by Aaron Klein
At that point I stood up and announced to the room Humphries and I had an important dinner date and that we had to leave.
The terrorists escorted us to my car. I think they were as happy to see us go as I was relieved to still be breathing. On the phone later Ala Senakreh told me never to bring Humphries back to Nablus again.
Now back in Jenin with a real live potential suicide bomber and his jihad recruiter, I thought I'd ever-so-slightly test fate again and ask Ahmed about the seventy-two virgins.
"Show me exactly where in the Quran it states you will get seventy-two dark-eyed virgins for blowing yourself up amongst civilians," I asked Ahmed. But he was smarter than our hosts in Nablus.
"You and I, we do not discuss Allah and the Quran. I will tell you more the moment that I will explode myself when there will be one dark-eyed virgin who will carry up my soul to the sky."
I figured I'd just let that one go. I had no intention of creating a Humphries-style game of chicken about virgins a second time around. I'd had my lifetime share of annoyed terrorists scouring the Quran for seventy-two virgins. I focused instead on the implications of a Muslim heaven filled with virgins.
"You talk about so-called martyrdom being divine. About being rewarded in the next world on supreme spiritual levels for what you say is a gift to Allah. And yet you tell me that what awaits you after a suicide operation is an eternity of sex with virgins. This is the most baseline physical pleasure imaginable. This is your religious version of heaven?" I asked.
"Let me explain something to you," said Ahmed, as he began a theological exposition:
The world, the lower one we are in now, it is temporary. Allah examines the loyalty of human beings, asking you in this materialistic world to avoid all that is tempting, all that pleasures you on earth, and to dedicate yourself to Allah.
This doesn't mean that Allah does not think it is good to take part in these needs of sex, in the pleasure of drinking alcohol, enjoying nature and other stuff. The point is that non-Muslims do those things in this world while ignoring Allah and all moral rules, while Muslims are asked to do a tremendous spiritual effort on earth in order to gain these other [physical] pleasures in the next world.
I don't know how you Jews see these physical pleasures, especially after the Torah that Allah gave you was falsified, but in our religion all spiritual efforts are asked from us on earth and it is much more difficult. So it is not that all the story is about sex. You do free sex now, I do not.
Ahmed then informed me I will go to hell for having free sex and that he will go to heaven.
"In heaven I will do and will enjoy what you did during your life in this world. The difference is that after these years you will burn in hell forever and I will, after my years in this world of faith, restraint and patience, enjoy Allah's pleasures forever."
An amazing juxtaposition: A want-to-be suicide bomber telling me I will go to hell.
"Do you really think you will go to heaven for killing innocent civilians during a suicide operation?" I asked.
"You are treating in a ridiculous way this issue, but this is in the Quran. Go and, Allah forbid, ask Allah about this point. We are promised in the Quran to have the dark-eyed virgins and that's it. The Quran is full of verses glorifying the Shahid, the martyr."
It Ain't Easy Being a Terrorist
Palestinian sheikhs and terror leaders have no problem sending fanatic teenagers to their deaths, but they themselves hide behind civilians, drive luxury cars, and live in beautiful apartments while so many others reside in slums in the United Nationsfostered refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
With few exceptions, every terror leader I interviewed for this book was surrounded by women and children during the interview. They do this because they know the Israeli army won't intentionally attack a home filled with civilians.
Islamic Jihad's Abu Ayman, whose job is to send suicide bombers into Israel, seemed to me the usual brand of civilianusing terrorist. And I made no bones about bringing that up.
"It's pretty easy to send others into population centers to blow themselves up, but if you think suicide bombings are so important why don't you become a martyr yourself?" I asked him.
Expressionless, Ayman made some excuse about Allah choosing him to be a planner and recruiter and not a suicide bomber.
He said his role as a leader in the Islamic jihad terror group exposes him to possible Israeli assassination and so by deduction he was as brave as a suicide bomber.
He then offered a ten-minute sob story about how being a jihad leader isn't easy and requires much personal sacrifice. He claimed Ahmed's life as a potential bomber is much easier than his.
"To be a [potential] martyr in a bomb attack is an easier life than mine as a wanted man who sleeps every night in different places, many times in forests and caves far from my wife and children. This is much harder than the brother who explodes himself," Ayman said.
But for someone complaining he stayed "far" from women and children, it sure was strange we were conducting an interview in an apartment filled with women and children.
Ayman continued with a straight face: "Sometimes I think that I want to sleep in the arms of my wife. That I want to take my wife and little children on a trip, but I gave up all these things and devoted myself to Allah."
"You say you devote your life to your god. So what you're telling me is a life devoted to Allah means sending suicide bombers into Israel to kill civilians?" I asked.
Ayman explained that since Israeli military installations are too difficult to infiltrate for attacks, suicide bombers "therefore must go to any place where he can kill members of this enemy."
Ayman pronounced all Israelis are military targets.
"As long as Israelis do not react against their government and its policy, we will never consider them as innocent civilians and they will always be a legitimate goal for our attacks," said Ayman.
I asked Ayman how he goes about picking the lucky Palestinians who merit becoming Islamic jihad suicide bombers. Ayman said he doesn't go out to cultivate or recruit potential attackers because there were more than enough volunteers. Rather, Ayman described his role more as approving applicants and providing the bomber with logistics and an explosive belt-a tool, Ayman said, that will "drive the martyr to heaven."
"Far from the negative image of someone like me as exploiting naive characters and putting pressure on poor guys to go out and explode themselves, I am more of a technical facilitator for someone enthusiastic about becoming a martyr."
Ayman says his Islamic jihad terror group only accepts Palestinians who want to become martyrs for the sake of serving Allah.
He said on the day of an attack he will accompany the potential bomber throughout the day "to ensure he does the proper preparations."
Many terror experts believe potential bombers are followed by terror leaders preceding an attack to ensure the bomber doesn't change his mind at the last minute.
Ayman said on the day of an attack, a suicide bomber must spend as much time as possible praying to Allah. The bomber must be "totally clean like it's his wedding day," Ayman said, explaining purity represents the "holiness" of the martyr's mission and his "marriage" to Allah. Contrary to multiple films on suicide bombers, Ayman said Palestinian bombers don't shave off their body hair.
After a suicide bombing, Islamic Jihad pays monthly stipends to the families of a "martyr," Ayman said.
"But the payments are not a salary or a price for what their son and daughter did, but as a way to thank the family and to diminish their financial suffering because many times the volunteer contributed to the finances of his family," Ayman clarified.
I talked with Ayman about the role of other countries like Iran and Syria in financing and directing Palestinian terror attacks.
The biggest Palestinian terror leaders don't live in the West Bank or Gaza. They reside in Syria and regularly travel to Iran. Islamic jihad chief Ramadan Shallah operates openly from Syria, where he
gives media interviews and makes public appearances. Hamas chieftain Khaled Meshaal also lives in Syria with frequent trips to Iran.
And what does Iran get in exchange for directing Palestinian terrorism? The ability to stage distractions and foment regional violence and instability any time it wants. Plus, controlling Palestinian terror keeps Iran a major Middle East player.
One leader for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who directs the group's rocket infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip once openly admitted to me he fires rockets for whoever pays him, whether Iran or anyone else. I jokingly inquired how much it would cost for a few Qassam rockets lobbed at CNN's Gaza branch. He said $10,000.
Following a bombing that killed six Israelis in the costal town of Hadera in October 2005, Abu Carmel, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus, who acknowledged his group took part in the attack, told me the suicide bombing was directed from Damascus.
But during our in-person interview, Ayman denied that Palestinian terror groups are controlled by outside parties.
"This is one more nonsense that shows that there is no logic in what you are saying and that you enjoy repeating what the Israelis tell you," charged Ayman. "The fact is that we want to carry out attacks every day but the conditions on the ground make it difficult. When there is an occasion to carry out an attack we, we just carry out the attack."
"Our Human Bombs Are the Most Effective Weapon"
As an Orthodox Jew little gets to me more than when so-called religious leaders pervert their religion to exploit the devout into doing things they shouldn't be doing. This happens on a regular basis with all religions in all parts of the world. But nothing is more extreme or more evil than the Islamic sheikhs who preach terrorism and instruct their followers to commit suicide in order to kill others in the name of Allah.
Perhaps nowhere is support for terrorism more prevalent than in Jenin, where polls show its residents are proud most Palestinian suicide bombers originated in their town.
Sheikh Salem Abu Muumen, revered by potential bomber Ahmed, is considered one of the most important religious leaders in Jenin. He's a charismatic man with a well-composed demeanor and is known within West Bank Islamic society for his deep knowledge of sharia law.
According to Palestinian Authority security officials, Muumen is close to the radical wing of the Islamic Jihad terror organization. The PA officials and Islamic Jihad sources identify Muumen as an important religious figure in mentoring Jenin residents who wish to become suicide bombers. The sources say Muumen aids the young recruits in spiritual preparations necessary to engage in martyrdom, even instructing the bombers which Quranic verses to read before exploding themselves.
Muumen commands his followers to seek death through jihad. His speeches to his Jenin congregation claim the greatest fate of all is to die in a jihad operation against the Zionist enemy.
I debated Muumen Jew to fanatic Muslim liar. Without beating around the bush, I started off by aiming right for his jugular:
Sheikh, I think you are perverting Islam and justifying suicide bombings because suicide attacks as a tactic works. Because suicide bombings are your way of bringing worldwide attention to the Palestinian cause. Because the Palestinians don't have a military so you fight by attacking civilians off guard. Because outside players like Iran and Syria use Palestinian terror for their own ends.
And you're perhaps the most important player in all of it. It is you that instills these lies that suicide bombers go to paradise and get seventy-two virgins. You're the reason Palestinian teenagers think they are serving Allah by killing Israelis. What is your response if I say I think you are lying to teenagers and brainwashing them into believing they get paradise?
I think the sheikh did not expect an immediate punch, but he shot back without flinching, telling me I was in no position to criticize him.
"I am glad that you are showing a deep understanding of Islam and that you have the capacity to analyze Islam and to tell us what is Islam and what does it allow or forbid," he said sarcastically. "It is not bad for a young American Jew whom I doubt if you even understand everything about Judaism," he said.
Muumen agreed with my assessment that suicide attacks are used as a tool by Palestinians.
"Because of the gap between us and the enemy [Israel], and the lack of military and technology abilities, martyrdom operations are the tool that we adopted in order to reach a terror equi librium with the enemy. It is obvious that our human bombs are the most effective weapon we own."
Like Ahmed and Ayman, Muumen denied suicide bombers were brainwashed, claiming the Quran guaranteed "the greatest prizes of all" to shahids:
When you find it suitable you people say that we are primitives and when it is more suitable you turn us into devious and strong people who are masters in brainwashing. There is no brainwashing. It is the religious motivation in the Quran and the religious duty that encourages the great numbers of our people to be suicide bombers.
I asked the sheikh how he can support suicide bombings when the Quran condemns suicide.
Muumen seemed a bit taken aback when I started reading from verses of Muhammad's testimony:
[2:195] You shall spend in the cause of GOD; do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction.
[ 4:29, 30] 0 you who believe.. .You shall not kill yourselves. GOD is Merciful towards you. Anyone who commits these transgressions, maliciously and deliberately, we will condemn him to Hell. This is easy for GOD to do.
Smiling, perhaps pleased I brought the debate to his playing field-the pages of the Quran-the good sheikh offered me his interpretation of the verses I read forbidding suicide. And in his interpretation lies the problem.
"You are reading into the Quran all wrong," Sheikh Muumen charged. "The difference between suicide and being killed as a martyr in a suicide attack is huge. A person who commits suicide kills a soul, a spirit, a person and this is completely forbidden by Allah who creates us and has the right to decide when our life comes to its end.
"Killing yourself in suicide is a sin but killing yourself in suicide as part of suicide bombing attack against the enemy is not forbidden because in the attack you kill those who are considered by Islam the enemy of Allah and of Islam."
Muumen said the Quranic verse I quoted about not throwing yourself into destruction actually requires Muslims to become suicide bombers.
"You throw yourself in your own hands to destruction when you give up jihad and don't participate in a suicide bombing against Islam's enemies as part of jihad," the sheikh stated.
Muumen claimed he was backed up by numerous Islamic scholars. And he was probably right. But what gets to me is the absolute backward thinking of these clerics. Night is day. Exploding yourself into bloody bits is not suicide.
I thought it would be amusing to see what exactly Muumen, a man who preaches suicide bombings, considers to be terrorism.
"Our interpretation of terror is obviously different from yours," he stated as I braced myself for this one.
"In Islam terror is mentioned and Muslims are invited to terrify the enemies of Allah. I understand that in your vision we are terrorists but in our vision we are fighters or persons who use terror according to the Islamic definition."
Nearly making me sick, Muumen told me all Israelis are military targets since they all must serve in the army: "Muslims in general have the right to carry out attacks even when they know that civilians of the enemy, even women and children, will be killed exactly like the enemy kills women and children on our side."
I immediately corrected Muumen's lies that Israel targets women and children but with a straight face he shoved conspiracy theories at me that the Israeli prime minister directs his military to take out Palestinian babies.
I asked Muumen why doesn't he strap on a suicide belt and blow himself up if it's the best way to achieve paradise. Why doesn't he send his children to become martyrs?
"When you speak in such heat and passion about young kids and teenager
s, do not think I feel embarrassed. You should see the age of Israelis who serve in the army. Come and see the guys who are in the checkpoints, who kill, who chase our people. Aren't they young people of eighteen years old?"
He continued by lying to me.
"None of our martyrs who carried out suicide attacks was less than twenty years old and you should know that these young are the pioneers and leaders in their faith, their religious conscious and their understanding of our religion" he said.
Islamic Jihad has sent many bombers below the age of twenty to carry out attacks.
Muumen told me Islam "calls us and pushes us to scarify ourselves for Allah and for the religion. So we don't hesitate to encourage our children to follow the road of jihad."
As an American Jew who believes in the right of Israel to exist I asked the good sheikh whether I should be suicide bombed.
It's a question I dreaded asking, but I felt compelled.
Muumen responded that I should indeed be targeted in a suicide operation.
"American Jews are here as part of the Zionist plot against our people and against Islam and they deserve to be attacked, persecuted, and killed like the occupiers, the other Israeli Jews. If you would express your opposition to Zionism and to occupation, we will respect you and will express our sorrow if you were suicide bombed. But since this is not the case and you support Israel you should be killed," Muumen said.
The simplicity of his statement sent chills down my spine.
I asked the sheikh what he thought about Judaism. Did he believe if I followed the laws of the Torah I would merit heaven just like Ahmed would as a martyr?
Muumen accused Jews of falsifying the Torah. He claimed Judaism is based on "fake books" in which biblical stories were changed around to state Jews, not Muslims, are the chosen people.
"Therefore Allah and his characters in the Quran are different from the characters of Allah like it is presented in your falsified Torah."
