The real lesson of the Texas synagogue attack

Jan 19, 2022 by

by Melanie Phillips:

Few understand the crucial role of antisemitism in Islamist extremism.

The observation by an FBI officer that the gunman who took four Jews hostage in a Texas synagogue on Saturday was “singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community” has produced an understandable torrent of ridicule and derision.

Obviously, the notion that taking hostage a rabbi and three Jewish worshippers in a synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath was some kind of random event unconnected with the gunman’s attitude to Jews was beyond absurd.

The reason the FBI agent said this, however, reveals something broader about the blindness of the west towards Muslim antisemitism and the crucial role this plays in Islamic extremism. Indeed, even some of those who found the agent’s comment grotesque don’t get this point either.

Let’s unravel all this. The gunman, a British Islamist called Malik Faisal Akram, was reportedly motivated by his wish to free Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist linked to al Qaeda. In 2010, she was jailed for 86 years for attempted murder and is being held in Fort Worth, Texas.

After Siddiqui had been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of plotting attacks against the US, she grabbed an M4 rifle and opened fire on the American soldiers. When she had been arrested, she was carrying “documents that discussed the construction of weapons”, made reference to a “mass casualty attack” and listed a number of New York City landmarks.

Siddiqui is also a virulent antisemite. According to Deborah Scroggins’ 2012 book Wanted Women, she urged former president Obama in a letter:

Read here

Read also: How did a British Muslim end up taking hostages in a Texas synagogue? by Daniel Johnson, The Article

Related Posts

Tags

Share This