Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal Their Global Plans-To a Jew!

by Aaron Klein

  The blast ripped through a falafel restaurant outside Tel Aviv's old central bus station, killing nine and wounding dozens. By the time I arrived, ambulances had already rushed the dead and wounded from the scene. A religious Jewish group of heroes called ZAKA, a Hebrew acronym for Identifying Victims of Disaster, were sorting through the rubble for severed body parts. Jewish law considers all body parts sacred and dictates severed limbs and flesh must be buried. I saw a bloody finger and part of a foot being carefully wrapped in plastic, causing me to nearly vomit.

  Then I was told there was an American victim in the attack, a teenager named Daniel Wultz, who was rushed to a nearby hospital with severe injuries. He had been dining with his father, Tuly Wultz, who was also badly injured in the blast. The Wultzes are residents of Weston, Florida. They were on Passover vacation in Israel.

  Islamic Jihad and Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the bombing. The cell of the Brigades that directed the attack was located in Nablus, and happens to be one of the groups I am closest to. According to Brigades sources, the entire bombing operation-from the planning to the recruitment of the suicide bomber-was carried out by Fatah's Brigades. Islamic Jihad's only participation was to provide the explosive belt so they could take part in the joyous act of killing Jews.

  The very crew who sent the bomber into Israel to gravely injure Daniel Wultz consisted of none other than U.S.-trained Brigades leaders who walk around with American-provided assault rifles.

  Wultz, an avid basketball player, lost his spleen and a kidney in the attack. Doctors amputated one of his legs and fought to save his other leg, which was suffering from severely reduced blood flow. The sixteen-year-old was comatose.

  His story generated extensive U.S. media coverage and had prompted a flurry of e-mails and messages across the Internet asking people worldwide to pray for the young terror victim.

  At one very emotional point, seven days after the bombing, things momentarily looked good for Daniel. Incredibly, he opened his eyes and emerged briefly from his coma after his hometown rabbi, who flew to Israel to be with the family, wrapped his arm in scripture.

  The rabbi, Yisroel Spalter of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish outreach movement, described the moment he put tefillin, or Jewish prayer phylacteries containing Torah verses, on Wultz:

  I started to put the tefillin on his hand and right before our very eyes Daniel opened his eyes and stared at us despite his comatose state. Maybe it was just a reflex, maybe not, but the fact that it happened precisely when the tefillin were placed on his hand shocked us all. Even the doctors were surprised.

  The family members who were present could not hold back their tears and were full of emotions. I cannot describe to you the electricity that flowed through the room then. It was one of the most moving and emotional experiences I ever witnessed.

  Tefillin have been directly connected to war and terrorism.

  A verse in Deuteronomy states, "Then all the people of the earth shall see that the name of God is proclaimed over you and they will fear you."

  The Talmud explains the biblical verse is referring to the donning of tefillin, which contains the name of G-d.

  In response to the verse, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneer- son, the revered leader of the heroic Chabad Lubavitch movement, promoted a tefillin campaign in Israel and around the world following the 1967 Six Day War, in which the Jewish state was attacked by several Arab countries.

  Rabbi Spalter the next day put tefillin on Wultz, who soon after opened his eyes again and for the first time began showing signs of communication to his doctors, including blinking his eyes in response to questions.

  But it wasn't meant to be. Daniel Wultz passed away on Sunday, May 14.

  What the terrorists thought of Wultz was important to me because I saw a lot of myself in him. We are both Orthodox Jewish American citizens. Like me, Wultz attended modern religious Jewish schooling. Like me, Wultz came from a Chabad Lubavitch household. The terrorists are nice to me because they want publicity and they want to show the world they have nothing against Jews, only "Israeli occupiers," but occasions like the attacking of Wultz brought out my terror friends' true faces.

  I informed the terrorists of Wultz's death. American-trained Nasser Abu Aziz, deputy commander of the Brigades in Nablus and the West Bank, called Wultz's passing a "gift from Allah." Abu Aziz's cell directed the bombing that killed Wultz.

  "We wish this young dog will go directly with no transit to hell," Abu Aziz said.

  "[Wultz] was part of the American support machine that helps our enemy. All these young American Jews come here to support the occupation, they build and live in the settlements.. .1 imagine him as one of these Nazis who live here [in the settlements.] There is no difference between him and them."

  I explained to Abu Aziz that Wultz was only visiting Israel, but he said he was still happy the American died.

  "I say to the Americans if you will not change then we wish you more Daniel Wultzes and more pain and sorrow because it seems that this is the only thing you deserve."

  Abu Aziz went on to pledge more suicide bombings inside Israel. "We will hit whenever we will think it is suitable and do not expect that I give details but we can hit everywhere," he said.

  Our money helped pay for the death of Wultz and for so many others.

  American support to terrorism isn't limited to the funding of militias. We also pay for schools that serve as terror training zones; chemistry labs used to make explosive suicide belts; even streets in terror sanctuaries named after notorious American enemies.

  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2006 provided $140,000 to the Hamas-run Islamic University in the Gaza Strip.

  State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. officials concluded after a review the Islamic University of Gaza doesn't support terror activities, which is laughable.

  Hamas's Abu Abdullah told me Islamic University is regularly used by Hamas to support "resistance activities."

  "It is no secret that we utilize all tools at our disposal, including our fighters at Islamic University in preparations to fight the Zionists," said Abu Abdullah.

  Islamic University was founded by Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004.

  According to Israeli and Palestinian intelligence officials, Islamic University's main campus in Gaza City has been used by Hamas's military wing to recruit terrorists and suicide bombers. The University's chemistry labs were used to manufacture and improve explosives for Hamas-affiliated militias.

  Officials from Abbas's Fatah party in March 2006 claimed they captured seven Iranian military trainers-including a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards-inside Gaza City's Islamic University, which they said was being utilized as a Hamas military training ground.

  The Fatah officials said they also found nearly one thousand Qassam rockets and equipment to manufacture the rockets inside the University. They previously suspected kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was being held for a time on the University grounds.

  Popular Resistance Committees outspoken spokesman Muhammad Abdel-El told me Islamic University is "extremely important" for recruitment of militants. He said several members of his group study chemistry at the University to aid in the manufacture of explosives and suicide belts.

  Also since September 2004, USAID has reportedly provided $4 million of our money to Arkan, a Palestinian program that funds law schools at several universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Al-Najah University.

  Israeli security officials say Al-Najah University is one of the most important recruitment grounds for West Bank terror organizations. The Israeli Defense Forces a number of times raided the college and arrested terror suspects. At least fifteen Palestinians who carried out suicide bombings the past six years attended the school.

  One senior leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades told me many Brigades leaders study at the University, which he described as a "recrui
tment center for jihad." The senior leader said he himself is studying sports education.

  A leader of the Islamic Jihad terror organization said he is studying chemistry at Al Najah to enhance his terror group's bomb-making capabilities. He said others in the chemistry department manufacture explosives for Palestinian groups.

  Oh, by the way, according to the U.S. Foreign Operations Bill of 2006, it is illegal to fund universities that the Secretary of State "knows or has reason to believe advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in, terrorist activity."

  After the publication of this book, Rice and her State Department comrades can no longer play stupid. If another cent of my hard-earned money goes to any of these universities, Congress had better pounce.

  Things only take a downward spiral from here.

  USAID in July 2005 held a ceremony marking contributions of $402,000 of our taxpayer dollars for the paving of the main street in Yaabid municipality, which is a major terrorist breeding ground just outside the West Bank city of Jenin.

  Incredibly, in January 2007, the Palestinians renamed the U.S.-funded street after hanged Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein!

  Zacharias Zubeidi, leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Yaabid and Jenin, told me the city changed the name on the U.S.- funded street to show "Saddam Hussein is still alive."

  "We will honor his memory until the American and Zionist occupation is driven from our land," Zubeidi said.

  USAID has multiple times paved streets and provided infrastructure in Gaza cities controlled by Hamas. Palestinians regularly throw USAID projects back in our faces.

  After USAID funded road projects in Jenin in 2004, a central street there was named after the first Iraqi suicide bomber, who killed four American soldiers in Fallujah. The mayor of Jenin reportedly participated in an anti-American dedication ceremony in which speakers blessed the "resistance of the residents of Fallujah."

  Also, a USAID-funded Palestinian sports center was named after Salef Khalef, operational head of the Black September terror organization, which was behind the killing of two U.S. diplomats in Sudan in 1973 and the massacre one year earlier of eleven Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich.

  I chose specifically to focus here on American funding of Palestinian terror because it is the arena I am closest to and know the most about. I don't feel comfortable accusing the U.S. of funding terrorism elsewhere, but I certainly am not surprised by the reports of America's backing of groups connected to terror all over the world, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and other areas.

  There have been reports the U.S. is funding violent Sunni groups connected to al-Qaida to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East. Some of the reports accuse America of pumping large sums of money, without congressional authority or oversight, for covert operations in the Middle East, including to groups wanting to take on Hezbollah and Iranian organizations.

  Funding one terror group against another has never worked and always backfires. It results in more terror attacks, including attacks against Americans. It creates arms races with competing terror groups, which means still more killed in terrorist attacks. Why are we funding terror worldwide? Why are taxpayers letting the U.S. get away with this madness?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  TERROR GRINCHES STEAL

  BETHLEHEM CHRISTMAS

  H, CHRISTMAS IN BETHLEHEM. Manger Square is ablaze with colorful lights. The weather is usually a bit chilly. Aggressive merchants bombard passersby with "special sales" on all kinds of cedar wood statues and religious carvings. And like clockwork, Middle East leaders and the mainstream media congregate every year to ignore rampant Muslim intimidation of Christians and instead blast Israel-often with completely inaccurate information-for ruining Christmas and for the drastic decline of Christianity in one of the holiest cities for that religion.

  As a member of the media, I observed 2005 and 2006 midnight mass at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, which Christians believe is the birthplace of Jesus.

  One after the other, speakers took the stage and resoundingly blamed Israel for fleeing Christians, mostly claiming a security barrier the Jewish state constructed in 2002 nearly ruined the city.

  "Palestinians are seeking a bridge to peace instead of Israeli walls. Unfortunately, Israel is continuing with its destructive policy ... [and] transforming our land into a big jail," said U.S.- backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas just prior to the mass services.

  Delivering original sentiments, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, urged Israel "to build bridges and not walls" and blamed Israel for "[compelling Christians] to leave the land of their birth for foreign lands on account of the political situation."

  Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, speaking at St. Catherine's Church, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, called for Israel to remove its "separation barrier, which is causing all kinds of hardships and affecting normal life in Bethlehem."

  Bethlehem is one of the oldest and most important Christian communities in the world. Christians composed upwards of 80 percent of Bethlehem when Israel was founded in 1948, but by 2006, they accounted for only 23 percent with a large majority of Muslims.

  The 23 percent Christian statistic is generous since it includes the Bethlehem satellite towns of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Some estimates place Bethlehem's actual Christian population as low as 12 percent. If demographic trends continue, in about fifteen years there may be no Christians remaining in Bethlehem. Hundreds of Christians are fleeing Bethlehem every year.

  The decline largely began in 1995, when Israel, which used to control Bethlehem, withdrew from the city, handing Bethlehem over to the Palestinian Authority as part of the U.S.-brokered 1993 Oslo Accords, which established a Palestinian fiefdom in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for PLO terror chief Yasser Arafat.

  A few weeks after 2006 Christmas celebrations, I returned to Bethlehem and met with Ayman Abu Eita, who was chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group in Beit Sahour from 2001 until at least 2006. The Brigades, responsible for scores of suicide bombings, is the "military wing" of the Palestinian Fatah party. Beit Sahour neighbors Bethlehem to the east; for all intents and purposes the town is basically part of Bethlehem.

  Eita was arrested by Israel several times for participation in terror activities, including scores of shooting attacks against Israelis, and was just released from prison a few days prior my meeting with him. He doesn't want to be arrested again any time soon so he asked that I don't label him as head of the Brigades in Beit Sahour, explaining to me he didn't participate in any attacks during the three days he had been out of jail. Instead Abu Eita wants me to introduce him as the main representative of PA President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party in Beit Sahour.

  I drove down the narrow, ancient streets of Bethlehem and met Eita at a predetermined corner. He was driving a decent looking Ford with two men inside. I couldn't tell if they were armed. I followed Eita by car to a building situated at a point which the tiny road we were traveling on came to a dead end.

  Bethlehem's main shopping district is in shambles; the hotels, restaurants and apartments are mainly rundown, except of course for the homes of PA leaders, who tauntingly live in palaces fit for kings probably purchased with billions in the foreign aid Arafat and his Fatah gang hijacked from the Palestinian people. Bethlehem has so much potential. It could be one of the top tourist destinations for Christians worldwide. But it's not safe under Palestinian control.

  I sat down in a comfortable living room with Eita, who, I must reiterate so he doesn't issue a fatwa against me, was not a terrorist on the day I met him. According to the Fatah representative, Israel is "one hundred percent" to blame for Christians running away from Bethlehem.

  "Israel built a wall that strangles Bethlehem and brought down the economy. No one wants to visit. The Israelis come in and do military operations. The nature of Christians is they don't like instability. They don't like to live in an area where there are conflicts a
nd problems. Israel is creating all the problems," said Eita.

  Nice theory. But it'sit's a load of crock. Israel's security barrier in Bethlehem was built in 2002 to keep the city's terrorists from infiltrating Jewish towns. If indeed the security barrier was causing economic hardship prompting Christians to flee, the mass emigration of Bethlehem's Christians should have started after the barrier was constructed in 2002. But actually Bethlehem's Christian drastic decline curiously began seven years earlier, just after the Palestinians took control of the city.

  Israel's barrier was constructed after the outbreak of Arafat's terror war in September 2000 after the PLO leader turned down an Israeli offer of a Palestinian state, returning to the Middle East to liberate Palestine with violence. Scores of deadly suicide bombings and shooting attacks against Israelis were planned in Bethlehem and carried out by Bethlehem-area terrorists, including Eita and his ilk.

  At one point during the period of just thirty days in 2002, at least fourteen shootings were perpetuated by Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Bethlehem, killing two Israelis and wound ing six. Many times Muslim gunmen in the Bethlehem area reportedly took positions in civilian homes in the hilltops of Christian Beit Jala, which straddles Bethlehem. Beit Jala afforded the terrorists a clear firing line at southern sections of Jerusalem and at a major Israeli highway down below, drawing Israeli military raids and the eventual building of the security barrier there.

  I use the term "barrier," not "wall" because contrary to the claims of Palestinian leaders, repeated as fact by most major news media outlets, Israel did not build a wall that encircles Bethlehem. It built a fence only where the Bethlehem area interfaces with Jerusalem. A tiny segment of the barrier facing a major Israeli roadway is a concrete wall, which Israel says is meant to prevent gunmen from shooting at Israeli motorists.