Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on August 16, 2017

WASHINGTON The head of the Anti-Defamation League said Tuesday the fatal car-ramming that claimed a young womans life in Charlottesville, Virginia resembled the kind of terror attacks Israel has long experienced.

Appearing on MSNBC, Jonathan Greenblatt was asked to explain the recruiting techniques that white nationalist groups use to attract more people to its cause.

Extremism is a problem in any form, he said. Islamic extremists. Left-wing extremists. But right-wing extremists, like other fringe groups, they try to exploit disaffected young people at an early stage in their lives.

At this point, he was interrupted by the shows host, Stephanie Ruhle, who said the method Greenblatt was describing reminded her of Islamist terrorist organizations. That sounds like the same description you hear when we talk about ISIS recruiters, she said, using a common acronym for Islamic State.

Greenblatt agreed with Ruhles assessment. He went on to say that car rammings in particular have been a common practice for terrorists in the Middle East and Europe.

In this Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017 photo, James Alex Fields Jr., second from left, holds a black shield in Charlottesville, Va., where a white supremacist rally took place. Fields was later charged with second-degree murder and other counts after authorities say he plowed a car into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally. (Alan Goffinski via AP)

Its very similar, he said. Its no accident that the car ramming took place. This young man [Alex Fields Jr.] who murdered the innocent Heather Heyer [was] using the same technique of car ramming that has terrorized Tel Aviv, terrorized France, Germany.

Its domestic terror. he said. So if it quacks like a duck and it walks like a duck, guess what? Its a duck.

Since the Saturday incident, in which the 20-year-old Fields killed Heyer and injured 19 others in the car attack, as hundreds of white nationalists marched the streets of Charlottesville with Nazi, KKK and confederate insignia, several US officials have condemned the episode as an act of terror.

A vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 12, 2017. (Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress via AP)

Certainly I think we can confidently call it a form of terrorism, US President Donald Trumps national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said Sunday on NBCs Meet The Press. What terrorism is is the use of violence to incite terror and fear, and of course it was terrorism.

But quite notably, Trump himself has not made a similar declaration. As a candidate, he repeatedly castigated his predecessor, Barack Obama, for not using the phrase radical Islamic terror.

When will President Obama issue the words RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM? he tweeted on November 15, 2016, after an Islamic State attack in Paris, France. He cant say it, and unless he will, the problem will not be solved!

Trump also outraged many when he did not condemn white nationalists during his first remarks about the rally on Saturday, when he also blamed many sides for the violence that transpired.

It was not until two days later, amidst intense pressure and constant negative media coverage, that he begrudgingly said racism is evil and directly called out the racist groups who organized the rally to protest the citys plans to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Those who cause violence in its name are criminal and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans, Trump said.

On Monday, the Justice Department said it was opening a civil-rights investigation into the death of Heyer, who was murdered by Fields when he ran a Dodge Challenger into a crowd of people protesting the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville.

Read more:
ADL chief says Charlottesville car-ramming resembles terror attacks against Israel - The Times of Israel

Category: Anti-Defamation League
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