Type of Organization: Media, Education
Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) is an organization that claims to promote “peaceful coexistence in an ethnically diverse America by educating the American public about radical ideologies.” Americans for Peace and Tolerance opposes Islamic extremism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism. In particular, their campaigns target K-12 education and higher education, especially schools and universities in the Boston area. The organization was founded by Dr. Charles Jacobs, Boston College professor Dr. Dennis Hale, and Egyptian exile and self-proclaimed reformist Muslim Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Mansour. APT focuses on fighting anti-Semitism in schools, often attacking what they deem as Muslim Extremism. The organization also produces and proliferates a variety of media content from short video clips to full length documentaries. They vehemently oppose the Islamic Society of Boston and the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Dr. Jacobs has attempted to discredit the concept of Islamophobia, claiming it is “a term created and employed by radical Islamists.” In an interview with Steve Bannon, he argued that “the left-Muslim alliance presents the greatest threat to Jewish life on this planet.”
Dr. Hale is an associate professor of political science at Boston College. He wrote that Muslims instigate “outrage at ‘insults to Islam’… [in order] to induce, in infidels, a habit of deference to Islam.”
Dr. Ahmed Mansour, despite being Muslim himself, has positioned himself in opposition to Islamic groups in America. He once claimed that “the culture of CAIR is the same as Osama bin Laden.” He is notable for supporting then-Congressman Tom Tancredo, after Tancredo made inflammatory remarks suggesting the United States should bomb Mecca.
In 2009, Americans for Peace and Tolerance strongly opposed the creation of a $15.6 million mosque in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The group staged protests at the mosque’s opening and suggested that the mosque’s leaders and ideology were “extremist.” They claimed the mosque was funded by Saudi Arabia and was being run in support of the Muslim Brotherhood. In response to the mosque’s opening, Hale claimed the group was “concerned about the radicalization of the Boston Muslim community” as a result of the mosque’s opening.
Americans for Peace and Tolerance launched what is an ongoing attack on the curriculum of high schools in Newton, Massachusetts in 2013, claiming that teaching materials sought to “demonize Israel” and “glorify Islam.” To this end, the group took out misleading advertisements in prominent Boston newspapers. In 2018, Americans for Peace and Tolerance sponsored a petition to overhaul the school’s history material and oust the superintendent, claiming anti-Semitism on the part of the curriculum and members of the teaching staff.
Charles Jacobs has appeared in nationally syndicated Fox News segments to discuss ties between Boston mosques and radical Islam. Jacobs also hosts the talk show “Paradigm Shift” on the Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS). In 2010, he was a key figure in CBS news’ expose on “The Great Islamophobic Crusade.”
In 2014, APT released a documentary entitled “For the Record: The Boston Blueprint,” which the organization proclaimed was intended to expose “Extreme Muslim leaders in Boston” who have “established a blueprint to radicalize and brainwash America’s kids to become fighters.” The executive producer of the documentary was Glenn Beck and his far-right media company “The Blaze.”
