You've probably seen the photos and videos by now. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (aka by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani which refers to Israel's Golan Heights) playing basketball with CENTCOM commanders. Sitting in the Oval Office with Trump. Sanctions lifted. The world is practically throwing him a parade.
So let me tell you who's getting that parade.
In 2013, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi handed this man $50,000 to go build Al-Qaeda's operation in Syria. He took the money and did exactly that.
Before that? He was fighting American soldiers in Iraq. Not protesting. Not organizing. Fighting. With weapons. Against Americans. He spent years in a US military prison because of it.
In 2021, a journalist asked him about September 11th. About the towers. About 3,000 dead Americans. You know what he said? That anyone in the Islamic world who claims they weren't happy about it would be lying. Those were his words. 2021. Not 1995. Not some distant past we can write off as youthful extremism. Three years ago.
This is who just played basketball with American generals.
Now everyone wants to tell me he's changed. He's wearing suits now. He's saying democracy. He's Syria's fresh start. We're scrubbing his terrorist designation like it was a paperwork error.
You want to know if he's changed? Here's how you know: He's sitting in the White House right now, shaking hands with the President of the United States, accepting sanctions relief, getting the full diplomatic treatment. And he refuses to negotiate with Israel. Won't even consider it. The Golan Heights are "occupied territory." Israel is still the enemy. Maybe someday in the future, but not now. Not yet.
He'll talk to everyone. Everyone except the one country in the region that's been fighting the exact terrorists he used to command.
That's not diplomacy. That's not "complicated regional dynamics." That's him telling his jihadist base back home that nothing has actually changed. The suit is for Washington. The message about Israel is for them.
Remember when the Taliban were the "new Taliban"? When they promised they'd changed, that they'd respect women's rights, that they just wanted to govern? Remember how women are banned from universities now? How girls can't go to school?
Remember when Hamas won elections and everyone said we had to work with them, that governing would moderate them, that political participation would make them responsible actors? Remember October 7th?
We keep doing this. We keep falling for the rebrand. Terrorist puts on a suit, says the right words to the right people, and suddenly we're supposed to forget everything. Except he's literally telling you he hasn't forgotten. He's in the White House and he still won't talk to Israel.
So here's my question: When he stops pretending, when the suit comes off and the rockets start flying, are you going to act surprised? Or are you going to remember that he told you exactly who he was, and you chose not to believe him?
Mitch Schneider is a Marketing Director who made aliya from New Jersey and lives in Beit Shemesh.
See also Alma Research Centter analysis: Al-Shara’s Visit to Washington: What’s Behind The Handshakes?