by Aaron Klein
It is known also that most of the first guards of the Al Aqsa Mosque when it was built were Jews. The Muslims knew at that time that they could not find any more loyal and faithful than the Jews to guard the mosque and its compound. They knew that the Jews have a special relation with this place.
But the former senior Waqf leader said the Jewish temples have "lost their purpose."
"As we are the religion here to correct everything that was before us there is no need for the Temple. Allah chose Islam as its final and favorite religion."
He stressed although the Temples existed, the Mount rightfully belongs to the Muslims and that Jews have no right to pray there and should not even visit. Even the good Waqf personalities demand Muslim exclusivity.
I told terror-supporter Tamimi about my meeting with the former Waqf official. Tamimi denounced the man as an "Israeli collaborator. Who paid off this man? I set the rules for the Waqf and the Muslims and I told you the Temples never existed."
For Tamimi and for so many Muslims around the world, the centuries old battle for the Temple Mount has ended in victory.
CHAPTER FIVE
FROM RICHARD GERE TO
ROSIE 0' DONNELL,
TERRORISTS ARE REALLY
FONDA HOLLYWOOD
-1, I'M RICHARD GERE and I'm speaking for the entire _world. We're with you during this election time," said a radiant Richard Gere, star of such films as Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, and American Gigolo.
"It's really important: get out and vote," continued the proud actor, his words simultaneously being translated into Arabic.
Then, switching to actually speaking in Arabic, Gere concluded in a strong American accent: "Take part in the election."
Gere was speaking in a commercial that was broadcast repeatedly on Palestinian television in January 2006, just prior to one of the first municipal Palestinian elections since late Palestinian terror leader Yasser Arafat held what was widely regarded as sham local elections about thirty years prior.
This time, Gere was urging Palestinians to vote in local ballots essentially split between the Hamas terrorist organization, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings, and the Fatah organization, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings.
Gere's co-stars in the commercial were Chief Palestinian Justice Taysir Tamimi and former Greek Orthodox Church spokesperson Atallah Hanna. Tamimi, featured prominently in this book, is a well-known terror supporter and justifier of suicide bombings who regularly delivers fiery sermons on Palestinian television calling for the downfall of America and Israel. Hanna was fired from his church position after being accused of directly aiding terror organizations. He has held public lovey-dovey meetings with leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and appears regularly on Palestinian television urging children to blow themselves up. Among some of Gere co-star Hanna's televised gems: "We encourage our youth to participate in the resistance, to carry out martyrdom attacks."
Gere's appearance on Palestinian television was sponsored by "One Voice," a far-leftist organization run by an outspoken Israeli businessman.
Palestinians indeed took Gere's advice and voted en masse, electing Hamas legislators by a large margin. Hamas terrorists boasted their victory was in part fueled by Israel's retreat under fire from the Gaza Strip a few months earlier and the terror group's regular firing of rockets into Jewish population centers. Hamas officials stated they would use their election victory to lead the Palestinians in their jihad against the West and against Israel.
Abu Abdullah, considered one of the most important members of Hamas's so-called military wing, told me of Gere's appearance, "We thank Richard Gere for his efforts in the historic election of the Palestinian Islamic resistance [Hamas]."
Abdullah urged Gere to "tell your American government that they should respect the democratic choice of the Palestinians in the elections that Gere promoted and that they should stop undermining the legitimate government of Hamas."
Since I don't know Gere personally, I cannot determine whether he realized in his shallow, Botoxed brain he was urging voter turnout in elections between terror groups in one of the most terror-saturated societies the world has ever known. Whether he knew Hamas would utilize the legitimacy granted to them by the international community's support of elections, urged on by Gere, to demand foreign aid and worldwide diplomatic status for their terror organization.
When I was a kid growing up in a modern Orthodox Jewish household in Philadelphia, I used to observe Hollywood and the music industry with quiet amusement, watching as lamebrain celebrities involved themselves in causes they probably couldn't spell and made all sorts of pronouncements about issues they largely don't have the capacity to understand. There were also celebrities whom I thought did comprehend what they were doing, and I was baffled, but still unconcerned, as some openly sided with America's enemies and attempted to undermine our government's policies.
But it wasn't until I moved to the Middle East in February 2005 and started talking to terrorists that I fully realized just how much damage some of our "antiwar" celebrities are causing.
A lot of terrorists have satellite televisions and advanced communication equipment and are quite adept at browsing the Internet. In today's wired world, it's very easy for anyone speaking any language to be updated almost immediately about all kinds of events. This includes America's terror enemies, who pay particularly close attention to news of U.S. domestic opinion regarding our government's Mideast policies. They understand that in the U.S. the fight for public opinion is everything-change public opinion, get American citizens to lose their drive to fight and the government and military ultimately must change, as well. The terrorists time their attacks in part on the status of our national debate and on the American news cycle.
The terrorists want our war on terror to end and they believe they know how to end it. Every single terrorist that I talked to about Iraq pointed at some point during our conversation to the model of Vietnam, in which they said the U.S. was forced to retreat after domestic public approval for the war tanked. The terrorists told me they were aware of the important role Hollywood had in galvanizing opposition to Vietnam and that they are generally aware now multiple Hollywood heavyweights have been urging the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, create dialogue with Iran, and pressure Israel into handing more territory to the Palestinians.
Islamic terrorists loathe our culture; they told me they believe our movies and music are corrupting humanity on earth. They think U.S. actors and singers should be stoned to death for the negative influence they are having on Muslim youth around the world. But for the terrorists to win-and they openly state that for them winning means imposing a worldwide Islamic caliphate-the terrorists will accept any help offered and will take advantage of any tools they have at their disposal, apparently including Hollywood.
I put together a panalopy of Palestinian terror leaders and schmoozed with them about their thoughts on some of our outspoken celebrities; in some cases I read to them a series of celebrity quotes regarding various political issues, and the terrorists offered their critiques.
No discussion about U.S. celebrities meddling in our foreign affairs can appropriately begin without two-time Academy Awardwinning American actress, former fashion model, and fitness guru Jane Fonda. Star of numerous films, most recently Monsterin-Law, and ex-wife of CNN founder Ted Turner, Fonda is most known for her political activism, particularly her opposition to the Vietnam War.
In 1970, Fonda formed an antiwar road show designed as an answer to Bob Hope's USO tour, visiting military towns along the West Coast with the goal of establishing a dialogue with soldiers to speak against their upcoming deployments to Vietnam. She moved on to speaking at antiwar rallies and spewing war crime accusations against the U.S. to National Liberation Front officials.
At the height of her Vietnam activism, in 1972, Fonda visited Hanoi and, among other statements, repeated unsubstantiated North Vietnamese claims America had been deliberately targeting the d
ike system along a major Vietnamese river. Fonda was photographed in Hanio seated on an anti-aircraft battery used against American aircrews and later participated in several radio broadcasts on behalf of the Communist regime, asking U.S. military men to consider the consequences of their actions.
When cases of torture by the Vietnamese began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called our returning American POWs "hypocrites and liars."
I talked with the terrorists about the legendary Fonda; most of them were aware of her anti-Vietnam war efforts, but did not know she was involved in current antiwar activities. The terrorists were thrilled to learn Fonda had spoken on behalf of Palestinians, and against the U.S. war in Iraq, traveling to Israel with the leftist group Peace Now, and talking at anti-Iraq war protests.
I read to the terrorists the following statement by Fonda at an anti-Iraq war rally:
A lot of press people have been asking me today, "What's the difference between now and during the Vietnam war?" And I'll tell you one huge crucial difference: it took six years for Vietnam veterans, active-duty servicemen, Gold Star mothers and military families to come out against the war. It has happened now within three years of the war. Their presence here is critical, and we should acknowledge their courage.
Ala Senakreh, the chief in the West Bank of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization, thanked Fonda for her "holy" efforts.
"We thank Fonda and we strengthen her and call upon her to continue in her efforts," said Senakreh. "I tell her that she must help her people to understand that the occupied people have the right to defend themselves. When Americans in Iraq and the Israelis in Palestine occupy our lands and rights and want to kill us, we do not offer them roses. We fight.
"I tell Fonda to tell the mothers of American soldiers that your sons are committing atrocities. Keep up your holy efforts, Jane Fonda, because it helps us and it helps peace."
Ramada Adassi, leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades in the Anskar refugee camp in the northern West Bank, said Fonda's speaking out against the Iraq war "proves that Americans are not only a group of barbarians and gangsters, but some, like Fonda, deserve to be thanked for their healthy sense, for their refusal to close their eyes behind the official propaganda."
Adassi told me he and some of his terror friends are hoping Fonda and some of her celebrity friends become more vocal.
"Thank you Mrs. Fonda and we hope you and your friends will succeed. We have been waiting to hear your voices and we hope you will succeed to prevent the big disaster that the proZionists are planning."
I decided not to ask exactly what "disaster" he was referring to.
In September 2005, Fonda and controversial extreme leftist Scottish politician George Galloway, who in June 2007 threw me out of his office for calling Hamas a terror group during a radio interview, had planned a national bus tour against the war in Iraq, but postponed it due to a relief operation for the Gulf Coast, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Fonda then planned a second bus tour with her daughter in 2006 but scrapped those plans as well, stating she felt like she would distract attention from the activism of Cindy Sheehan, a bereaved mother whose son, Casey, was killed during his service in Iraq.
Sheehan first attracted international news media attention in August 2005 for her extended antiwar demonstration at a makeshift protest camp she created about three miles outside President Bush's Texas ranch. Sheehan organized multiple tours and rallies against the Iraq war, was arrested for protesting at Bush's May 2007 State of the Union Address, spoke out in Europe and South America and has made statements some critics say defend jihad.
Sheehan has called Bush "the biggest terrorist in the world" and "worse than Osama Bin Laden." In January 2007, the bereaved mother traveled to Cuba and called for the closure of the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
The Palestinian terrorist leaders I spoke to were emboldened when they heard some of the particulars of Sheehan's activism.
I read to them quotes in which Sheehan called terrorists "freedom fighters," such as when she stated, "Iraq was not involved in 9/11, Iraq was not a terrorist state. But now that we have decimated the country, the borders are open, freedom fighters from other countries are going in, and they [the U.S. government] have created more violence by going to an Islamic country..."
Brigades leader Adassi told me, "This sincere woman says what we've been saying all these last years-Saddam never threatened America or its security.. .You [Sheehan] give us hope and you show us that there are different Americans than those whom we know."
The terrorists applauded and expressed signs of joy when they heard Sheehan blamed the Iraq war on the Zionists.
Sheehan once stated to the media: "Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel."
Brigades chieftain Senakreh replied to Sheehan 's comments: "I agree with her completely and thank her from deep in my heart when she dares to tell the Americans that their children are killed for the interests of Israel.
"The American security has nothing to do with the atrocities in Iraq and in Palestine. I tell this noble mother that American soldiers and Israeli soldiers receive common training and share their experience in how to turn these atrocities even more cruel. You are losing your sons not for a better life for you, but for Israeli interests," Senakreh explained.
Abu Hamed, leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip, urged Americans to listen to Sheehan.
"I hope that all the Americans will understand what this great mother understood. We hope you do not consider this mother as a humanitarian case who speaks from her own pain, because she is saying the truth. I hope you will take her as a good example."
Hamed's north Gaza terror cell is responsible for coordinating a lot of the rocket fire aimed from the northern Gaza Strip at nearby Jewish communities.
When I chatted with the terrorists I got the sense that they were familiar with the general role outspoken celebrities have in America but they weren't too knowledgeable with some of our bigname actors and musicians. They had never heard of the Dixie Chicks, who strongly criticized Bush in the run up to the Iraq war. The terrorists didn't know who George Clooney was, although they were quite thrilled when I read to them some of Clooney's political statements, including a comment in which he referred to suicide bombers as "opponents" who resort to attacks because they "have no other war to win." (The terrorists, though, rejected Clooney's contention, explaining suicide bombers are motivated by the will to please Allah and reach paradise, and that suicide bombing is not at all a last resort, but the noblest way to achieve Heaven.)
The terrorists did not know about some recent American movies that have been criticized as anti-American and siding with jihad, such as Clooney's 2005 Academy Award winner Syrianna, which shows a cycle of Mideast violence that begins and ends with American oil interests. The terrorists weren't familiar with Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, which largely neglects to mention Islam, bin Laden, or Mohammed Atta and which some critics accused of putting forward a theory the American government and interests were responsible.
But one Hollywood actor whose activism the terrorists were familiar with is Academy Award winner Sean Penn. Actually, they didn't know Penn was an actor. The terrorists had no idea Penn starred in acclaimed films like Mystic River and Dead Man Walking, which humanized a killer on death row. They knew Penn only as the ex-husband of singer Madonna and thought he was famous in the U.S. for his marriage to the pop icon.
Madonna is probably the most well-known American celebrity in the Middle East. Everyone here has heard of her. The terrorists know Madonna because the singer is regularly referenced on religious Arab television networks for corrupting humanity on earth. When sheikhs cite samples of the U.S. attempting to pervert young Muslims with our demonic culture, they speak of Madonna.
Some of the terrorists I spoke t
o had heard Penn made speeches at anti-Iraq war rallies and knew the former Madonna husband embarked on solidarity visits to terror sanctuaries, such as his 2005 visit to Iran.
I had an entire speech Penn delivered in 2007 translated into Arabic for the terrorists' responses.
Here are some highlights of that Penn speech, remarks the actor proudly delivered at California Rep. Barbara Lee's March 24 "Town Hall Meeting" on the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq:
Bush: You have broken our country and our hearts. The needless blood on your hands, and therefore, on our own, is drowning the freedom, the security, and the dream that America might have been once healed of and awakened by the tragedy of September 11, 2001. The verdict is in. You lied, connived, and exploited your own countrymen and most of all, our troops.
You, Misters Bush and Cheney; you, Ms. Rice, are villainously and criminally obscene people, obscene human beings, incompetent even to fulfill your own self-serving agenda. Iraq is not our toilet. They are a country of human beings whose lives, while once oppressed by Saddam, are now lived in Dante 's inferno.
Now, because I've been on the streets of Baghdad during this occupational war, outside the Green Zone, without security, and you haven't, I've met children there. In that country of 25 million, these children have now suffered minimally, a rainstorm of civilian death around and among them totaling the equivalent of two hundred September 11ths in just four years of war. Two hundred 9/11s. Two hundred 9/11s.
Penn goes on to express solidarity with Iran, whose government is the largest state sponsor of terror worldwide-openly supporting Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah. Iran is accused of supporting the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq and of attempting to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated numerous times he seeks to wipe Israel off the map.
