Anis Al-Naqqash, a Lebanese researcher and former terrorist, was involved in the December 21, 1975 attack on an OPEC oil ministers' conference in Vienna in which three were killed and 70 were taken hostage, flown to Algeria, and released for ransom.[1]He was also involved in the failed assassination attempt in France against former Iranian prime minister under the Shah Shapour Bakhtiar, July 18, 1980, in which two were killed. Al-Naqqash was sentenced in France to life in prison; however, he was released a decade later.
Al-Naqqash appeared August 3, 2005 in an interview on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV calling the U.S. "the enemy of Arabs, of Muslims, and of humanity." (To view this clip, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/798)
Earlier, Al-Naqqash on Al-Jazeera TV, June 6, 2004, in a debate on the use of violence in the Middle East, in which he was introduced as "a writer and political analyst who is an expert in this field," made statements supporting violent attacks against the U.S. and strikes on oil facilities and companies. (To view this clip, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/101)
The f ollowing are excerpts from both interviews:
Al-Naqqash, August 3, 2005: Stating That Islam is a Religion of Love That Rejects Violence is a Big Lie
Al-Naqqash: "The claims about Islam's renunciation of violence are meaningless, unfounded, and illogical. Why? Because Islam is one of the greatest advocates of violence, when violence is warranted, and one of the greatest advocates of peace and compassion, when compassion is warranted.
"Islam is the religion of life in general, and not a blind religion. Islam does not surrender to foreign aggression. So stating categorically that Islam is a religion of love that rejects violence – This is a big lie. 'Take them and kill them wherever you find them.' This is taken from the words of Allah [the Koran]. About whom? About Allah's enemies. This is violence.
[...]
"Who said that violence is futile? What happened in Spain? A lying and deceiving prime minister... Like [Hasanein] Heikal said... Just because it served his party's interest. The only reason Spain entered the war in Iraq was that the prime minister's right-wing party was financed by several Gulf states, at America's request. As a show of gratitude, he entered the war. He brought his people to war. He had to be hit over the head with a large hammer in order to wake up. This led to a result. Jack Straw, the great genius, the foreign secretary, admits today: 'It seems that the London bombings are related to our presence in Iraq.' What a revelation!
"They have the right to turn Iraq into rivers of blood, but they don't deserve to pay the price in Iraq... I mean, in London?
"This is the prerogative of the commander of the Jihad, and not of those who sit in air-conditioned rooms and issue fatwas about what Islam permits or prohibits.
[...]
"Today, we volunteer to say, 'We reject this blind violence.' What alternative violence do you propose? Oh, religious scholars of the nation, what violence do you propose as a response to the American invasion of Iraq?
[...]
"Today, we are in a state of open war, and so we must calmly say three things. First and foremost, the nation must determine who the enemy is. If we cannot agree that the enemy is America and Israel..."
"So You Must Be Prepared for the Killing of Your Civilians"
Host: "The American government..."
Al-Naqqash: "...The American government, Israel, and its allies in its wars against Muslims – in this case, we will be mistaken.
"People exclaim, 'What's happening in London?!' – as if London were innocent. London is waging a war, along with the US, on the land of Muslims. It occupies the Muslims' lands and kills Muslims.
[...]
"You must say to the enemy: 'You set the norm that civilians can be killed, so you must be prepared for the killing of your civilians, who grant you your authorities by elections.'"
Host: "But Mr. Al-Naqqash, there is no justification for this. Excuse me, one minute... I mean, there are innocent people. Let's admit it. The innocent blood that is spilled is far more... Whether the innocent are Arabs, from Iraq, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia... There is no way to justify... I mean, spilling the blood of innocent people in Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, London, or Madrid, just because some lunatic rules the U.S. and kills throughout the world."
Al-Naqqash: "Break matters down and you will find your way. First, striking back at the enemy in his own land – is it legitimate or not? It's legitimate. This enemy came to your country..."
Host: "Only the aggressor. There is a religious rule about this. You cannot abandon the aggressor and kill the innocent."
[...]
Host: "Palestine is Dar Harb. A Zionist who plundered a piece of land in Palestine, and later brought his wife and children – he brought them into the line of fire in order to turn them into a target, or I don't know what. Palestine is Dar Harb. But London is not Dar Harb, nor are Madrid, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt. Who said London is not Dar Harb? London is the center of the war. It is where the war is waged from. The entire United States is a center from which the war is waged. Three-quarters of the Arab countries, those with American bases, are centers from which the war is waged. What are you talking about, Amr? There is a shortage of information. From the American bases in our Arab and Islamic lands are the planes take off from. These bases are where the logistics and the American army come from to kill Muslims and Arabs. Is this Dar Salam? Is this a children's theater?"
"Any Cleric with Knowledge of Islam… Must Declare Jihad Against the U.S., England, and Their Allies…"
Host: "No one said it was Dar Salam, but those who kill and perpetrate this violence are not..."
Al-Naqqash: "I say, before you even ask, that the Arab countries... Any cleric with knowledge of Islam must guide the Jihad of Islam in the right direction. He must say: We declare Jihad against the U.S., England, and their allies occupying Islamic lands, and in this proper method. When the nation's clerics are silent, sitting on their backsides, and talking only about how Islam is a religion of love, they give the youth of the nation the liberty to act freely and respond in their own methods.
[...]
"Is the U.S. the enemy of Arabs, of Muslims, and of humanity? Yes or no? Are we are at war with the U.S. – yes or no? Blood is being spilled. Lands are occupied. An Israeli enemy is occupying our lands, taking our holy places, and the fundamental goal of US policy in the Middle East is to maintain Israel's superiority."
Host: "If there is a real clash between Muslim communities in Europe, the US, and other countries, on the one hand, and the societies, on the other..."
Al-Naqqash: "What is the duty of every Muslim in the world? Whether in New York, Cairo, Beirut, or anywhere else? Did God draw these geographic borders for us, or did he tell us we are one nation?"
"The U.S. is the Enemy of Arabs, of Muslims, and of Humanity"
Host: "One nation."
Al-Naqqash: "When any limb of it aches, the whole body responds in sleeplessness, and fever. When blood is spilled in Iraq, and holy lands are occupied in Palestine, Iraq, and other countries, and there is an enemy who occupies, strikes, and bombs – every person must resist this enemy to the best of his ability.
"I return to politics and I say, the U.S. is the enemy of Arabs, of Muslims, and of humanity, and every person must resist it, to the best of his ability. If he can resist with weapons, it is his simple and logical duty, mandated by the Koran, his religion, and his humanity. If he can do it with words, it is his duty to do so. He should go out and protest. But if he says: 'This has nothing to do with me, I live to make money' – this is a different logic, which I cannot find throughout our Koran. Muslim lands are occupied and someone says: 'All I want to do is to live. Leave me alone.' I have not found such a thing in the Koran or the Sura."
Host: "Okay..."
Al-Naqqash: "Amr, we must determine our policy. This is the enemy. It is not an enemy of economic slogans. This is an enemy in war, killing, and destruction. Why do we consider this blood cheap? I do not understand."
Host: "We sometimes consider our own blood to be cheap."
Al-Naqqash: "Our own blood. That is the reason. I read articles by some Arab and Muslim columnists who say: 'My body shivered because of the London attack.' Okay, fine. But I haven't found any of their articles saying: 'My body shivered from this barbaric American enemy.'"
Al-Naqqash, June 6, 2004: We Must Strike the Oil Facilities and Companies
Al-Naqqash: "Our nation suffers a catastrophe called the Arab regimes, who instead of fulfilling their role as leaders of the nation, have become not only an Arab or Islamic symbol, but a global symbol of surrender, treachery, and inefficiency, so much so that the Arab and Muslim leaders have become a laughingstock in the eyes of the world.
"The real disaster is when a political leader gives up in face of the occupation, and of the robbing of our resources, and from being inefficient he becomes ultra-efficient in surrendering and collaborating with the enemy. Herein lies the disaster, and this is the reason the youth goes on Jihad, so they can take responsibility for themselves.
"An Islamic Jihad force, which acts according to the religious law, and not emotions, responded to this attack. This religious law states that all the nation's lands are one land, and that if part of it is occupied… We do not recognize the Sykes-Picot agreement, and that is why the defense of this nation must be launched from all places, against this specific enemy. That is why when Al-Qa'eda and the other Mujaheedin strike the American enemy, whether in the US or outside of it, they strike the nation's main enemy.
"If we to go out to the streets and ask any Arab or Muslim citizen, if America is a friend or an enemy of the Arab world, he would say that it is an enemy. But, audaciously and contemptibly, the Arab and Muslim foreign ministers declare that America is our ally, and make strategic alliances with it, and that is why they are the ones who rebel against the law of Allah, and against the nation, They are the enemies of the nation.
"In the past two weeks, it was proven that we must strike the oil facilities and companies, because this is the oil, which the Saudi minister declared is not a bazooka that we can use. When the Prophet was in Al-Madina, did he let the Muslims give their water, bread, and dates to the Jews who fight us? Or give the Quraysh tribe, who fought against the Muslims, their food? We supply the industrial world with this oil, and cheaply, and then a minister, with all his audacity, summons OPEC and all the other countries' ministers to lower the prices of oil.
"Our problem, brother Ghassan, is that even in this program we discuss the obvious, because the Arab media are controlled and supported by the Arab regimes, so they will say that this is some kind of extremism and lunacy, while their surrender and ineptness are facts to which the nation must surrender."
[1]For information on the attack, see http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/germany/02/06/trial.klein/.
