Shoebat, Saleem, and Anani - Three Arab Villages Are Missing Their Idiots
by Sheila Musaji
In 2006 I wrote an article about an event I attended in Saint Louis at which the film Obsession was shown and the speaker who was invited to prove the film’s point was Walid Shoebat. As I said in the article, “The speaker at this film was billed as a “former” PLO terrorist turned Christian/Zionist. Walid Shoebat claims to live in California under an assumed name with protection from the Islamic radicals who have declared a “fatwa” to kill him. He made many undocumented claims, and most shockingly said that it was time to stop working for peace - it is time to start taking real action. . A review of his radio interview before the St. Louis presentation, as well as a review of statements at other showings of this film, and of his website http://www.abrahamic-faith.com is very revealing. He has said “Please take back the holy Temple Mount.” He has said “We need to choose war.” He has sanctioned the use of extrajudicial assassinations. This is a man who wants to hurry Armageddon and the rapture along, at which time the Messiah will come and the Jews, Muslims, and everyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God will be killed and sent to hell. This is anti-Semitic and Islamophobic. This is an extremist Christian terrorist. This is not a former terrorist. This is a man who used to hate Jews and now hates Muslims, who used to commit violence against Jews and now justifies violence against Muslims.”
Shoebat is now a part of a three man road show - Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani, billed as the “3 ex-terrorists” who go around the country villifying Islam. They were even invited to appear recently at the U.S. Air Force Academy to enlighten the students. And, they have a “3 ex-terrorists” website.
I certainly doubt the veracity of the Islamophobic statements made by this group, as do most sane people, and am more than a little concerned about the effects this concerted propoganda effort will have in poisoning people’s minds and sidelining people from serious consideration of real issues and solutions.
Chris Hedges writes about these three in ”The War Against Tolerance”, “These three con artists are not the problem. There is enough scum out there to take their place. Rather, they offer a window into a worldview that is destroying the United States. It has corrupted the Republican Party. It has colored the news media. It has entered into the everyday clichés we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. It is ignorant and racist, but it is also deadly. It grossly perverts the Christian religion. It asks us to kill to purify the Earth. It leaves us threatened not only by the terrorists who may come from abroad but the ones who are rising from within our midst.”
I question the veracity of their statements, and also questioned Shoebat’s story about his past. It would seem that my doubts about Shoebat’s credentials were accurate. There have now been a number of articles written questioning almost every aspect of the biographies of these individuals.
Israel E News ran an article “Credentials of USAF paid “3 ex-Terrorists” including Shoebat Challenged”
A Canadian paper notes in an article “Doubt cast on Anani’s terrorist claims “Tom Quiggin, Canada’s only court-qualified expert on global jihadism and a former RCMP intelligence and national security expert, said Anani’s tales of terror and murder just don’t jibe with the time and place he claims to have been killing.”
Eileen Fleming wrote an article questioning Shoebat’s biography to which Shoebat issued a rebuttal entitled ”I Was a Terrorist; In Defense of My Identity, Story and Credentials”. His insistence on his terrorist credentials leads to the next topic.
Not only are the specifics of their supposed past histories being questioned, but a very interesting question is coming from many - If these individuals are openly admitting having been terrorists (one of them claims more than 200 kills), then why are they not being deported or arrested, and why would the U.S. Air Force Academy invite such criminals to speak? This is a good question. Even if they have now “gone straight”, just like any criminal, they should first pay their debt to society before being allowed to live among the rest of us.
When Shoebat recently spoke at UC Davis, the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) “called on campus police at the University of California - Davis (UC Davis) to detain a speaker who openly states that he has committed acts of terror.”
“The question is if the three were actually terrorists then why they weren’t jailed or deported? Robert Birach, an immigration law attorney in Detroit, says the men would have had to have disclosed their affiliation with the PLO on their applications to become U.S. citizens if what they claim is true. “Failure to list the affiliation on the citizenship application is enough to go back and open the file and charge them with fraud and perjury,” Birach said. “And now they are admitting to being former terrorists. So under the Real ID Act, that’s enough for their removal from the United States.” Abdus Sattar Ghazali
A NY Times article - Speakers at Academy Said to Make False Claims notes that “Arab-American civil rights organizations question why, at a time when the United States government has vigorously moved to jail or at least deport anyone with a known terrorist connection, the three men, if they are telling the truth, are allowed to circulate freely. A spokesman for the F.B.I. said there were no warrants for their arrest.”
Canada certainly has some questions about this issue as it denied Shoebat entry into the country because of his supposed past terrorist activities
I’m not certain that their original villages would want them back, but we don’t need them here.
FURTHER READING
Shoebat says we need to choose war ‘We Need to Choose War!’ http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/27/174342.shtml
The Palestinian Terrorist Turned Zionist http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1206632362598&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
A Palestinian Zionist and the End of the World http://www.counterpunch.org/youmans05052004.html
Would three former terrorists be invited by the U.S. Air Force Academy to speak? http://www.mmdnewswire.com/three-former-terrorists-2871.html
Shoebat omits instances of kindness http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=13205
SOME OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LARGER ANTI-ISLAM P.R. TEAM
The Islamophobic Industrial Complex: What are the Quasi Muslims Really Selling? ( Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel et al ) “A grave consequence of legitimizing these polarizing and obscurantist personalities is that it takes away from the scholars, academics, and lay people that are engaged in real reform and criticism. Voices such as those of Tariq Ramadan, Khaled Abu Fadl, Heba Ezzat, Suhaib Webb and others are voices that have a pulse on the Muslim community and are much more deserving of a hearing from the wider public.” http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/44416
Islamophobia and self-hating Arabs http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islamophobia_and_self_hating_arabs/
Trends and Flaws in Some Anti-Muslim Writing as Exemplified by Ibn Warraq http://www.islamawareness.net/FAQ/warraq1a.html
Ed Husain: The ‘Islamist’ bogeyman http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/taji_mustafa/2007/05/the_islamist_bogeyman.html
A Muslim Response to Dennis Prager’s Five Questions http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/a_muslim_response_to_dennis_pragers_five_questions/
Wafa Sultan’s Lost opportunity http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/a_lost_opportunity_response_to_dr_wafa_sultan/
Wafa Sultan: Reformist or Opportunist? http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/4009/135/
Many responses to the claims of particular individuals and organizations http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/responses_to_claims_made_by_specific_individuals_and_organizations_article_/
UPDATE: Air Force Grants Equal Time to Critics of ‘Ex-Terrorists’ http://www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?mid1=674&&ArticleID=24331&&name=n&&currPage=1