“Terrorism” versus “international terrorism” … the lone wolf versus the terror cell … alQaeda versus ISIS … Hezbollah versus Hamas.
For most purposes, these are distinctions without a difference.
When the bomb explodes and the shrapnel flies in your direction at a thousand feet per second, it does not matter if ISIS sent the bomber an email or it was his own idea. Of course, it’s important to law enforcement, but it means nothing to the victim. In the bombings and stabbings over the weekend, we keep hearing officials imply that it’s somehow not as bad if it’s the work of a lone wolf terrorist. But to the victim, it makes no difference.
The people of Israel are supposed to feel better because they don’t have ISIS bombing them. Instead, they have Hamas and Hezbollah. These two terror groups have more missiles than all the powers of Europe combined. But at least they aren’t called ISIS! Friends, who cares what they’re called?
The labels “Sunni Muslim” and “Shiite Muslim” are important to understanding the dynamic of the Middle East, but you can throw the labels out the window when it comes to the terror war against the United States and Israel. Among the things recovered from the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound was a letter he wrote to some of his lieutenants saying that, “Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication.”
That’s not supposed to happen. Bin Laden was Sunni. Iran is Shiite. Sunnis and Shiites are enemies. They’ve been spilling each other’s blood for centuries. But when it comes to terror, they make no distinction. Over the years, al-Qaeda jihadists have received training from Hezbollah in both Iran and Lebanon. Several of the Sunni 9-11 hijackers visited Shia Iran in the two years before the attack. While there, agents of Shia Hezbollah gave them terrorist training.
In 2011, David Cohen, then-Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said, “By exposing Iran’s secret deal with al-Qaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory, we are illuminating yet another aspect of Iran’s unmatched support for terrorism.”
That’s the same Iran to which America just opened the doors of trade to the whole world. That trade will mean hundreds of billions of dollars in their coffers. It’s the same Iran we just sent billions in cash to. Yet, Iran has not shown an ounce of regret for its support of global terrorism.
In January of this year, Iran released three American hostages, but not before they received $400 million cash from the United States in foreign currencies. The plane carrying the hostages sat on the runway and was not released until the U.S. money-plane arrived. When details emerged, it became clear that America had broken its longstanding policy, and paid a ransom for hostages.
But the Administration said it wasn’t ransom. They said it was money already owed to the Iranians, and they simply used it as leverage to make sure the hostages were finally freed. But in 2012, a federal judge in New York found Iran liable in the case of the 9-11 attacks. He ruled that Iran owed U.S. citizens more than $6 billion dollars for Iran’s role in bankrolling and training the 9-11 hijackers.
In March of this year, another judge ruled that Iran owes a total of $10.5 billion to the 911 victims’ estates, and to insurance companies that had paid for damage that occurred to structures in the attack. Why should the U.S. be sending Iran billions of dollars when U.S. law says that Iran owes U.S. citizens billions of dollars?
The court rulings are largely seen as symbolic because everyone knows that Iran will never willingly choose to pay the money. But here’s the important thing. A federal court made an official ruling that the government of Iran materially participated in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. That’s big!
No matter the brand, terrorism is terrorism. The conflict behind today’s campaign of Islamic terror traces back to Genesis — the first book of the Bible. My book, The Everlasting Hatred, examines it in detail.
The media will in one breath condemn ISIS, but laud the Palestine Liberation Organization. But terror is terror, Islamic terror is Islamic terror — whether it strikes Orlando, the Chelsea neighborhood of New York, or the old city of Jerusalem.
