You may recall that I called BS on anti-Israel, terrorist emboldener Lauren Booth’s conversion-to-Islam story. For the simple reason that she had more than one version.
Now she has come up with yet another.
In 2008, she went to Gaza as part of the “Free Gaza” movement. That was a turning point. She was in a group of 46, traveling in two boats. Only three were Muslims. It was a deliberate decision to include few Muslims because “we white Westerners from Europe and America wanted to show the world that we too cared about the plight of the Gazans.”
The group was the first in 41 years to sail into Gaza from outside. Children swam out into the ocean to meet them. “It was like D-Day in Paris!”
Lauren knew something inside her was changing. God was charting a course for her, only she didn’t know what. Planning to stay for a few days, she ended up staying a month because the Israelis and the Egyptians blockaded her group in Gaza.
I remember crying one day because I had just spoken to my daughter. I had not seen my children for a month. Then an elderly Palestinian woman came and sat by me. She was a stranger to me as much as I was to her. ‘I am so sorry,’ she said. ‘I can see you miss your children.’”Then she told me her story. She used to live in the West Bank. One day she had to travel to Gaza for a day. The Israelis let her in. When she tried to return, though, the Israelis tore up her papers, threw her into the back of a van and dumped her in Gaza. “She hadn’t seen her husband and two sons for four years! And here she was, trying to console me and crying with me! How can you even begin to describe such empathy?”
I began to love the Arabs for their hospitality, empathy and the grace of their faith in the face of cruelty. I became what you might call an Arabaphile. But I was still not interested in Islam.”
It was the month of Ramadan. A family in the refugee camp invited her to share iftar with them. Sixteen of them were packed into a hovel. But the smile they greeted her with made her feel as if she was entering a palace.
Bet when she sat down to eat, she was angry with the Muslim God. “These people had so little to eat, yet their God demanded that they fast as well! He must be a cruel God indeed!”
When she asked her hosts why they fasted in such wretched condition, they told her they loved Allah and His prophet more than anything else in the world. Since Allah asked Muslims to fast, they obeyed His command with gratitude. Lauren saw the enormous love in their eyes. Something stirred inside her. “If this is Islam, I told myself, I want it. I want to be a part of this generosity, this empathy. I will join this faith with all my heart.”
Still, she had ways to go.
Returning to London and resuming her work, she came in contact with Somali and Eritrean cab drivers. Their passion about Islam overwhelmed her. They told her the most beautiful stories about the prophet, about how he taught that paradise lay beneath the feet of mothers, that the mother was the most venerable person on earth, far more than the father.
The stories moved her to tears. They were in stark contrast to what she saw in her own society. She knew of no one in her circle – not a single English man or woman – who was looking after his or her family. Children showed no sympathy toward their aging parents or grandparents. The attitude was: Send them off to homes and let them fend for themselves.
Yet these humble cab drives worked 18-20 shifts so they could send money back home for the care of their extended families. Their love and concern for their parents, spouses and children were palpable.
It all came together for her when she went to Iran to report for Press TV. At a mosque in Qom, she suddenly found herself crying. She used to think she was so smart and clever, yet realized in a moment of blinding clarity that narcissism led to nowhere. All negative feelings drained away from her. “I said from the heart, ‘O Allah, Thank you!’ A shot of pure emotional joy coursed through my veins. That night, I slept on the floor of the mosque. I was anxious. Where was I heading? What lay ahead for me?”
Notice how there is no mention of the supposed “key moment” she described in her last version, taking a walk in the woods and “feeling..the beauty of the creation of trees by Allah” after her then husband’s coma. Nor is there any mention of the moment when “everything started” according to a different version – her interview with the guardian of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Palestine in 2007.
Nope. It looks like she has now decided to tie her decision to convert to the generosity and empathy of palestinians and other Arabs.
But the lies don’t end there. Booth clearly told her Muslim audience that her mother was Christian.
She grew up in East London, a child of the ‘70s. The family was poor. Sometimes even basic necessities were scarce. Her father was a lapsed Catholic. Secularism overtook his faith. He was a good man who found solace in drinks. Her mother was a superstitious Christian. Not a churchgoer, she surrounded herself with religious icons to keep evil at bay.
But the truth is something else entirely.
Confusingly, as if there aren’t enough female names in the mix, what with eight daughters and four ex-wives, he (Booth’s father – ed) calls Lauren Sarah, the birth name she later changed.
He scoffs continually as we talk about Lauren/Sarah. His reaction on hearing about her conversion was to ‘laugh my head off’ and ask: ‘Whatever next?’
‘I mean, come on, the girl doesn’t have a spiritual bone in her body,’ he says.
‘Anyway, can you convert from Judaism to Islam?
‘The things is her mother was Jewish. Sarah wasn’t brought up a practicising Jew, but it goes down the female line, doesn’t it?’
He points out that Lauren hates her mother Pamela Smith, a model, ‘almost as much as she hates me. So maybe that’s what this is all about’
The question is why did she lie about her mother’s religion? Is is because she hates Jews, or because she simply does not know how to tell the truth?
Stick a fork in her, she's done.
I disagree. She's half-baked. xD
I find it weird that she speaks of specifically "white" people on the boat.
Is "white" the opposite of "Muslim"? Why is skin colour so important to these people?
It reminds me of their accusations of racism and apartheid against Israel.It's as if the thought that skin colours matter is so ingrained in their minds that they cannot even imagine societies that are not racist.
Its funny how much leftists make of skin color.
Oh, please, juvanya. You think half of the Republican Party questioning Obama's citizenship doesn't have to do with the President's skin color? Racial politics is played by the left and the right.
Once again, off your leftist rocker. The vast majority of people who didn't vote for Obama couldn't care less about anyone's skin color.
That's right, Shy Guy. You hate Obama because he's a crypto-Muslim, not because he's black. That's really white of you. And given some of your anti-Muslim rants, I'd be careful who you call crazy.
Compared to me, Shy Guy is an Islamophile. And what's with the "that's really white of you" comment. I suppose that sitting there in Iowa, wiggling your toes in pig shit while watching the corn grow doesn't put you in much contact with muslims unlike Shy Guy who is surrounded by hundreds of millions of them who have promised to drive him into the sea. Better wise up on Islam, Iowa is so flat that you'll have a long ride in the trunk of their car before they find that mountain to throw you off of.
Good grief, you sound like an accolyte of Pamela Geller, an archetypal Islamaphobe if ever there was one. Opposing the "Ground Zero Mosque" doesn't advance the American principles of freedom of religion. Carpet bombing Gaza doesn't make Israel a better or more secure place to live. Demonizing all Muslims is idiotic and bigoted. And how much do you really know about Iowa, anyway?
I'm from Illinois. Driven through Iowa many times on my motorcycle. Smelled pig shit and saw corn growing. Didn't stay around to wiggle toes or watch corn. I wanted to live in the 20th and 21st centuries. I can see that you are real big on name calling and real short on substance. I'm not interested in advancing any principles of freedom of religion. My view of the First Amendment is that it guarantees freedom from religion sponsored by the government. Islam is a political system with a nasty theocratic component mired in the 7th century. I haven't demonized all muslims, just all of Islam. Perhaps you can detail all the positive things muslims have done for America. Perhaps you can explain how 1% of the population can be responsible for 49% of the rapes in America. Perhaps you'll want to tell us we have it coming because of our colonial past. Perhaps you can move into how the Islamic terrorism is caused by our oppression of Islam. Then tell us about how Islamic welfare fraud, immigration fraud and food stamp fraud are all our fault too. If you fail to learn the true nature of Islam, you have seriously failed your duty to uphold the constitution.
how many persons of color serve as republican senators or congressmen?
give me a break
Let's start with Rep. Allen West. He's just as intelligent as Obama, but twice the patriot. He's not fooled by Islam one bit. And he ran against a Jewish guy in a heavily Jewish district getting most of the Jewish vote. And Obama got a lot of liberal Republican votes, some undoubtedly because they wanted to prove to themselves that they could vote for a black guy. Color is becoming less and less important for American voters. However, cries of racism by the left have seemed to increased in inverse proportion to actual racism. It has become the refuge of the scoundrel, morally bankrupt left wing of the Democratic Party.
Allen West has shown to be a neocon militarist gasbag. Tim Scott is a better banner to wave.
"has shown to be" means nothing more than that's your opinion.
It is pure fact. He is a diehard neocon, as bad as Bush and McCain. The Neocons are every bit as evil as the Muslims. They are an ally of ours I regret to some extent (while wondering if we would be better off without them–they do have substantial power).
You would do well to note that we are an ally of convenience to them and they would just as soon drop Israel on its head if that became beneficial to their interests.
Wave.
[youtube d6gFtFznOpE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6gFtFznOpE youtube]
I am well aware there are many. 5% every poll I think and growing a bit. He didnt really pick up any votes from them. They already support Democrats 90-10. The only thing he may have done was bring more out to vote.
Jim,
I hate Obama because he’s Red. It’s a color that has nothing to do with what a person looks like, but how he thinks and what he does.
The race card is maxed out; further withdrawals are no longer accepted.
I wish the problem of racism in America has gone away were true. Do people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and even PBS' Tavis Smiley see racism as all too pervasive in America? Well, yes they do, and I suppose that will never change because people of different races very often see the world differently. Race is the only rational explanation for some of the criticisms of the president. You don't like his health care reform plan? Fine. You don't like his deficit spending? Fine. You don't think he's an American? Unacceptable.
"American" is not a race.
Try harder.
Your comments just get funnier and funnier. Have you ever tried stand up?
“I wish the problem of racism in America has gone away were true.”
Me too. That’s why I want Marxism criminalized. Marxism has its entire existence in pitting groups against one another. As long as Marxism exists, gratuitous hatred will remain.
“Do people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and even PBS’ Tavis Smiley see racism as all too pervasive in America? Well, yes they do, and I suppose that will never change because…”
Because they’re projecting, as Marxists always do.
“…people of different races very often see the world differently.”
BS. How you see the world is a cultural thing, not a racial one–nurture, not nature.
“Race is the only rational explanation for some of the criticisms of the president.”
Only if the critics you refer to are the ones on Stormfront. Mainstream Right criticism of Obama has nothing to do with race. This is a Marxist lie and attempt at deflection.
“You don’t think he’s an American? Unacceptable.”
I always thought it was only religion that placed particular questions as out of bounds.
For my part, I don’t care about Obama’s birthplace; as far as I’m concerned, being a Marxist is enough to disqualify him, or anyone else, from being a resident, let alone a president.
Ive not said anything counter to that.
She should be honest and say "Press TV paid me to convert, I need the money I'm bankrupt".
John McCain wasn't even born in the United States and none of the Democrats demanded he produce a birth certificate. Race in American history runs much deeper than just skin deep.
his birth certificate has been shown
the only one that could be…the short form
give it a rest
if you are a birther…you are too insane to walk around in public
I wonder if she's become a clitoral amputee yet.
Hold on. It's been a long day. Is Lauren Booth Jewish or did I completely read this wrong? Please tell me I read this wrong!
He showed the same one I showed to get my passport. Actually, mine had less info on it.
Lauren Booth is a person whom the adherents of any religion would be glad to get rid off from their midst.
So far as her hiding of her mother's faith is concerned, it is conceivable that she was ashamed of her mother's faith and would have hid it to be at one with the "in crowd".Anyway, I feel that Judaism, Christianity,Atheism,Pantheism and Secularism and all other forms of religion that Lauren Booth might have been eyeing have all been enriched by the decision of Lauren Booth to convert to Islam.