Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

By: Aaron Klein

Published: August 3rd, 2011

tell a friend

Anti-War Group Supporting

Would-Be Terrorist

An anti-war group calling itself Courage to Resist started a legal defense fund for Pfc. Naser Abdo, the Muslim soldier arrested Wednesday who reportedly admitted planning a terror attack on Fort Hood soldiers, this column has learned.

The organization last year also featured Abdo, 21, in its newsletter, branding him a “Muslim peacemaker.”

Less than a year after the Fort Hood shooting massacre by Muslim U.S. Army major Nidal Malik Hasan, Abdo was caught last week with a bomb in a backpack and weapons stashed in a motel room meant for another attack at the base.

RawStory.com reported that Abdo has ties to a number of antiwar organizations, including Iraq Veterans Against the War and Courage to Resist.

Both groups supported Abdo’s petition for conscientious objector status, which he was eventually granted after he wrote in an application he that he was conflicted about “whether going to war was the right thing to do Islamically.”

This column has learned that Courage to Resist initiated a legal defense fund for Abdo’s conscientious objector petition. The fund is still available online.

In its December 2010 newsletter, Courage to Resist promoted Abdo as a “Muslim peacemaker.” The group wrote an item on Abdo entitled “The missing story of a Muslim peacemaker.”

Media Choose Odd Context

For Glen Beck Remark

Scores of major news media outlets published pictures of Glenn Beck in Israel while reporting on the radio host’s seemingly unrelated controversial comments regarding a Norwegian summer camp that was the site of a shooting massacre last week.

In a radio segment last week on “The Glenn Beck Program,” the former Fox News star described the deadly attack “as a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth. I mean who sends their kids to a political camp?”

Beck was referring to the shooting allegedly carried out by Anders Behring Breivik at a Norwegian Labor Party youth camp, killing at least 68 people, many teenagers, and wounding 66.

Beck’s remarks about the summer camp received a significant amount of news media coverage.

Some major media outlets reporting on the comments published images of Beck in Israel even though none of the reports mentioned the Jewish state.

Beck visited Israel last month to address the Knesset, the country’s parliament. On Aug. 24, Beck is planning a rally in Israel called “Restoring Courage.” The event is purportedly a follow up to Beck’s massive “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, D.C., last summer.

The Los Angeles Times published an article entitled “Glenn Beck hits ‘new low’; compares Norway victims to Hitler Youth.” Splashed across the top is a picture of Beck sitting in front of two Israeli flags.

The photo has no caption. No explanation is given as to why the particular image of Beck was used. Thousands of images of Beck are readily available.

The same picture accompanied a CNN.com posting entitled “Overheard on CNN.com: Beck’s camp comments appalling.”

The CNN blog post didn’t mention Israel. Even the photo’s caption did not explain the choice of an image that included Israeli flags.

The caption stated, “Glenn Beck is taking heat for comparing the Norwegian summer camp, run by the Labour Party and where most of the 76 victims in the terror attacks died, to the Hitler Youth organization.”

USA Today published a similar image in its article titled “Glenn Beck compares Norwegian victims to ‘Hitler Youth.’ “

However, in the image used, there is only one Israeli flag and it is less visible. The photo has no caption.

Reporting “Glenn Beck says Norway camp like ‘Hitler Youth,’ ” Newsday, meanwhile, used an Associated Press image of Beck with a caption stating the photo depicts Beck gesturing as he speaks in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

CBS News.com took an alternative route altogether, using a picture of Beck addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Feb. 20. The CBS piece was titled “Glenn Beck criticized for comparing Norway victims to ‘Hitler Youth.’ “

Egypt Accuses Ex-Fatah Official

Of Involvement In Attacks

A U.S.-financed Palestinian strongman was accused by Egypt this week of backing al-Qaeda-allied jihadists who attacked an Egyptian police station and a pipeline that supplied Israel with about 30 percent of its gas needs.

This column first reported in 2008, quoting informed Mideast security officials, that Mahmoud Dahlan had been providing financial support to al-Qaeda allies in the Gaza Strip, including some of the most radical Islamist organizations in the territory. The officials said Dahlan supported the al-Qaeda allies to cause trouble for Fatah rival Hamas.

Dahlan, an outcast leader in PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, has until recently closely coordinated security with the U.S. His security agencies have been the direct recipient of over $300 million in U.S. financial aid and scores of U.S. weapons transfers for over a decade.

On Friday, six people were killed and more than 20 injured when gunmen reportedly attacked a police station in the Al-Arish section of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. About 100 masked jihadists reportedly carrying flags with Islamic and al-Qaeda-oriented slogans attempted to storm the police station, prompting a firefight that lasted several hours.

The assault was followed by an overnight attack on a cooling system in the Sinai pipeline that ships Egyptian natural gas exports to Israel. It was the third such attack in recent months.

Al Arish’s military commander told Egyptian state television the jihadists responsible for the attacks were backed by Dahlan. The Palestinian strongman denied the accusations.

In April, this column obtained an internal report prepared by the Egyptian government, with input from Hamas, showing an unexpected rise in al-Qaeda abilities in Gaza.

The report put the number of armed al-Qaeda terrorists in Gaza at between 2,600 and 3,000. Previous estimates, both from within Hamas and from Israel, put the number in the hundreds.

According to the Egyptian report, there is no specific information that the al-Qaeda group is planning imminent large-scale attacks against Israel. Instead, the report claims, the armed Islamists are focused on building their bases in the Gaza Strip and connecting the bases to the neighboring Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.

Hamas has worked with al-Qaeda-allied groups in Gaza. But Jihadiya Salifiya and Jaish al-Islam have been regularly publishing pamphlets labeling Hamas as “non-Muslim” since the terror group ran in 2006 democratic elections, which the Islamist organizations see as an expression of Western values. Hamas several times has engaged in heavy fire clashes with Islamist organizations in Gaza.

Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York’s 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m.

tell a friend

About the Author: Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York's 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m (CHANGE TO 7-9 p.m.). His website is KleinOnline.com

Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

Media Choose Odd Context

For Glen Beck Remark

Egypt Accuses Ex-Fatah Official

Of Involvement In Attacks

You might also be interested in:

Related posts: