Shireen Abu Akleh and Grant Wahl: Another lesson that will not be learnt

Lay Muslims are unlikely to read the Qur’an or know the Hadith, but their sheikhs and “scholars” will soon enough pull them back in line when they “deviate from the straight path,” especially when it comes to the Islamic doctrine of Muslims, being “the best of people,” necessarily dominating non-Muslims, “the worst of creatures.”

The fate of the naive Christian “Palestinian” activist and Aljazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, is a painful illustration of a reality too ghastly for those of Western sensibilities to contemplate. On 11 May 2022, Abu Akleh was on assignment in Jenin, a terrorist safe haven in northern Samaria, during an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) operation against terrorists responsible for the spate of jihad murders in and around Tel-Aviv two months earlier. In the chaos of the gunfight, Abu Akleh received a fatal shot to the neck.[1] Immediately after she fell, but before it was known who had been shot, a man is videoed running down the street, beside himself with excitement, shouting, “They have hit one! …They have hit a soldier! He is lying on the ground.”[2] Jenin was on the brink of a major celebration with singing and dancing, full-throated Allahu-akbars, volleys of gunfire into the air, sweets for passers-by, babies in suicide-killer bandanas, and all the rest of it.

The “soldier” that the man boasted of “hitting,” it turned out shortly thereafter, was not an IDF soldier, but a “Palestinian” working for Aljazeera. This was even better. All their Jew-hating instincts demanded they extract maximum propaganda capital from the “Zionist occupation” for murdering a Palestinian. But there was a snag.

To extract maximum capital from her death, Shireen Abu Akleh will have to be a “martyr.” This means a Christian being treated as would a Muslim in similar circumstances. Another day, another crisis in the ummah. Those who wanted to inflict maximum damage on “the occupation” declared Abu Akleh a martyr, while those for whom Muslims being “the best of people” was sacrosanct, she definitely could not a martyr. The controversy was fierce, with “scholars” weighing in from around the world.

Immediately following the death of Al-Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu 'Akleh in a firefight between Palestinian gunmen and the Israeli armed forces in Jenin refugee camp on May 11, 2022, a debate arose in the Arab and Muslim world as to whether Muslims may refer to Abu 'Akleh, who was a Christian, as a “martyr,” and whether it is permissible for them to say ‘may Allah have mercy upon her,’ a phrase traditionally uttered in Arabic about the [Muslim] deceased, or to pray for Allah to grant her pardon. The issue was discussed on social media, especially on Twitter, as well as in the Arab press, and was also addressed by Islamic clerics and scholars around the Arab world.[3]

The incredible naivety of Jews, Christians, Hindus and even atheists in rushing to the aid of Muslims, and especially “Palestinians,” whether out of incurable goodness in their hearts, political expediency, or keenness to submit to Muslims, is lost in this story. After a joint US/Israeli investigation, the Israeli authorities, without any justification at all, conceded to the hounds baying for their blood that the IDF might have killed her, but that it will have been an accident. On 7 December 2022, Adam Kredo reported on The Washington Free Beacon website that, “Israel conducted its own investigation in the matter with cooperation from the U.S. State Department and determined that Abu Akleh was accidentally killed by a stray bullet fired by Israeli soldiers.”[4]

To admit something like this to people to whom you are a priori guilty[5] and who will go to any lengths to “prove” it, is nothing but impolitic.[6] It emboldened the Palestinian Authority to become even more outrageous in their claims and behaviour, and provided an easy opening for the fifth-column FBI to have another crack at discrediting Israel, despite real evidence having come to light that the Palestinian Authority, that great protector of journalists, was, in all likelihood, responsible for killing Abu Akleh.[2] Truth is whatever advances the jihad against Israel. Had it not been for the Israel connection, Abu Akleh could well have had her dead body danced on.

On December 10, 2022, Qatari sociologist and online influencer Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khazraj Al-Ansari posted to his YouTube channel a video in which he spoke about the death of American sports journalist Grant Wahl, who suddenly died earlier that day while covering the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Al-Ansari referred to Wahl as “filthy,” as a “pig,” and as the “king of the sissies,” and he said that Wahl had been attempting to “promote sodomy” by trying to enter a stadium wearing a rainbow T-shirt. Al-Ansari also said that he is going to have a party “over the corpse of that dead pig.” In addition, he said: “May Allah gather him in Hell with the original Sodomites.” Within less than 24 hours, the video garnered close to 100,000 views. Dr. Al-Ansari's YouTube account has over 150,000 followers.[7]

“They just don’t care,” is the charge that journalist, Grant Wahl, writing on his blog, Substack,[8] on 8 December 2022, levelled at Qatari officials over their crass indifference to the extremely high number of deaths amongst migrant workers in that country. Wahl, reporting on the World Cup and events surrounding it, reviewed a BBC interview of Nasser al-Khater, Qatar World Cup Chief Executive, and zeroed in on Al-Khater’s response to a question regarding a worker’s death the day before. Al-Khater lamented:

We’re in the middle of a World Cup, and we have a successful World Cup, and this is something you want to talk about right now? I mean, death is a natural part of life, whether it’s at work, whether it’s in your sleep. Of course, a worker died. Our condolences go to his family. However, you know, I mean, it’s strange that this is something that you wanted to focus on as your first question.

Look, this workers’ deaths has been a big subject during the World Cup. Everything that has been said and everything that has been reflected about workers’ deaths here has been absolutely false. This theme, this negativity around the World Cup, has been something that we’ve been faced with, unfortunately, you know. We are a bit disappointed that the journalists have been exacerbating this false narrative and, honestly, you know, I think a lot of the journalists have to question themselves and reflect on why they’ve been trying to bang on about the subject for so long.[9]

Eighteen days earlier, on 21 November, the World Cup Security detained Wahl for twenty-five minutes, insisting that he take off his rainbow-emblazoned t-shirt, refusing to let him into the stadium. At least three security personnel tried to intimidate him, but he refused to comply. “You can make this easy,” one said. Wahl was eventually forced to stand and face a CCTV camera while being questioned.

Thirteen days later, on 3 December, Wahl experienced what he described as, “involuntary capitulation by my body and mind.” Two days before he published his “They just don’t care” blog post, on 6 December, Grant Wahl complained of feeling unwell. “It had gotten pretty bad in terms of like the tightness in my chest, tightness, pressure. Feeling pretty hairy, bad.” On 9 December, close to midnight, Wahl, “appeared to have suffered some sort of acute distress in the press room” and collapsed. Paramedics were unable to revive him. It was after 00:00 on 10 December 2022, at a hospital, that the journalist was officially pronounced dead. The exact course of death remains unknown.[10]

This American journalist died on foreign soil under extremely suspicious circumstances.

But the PA, the terrorists, the “Palestinians,” the Muslim Brotherhood, and all the other forces of international anti-Semitism assembling to condemn Israel for the death of Abu Akleh need not worry. Since the FBI is unlikely to “bang on” about the “dead pig” Grant Wahl, they have plenty of time to confirm Israel’s guilt. The outgoing Israeli government, you know, the one with the Muslim Brotherhood inside it, the one that made sure the PA got the money with which to pay the terrorists who kill Jews, the one who handed over Israeli territorial waters and natural resources to Hizbollah, together with its main capitulation partners and its extra-Parliamentary collaborators, such as the legal establishment and the Supreme Court, are hell-bent on rendering the country ungovernable and incapacitating the IDF,[11] thereby, wittingly or unwittingly, creating the conditions for “From the river to the sea, Palestinian will be free.” Never again? Yeah, right.

The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.[12]

If the “Palestinians,” the Jews working so hard to bring about their own demise, and rising global anti-Semitism, should all fail to take down Israel (and civilisation along with it), there is always Iran. The Palestinians work directly with the Iranians, the Americans work with the Iranians through the Russians, and the outgoing—that is by no means certain—Israeli government is enabling Iran by enriching its proxy in Lebanon.

Outgoing Defence Minister Benny Gantz needs to explain what appears to be terrorists from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and the PFLP attending a funeral in Jenin on 1 December, kitted out with “rifles, attachments, fatigues, vests, helmets, and kneepads [that] …appear to have originally belonged to the Israeli military.”[13] Is this fake news? Is this where the items (presumed) stolen from IDF facilities in the Negev ended up? The newly-elected Israeli government, assuming it is allowed to take office, already has a long list of top priorities. Clearing out the rot that has for the last few years eaten away at the final guarantor of Jewish survival is just another top priority added to all the others.

In the midst of all this and an unseemly squabble over what Allah should do with a Christian who gave her life for the “Palestinian cause,” spare a thought for the poor terrorist who “hit one,” only to find his glory and pay-for-slay “salary” cruelly snatched away by forces far greater than him. This life is clearly a test.

To those kufaar (infidels) who have the temerity to seek equality between Muslim and kafir, and those who would ingratiate themselves with Muslims, whether by constantly making excuses for their excesses, by declaring “I love Muslims,” or even by risking their lives for them, the Muslim and “Palestinian” responses to Shireen Abu Akleh’s death, and the Qatari responses not only to the deaths of migrant workers (often compared to slaves), but also to Western responses to their responses, as well as the wide popularity of a Qatari sociologist’s gross rejoicing at the death of Grant Wahl, provide a salutary warning to non-Muslims: Israel has nothing to do with it. Muslims hate you because their religion obliges them to. It is just a matter of the extent to which they wish to defy, or can get away with defying, that obligation.[14]

Kafir, especially if you are Jewish, Muslims are forbidden to thank you for the help and cover you give them, to meet you halfway, to reciprocate your friendship or love, or to honour you for dying in their cause. It is a problem for them that they should ever need anything from you, because a Muslim must never take a kafir as helper or friend, except for the purpose of deceiving them. This they are taught in madrassa, along with countless other iniquities. Muslims resent ever having to be in a situation of needing help from a kafir and hate the helpful kafir all the more when they are not in a position to spurn such help with contempt. What they want, they must demand or seize, because the Muslim must always dominate, and you must humbly hand over your property, including your womenfolk, because the Muslim is entitled to it. To their minds, it is a privilege for a kafir, “the worst of creature,” to serve a Muslim. Whether in life or in death, a kafir must always be regarded and treated lesser than a Muslim, ideally humiliated. They are supposed to not care. But we can be certain that the lessons from the deaths of journalists Shireen Abu Akleh and Grant Wahl will not be learnt.

Notes:

1. According to Wikipedia, Shireen Abu Akleh died in “Jenin, West Bank, State of Palestine.”
2. Pierre Rehov, “Lies and Tears – A counter investigation into the death of Shireen Abu Akleh,” [Timestamp - 11:00] Vimeo,  https://vimeo.com/750609314
3. “Controversy In Arab, Muslim World Following Death Of Al-Jazeera Reporter Shireen Abu ‘Akleh,” MEMRI, 20 May 2022, https://www.memri.org/reports/controversy-arab-muslim-world-following-death-al-jazeera-reporter-shireen-abu-akleh
4. Adam Kredo, “Biden’s DOJ Is Investigating an Accidental Death in Israel. A Watchdog Wants To Know Why,” The Washington Free Beacon, 7 December 2022.
5. "Rep. Rashida Tlaib Criticizes Biden Administration's 'Silence' Over Killing Of Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh," MEMRI, [DATE] https://www.memri.org/tv/rep-rashida-tlaib-jazeera-america-investigate-shireen-abu-akleh-israel-not-trusted
6. In case there is still someone in the world who thinks this is about “Palestinian,” Arab or Muslim tenderness towards journalists, perhaps these will help: “No News is Good News: Abuses against Journalists by Palestinian Security Forces,” Human Rights Watch,  6 April 2011, https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/04/06/no-news-good-news/abuses-against-journalists-palestinian-security-forces ; Jack Mukand, “A year on, Nizar Banat’s killing sheds light on PA corruption, but justice is on hold,” Times of Israel, 3 October 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-year-on-nizar-banats-killing-sheds-light-on-pa-corruption-but-justice-is-on-hold/
7. “Qatari Sociologist Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khazraj Al-Ansari Celebrates Death Of U.S. Journalist Grant Wahl,” MEMRI, 12 December 2022 https://www.memri.org/reports/qatari-sociologist-dr-abd-al-aziz-al-khazraj-al-ansari-celebrates-death-us-journalist-grant# The video is here: https://www.memri.org/tv/qatari-sociologist-khazraj-ansari-celebrates-death-usa-journalist-grant-wahl-pig-promote-sodomy
8. Grant Wahl, “World Cup Daily, Day 25,” Substack, 8 December 2022. https://grantwahl.substack.com/p/world-cup-daily-day-25
9. BBC Sport, “World Cup 2022 chief executive Nasser Al-Khater says ‘death is part of life’,” 8 December 2022, https://www.bbc.com/sport/av/football/63745135 On the Wikipedia page for “Kafala System,” the system under which migrant labour is employed in the Gulf states, the word slavery appears eleven times. There is also no separation between church and stadium in Qatar, where, for the first time in the World Cup, the Qur’an was recited during the opening ceremony.
10. Jessie Yeung, “American journalist Grant Wahl dies after collapsing at Qatar World Cup,” CNN Sports, 10 December 2022, https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/09/football/grant-wahl-death-world-cup-qatar-intl-hnk/index.html ; “Grant Wahl, renowned soccer journalist, dies at age 49 at Qatar World Cup,” CBS News, 10 December 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grant-wahl-dies-age-49-renowned-soccer-journalist-world-cup-2022/ ; Sam McDowell, “Let’s remember Grant Wahl for the stories he wouldn’t let us forget,” The Kansas City Star, 10 December 2022, https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mcdowell/article269842172.html ; Adam Crafton, The Athletic, 7 December 2022, https://theathletic.com/3978286/2022/12/07/qatar-world-cup-migrant-death/
11. Caroline Glick, “Jewish establishment is failing at fighting antisemitism,” Caroline Glick Show, JNS TV, YouTube, 6 Dec 2022  https://youtu.be/2QlFe36ZloI This seditious conduct on the part of the outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ya'ir Lepid and others is so much worse than Nancy Pelosi ordering city authorities to cooperate with the 6 January 2020 insurrection in Washington DC.
12. Sahih Muslim/Book 41/6985. https://quranx.com/Hadith/Muslim/USC-MSA/Book-41/Hadith-6985
13. Video broadcast by Palestinian Alray News Agency, 4 December 2022, reported on MEMRI, 4 December 2022 https://www.memri.org/tv/armed-palestinian-militants-attend-funeral-slain-jenin-brigade-fighters-israeli-military-gear
14. I will discuss the dangers inherent in the Abraham Accords in another post.