Remember that November 2023 incident in Vermont where three young Palestinian men were shot by a deranged guy on the dark streets of Burlington? The violence was indeed tragic, leaving one of the victims paralyzed, but it was immediately branded an Islamophobic attack by the media and numerous politicians despite the fact that there was no evidence supporting that claim.
President Biden quickly jumped on the bandwagon, claiming, “There is absolutely no place for violence or hate in America.” Vice President Kamala Harris’ statement bemoaned that “far too many people live with the fear that they could be targeted and attacked based on their beliefs or who they are.”
They were far from alone:
But as our Jeff Charles noted at the time, when details about the shooter began to emerge, the Islamophobia angle didn’t totally match up. Naturally the media found other stories to report on and seemingly forgot all about it.
Now investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield claims in an article titled “The Greatest Islamophobia Hoax in America Exposed” that the whole thing was B.S. from the start and that way too many “serious” people jumped the gun on their conclusions and spread wild misinformation around the internet:
All of these [Islamophobia] claims, along with many others around the shootings, were based on lies.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee falsely claimed that “a man shouted and harassed the victims, then proceeded to shoot them. We have reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab.”
In reality, they had been shot by a local resident outside his house who did not say a word.
The three Muslim men were walking home from a party and two of them were wearing keffiyehs. That was enough information for many to take to the airwaves decrying Islamophobia before the actual evidence had come in.
Greenfield claims that the shooter was not only not Islamophobic, but he was a Hamas supporter:
Eaton had been described as “that hippie guy” and “progressive”, an organic farmer who had posted a meme with a definition of “Amerika” that called it “the worst sense of the United States, ie imperialism, corruption and the global exportation of American culture.”
He appeared to be a Biden supporter
Media outlets, anti-Israel activists and politicians attributed the shootings to the Hamas war. Everyone from Biden and Kamala on down emphasized the “Palestinian” identities of those shot and implied that Eaton had attacked them because he was opposed to the ‘Palestinian’ cause.
In reality, Eaton supported Hamas.
In fact, he once tweeted, “The notion that Hamas is ‘evil’ for defending their state from occupation is absurd. They are owed a state. Pay up.” He also responded to a story regarding a potential ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war by writing, “What if someone occupied your country? Wouldn’t you fight them?”
Since the narrative fell apart, Greenfield writes, virtually none of the national media outlets that had breathlessly reported the Islamophobic attack have updated their stories or provided retractions. The reality of the narrative, according to Greenfield:
There was never a single shred of evidence that the men had been targeted. And the only basis for this claim that was ever cited was that two of the men were wearing ‘keffiyehs’ and speaking English and Arabic when they were shot. This entirely circumstantial information was amplified with feverish claims and rushed statements by elected officials, prosecutors and police.
The reality that has emerged is that Eaton was mentally unstable, left-leaning, opposed to America and supportive of Islamic terrorists. He was neither Jewish nor pro-Israel.
The investigative journalist concludes, "Most likely, Eaton, suffering from an episode, stumbled out and opened fire," and that there was little likelihood, based on the evidence, that this was a planned attack.
As I said in the opening, this is indeed a tragedy, and my heart goes out to the victim who was paralyzed. But it once again shows that our lazy media and Democrat politicians would rather promote division and hate over the truth. When the story doesn't fit their narrative, they simply walk away.