Schmoozing With Terrorists

FrontPage Interview’s guest is Aaron Klein, author of the new book, Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal Their Global Plans to a Jew! He is also Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.com.

By Jamie Glazov
FrontPage (FP): You met with a recruited Palestinian suicide bomber. What’s the bomber’s real motivation? Do bombers really believe they die and get 72 dark eyed maidens?
Klein: If you believe much of the world media and a lot of so-called terror experts, Palestinians are primarily blowing themselves up among Jewish civilians in response to poor economic conditions and “Israeli occupation.”
Through the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, I met in the West Bank city of Jenin with a recruited bomber who scoffed at claims he is looking to carry out a suicide attack in response to Israeli actions. He actually called such claims “Israeli propaganda.”
“The will to sacrifice myself for Allah is the first and most major reason,” the recruited bomber told me. “It is true that the Zionists are occupying our lands and that it is our religious duty to fight them, including through suicide attacks. The goal is not the killing of the Jews, but that this is the way to reach Allah....Martyrs have special status in the next world and have bigger chances to watch Allah’s face and enjoy the magnificent pleasures he offers us.”
About the 72 virgins thing, bombers absolutely believe they receive eternity in Allah’s paradise with the dark eyed maidens in exchange for their suicide operation. They are told this reward is dictated in the Quran.
Interestingly, nothing in the Quran specifically states that the “faithful” are allotted seventy-two virgins apiece. And the only reference to maidens in the Quran, when referring to paradise, doesn’t state anything about seventy-two. Just simply that paradise for the righteous has “gardens and grapeyards; and young full-breasted [mature] maidens of equal age; and a full cup [of wine].”
I confronted well-armed senior terrorist leaders about the 72 virgins myth. Together with America radio host Rusty Humphries, I petitioned the terrorists to point out the Quranic verse promising the 72 virgins. The terrorists got pretty testy. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happened.
FP: Tell us what the terrorists shared with you about what they would like to do with the likes of Madonna and Britney Spears, etc.
Klein: I was surprised to learn the terrorists interviewed knew exactly who were Madonna and Spears. The two are accused of “spreading Satanic American culture,” corrupting humanity and attempting to “temp men” to put them “far from Islam.”
Muhammad Abdel-Al, spokesman and senior leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group, which has previously been accused of targeting Americans, warned in my book Madonna and Spears face death unless they change their evil ways, which includes acting like “prostitutes.”
Abdel-Al was speaking hypothetically when asked to describe what he’d do if his group took over the U.S., but I hope every liberal in the world understands his threats. Don’t liberals realize what they are urging on when they basically cheer for jihad?
FP: What would life in the U.S. be like if the terrorists conquered it?
Klein: The terrorists detail their plans for us if they win. And make no mistake about it, for the terrorists winning means imposing their brand of Islam around the world. They are not simply fighting for specific pieces of territory, to destroy Israel or to evict U.S. troops from the Mideast. These are just means to an end - spreading Islam worldwide.
For the terrorists - and they are very open about this - we have returned to the days of Saladin, the Muslim conqueror who took parts of Europe.
The terrorists boast about their global plans and the fact that to them this is a religious war. I entirely fault the mainstream media for actively hiding the real motivations of Islamic terror. All you have to do is talk with a terror leader and he’ll explain things to you.
Among other things, life for Americans living under Islamic rule would entail non-Muslims paying a special protection tax, called the jizya, to live safely in the United States of Islam. All women must properly cover their heads. Alcohol would be strictly prohibited.
No new churches or synagogues can be built; the existing churches and synagogues must worship quietly and cannot expand. American music and movies will be shut down; only Islamic culture will be allowed. According to some schools of Islam, music may be entirely prohibited.
The terrorists said they’d even shut down our news outlets and took particular offense at Fox News Channel, which one terror leader called a “network of evil.”
FP: Who are the Jihadists’s U.S. election favourites? What else do they say about U.S. politicians and 2008 presidential candidates?
Klein: The terrorists overwhelmingly support the Democrats for the White House in 2008. They see Democratic presidential candidates competing with each other on who would withdraw first from Iraq. They hear the Democrats - and some Republicans -talk about creating dialogue with Iran and Syria; some even speak of cease fires with Iraqi insurgent groups.
For the terrorists, a withdrawal from Iraq is the beginning of the end of the U.S. That’s the way they see it. They announce they will use Iraq as a staging base against our regional allies. When they hear Democrats - and some Republicans - say we are losing in Iraq, compare Iraq to Vietnam, the terrorists are emboldened.
I spoke with dozens of senior terrorist leaders on the record. All of them, every single one of them want the Democrats in office. I never once spoke to a single terrorist who favored the Republicans. And why would they? The Democrats and the terrorists share some of the same goals; of course for the terrorists those goals will lead to downfall of the American empire and the spread of Islam.
It was under a Democrat president, Bill Clinton, PLO leader Yasser Arafat returned from exile in Tunis, established a fiefdom in the West Bank and Gaza and was built up as a legitimate leader, becoming the most frequent foreign dignitary to visit the White House. The terrorists love that. They believe the Democrats are their ticket to victory and they are hopeful a Democrat will soon sit in the Oval Office.
The terrorists in particular seem to favor Hillary Clinton, although she has wavered recently on her pledges to immediately withdrawal from Iraq. They had some bad things to say about some of our republican candidates.
FP: Can you talk a bit about how our tax dollars fund terrorism?
Klein: It’s ridiculous. The U.S. wrongly believes that when it comes to the Palestinian arena, Hamas are the “bad guys” and Fatah, led by Mahmoud Abbas, is “moderate.” This even though Fatah’s declared military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, is responsible for more terrorism the past three years than Hamas, including taking responsibility along with Islamic Jihad for every suicide bombing in 2005 and 2006.
Based on the policy of Fatah as “good,” the U.S. since the late 1990s has been running bases in the West Bank City of Jericho to train Fatah militias. Over the years, the U.S. also has provided Fatah militias with arms, reportedly including thousands of high-powered assault rifles during the past year alone.
This past August, the State Department announced the U.S. will begin new training courses for Force 17 in an effort to bolster Abbas against Hamas,
In my book, I document how the U.S. has been arming, training, funding and coordinating security members of Fatah’s forces who are also openly members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, including many chiefs of the Brigades!
Terrorists are literally walking around with high-powered U.S.-assault rifles and they are using sniper tactics we taught them to shoot at the Israelis. I also documents how terrorists, including chief of the Brigades in Ramallah, are among the official team that receives and distributes American weapons shipped to Palestinians!
In the book, one Al Aqsa leader explained on the record how U.S. training was key to his group’s “success” in the intifada that started in 2000 and is still being waged.
The U.S. training to Fatah just scratches the surface of our support for terror documented in “Schmoozing with Terrorists.”
FP: How about the issue of how jihadists engage in desecration vis-à-vis other religions?
Klein: I catch up with terrorist desecrators of other religion’s holy sites, including the terrorists who holed themselves up in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity where they reportedly used pages of the Bible as toilet paper.
Also the desecrators of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, one of the most flagrant, vile desecrations of holy sites in the history of humankind. The tomb, the site believed to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph, is the third holiest site in Judaism.
After Israel evacuated the Joseph’s Tomb in 2000 in response to repeated attacks against Jewish worshipers and Israeli troops there led by Arafat’s gunmen, Palestinians came with pickaxes, hammers, and later bulldozers to tear apart large swaths of the tomb structure and a beautiful yeshiva erected at the site. The dome of the Jewish tomb was painted green, and a mosque was subsequently erected in its place.
I also talked with terrorists who control the Gaza Strip territory where synagogues evacuated by Israel in 2005 were destroyed and are now being used as rocket launching pads to fire into Jewish population centers.
And you know what? Meeting with these holy site desecrators, I wasn’t angry at them. How can I fault evil for being evil? I cannot be upset when their society, which preaches suicide terror and extreme anti-Semitic propaganda, desecrates holy Jewish sites the minute Israel evacuates.
No, I was furious at the Israeli government for repeatedly giving up land and expecting the Palestinians will respect our holy sites and allow freedom of worship.
And I was fuming at my fellow Jews. Where were they when Joseph’s Tomb was desecrated? Can you imagine the Muslim response if Israel bulldozed the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s so-called third holiest site, and converted it into a synagogue? The Muslims would unleash holy hell. They’d launch World War III.
And yet when Judaism’s third holiest site was so violently molested you didn’t hear much from world Jewry.
FP: Share with us the under-reported story of Christian persecution in the Middle East as told by the antagonists and victims.
Klein: The story of Christian persecution in the Middle East is crucial. I dedicate an entire chapter to the plight of Christians living under Muslim control, particularly in areas Israel handed to the Palestinians, including Bethlehem, one of the most important Christian cities. I also talk with Muslim leaders and terrorists about the Christian persecution at their hands.
Bethlehem consisted of upwards of 80 percent Christians when Israel was founded in 1948, but since the Palestinian Authority took over in 1995 the Christian population has declined to about 23 percent with a large majority of Muslims. The 23 percent Christian statistic is considered generous; some estimates place Bethlehem’s actual Christian population as low as 12 percent, with hundreds of Christians emigrating per year. If trends continue, there may not be a single Christian living in the believed birthplace of Jesus in 10-15 years.
The media insanely blames Israel for Bethlehem’s fleeing Christians! But just walking around the city and talking to the residents it becomes clear Muslim intimidation and persecution is at play.
One of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs. Also the creation of an atmosphere of regular hostility and intimidation. Christian shopkeepers’ stores have been attacked, Christian women violated. I personally witnesses some persecution, as I describe in the book.
But the story is much larger. Christians are being persecuted all over the Mideast, even in countries we consider our allies, such as Egypt and even the new Iraq! And yet the U.S. government doesn’t protest. We give money to these Christian persecuting countries. Our leaders hold photo ops with their leaders. Where’s the outrage? Something needs to be done about the plight of these Christians.
FP: Have the terrorists ever offered tips on how we can win the war on terror?
Klein: In ‘Schmoozing,’ the terrorists offer a whole slew of tips, incredibly.
The one I liked the best was their mockery of our phrase ‘War on Terror.’ They asked how we can possible win a war against an ideology? They recommended we just come out and call it a war against Islam.
Of course, we’re not at war against Islam, but against an extremist, dangerous brand of Islam. I agree with the terrorists overall sentiments. We need to finally identify the enemy for what it is. Otherwise we will never win.
FP: What does the West need to understand about Islamic terror?
Klein: Six years after the 9-11 attacks we still don’t get it. We don’t realize we are fighting an enemy that is motivated by religion and by the will to spread their beliefs worldwide.
We don’t understand that with this enemy there is no dialogue, there are no negotiations. Negotiations are seen as signs of weakness. A cease fire, as dictated by the Quran, is really a temporary lull in fighting to prepare for the final attack.
When we present the terrorists with weakness, they would be fools not to exploit it. When we cower at their threats, when we retreat at their advances, when we restrain our troops during battle, when we announce we are “not winning,” we are throwing raw meat at the global jihad monster and more Americans will die as a result. We are in a war for our existence whether we admit it or not. And in such a war only one side can win.
(Source FrontPageMagazine.com 10/31/2007) Jamie Glazov is Frontpage Magazine’s managing editor. He holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in U.S. and Canadian foreign policy. He edited and wrote the introduction to David Horowitz’s Left Illusions. He is also the co-editor (with David Horowitz) of The Hate America Left and the author of Canadian Policy Towards Khrushchev’s Soviet Union (McGill-Queens University Press, 2002)