It’s relatively common for terror organizations to claim credit for atrocities that they actually had no part in. When a casino was targeted for an arson attack on the Philippines last year, for example, ISIS claimed the “credit.” (The word, in fact, should be “blame.”) Yet it later emerged that the attack was perpetrated by a deeply indebted Filipino gambler—there was no terror link at all. Claiming false “credit” is an obvious way for declining, or irrelevant organizations to get an easy publicity burst. Point to an atrocity somewhere, say: Hey, we did that!, and watch the attention roll in.
So, there was appropriate skepticism in the media last fall when the horrific slaughter perpetrated by Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas was claimed, once again, by ISIS. “ISIS claim of Las Vegas shooter viewed with skepticism,” was how NBC News packaged the story. That seemed right: One should treat any claims from a homicidal terror organization with doubt of course, and in this case in particular, given that there was no provable link between the Vegas murderer and the jihadi group.
Yet when a pathetic white nationalist attempted to take the “credit” for this week’s appalling slaughter in South Florida—and, by the same token, raise the profile of his grotesque organization—such skepticism was thrown out the window.
Shortly after the shooting, Jordan Jereb, the leader of the Republic of Florida militia, a racist extremist group, claimed that Nikolas Cruz, the Florida shooter, had been “brought into” his group and trained with them. Immediately, erstwhile skeptical members of the media ran with the unsubstantiated claim.
The Associated Press said, “BREAKING: Leader of white nationalist group has confirmed suspect in Florida school shooting was member of his organization.” Ah yes, Jereb “confirmed” it—because what could be more unimpeachable than the statement of a racist leader? Time abandoned all skepticism and dutifully parroted Jereb’s line as well: “Accused Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz Was a Member of White Supremacist Group,” the magazine said. So he’s only “accused” of the shooting—but was absolutely a member of the group. The Independent also reported that Jereb “confirmed” Cruz’s membership in his group.
You can guess how this story ends: “Local law enforcement sources have not found a connection between accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz and a Tallahassee-based paramilitary group,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported Thursday. Even Jereb later backed off his claim with the laughable explanation that “There was a legit misunderstanding because we have MULTIPLE people named Nicholas in ROF.” But not before many in the media gave a massive publicity boost to a pathetic, racist organization.
