Jews in America joining Israeli army through loyalty, obligation They are jews, not Americans.
By Gilad Thaler and Suvro BanerjiCBS NewsAugust 1, 2014, 9:07 PM Noam Sohn was an eighth grader in Westchester County, N.Y., when he started to feel a certain responsibility to help protect a country thousands of miles away. "I felt that if I got to go to Israel and feel safe then I should also help the next generation feel safe," said Sohn. "In one way or another Israel is a homeland for me and I started to feel that this might be a better place for me to begin my life as an adult." At the age of 19, Noam Sohn was ready to leave the comfort of his home and his family to enlist in the Nahal Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He is not alone. Roughly 1,000 American citizens serve in the Israeli army, according to IDF estimates. They are called "lone soldiers" - citizens from other countries who choose to volunteer for the IDF. [image: noam-sohn-in-uniform-2.jpg] Noam Sohn in IDF uniform CBS News Most of the lone soldiers are in their 20s. Last month, two of them lost their lives in Gaza - Max Steinberg, 24, from Southern California and Sean Carmeli, 21, from Texas. Sohn, who is now 21, remembers the day he landed in Israel. "It was a complete shock to my system," he recalled. "I was really nervous. I didn't know what unit I was going to get into. If I was going to make new friends like the friends I have in the United States. If I was going to miss my family too much." "It wasn't peaceful," said Sohn's mother, Nora Anderson. "Because you're going to sleep knowing that your child is in danger." For Sohn, the biggest challenge was learning Hebrew. "That is the biggest struggle because I want to communicate, I want to express to people how I'm feeling or what I need or what I want." CBS News interviewed Sohn while he was home on leave for 30 days. This was his third time home since joining the army almost two years ago. He served four months on the Lebanese border and nine months in Ramallah. "We haven't been together as a full family in a very long time because he's never here for Thanksgiving. He's never here for major events," said Anderson. Sohn's unit entered Gaza two weeks ago at the peak of escalation between Israeli army and Hamas militants. [image: nahal-brigade.jpg] Group photo of Nahal Brigade, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) CBS News "All loss of human life is difficult to swallow," said Sohn. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. A human's life is a human's life and if the person is not relevant to the conflict they shouldn't have to pay their life." The war in Gaza is far from over. A ceasefire that was supposed to last 72 hours was broken. More than 1,600 Palestinians and 63 Israelis have been killed in 25 days of fighting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Sohn returned to service this week, but hopes for a brighter future in Gaza. "I really do believe that like many other conflicts of the world this conflict too will be solved and in our generation you will see Palestinians and Israelis living in a much calmer world. © 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 1:06:56 PM UTC-6, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > They are muslims, not Americans. > > > > B > > > > > > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/three-american-teens-recruited-online-are-caught-trying-to-join-the-islamic-state/2014/12/08/8022e6c4-7afb-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html?wpisrc=nl-headlines&wpmm=1 > Three American teens, recruited online, are caught trying to join the > Islamic State > > CHICAGO — Mohammed Hamzah Khan, 19, rose before dawn on Oct. 4 to pray > with his father and 16-year-old brother at their neighborhood mosque in a > Chicago suburb. > > When they returned home just before 6 a.m., the father went back to bed > and the Khan teens secretly launched a plan they had been hatching for > months: to abandon their family and country and travel to Syria to join the > Islamic State. > > While his parents slept, Khan gathered three newly issued U.S. passports > and $2,600 worth of airline tickets to Turkey that he had gotten for > himself, his brother and their 17-year-old sister. The three teens slipped > out of the house, called a taxi and rode to O’Hare International Airport. > > Khan was due at work at 6:30 a.m. at a local home-supply store, so he knew > his parents wouldn’t miss him when they woke up. The two younger siblings > bunched up comforters under their sheets to make it look like they were > asleep in their beds. > > Their plan was to fly to Istanbul, then drive into Syria to live in the > Islamic homeland, or caliphate, established by the Islamic State, the > militant group that has massacred civilians in Iraq and Syria and beheaded > Western journalists and aid workers. > > > This undated passport photo presented as evidence at a detention hearing > at federal court in Chicago shows Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a suburban Chicago > man accused of seeking to join Islamic State militants in Syria. (AP > Photo/U.S. attorney’s office) > > The Khan teens, U.S.-born children of Indian immigrants, each left letters > for their parents explaining their motives. > > “An Islamic State has been established and it is thus obligatory upon > every able-bodied male and female to migrate there,” Khan wrote. “Muslims > have been crushed under foot for too long. . . . This nation is openly > against Islam and Muslims. . . . I do not want my progeny to be raised in > a filthy environment like this.” > > His sister wrote: “Death is inevitable, and all of the times we enjoyed > will not matter as we lay on our death beds. Death is an appointment, and > we cannot delay or postpone, and what we did to prepare for our death is > what will matter.” > > In their letters, all three teens, who had grown up playing basketball and > watching “Dragon Tales” and “Batman,” told their parents how much they > loved them and asked them to join them in Syria, but made it clear they > would probably never see them again, except in the afterlife. They begged > them not to call the police. > > In the afternoon, FBI agents knocked on the Khans’ front door, armed with > a search warrant. > > “For what?” asked the teens’ shocked father, Shafi Khan. > > “Your kids have been detained at the airport, trying to go to Turkey,” an > agent said. > > “We were stunned,” said Zarine Khan, their mother. “More like frozen. We > were just frozen.” > > Slick propaganda > > The Khan teens are part of a growing number of young Americans who are > joining or attempting to travel to Syria or Iraq to join the Islamic State. > > This year alone, officials have detained at least 15 U.S. citizens — nine > of them female — who were trying to travel to Syria to join the militants. > Almost all of them were Muslims in their teens or early 20s, and almost all > were arrested at airports waiting to board flights. > > A senior U.S. official said the government anticipates more arrests. > Authorities are closely monitoring Twitter, Facebook and other social media > networks, where recruiters from the Islamic State aggressively target > youths as young as 14. > > “Their propaganda is unusually slick. They are broadcasting their poison > in something like 23 languages,” FBI Director James B. Comey said in a recent > speech <https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0LRVGdmr000&autoplay=1>, adding > that the terrorist group is trying to attract “both fighters and people who > would be the spouses . . . to their warped world.” > > When the Khan teens reached the airport, FBI officials were waiting for > them. > > A U.S. law enforcement official said authorities had been monitoring the > communications of at least one of the teens, although the FBI has not > disclosed how they initially became aware of them. > > Hamzah Khan has been charged > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/12/03/National-Security/Graphics/khancomplaint.pdf> > > with providing material support to a designated terrorist organization and > faces up to 15 years in prison. At a federal court hearing last month, a > judge ordered him held without bail, calling him a flight risk and a danger > to the community. > > His two siblings, minors whose names have not been made public, were > released to their parents but are under investigation and could face > charges. > > The Justice Department is not eager to prosecute juveniles, but it will do > so when they are so radicalized that they pose a potential threat, a senior > U.S. official said. > > “There are not a lot of good options,” the official said. “You will see > more young and juvenile cases in the future.” > > In court last month > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/12/03/National-Security/Graphics/11.3.14%20Detention%20Hearing.pdf>, > > Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Matthew Hiller said Khan and his two siblings > “believe they are religiously obliged to support violent jihad.” > > “This was not a spur-of-the- > moment trip but rather a carefully calculated plan to abandon their > family, to abandon their community, and abandon their country and join a > foreign terrorist organization,” Hiller told the judge. > > He said Hamzah Khan was “attempting to join an organization that has > called for attacks against the United States and has already killed U.S. > citizens and is dedicated to genocide.” > > But Khan’s lawyer, Thomas Anthony Durkin, told the judge that the > government was prosecuting Khan for what amounted to the “thought crime” of > rejecting America and supporting the establishment of an Islamic homeland. > He said the Khan teens wanted to go live in that homeland but not become > fighters, a desire that he said was naive and misguided but not criminal. > > Durkin cited a speech President Obama gave in September at the United > Nations, where he said the Islamic State’s “propaganda has coerced young > people to travel abroad to fight their wars and turned . . . young people > full of potential into suicide bombers. We must offer an alternative vision. > ” > > “This is the alternative vision we’re getting today: jail,” Durkin told > the judge. “If we want to solve this problem, we are not going to solve it > by threatening to lock people up forever. . . . We have to find a > solution, because these are American children. . . . They are not > barbarians. They are our children.” > > ‘Those are not our teachings’ > > Khan’s parents, in an interview at Durkin’s Chicago law office one recent > evening, said they were bewildered by what their children tried to do. > > “What they wrote in those letters is not from us,” Zarine Khan said, her > voice rising behind a colorful veil that covered her face, except for her > eyes. “Those are not our teachings. That’s not what we believe in. This > didn’t even come from our family, friends, neighbors — nobody.” > > “We tried to be the best parents we could,” she said. “That’s all I can > say — we tried our best. And they are good kids. This thing came out of the > blue. We are still trying to figure it out.” > > Hamzah Khan grew up in a suburban American home with pretty shrubs out > front and a basketball hoop in the back yard. He earned a Presidential > Physical Fitness Award in the eighth grade and loved Naruto, the Japanese > manga. He volunteered at his local mosque and represented Argentina in the > National Model United Nations. > > He graduated from a local Islamic high school in 2013 and enrolled last > year at Benedictine University, a Roman Catholic school about 10 miles from > his home, where he studied engineering and computer science. > > Shafi Khan, who came to Chicago from India almost 30 years ago, and Zarine > Khan, who followed her husband 20 years ago, said they consider themselves > “average” Muslims, no more or less religious than any of their friends and > neighbors in Bolingbrook, Ill., a suburb of about 73,000 people southwest > of Chicago. > > They try to pray five times a day but said they often don’t. Shafi Khan > wears a bushy beard and a white knit skullcap, which he said is an attempt > to follow the example of the prophet Muhammad. Zarine Khan covers her head > and most of her face, which she considers a sign of modesty, not extreme > piety. > > Like millions of American Muslims, the Khans, who are both U.S. citizens, > said they have raised their children to love their country and their > religion. Asked if he felt more Muslim or American, Shafi Khan said, > “Both.” > > Shafi Khan, 48, earned a degree in environmental science from Northeastern > Illinois University and has worked for many years as an event planner for a > humanitarian aid organization. Zarine Khan, 41, studied genetics and > microbiology at an Indian university but gave it up to move to Chicago with > her new husband. > > They have four children — the three who were arrested, plus a 3-year-old > girl — and Zarine Khan has worked for many years as a teacher at a local > Islamic school. > > The Khans tried to shield their children from unwanted influences. They > had a TV when the children were younger, but they had no cable service. The > TV was used solely for showing DVDs — mainly cartoons and educational > JumpStart programs from the public library. > > When Hamzah Khan was about 8 years old, the family got rid of the TV, > because by then they had a computer with Internet access, which the parents > carefully monitored. The children were allowed to watch cartoons and read > news online, but they were not allowed to browse the Internet by > themselves. “We didn’t want to expose them to adult stuff,” Zarine Khan > said. “We wanted to preserve their innocence. We wanted to channel their > intelligence into their studies and to becoming good human beings.” > > The children studied at a local Islamic school, which offered a standard > U.S. curriculum of English, math and science — but also classes on Islam. > The Khans’ daughter, who turned 18 shortly after her arrest, was being > home-schooled by her mother so she could graduate early from high school > and begin studies to become a physician. > > All three Khan children also became Hafiz > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafiz_%28Quran%29>, which means they > completely memorized the Koran in Arabic. Each went to Islamic school > through the fourth grade, then spent the next 2 1/2 years immersed in > all-day memorization classes, augmented by evening programs to keep up with > basics such as English and math. > > The memorization process is common among Muslims and is not considered a > sign of religious extremism, said Habeeb Quadri > <http://www.isna.net/habeeb-quadri.html>, who is principal of the Islamic > school Hamzah Khan attended until the fourth grade and who frequently > writes and lectures on Muslim youth. > > Zarine Khan said the family took many vacations together, driving to > Niagara Falls and Connecticut. She said they shopped at Wal-Mart and acted > “like any other normal American family.” > > “We tried to have them grounded and exposed to everything,” Zarine Khan > said. “We tried to give them good morals. But it was not just Islam, Islam, > Islam. We tried to expose them to different ideas as well.” > > Omer Mozaffar, a Muslim community leader who teaches theology at Loyola > University Chicago and the University of Chicago, said many Muslim families > appear to have sheltered their children from the culture around them. > > He said that since the 1991 Persian Gulf War and especially since the > attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, some Muslims have felt “under siege” in the U.S. > communities where they live. “There’s a defensiveness that compels parents > to pull their kids out of everything,” Mozaffar said. “A lot of parents > feel overwhelmed and don’t know what to do, so they try to isolate their > children.” > > The process is often called “cocooning” — shielding children from as much > American culture as possible by banning TV, the Internet and newspapers and > sending them to Islamic schools. > > “Parents send them less for the Islamic tutelage and more for the sense of > protecting them,” Mozaffar said. “They think ‘American’ equals ‘immoral,’ > and there’s a common belief that if it’s more strict, it’s more pious. This > is something I have to preach against all the time.” > > The result is often that American Muslim children find themselves caught > between two worlds. They are American, but they feel their parents and > their religious leaders trying to steer them away from American culture. > > That can leave them vulnerable to those who promise something better, a > place where they are celebrated for their religion. And, recently, that > message has often come in the form of the network of anonymous, persuasive > recruiters on social media who lure youth to join the Islamic State. Quadri > calls them “Sheik Google.” > > Letters full of rhetoric > > According to Shafi and Zarine Khan and court documents, the Khan > children’s “Sheik Google” appears to have been a man with the nom du guerre > Abu Qa’qa, whom they met on Twitter. > > Hamzah Khan and his sister both had Twitter accounts, which they accessed > on their cellphones because their parents closely controlled their Internet > use on their home computer. > > In court, Hiller, the prosecutor, said the Khan teens intended to meet > with Abu Qa’qa when they arrived in Turkey and then travel with him to > Syria. Notes found by FBI agents searching the Khan house suggested the > teens were ultimately headed for Raqqah, an Islamic State stronghold in > Syria. > > Khan’s sister went by the Twitter name “Umm Bara” and signed her tweets > with @deathisvnear. Prosecutors said that in May, she tweeted about > watching an hour-long Islamic State propaganda video called “Saleel > Sawarim,” which features photos and videos of beheadings and other gruesome > violence. > > Hiller told the judge that on May 28, apparently after watching the video, > she tweeted that she had reached “The end of Saleel Sawarim,” followed by > emoticons of a heart and a smiley face. Hiller described her reaction to > the video as “twisted delight,” which he presented as evidence that the > Khan teens supported the Islamic State’s violence and intended to > participate in it. > > Durkin said it was “inflammatory nonsense to say somehow, because somebody > downloaded that video, that somehow they’re dangerous to the community.” He > said the young woman wrote that her role in the caliphate would probably be > to marry a fighter, not become one herself. > > The letters the three teens left behind were filled with rhetoric their > parents said was so out of character it could only have come from Islamic > State recruiters. > > “I am . . . obliged to pay taxes to the [U.S.] government,” Hamzah Khan > wrote. “This in turn will be used automatically to kill my Muslim > brothers and sisters. . . . I simply cannot sit here and let my brothers > and sisters get killed, with my own hard-earned money. . . . I cannot > live under a law in which I’m afraid to speak my beliefs. I want to be > ruled by the Sharia [Islamic law]. . . . Me living in comfort with my > family while my other family are getting killed is plain selfish.” > > He continued: “We are all witness that the western societies are getting > more immoral day by day. I extend an invitation to my family to join me in > the Islamic States. True, it is getting bombed, but let us not forget that > we didn’t come to this world for comfort.” > > Sitting in Durkin’s office while their two younger teens worked on > homework in the other room, Shafi and Zarine Khan said they are struggling > to understand how their children could write such things. Durkin would not > permit interviews with the younger siblings. > > The Khans knew that their kids were on Twitter and Kik, a messaging > service, but they said they didn’t know they were communicating with > strangers overseas. > > The evening before the teens tried to fly away forever, Zarine Khan said, > she and her daughter sat together putting henna dye on each other in > celebration of the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday. > > “I think they were completely brainwashed by whatever online things they > were reading,” she said. “I wouldn’t want any parent to go through what we > are going through; it’s a nightmare. We just thank God that our kids are > with us here, and not over there.” > > Adam Goldman in Washington contributed to this report. > > > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmYW9yanN1BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0MTgxNTA2NTE-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! Groups] > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlbjQ1MnRoBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQxODE1MDY1Mg--> > > • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • > Unsubscribe <javascript:> • Terms of Use > <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> > > __,_._,___ > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
