Clarion Fund

Clarion Fund, Inc. was formed in 2006 by Raphael Shore and is a right-wing, non-profit organization that promotes an anti-Islamic viewpoint. Clarion produces and distributes anti-Islamic documentary films, and operates a web site, www.stopradicalIslam.org, that states, "Radical Islam aims to dominate a world under Sharia law. This threatens the most basic liberties and freedoms of western society. Under Sharia, the private and public lives of an individual are subjugated to the 'will of Allah'." The Fund has produced several anti-Islamic films (Obsession:Radical Islam's War with the West and The Third Jihad) targeted at an American audience. "Obsession" was distributed by inserting 28 million DVDs in newspapers around the US. In the case of the Detroit News, 300,000 DVD were inserted in one day. The Third Jihad is similarly promoted, and it has been shown to graduating classes of policemen attending required counter-terrorism courses.

The Clarion Fund has been alleged to be connected to Aish Hatorah, a hardline right-wing Israeli movement, which Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic describes as "just about the most fundamentalist movement in Judaism today"

Funding
The identity of the major donor bankrolling the "Obsession" DVD distribution has been speculated about since the event occurred. In 2008 attention rested on Sheldon Adelson, a casino billionaire mogul, as a likely funder of Clarion Fund and one of the people behind funding the distribution of 28 million free DVDs in the US. . But a 2010 Counterpunch article pointed to Koch money and, in 2011 a Salon article reported that Clarion documentation pointed to Barre Seid as bankroller of the "Obsession" DVD operation - though not directly, more likely through Donors Capital Fund: ...[A Clarion document showed] a donor listed as Barry Seid gave Clarion nearly $17 million in 2008, which would have paid for virtually the entire "Obsession" DVD campaign. ... There's only one Barry Seid Salon could find who might fit the profile of a $17 million donor to Clarion. That would be businessman Barre Seid (note the different spelling) of Illinois.... But his representative flatly denied to Salon that he has ever given money to Clarion." [but neither Ball nor Seid's assistant would say whether Seid had given the money through Donors Capital Fund - which dispensed $17.7 million to Clarion that year. ]

Films funded/produced

 * Iranium
 * Crossing the Line: The Intifada Comes to Campus (2010)
 * Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East (2009)
 * Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West (2005)
 * The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision for America (2003)

Principals

 * Richard Green – executive director

Advisory Board
Accessed October 2010:


 * Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
 * M. Zuhdi Jasser
 * Clare M. Lopez
 * Walid Phares
 * Daniel Pipes
 * Harold Rhode
 * Ilan Sharon
 * Sarah Stern
 * Paul Vallely - former military analyst for Fox News

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Erik Werth
 * Artist Direct Media
 * Donors Capital Fund

External articles

 * Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton, Neo-cons, ex-Israeli diplomats push Islamophobic video, The Electronic Intifada, 24 September 2008.