American el-Shabaab الشباب
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News pundit, has lately been raising eyebrows, an American awakening, posting and asking bombshell questions, but questions we as Arab/Muslims have been asking for years. Carlson, as President Kennedy had asked before him, to designate AIPAC as a foreign agent, and suggested that “ Anyone who serves in the Israeli Army should be deported from America.” According to a recent report by The Intercept, it is estimated that 7,000 “lone soldiers” from the U.S. alone have either signed up or returned to Israel to serve in the military since October 7, 2023. These are referred to as “lone soldiers” because they are Americans who do not have families in Israel.
I call them the American el_Shabaab wo go and fight in a foreign land. According to the Israeli military, it’s estimated that over 23,000 American citizens are currently serving in the IDF as of last year, a combination of lone soldiers and Americans who immigrated to Israel with their families. Before Mr. Carlson became an American foreign affairs maven who has been asking serious questions about the nature of the American-Israeli relationship, I asked the FBI Minnesota district director, Ralph Boelter the same question. Wjhat about the American elShabab. In 2009, the Justice Department then announced terrorism charges against eight Somalis, who went to fight with al-Shabaab in Somalia. According to the FBI charging documents, the offenses include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization; attending terrorist training camps operated by al-Shabaab; and fighting on behalf of al-Shabaab. Mr. Boelter appeared on my show and discussed the FBI’s concerns about Somali individuals who traveled to Somalia and fought in the civil war there. This concerns the FBI and the American people; besides, it is illegal for anyone to go on their own and fight for another foreign country, “they are American citizens and subject to federal law as you and I are”, he explained. You can’t as an American citizen travel on your own and join a war, get involved in an internal affair of another country,” He explained. I asked Mr. Boelter about all the Americans who go and fight in Israel, some of them even joining illegal terrorist Israeli groups, occupation, illegal settlements, why aren’t we picking on and scrutinizing this community” I asked “ to the extent that is going on, its against the law and subject to the same scrutiny as the Somali community! He answered as his face showed a reluctant discomfort! I asked him later if there was any investigation going on now in this community, “I can’t tell you, we don’t talk about ongoing FBI investigations, and I’m not going to do it here.” Mr. Boelter was careful with his answers and seemed to be surprised by my line of questioning. We talked later about the danger of those Somali youth when they come back from Somalia, besides its illegal, they pose a security risk to the American people, he explained. I attended the trial of those Somalis who were tried in the federal court in downtown Minneapolis. It was open to the public, with lots of security outside and inside, a huge dog stood by the door sniffing everyone entering the court, limiting the number of Somalis who wanted to go there, either fearing dogs or the forfeited courthouse. During the session, the prosecutors kept asking the defendants loaded incriminating questions, something like,
- Didn’t you go to the mosques, where you pray at night? (not illegal or even shows any sign of extremism, Muslims pray at night all the time, it’s called Eisha prayer.)
- When you go to the mosque, do you go in groups? Not unusual, it’s even encouraged, and it’s called “Gamaha Prayer”!
- When you do pray, you do recite “Jihad verses” ( no such thing), these lines of questions went on for days, have never been challenged by the public defenders or the judge! All eight men were convicted!
As Somalis and Muslims have been persecuted for traveling back to their countries, thousands of U.S. civilians who traveled to Israel to join the army have received markedly less attention. Back at home, American lone soldiers do speaking tours to cleanse the reputation of the Israeli military,” reported The Intercept. These recruiting efforts to send American citizens to Israel and fight in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, organized by Nevut, a New York-based charity organization supporting American “lone soldiers” Al-Shabab who sign up for the Israeli military. These Americans fighters with IDF are farfitch from the young Americans who in 1930, left for Spain to confront the rise of fascism in Europe. An estimated 3,000 Americans fought in the Spanish Civil War; there were around 100 or so members that were African Americans.; reported the Intercept, they became known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade; the first integrated militarized unit in United States history fighting fascism. Those young Americans, when returned home, faced scrutiny and hostility from their government and the American people at large. Their experiences, however, have come to be viewed by some as an early, principled stand against fascism, earning them the moniker “premature anti-fascists”. A lot has changed in America ever since.
Ahmed Tharwat
Host and Producer of Arab American TV
BelAhdan
His film documentary
The Coptic Grave is screening at the Arab Film Festival, September 25th,
