Jihad Watch

Quality 0.50 · 3 views · Updated 2 months ago

American far-right anti-Muslim blog

title: "Jihad Watch" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2003-establishments-in-the-united-states", "american-conservative-websites", "american-political-blogs", "anti-islam-sentiment-in-the-united-states", "blogs-critical-of-islam", "conspiracist-websites", "counter-jihad", "criticism-of-islamism", "david-horowitz", "far-right-publications-in-the-united-states", "internet-properties-established-in-2003", "islamophobic-publications", "robert-b.-spencer", "works-about-jihadism"] description: "American far-right anti-Muslim blog" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad_Watch" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American far-right anti-Muslim blog ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox website"]

Field	Value
name	Jihad Watch
logo	Jihad Watch logo.PNG
logo_size	200px
caption	Jihad Watch logo
type	Blog
language	English
registration	None
owner	Robert Spencer
author	Robert Spencer and Hugh Fitzgerald
launch_date	23 September 2003
current_status	Active
url
::

Jihad Watch is an American far-right{{refn|name=far-right|{{cite book |last1=Bettiza |first1=Gregorio |title=Finding Faith in Foreign Policy: Religion and American Diplomacy in a Postsecular World |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-094946-4 |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ic-aDwAAQBAJ |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |last1=Ebner |first1=Julia |authorlink=Julia Ebner |title=The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism |date=30 September 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-78673-289-7 |page=208 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBOMDwAAQBAJ |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en |via=Google Books}}{{cite web |url=https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/how-the-largest-american-muslim-foundation-was-falsely-demonised-by-white-supremacists |date=9 August 2019 |first=Saeed |last=Khan |website=The Parliament Magazine |title=How the largest American Muslim foundation was falsely demonised by white supremacists |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210608040530/https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/how-the-largest-american-muslim-foundation-was-falsely-demonised-by-white-supremacists |access-date=3 February 2021 |url-status=live |last1=Kumar |first1=Deepa |authorlink=Deepa Kumar | title=Mediating Racism: The New McCarthyites and the Matrix of Islamophobia |journal=Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication |date=1 January 2014 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=9–26 |doi=10.1163/18739865-00701001 |publisher=Brill |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/mjcc/7/1/article-p9_2.xml |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en |issn=1873-9865}}{{cite journal |last1=Gardell |first1=Mattias |authorlink=Mattias Gardell |title=Crusader Dreams: Oslo 22/7, Islamophobia, and the Quest for a Monocultural Europe |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |date=1 January 2014 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=129–155 |doi=10.1080/09546553.2014.849930 |url=https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/mitchell-institute/FileStore/Filetoupload,818003,en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421205715/https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/mitchell-institute/FileStore/Filetoupload,818003,en.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2021 |access-date=8 June 2021 |url-status=live |publisher=Taylor & Francis |s2cid=144489939 |issn=0954-6553 |last=Sidahmed|first=Abdel Salam |editor1-first=Andrew|editor1-last=Rippin|editor-link1=Andrew Rippin |editor-last2=Ismael |editor-first2=Tareq Y. |chapter='Jihadiology' and the problem of reaching a contemporary understanding of Jihad |title=Islam in the Eyes of the West: Images and Realities in an Age of Terror |date=June 29, 2010 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780203854389|isbn=978-1-136-99018-2 |url=https://theophanov.com/img/200312041818.pdf#page=148 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608044752/https://theophanov.com/img/200312041818.pdf |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |url-status=live |language=en |last1=Jamin |first1=Jérôme |editor1-last=Jackson |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Shekhovtsov|editor2-first=Anton |title=The Post-War Anglo-American Far Right: A Special Relationship of Hate |date=October 17, 2014 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-39619-8 |page=96 |url=https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137396198 |url-access=limited |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en |chapter=Cultural Marxism and the Radical Right |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/notre-dame-hoaxes |title=Here Are The Hoaxes And Misinformation About The Notre Dame Fire |last1=Lytvynenko |first1=Jane |first2=Craig |last2=Silverman |website=BuzzFeed News |date=16 April 2019 |language=en |access-date=16 April 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190417053443/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/notre-dame-hoaxes |archive-date=17 April 2019 |url-status=live |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/muslima-nurse-practitioner-son/ |title=FACT CHECK: Did a 'Muslima' Nurse Practitioner Decapitate Her Son Because of Her Religion? |first=Bethania |last=Palma |date=6 April 2018 |website=Snopes |language=en-US |access-date=8 June 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210608053916/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/muslima-nurse-practitioner-son/ |title=Islam in the Eyes of the West: Images and Realities in an Age of Terror |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-415-56414-4 |editor1-last=Ismael |editor1-first=Tareq Y. |location=Abingdon, UK |page=104 |editor2-last=Rippin |editor2-first=Andrew |url=https://theophanov.com/img/200312041818.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608044752/https://theophanov.com/img/200312041818.pdf |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |url-status=live |last1=Varisco |first1=D. M. |year=2009 |title=Muslims and the media in the blogosphere |journal=Contemporary Islam |volume=4 |pages=157–177 |citeseerx=10.1.1.465.1191 |doi=10.1007/s11562-009-0106-y |s2cid=143792038 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225523715 |access-date=8 June 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608054405/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Varisco/publication/225523715_Muslims_and_the_media_in_the_blogosphere/links/55e164b008aede0b57304879/Muslims-and-the-media-in-the-blogosphere.pdf |last1=Topal|first1=Semiha |year=2011 |title=Everybody Wants Secularism—But Which One? Contesting Definitions of Secularism in Contemporary Turkey |journal=International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society |volume=25|issue=1–3|pages=1–3 |doi=10.1007/s10767-011-9114-z|s2cid=144506792

Organization

The site features commentary by multiple editors, and its most frequent editor is Robert Spencer. It is a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Dhimmi Watch was a blog on the Jihad Watch site, also maintained by Spencer, focusing on alleged outrages by Muslims.

Funding

The Horowitz Freedom Center has paid Spencer, as Jihad Watch's director, a $132,000 salary in 2010. Jihad Watch has also received funding from donors supporting the Israeli right, and a variety of individuals and foundations, like Bradley Foundation and Joyce Chernick, wife of Aubrey Chernick.{{cite web |first1=Giovanni |last1=Russonello |first2=Kenneth P. |last2=Vogel |author-link2=Kenneth P. Vogel |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2010/09/latest-mosque-issue-the-money-trail-041767 |title=Latest mosque issue: The money trail |publisher=Politico.Com |date=5 September 2010 |orig-date=first published 4 September 2010 |access-date=3 January 2020 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210608055000/https://www.politico.com/story/2010/09/latest-mosque-issue-the-money-trail-041767 |url-status=live |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/leading-tech-companies-help-extremist-sites-monetize-hate |title=Despite Disavowals, Leading Tech Companies Help Extremist Sites Monetize Hate |first1=Julia |last1=Angwin |author1-link=Julia Angwin |first2=Jeff |last2=Larson |first3=Madeleine |last3=Varner |first4=Lauren |last4=Kirchner |date=19 August 2017 |website=ProPublica |language=en |access-date=3 January 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210506014623/https://www.propublica.org/article/leading-tech-companies-help-extremist-sites-monetize-hate |archive-date=6 May 2021

Content and traffic

Articles begin with editorial commentary, then follow usually with a linked excerpt from a news website.

Jihad Watch is one of the world's most popular sites on the subject of terrorism, with more than 6,000 other sites being linked to it. It is the most popular counter-jihad blog.

Reception

Jihad Watch has widely been described as an anti-Muslim blog. Jihad Watch has been criticized for its portrayal of Islam as a totalitarian political doctrine. The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League consider Jihad Watch an active hate group due to its "extreme hostility toward Muslims." Guardian writer Brian Whitaker described Jihad Watch as a "notoriously Islamophobic website", while other critics such as Dinesh D'Souza, Karen Armstrong and Cathy Young, pointed to what they see as "deliberate mischaracterizations" of Islam and Muslims by Spencer as inherently violent and therefore prone to terrorism.

Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani Prime Minister, in her book Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, wrote that Spencer uses Jihad Watch to spread misinformation and hatred of Islam. She added that he presents a skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps to sow the seed of civilizational conflict.

Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote that "Most of the effective surveillance work tracking jihadi sites is being done not by the FBI or MI6, but by private groups. The best-known and most successful of those are [Internet] Haganah ... SITE [Institute] ... and Jihad Watch."

The website was cited 64 times by Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who committed the 2011 Norway attacks.

In 2017, Christine Douglass-Williams was terminated as a board member of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation for her writings on the blog.

References

Bail, Christopher. (2 August 2016). "Terrified: How Anti-Muslim Fringe Organizations Became Mainstream". Princeton University Press.
(June 2012). "Blind Spot? Security Narratives and Far-Right Violence in Europe". [[International Centre for Counter-terrorism]].
Armstrong, Karen. (27 April 2007). "Balancing the Prophet". Financial Times.
(2020-12-10). "Donald Trump, the anti-Muslim far right and the new conservative revolution". Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Oborne, Peter. (7 July 2008). "The shameful Islamophobia at the heart of Britain's press". The Independent.
(10 October 2010). "Outraged, And Outrageous". The New York Times.
Whitaker, Brian. (7 February 2006). "Drawn conclusions".
(2 March 2007). "Letting Bin Laden Define Islam".
(6 June 2006). "The Jihad Against Muslims".
[[Benazir Bhutto]], ''Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West'', Harper, 2008, pp. 245–6.
(2008). "The secret history of al Qaeda – Google Books". University of California Press.
Shane, Scott. (24 July 2011). "Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in U.S.".
(December 21, 2017). "Race relations board member says she's been fired over writings about Islam". CBC News.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::