Zionist.org - Archives

By Alan D. Miller

Posted on March 22, 2004 at 8:42 PM | Comments (1)

Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in their attempt to murder a Jew, failed, and instead murdered an Arab student, George Khoury, near the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is the militant (terrorist) wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, itself a terrorist group which took control of the PLO in 1968.

According to the Guardian:

The al-Aqsa brigade issued a statement also expressing regret, saying the killing was a case of "mistaken identity". It said it regarded Mr Khoury as a "martyr" to the cause of Palestinian liberation.

It is not the first time the Khoury family has lost a family member to Palestinian terrorism. The student's grandfather was murdered in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem on July 4, 1975. So, it should not be surprising that his parents did not accept the apologies. His mother declared that he was an "angel, not a shaheed [martyr]."

Ha'aretz quotes his father, Attorney Elias Khoury, as saying:

"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are individuals who are trying to impose their way on everyone," Elias Khoury said. "This is a barbaric act that will not change my world view, which includes deep faith in Palestinian rights. This act was carried out by a group that undermines the issue of Palestinian justice, and harms the Palestinian interest and takes it back years."
In veiled criticism of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, Khoury added: "Fatah today is a crumbling movement that has no leader. The chaos in the movement does not help the Palestinian cause. I hope that this case will awaken the Palestinian public from its tranquillity to say its word."

Can Fatah kill someone and then declare them a martyr? This reeks of ideological inconsistency, although perhaps this should be unsurprising for a movement which has lost the few shreds of ideology it once maintained, and has simply turned into a force for murder and mayhem, at whatever the cost.

It is more reminicent of the Albigensian Crusades, famed for the cry: "Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet." ("Kill them all. God will know His own.")

Guerrilla warfare at 30,000 feet

By Alan D. Miller

Posted on March 16, 2004 at 9:34 PM | Comments (0)

In a story on last week's atrocities in Madrid, Reuters writes:

Thursday's death toll was the biggest in a guerrilla attack in Europe since December 1988 when a bomb exploded on board a Pan American Boeing 747, bringing it down on the Scottish town of Lockerbie. In all, 270 people died.

According to Reuters, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 was a guerrilla attack. Now, for some, it may be hard to draw the line between terrorism and guerrilla warfare. But is this such a difficult case?

Bombing in Turkey

By Alan D. Miller

Posted on March 9, 2004 at 11:29 PM

There was a suicide bombing in Turkey today. For media coverage see: Reuters, the Jerusalem Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, and MSNBC.

Two died and about six were injured when two terrorists attacked a Masonic lodge in Istanbul. None of the articles that I've seen attempt to explain why terrorists would target the Masons.

Antisemitic conspiracy theories flourish in the Muslim world. The notorious antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is widely distributed. Tied in with conspiracies involving Jews are conspiracies involving Masons.

What is significant about this bombing is that it provides direct evidence that these conspiracy theories are believed.

If the terrorists were to attack only Jewish targets, then one might argue that they were motivated to do so out of sympathy for the Palestinians, and not because they believed in the conspiracy theories. But the Masons are a social organization, and it is totally absurd to believe that they would be targeted unless the group that did so believed in the conspiracy theories.