The FBI‘s initial claim Saturday that the Texas synagogue hostage-taker was not motivated by antisemitism is just the latest example of the bureau refusing to state the obvious about incidents perpetrated by Muslim extremists.
The FBI a day later acknowledged the motivation of Malik Faisal Akram, who held four people, including a rabbi, hostage at a Jewish house of worship north of Dallas. But the initial reluctance drew online mockery, and served as an echo of several past incidents, including the 2009 attack at Fort Hood, the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, and the 2016 mass stabbing attack at the Ohio State University. In each case, the assailants had publicly articulated their motivations before or during their attacks.
During the 11-hour standoff at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue on Saturday, Akram repeatedly demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a virulent antisemite and alleged member of al Qaeda who is serving an 86-year prison sentence for plotting to kill U.S. service members in Afghanistan. Akram called Siddiqui his “sister” during the standoff and indicated he targeted the synagogue because the United States “only cares about Jewish lives.” The Daily Mail reported that Akram was also a member of the Tablighi Jamaat, a conservative Islamic group that Saudi Arabia banned in 2021 over its alleged ties to terrorism.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno told reporters hours after Akram was killed by law enforcement and the four hostages were released unharmed that, while the assailant’s motive was unknown, his demands were “not specifically related to the Jewish community.” The FBI reversed course late Sunday following public outcry, saying in a statement the hostage situation was a “terrorism-related matter in which the Jewish community was targeted.”
FBI REVERSES AND SAYS TEXAS SYNAGOGUE HOSTAGE CASE WAS TERROR, JEWS WERE TARGETED
Kenneth Marcus, the founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and a former Trump administration official, said the FBI’s initial refusal to acknowledge the hostage situation was a matter of antisemitism is “something of a pattern.”
“It seems that time after time, we see law enforcement officials fail to understand when an antisemitic incident occurs, even when it’s entirely obvious, and sometimes, the results of that are tragic. This time, fortunately, they have not been,” Marcus said.
The FBI also refused to attribute a motive to Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen in the immediate aftermath of his rampage, in which 49 people were killed, despite the fact that he called a local Orlando news reporter during the slaughter, identified himself as the shooter, and pledged his loyalty to the leader of the Islamic State.
Mateen had also been placed under FBI surveillance prior to the shooting for talking about his connections with al Qaeda and desire to die as a martyr at work.
Despite this, former FBI Director James Comey told reporters the day after the shooting it was not clear which terrorist group Mateen supported, and investigators also pushed the theory that Mateen was motivated by hatred of the gay community, not by radical Islam.
The FBI also refused to speculate on a motive in the immediate aftermath of the 2009 attack at Fort Hood, in which the assailant shouted “Allahu akbar” as he shot and killed 12 service members and one civilian.
The FBI was aware prior to the Fort Hood attack that the assailant, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was communicating with a radical American-born Muslim imam tied to al Qaeda. After the attack, Hasan told a military panel that he was justified in killing his fellow soldiers because they were “going against the Islamic empire.”
However, a week after the shooting, the FBI said in a statement that its investigation to date had not identified Hasan’s motive. The Army, meanwhile, maintains that the attack was an incident of workplace violence.
Hasan was found guilty and sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013. The word “terrorism” was not uttered once during his trial, according to the New York Times.
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Authorities said in the immediate aftermath of a knife attack at Ohio State in November 2016 that sent 11 people to the hospital that they did not know what motivated the attack. However, the assailant posted a rant on Facebook calling on the U.S. to stop meddling in the affairs of Muslim countries just minutes before the attack.
The FBI said days after that the assailant, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, may have been inspired by either al Qaeda or ISIS. The law enforcement agency confirmed one year after the attack that Artan was inspired by ISIS but said he acted alone in carrying it out.
