Detroit Jewish News

October 08, 2015

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viewpoints » S e n d l e t t e r s t o : l e t t e r s @ t h e j e w i s h n e w s . c o m 6 October 8 • 2015 T errorists who get caught before they strike don't usually attract much attention. But the arrest of Mrs. Ayman Kanjou deserves extra atten- tion because she defies every stereotype we have ever been taught about Palestinian terrorists. Men are presumed the most likely to become terrorists since in Muslim society they are the ones who enjoy various free- doms, while women are sheltered and carefully watched by their husbands or fathers. They didn't stop Mrs. Kanjou. Young unmarried men are the ones whom we expect to get caught up in radicalism, since they have the least to lose. A middle-aged woman with small children has a lot to lose. Yet there was Mrs. Kanjou, age 44, mother of five small children, crossing through Turkey last month on her way to join Islamic State ter- rorists in Syria. According to the stereotype, Palestinian terrorists are uneducated drifters. Not so Mrs. Kanjou; she comes from a "respected" family, said Israeli prosecutor Shunit Nimtzan. She is a college graduate (Al-Azhar University in Cairo), which can- not be said about many Muslim women. And not just a B.A. — she has a Ph.D.! Certainly, a Palestinian terrorist is expected to be impoverished. The whole promise of international aid to the Palestinians is the notion that poverty breeds terrorism. That's been the main rationale for the more than $11 billion the United States alone has given the Palestinian Authority since 1994. Mrs. Kanjou, who is married to a local imam (Muslim religious leader), had $11,000 in cash with her on her way to join Islamic State. It doesn't sound to me like a case of poverty causing terrorism. At the very least, one expects a terrorist to be alienated from his family, a rootless malcontent in search of belonging. Not in Mrs. Kanjou's case. She has no criminal record. In fact, her father, age 74, actually accompanied her on the trip. Mrs. Kanjou's relatives are telling the news media that she was "framed." Not likely. Israeli intelligence intercepted her many communications via Facebook with Islamic State recruiter AbAli Asami. According to the indictment, she "expressed to him her desire to live in Syria within the organization, and asked for his help." She says she could "teach religion and teach activists and fighters the Sharia to raise the spirits and increase their motivation to fight on behalf of the orga- nization." She even stated that it she was prepared to do anything the organization asked of her. At the very least, according to the stan- dard profile, a Palestinian terrorist can be expected to have been raised in of those "extreme" Palestinian cities, where radi- calism is common. Not in this case. Mrs. Kanjou is an Israeli Arab. She comes from Shfaram, near Haifa. She was presumed to be loyal to Israel. Mrs. Kanjou is not alone. Officials of the Shin Bet (Israel's security agency) were this week quoted as saying that more than 40 Israel Arabs have joined Islamic State since 2013. Just last month, two Arabs from Jerusalem were caught on their way to reach Islamic State. If a woman with small children and the highest level of education, who grew up in an Israel environment with all the benefits and privileges of Israeli citizen- ship — if such a woman can turn around and try to join Islamic State, what does that tell us? It tells us that our previous assump- tions have to be discarded. That edu- cation and a livelihood and material progress are not enough. That territories and settlements are not the real issues. Radical jihadist Islam is alive and well and growing — even among those whom we always suspected least. * Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. Stephen M. Flatow JNS.org commentary A New Type Of Palestinian Terrorist letters Opponents Of Iran Deal Faced A Futile Battle Dr. Conrad Giles' hope that the debate over the merits of the Iran nuclear agree- ment will not continue to divide the American Jewish community ("Two Jews And Three Opinions," Sept. 24, page 53), is shared by all of us. However, we must not forget that the opponents of the agreement led many into believing that it was possible to get Congress to reject it. That was simply not the case. The reasons follow. The agreement was approved in Vienna on July 14. This was the day Iran, on the one hand, and China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, on the other hand, came to an under- standing regarding restrictions on Iran's future nuclear initiatives. The president approved the United States entering into the agreement. On July 19, the State Department transmitted the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the formal name of the Agreement) to Congress. Under the Nuclear Review Act of 2015, which the president signed in April, a 60-day review period began the next day. The act gave Congress 60 days in which to accept or reject the agreement. A rejection by Congress was subject to the president's veto. The veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the House of Representatives and a two-thirds vote of the Senate. Two points are important to the above: First, the Nuclear Review Act was clearly a political compromise. The president agreed to give Congress a role mainly to placate political opposition to the pending negotiations with Iran. Second, it was crystal clear that if Congress disapproved the agreement, the president would exercise his veto power, and there was almost no chance a two-thirds vote could be obtained in the Senate to override a veto. In sum, once the United States signed onto the agreement, further opposition to the agreement really stood no chance of succeeding. We learned in high school civics that the president, not Congress, determines our foreign policy. Opposition to the agreement before July 14 was legitimate lobbying; after July 14, continued opposi- tion to the agreement in its best light was politically naive. Avern Cohn Detroit Arthur M. Horwitz Publisher / Executive Editor ahorwitz@renmedia.us F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us | Editorial Managing Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Story Development Editor: Keri Guten Cohen kcohen@thejewishnews.com Arts & Life Editor: Lynne Konstantin lkonstantin@renmedia.us Senior Copy Editor: David Sachs dsachs@renmedia.us Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar rsklar@renmedia.us Contributing Writers: Ruthan Brodsky, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari S. 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