Ahmed Rehab discusses the recent forwarding of an anti-Muslim email by a public official in Frankfort, Illinois. The email, sent around by Frankfort Township Assessor Paul Ruff, is said to have made comments that chastised immigrants for “diluting sovereignty and our national identity,” and suggested that residents who don’t agree with the Christian motto “In God We Trust” should leave the country. [Video]

The Asbahi affair is the latest episode in a long list of anti-Muslim blunders that have tainted the 2008 presidential campaign. It makes for a case study that offers ample insight into the nature of today’s Islamophobia. Typically, the cycle begins with allegations of questionable associations leveled against the subject from a dubious Internet source.

Ahmed Rehab is on the O’Reilly Factor to respond to false allegations against Obama campaign Muslim liaison, Mazen Asbahi.

“The Asbahi affair is a consequence of the smear and fear, tar and feather anti-Muslim innuendo out there,” Rehab argued. [Video]

This is a victory for the anti-pluralist forces who lurk in the anarchic shadows of the internet where they are at liberty to churn false allegations and conspiracy theories against a vulnerable American Muslim community. They wish to block its efforts to become politically involved alongside America’s other diverse communities, and instead wish to project it as a fifth column growing in our midst.