”

(Hat tip: researchok.)