CLASS: Anti-Muslim Bigots/Islamophobes
Overview
According to its website, the Gatestone Institute claims to be “a non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council and think tank, dedicated to educating the public about what the mainstream media fails to report in promoting human rights, institutions of democracy and the rule of law, etc.” Gatestone’s founder, Nina Rosenwald, is the heiress to the Sears Roebuck fortune, and has used it to further Islamophobia through the William Rosenwald Family Fund. In fact, a report titled “Fear Inc.” by the Center for American Progress found that the fund is one of the “top seven contributors to promoting Islamophobia in our country” and has put forth $2.8 million to “organizations that fan the flames of Islamophobia” since 2000.
HISTORY:
Gatestone has published a steady stream of content aimed at stoking fears of a Muslim takeover of Europe and America. The articles warn that increasing Muslim migration to Europe will lead to the “Islamization” of the continent. Gatestone’s pieces have been cited by far-right politicians to justify their anti-Muslim policies.
Gatestone Institute was founded in 2008 under the name “Hudson New York” by Nina Rosenwald. In 2012, the organization briefly changed its name to Stonegate Institute. Later that year, the organization adopted its current name. Gatestone describes itself as an “international policy council and think tank.” The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and current national security adviser to President Donald Trump, John Bolton, served as the Institute’s chairman since 2013.
Rosenwald is the heiress to the Sears Roebuck fortune. A 2011 report by the Center for American Progress found that since 2001, Rosenwald, through her family foundation, the William Rosenwald Family Fund, donated more than $2.8 million to “organizations that fan the flames of Islamophobia.” The Center for American Progress identified the family fund as one of the the top seven funders of Islamophobia.
A September 2017 article in The Intercept by investigative journalist Lee Fang found that Gatestone published articles “focused on stoking fears about immigrants and Muslims.” In another article from 2018, Fang noted Gatestone was “infamous for its role in publishing ‘fake news’ and spreading hate about Muslims.” Fang also found that Gatestone’s anti-Muslim content had been regularly promoted by politicians, including members and affiliated online groups, of the far-right German party, Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Articles published by Gatestone claim that Muslim migrants and refugees are bringing “highly infectious diseases” to Germany, and Muslims are transforming entire German neighborhoods into “no-go zones.” A 2018 NBC News article noted that “Gatestone has been a significant promoter” of the debunked “no-go zones” claim. In 2015, then Republican Governor, Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana, cited Gatestone’s articles making such claims.
Gatestone has published pieces warning of “jihadist takeover” of Europe leading to a “Great White Death.” The running theme for Gatestone’s anti-Muslim pieces has been to “portray Western society as at risk of ‘Islamization.’” Writers for Gatestone include Shillman journalism fellows and writers for the David Horowitz Freedom Center, David Greenfield and Raymond Ibrahim. The Freedom Center also reprints articles from Gatestone to it’s online publication, Frontpage Magazine.
The online platform has been described by Webby-award winning AlterNet news service as “a hub for anti-Muslim ideologues,” including Dutch politician Geert Wilders, anti-Muslim writer Robert Spencer, former deputy assistant to Donald Trump, Sebastian Gorka, and Norwegian blogger Fjordman. The far-right Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik heavily cited Fjordman in his manifesto, along with many of Gatestone’s other writers, warning against the “Islamization” of Europe.
In a 2018 NBC News article, Alina Polyakova, a Brookings Institution fellow, described Gatestone as “‘putting out content that was clearly anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and was echoing some of the Russian disinformation propaganda’ being spread by internet trolls and on social media.”
In 2016, Gatestone partnered with The Rebel, a Canadian media company “with a history of bigotry and anti-Semitism,” to produce a series of 12 “cross-branded videos.” The videos feature “misinformation expert” Daniel Pipes and Geert Wilders, and promote “paranoid, apocalyptic far-right themes vilifying Muslims and refugees.” A 2017 article in The Independent, found that Gatestone was one of two “US right-wing foundations” that have sponsored Wilders’ trips to America.
In 2015, Gatestone took out a full page advert in the New York Times. The full page ad called on Muslims to condemn worldwide violence, implying that the explanation for global violence was Islam. Muslim groups and others criticize this claim that Muslims should do more to condemn terrorism, saying that this narrative overlooks both the fact that Muslims do condemn terrorism, and that they shouldn’t have to. Other groups signed on to the full page ad, including British “counter-extremism” think-tank, Quilliam.
Between 2014-2016, the Mercer family foundation, run by Rebekah Mercer, contributed $250,000 to Gatestone. In April 2017, journalist Eli Clifton revealed that “Mercer had been listed as a member of the board of governors” of Institute. Following inquiries from news outlets, Gatestone deleted any mention of Mercer on its board.
Board of Directors: Nina Rosenwald, Naomi H. Perlman
Fellows: Khaled Abu Toameh, Judith Bergman, Uzay Bulut, Pat Caddell, Gordon G. Chang, Con Coughlin, Charles Crawford, Alexandre del Valle, Alan M. Dershowitz, Tawfik Hamid, Lars Hedegaard, Joseph Humire, Raymond Ibrahim, Richard Kemp, Soeren Kern, Malcolm Lowe, Denis MacEoin, Salim Mansur, Guy Millière, Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, Douglas Murray, Raheel Raza, Harold Rhode, Jason Riley, Andrew Roberts, Peter Schweizer, Francesco Sisci, Jagdish N. Singh, Vijeta Uniyal, Najat AlSaied
Staff: Unknown
Contributors: Elliott Abrams, J. Christian Adams, Göran Adamson, Marie-Fleur Agema, Najat AlSaied, Mohammad Amin, Michael Armanious, Andrew Ash, Shabnam Assadollahi, Maryam Assaf, Rahat John Austin, Raif Badawi, Mina Bai, Peter Baum, Bruce Bawer, Burak Bekdil, Louis René Beres, Judith Bergman, Stephen Blank, Ruthie Blum, John R. Bolton, Tharwa Boulifi, David Brown, Shoshana Bryen, Stephen Bryen, Uzay Bulut, Dawid Bunikowski, Grégoire Canlorbe, A.J. Caschetta, Gordon G. Chang, Ahmed Charai, Kasim Cindemir , Alexandra Colen, Valentina Colombo, Con Coughlin, Richard L. Cravatts, Nonie Darwish, Omer Demir, Simon Deng, David A. Deptula, Alan M. Dershowitz, Alain Destexhe, William DiPuccio, Christine Douglass-Williams, Kent Ekeroth, Saher Fares, Chris Farrell, Fjordman, Stefan Frank, Lawrence A. Franklin, Tiago S. Freitas, Maher Gabra, Masha Gabriel, Alia Al Ganis, Amir George, Manfred Gerstenfeld, Debalina Ghoshal, Drieu Godefridi, J. P. Golbert, Dore Gold, David P. Goldman, Jean Patrick Grumberg, Mohshin Habib, Hakim Haider, Tawfik Hamid, Ole Hasselbalch, Petra Heldt, Peter Huessy, Joseph Humire, Joseph M. Humire, Raymond Ibrahim, George Igler, Amil Imani, Reyhaneh Jabbari, M. Zuhdi Jasser, Ileana Johnson, Andrew Jones, Joshua Joseph, Lawrence Kadish, Naomi Linder Kahn, Sirwan Kajjo, Anthony Kalulu, Garry Kasparov, Jean-Pierre Katrib, Joe Kaufman, Jan Keller, Richard Kemp, Soeren Kern, Khadija Khan, Kaswar Klasra, Václav Klaus, Jacobus E. Lato, Bernhard Lazarus, Kenneth Levin, Bernard Lewis, Oren Litwin, Malcolm Lowe, Denis MacEoin, Yves Mamou, Samantha Mandeles, Sirwan Mansouri, Salim Mansur, David Oscar Markus, Fred Maroun, Gerald R. McDermott, Vasileios Meichanetsidis, Francis Menton, Giulio Meotti, Johny Messo, Abraham H. Miller, Guy Milliere, A. Z. Mohamed, Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, Keya Mukherjee, Douglas Murray, Fiamma Nirenstein, Trevor Norwitz, Sara Al Nuaimi, Natalia Osten-Sacken, Nuhu Othman, Sandra Parker, Shadi Paveh, Jiří Payne, Tobias Petersson, Luis Petri, Daniel Pipes, Maria Polizoidou, Nima Gholam Ali Pour, Mitra Pourshajari, Peter Pry, Shireen Qudosi, Tom Quiggin, Majid Rafizadeh, Abdel Jabbar Rawashdeh, Raheel Raza, Sohail Raza, Pierre Rehov, Harold Rhode, Inna Rogatchi, Raymond de Roon, Steven J. Rosen, Eric Rozenman, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, Cesare Sacchetti, Sezen Şahin, Hayet Ben Said, Philip Carl Salzman, Lawrence Sellin, Natan Sharansky, Uzi Shaya, Saied Shoaaib, Kenneth Sikorski, Jagdish N. Singh, Maha Soliman, Erick Stakelbeck, Shelby Steele, Tamar Sternthal, David C. Stolinsky, Noah Summers, Amir Taheri, Kaveh Taheri, Janet Tavakoli, Bassam Tawil, Khaled Abu Toameh, Jonathan S. Tobin, Mirek Topolánek, Jeff Trag, Robbie Travers, Pinar Tremblay, Vijeta Uniyal, Jiri Valenta, Leni Friedman Valenta, Alexandre del Valle, Tommaso Virgili, Susan Warner, Benjamin Weingarten, Benjamin Welton, Samuel Westrop, Thomas Paul Wiederholen, Geert Wilders, Jan Wójcik, Bat Ye’or, Josef Zbořil, Dexter Van Zile
Funders: Unknown
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