David Horowitz denounces MSU-YAF's Nick Griffin Event

"Don't stand so close to me..."
MSU YAF Chairman Kyle Bristow poses with David Horowitz in happier times. I guess the Honeymoon's over

The Islamo-fascist website Indymedia.org is claiming that a British anti-Semite named Nick Griffin was part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week at Michigan State, where he was sponsored by Young America's Foundation. Both of these claims are lies. There was no Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week event at Michigan State and Young America's Foundation did not sponsor Griffin. The Indymedia article makes other malicious false claims such as "David Horowitz likes to roll with people associated with groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens." This is a very old slander which I refuted when it was first made but in dealing with fascists you are dealing with people who never retract their slanders or cease to repeat them.

I don't know if David Horowitz got the point that it wasn't the Young America's Foundation that sponsored Griffin, but the ever-controversial Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. YAF and YAF are tied to one another, yes, but this wasn't that.

More Information at 'Inside Higher Ed'

Griffin was invited to Michigan State by the campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. He was supposed to give a one-hour talk about Islam and then answer questions for an hour, but audience members started shouting at him shortly after he started his talk and he shifted to Q&A format so he could answer what was being shouted at him.

The event took place on the last day of (but was not part of) Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, an event organized by David Horowitz to sponsor speakers on campuses nationwide to criticize radical Islam. Organizers of the speech at Michigan State said that while they supported Horowitz’s activities, it was “a coincidence” that they brought in their anti-Muslim speaker the same week as Horowitz was planning his activities. Horowitz disavowed the event, but some Muslim leaders said it was a perfect demonstration of their prediction that his activities would make it easier for others to attack Islam on campuses.

...

Kyle Bristow, a junior and chairman of the Michigan State group that brought Griffin to the campus, said that he didn’t agree with all of the speaker’s views, quipping that aside from Pat Buchanan, “there’s no one I agree with 100 percent.”

He said that because Griffin has “recanted” his past Holocaust denial, that shouldn’t be an issue. What should get attention, he said, was that a speaker was shouted down and that organizers of the event were later “chased by a mob with sticks and bats.” He accused the Michigan State police of not taking the attack seriously.

...

Terry Denbow, vice president for university relations at Michigan State, said that he was at the event and personally called the police when he saw the incident after the speech, and that four police cars arrived almost instantly.

I could have sworn that I read, or heard, that Griffin was brought in as part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness week by MSU-YAF. I'll have to see if I can find that. I MAY have been imagining things.