One month ago, on October 6, 2001, President George W. Bush made a shocking statement. On behalf of the United States, he officially endorsed the creation of a Palestinian State. He said, and these are his exact words, "A Palestinian State has always been part of the United States? vision."
Always? Was a Palestinian State part of the vision of the United States when US Ambassador Cleo Noel and his assistant, G. Curtis Moore, were machine-gunned in Khartoum, Sudan, in February of 1973, on the orders of Yasser Arafat?
Was a Palestinian State part of the vision of the United States when Yasser Arafat supplied the weapons used by the terrorists who killed two hundred forty one American Marines in Beirut in 1983?
According to a November 1999 issue of Newsweek magazine, a National Security Agency phone tap recorded a September 24, 1983 call from the Iranian Ambassador to Abu Haidar. The Ambassador told Abu Haidar to get weapons from Yasser Arafat to "undertake an extraordinary operation against the US Marines in Beirut." The attack on the US Marine barracks in Beirut took place shortly thereafter and two hundred forty-one American soldiers were killed.
Was a Palestinian State part of the vision of the United States when Yasser Arafat was involved in the planning of the first World Trade Center bombing in New York in February 1993, which killed six people and injured thousands?
Moshe Peled, Israel's Deputy Education Minister in the Netanyahu government, told CIA representatives in early 1997 that Israeli intelligence had concrete evidence regarding Yasser Arafat's involvement in the attack. The official Iranian government newspaper, E-Kihan also accused Arafat of responsibility for the first World Trade Center bombing.
These are just a few examples of terror perpetrated against the United States and her citizens, in which Arafat played a major role. However, while Arafat has often been referred to as the "Father of Modern-day Terrorism", this arch-terrorist is also fiendishly clever in covering up his tracks and in shifting the blame to others. On one occasion, though, Arafat slipped up and left unmistakable fingerprints, or rather, voiceprints. Arafat's voice was recorded ordering the aforementioned murder of the United States diplomats in Sudan in 1973.
So why has Arafat not been prosecuted? The tape with Arafat's voice has conveniently disappeared. However, thirteen years later, on February 12, 1986, forty-seven United States Senators, including Al Gore, addressed a letter on this matter to then-Attorney General Edwin Meese. In that letter, the Senators wrote that ?These allegations, if substantiated, leave little doubt that a warrant for Arafat's arrest should be issued, and a criminal indictment filed against him. To allow other factors to enter into this decision is to make a mockery of our laws and our stated commitment to eradicate terrorism.?
Yet these forty-seven senators were never told the truth and, yes, a mockery was made of ?our laws and our stated commitment to eradicate terrorism.? President Ronald Reagen told an American Bar Association at that time, "We will seek to indict, apprehend and prosecute terrorists." Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
James J. Welsh was a Signals Intelligence analyst for the National Security Agency twenty-seven years ago. He was responsible for the analysis of Palestinian Liberation Organization communications at the time of the Black September murders of the American diplomats. He has alleged, including in a letter to members of the US Congress, that the US State Department has consistently acted to cover-up its failure to give priority to an NSA warning that Mr. Welsh, and others, had initiated to the American Embassy in Sudan. The warning was based on an intercepted conversation between Yasser Arafat and Salah Khalaf, the leaders of Fatah, in Beirut and Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in Khartoum, discussing preparations for an imminent operation in Khartoum.
Mr. Welsh further alleges that the cover-up has continued under subsequent US administrations, who have all been appraised of the authenticity of Arafat's voice on the tapes, for political reasons related to the inconvenience of acknowledging the direct guilt of Yasser Arafat in the cold blooded murders of Cleo Noel and George Moore.
Welsh further wrote to Victoria Toensing, a Justice Department attorney, that ?If in 1986, Arafat's taped voice (three days worth) had been released to the American public, I do not think that the current mess that Israel is now in would have happened? the decision to withhold from the Committee the truth of these tapes may be one of the reasons that Arafat was able to re-invent himself? It was a long time ago, but this man did order the deaths of two US diplomats. We taped his words. I guess there is nothing that can be done now, but I often wonder why Yasser Arafat's image and continued presence on the world scene is more important than simple justice for two dedicated diplomats who were murdered twenty-eight years ago.?
As an aside, it is rather interesting, at the very least, to note that Mr. Welsh recently cancelled a radio interview with us on the Women in Green radio program on Arutz Sheva. The cancellation came at the last minute, after a lengthy and enthusiastic correspondence with the author of this article, in which Mr. Welsh expressed his thankfulness at having found a platform to express his concerns?
The State Department, the National Security Agency, the CIA and Colin Powell continue to protect their dirty little secret. Yes, unfortunately, foul-ups do happen and it is natural for human beings to try to protect themselves, but the great immorality of the affair is compounded when Colin Powell and the State Department knowingly consort with the murderer Arafat, pushing President George W. Bush, a believing Christian, into advocating a Palestinian State on Biblical lands, knowing that this will become an Islamic state of terrorists. Has President George W. Bush been told the truth about Arafat's past, and present, killing of American citizens?
Yasser Arafat must feel utter contempt for the United States. He knows that the Americans know that he has murdered many of their citizens. He also knows that because the State Department thinks there are advantages in not rocking the boat with the Islamic world, the United States has turned a blind eye toward the wanton murder of her own citizens. The message which is conveyed is very clear: Terror pays. Now, Arafat's ultimate "reward" is the promise of a Palestinian State on Biblical lands.
We are left with this central question: Why does the State Department and Colin Powell continue to dance with the arch-murderer Arafat? Why does the United States not bring Arafat to justice? As President George W. Bush recently said so eloquently: "The goal of the war on terrorism is to bring our enemies to justice, or justice to our enemies." Yet by rewarding Arafat and not bringing him to justice the United States encourages terrorists all over the world, like Osama bin Laden, to commit further and greater acts of terror.
What can we do? Share this story of State Department perfidy with your family, your friends, your local media and members of Congress. Demand that Arafat be brought to justice for the crimes committed against Americans. This will be a small, but important, step in eradicating worldwide terrorism.
For those of you in the United States, you can also take part in the Rally and March on Washington D.C. on November 7, which is organized by the member organizations of AMERICA-ISRAEL - UNITED WE MUST STAND, of which the Women in Green is a member organization.
It is most important that we make our voices heard.
------------------
Ruth Matar ( Ruth@IsraelNationalNews.com) is the co-chairperson of the
grassroots movement Women in Green, which champions Israel's cause. She
hosts a weekly show on Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio.
Always? Was a Palestinian State part of the vision of the United States when US Ambassador Cleo Noel and his assistant, G. Curtis Moore, were machine-gunned in Khartoum, Sudan, in February of 1973, on the orders of Yasser Arafat?
Was a Palestinian State part of the vision of the United States when Yasser Arafat supplied the weapons used by the terrorists who killed two hundred forty one American Marines in Beirut in 1983?
According to a November 1999 issue of Newsweek magazine, a National Security Agency phone tap recorded a September 24, 1983 call from the Iranian Ambassador to Abu Haidar. The Ambassador told Abu Haidar to get weapons from Yasser Arafat to "undertake an extraordinary operation against the US Marines in Beirut." The attack on the US Marine barracks in Beirut took place shortly thereafter and two hundred forty-one American soldiers were killed.
Was a Palestinian State part of the vision of the United States when Yasser Arafat was involved in the planning of the first World Trade Center bombing in New York in February 1993, which killed six people and injured thousands?
Moshe Peled, Israel's Deputy Education Minister in the Netanyahu government, told CIA representatives in early 1997 that Israeli intelligence had concrete evidence regarding Yasser Arafat's involvement in the attack. The official Iranian government newspaper, E-Kihan also accused Arafat of responsibility for the first World Trade Center bombing.
These are just a few examples of terror perpetrated against the United States and her citizens, in which Arafat played a major role. However, while Arafat has often been referred to as the "Father of Modern-day Terrorism", this arch-terrorist is also fiendishly clever in covering up his tracks and in shifting the blame to others. On one occasion, though, Arafat slipped up and left unmistakable fingerprints, or rather, voiceprints. Arafat's voice was recorded ordering the aforementioned murder of the United States diplomats in Sudan in 1973.
So why has Arafat not been prosecuted? The tape with Arafat's voice has conveniently disappeared. However, thirteen years later, on February 12, 1986, forty-seven United States Senators, including Al Gore, addressed a letter on this matter to then-Attorney General Edwin Meese. In that letter, the Senators wrote that ?These allegations, if substantiated, leave little doubt that a warrant for Arafat's arrest should be issued, and a criminal indictment filed against him. To allow other factors to enter into this decision is to make a mockery of our laws and our stated commitment to eradicate terrorism.?
Yet these forty-seven senators were never told the truth and, yes, a mockery was made of ?our laws and our stated commitment to eradicate terrorism.? President Ronald Reagen told an American Bar Association at that time, "We will seek to indict, apprehend and prosecute terrorists." Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
James J. Welsh was a Signals Intelligence analyst for the National Security Agency twenty-seven years ago. He was responsible for the analysis of Palestinian Liberation Organization communications at the time of the Black September murders of the American diplomats. He has alleged, including in a letter to members of the US Congress, that the US State Department has consistently acted to cover-up its failure to give priority to an NSA warning that Mr. Welsh, and others, had initiated to the American Embassy in Sudan. The warning was based on an intercepted conversation between Yasser Arafat and Salah Khalaf, the leaders of Fatah, in Beirut and Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in Khartoum, discussing preparations for an imminent operation in Khartoum.
Mr. Welsh further alleges that the cover-up has continued under subsequent US administrations, who have all been appraised of the authenticity of Arafat's voice on the tapes, for political reasons related to the inconvenience of acknowledging the direct guilt of Yasser Arafat in the cold blooded murders of Cleo Noel and George Moore.
Welsh further wrote to Victoria Toensing, a Justice Department attorney, that ?If in 1986, Arafat's taped voice (three days worth) had been released to the American public, I do not think that the current mess that Israel is now in would have happened? the decision to withhold from the Committee the truth of these tapes may be one of the reasons that Arafat was able to re-invent himself? It was a long time ago, but this man did order the deaths of two US diplomats. We taped his words. I guess there is nothing that can be done now, but I often wonder why Yasser Arafat's image and continued presence on the world scene is more important than simple justice for two dedicated diplomats who were murdered twenty-eight years ago.?
As an aside, it is rather interesting, at the very least, to note that Mr. Welsh recently cancelled a radio interview with us on the Women in Green radio program on Arutz Sheva. The cancellation came at the last minute, after a lengthy and enthusiastic correspondence with the author of this article, in which Mr. Welsh expressed his thankfulness at having found a platform to express his concerns?
The State Department, the National Security Agency, the CIA and Colin Powell continue to protect their dirty little secret. Yes, unfortunately, foul-ups do happen and it is natural for human beings to try to protect themselves, but the great immorality of the affair is compounded when Colin Powell and the State Department knowingly consort with the murderer Arafat, pushing President George W. Bush, a believing Christian, into advocating a Palestinian State on Biblical lands, knowing that this will become an Islamic state of terrorists. Has President George W. Bush been told the truth about Arafat's past, and present, killing of American citizens?
Yasser Arafat must feel utter contempt for the United States. He knows that the Americans know that he has murdered many of their citizens. He also knows that because the State Department thinks there are advantages in not rocking the boat with the Islamic world, the United States has turned a blind eye toward the wanton murder of her own citizens. The message which is conveyed is very clear: Terror pays. Now, Arafat's ultimate "reward" is the promise of a Palestinian State on Biblical lands.
We are left with this central question: Why does the State Department and Colin Powell continue to dance with the arch-murderer Arafat? Why does the United States not bring Arafat to justice? As President George W. Bush recently said so eloquently: "The goal of the war on terrorism is to bring our enemies to justice, or justice to our enemies." Yet by rewarding Arafat and not bringing him to justice the United States encourages terrorists all over the world, like Osama bin Laden, to commit further and greater acts of terror.
What can we do? Share this story of State Department perfidy with your family, your friends, your local media and members of Congress. Demand that Arafat be brought to justice for the crimes committed against Americans. This will be a small, but important, step in eradicating worldwide terrorism.
For those of you in the United States, you can also take part in the Rally and March on Washington D.C. on November 7, which is organized by the member organizations of AMERICA-ISRAEL - UNITED WE MUST STAND, of which the Women in Green is a member organization.
It is most important that we make our voices heard.
------------------
Ruth Matar ( Ruth@IsraelNationalNews.com) is the co-chairperson of the
grassroots movement Women in Green, which champions Israel's cause. She
hosts a weekly show on Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio.