Right of Reply: I was a terrorist

It's apparently better to be a terrorist than a law-abiding citizen. When you are a terrorist, you gain concessions, peace deals and lots of money. After all, the media fully assists terrorists, the government seeks peace deals, the world funds these peace deals and continually requests the release of terrorists. The main culprit in aiding terrorists are the media. In my case here, sadly, it's The Jerusalem Post ("The case of the Palestinian 'terrorist' turned Zionist whose bombing history can't be found," March 30). As Mark Twain said, "If I do not view the news, I am not informed, but when I do read the news, I am usually ill-informed." Despite all the evidence I provided the Post about my ties and that of my family to terror, the paper preferred to absolve me from my terrorist past and to believe my relatives, whose own links to terrorism seems irrelevant and who are glad to deny my terror links and my own confession. The media were glad to label us during our terror days as freedom fighters. Now that I have repented, they label me a racist, hater of peace and suffering from Islamophobia - and now a liar. The same media that believed us during my terror-supporting days - when we were lying - now refuse to believe us when we are telling the truth. The same media that insisted "Israel should release PLO fighters as a gesture of peace" now insist that only repentant terrorists like myself be put back in prison while my terror-supporting family roam free. There are only two choices when it comes to terrorism. The first is to make excuses for it. The second is to say there is absolutely no excuse for it. There is no third choice. I was accepted when I claimed the first, then totally rejected when I claimed the second. The litany of accusations in the media came in sequence. First they said I was a Lebanese Phalangist. After this was proven false, came the claim that I never lived in Israel. After this was proven false, they said I was never in prison in Jerusalem. After this was proven false, it was alleged I never planted a bomb in Bank Leumi-Bethlehem Branch. When this too will be proven false, it will be said that I must be an Israeli paid agent doing this for the money. TO THIS DAY Israel rejects my entry to visit the land of the Bible while entertaining requests to bring back the terrorists who vandalized The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. No one cares about vandalism by terrorists of the birth place of Jesus, one of the holiest sites for Christians. Neither do they care when Joseph's Tomb was desecrated by Palestinian mobs. Shame on everyone, including myself, for trusting the Post. Shame on every Jew who continues to fight dead Nazis and not living Islamo-Nazis. My story is a litany of personal experience: imprisonment, an attempted lynching, the failed bombing operation of an Israeli bank, a mother not permitted to visit her native land (US), an anti-Semitic education, terror support in the US, and an extended family with heavy links to terrorism. These are all documented in my book Why We Want To Kill You. Nothing in my book can be refuted, as everything I wrote is true. The attempts to discredit my story came through relatives who involved in aiding and abetting terrorism, including financial terrorism and bombings in Israel. IT IS A shame that the Post published the article when I told your reporter that your witnesses are linked to terror and are wanted by the United States for major fraud and contraband. Presumably that is why he didn't provide their names in his article. My version is this: one of my relatives and his sons illegally funneled millions from the US by defrauding the Social Security system and credit card companies. They used illegally obtained Israeli passports to smuggle themselves in and out of Israel. Your reporter did not interview reputable witnesses offered to him who would confirm the bombing operation of Bank Leumi. Here are the facts readers did not see in your report: • The prominent Jordanian lawyer Jawad Younis, who was deported by Israel for involvement in a terror ring and openly supports Hizbullah, is my relative. • Another source had been part of a suicide bombing operation in Rishon Lezion in which a terrorist blew himself up and killed innocent Jews. • And yet another source had been sentenced to life in prison for making bombs and attempting to kill Jews, then released by Israel through an international deal. He is now free, willing and ready to testify against me that I was never a terrorist, while denying he ever was one himself. Your reporter attempts to discredit me by using a New York Times article which itself relied on CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations) as experts. CAIR is a pro-Islamic agency. This article was fully refuted and exposed by terror expert Steve Emerson (http://grizzlygroundswell.com/archives/1401). Your reporter did not include confirmation presented by Daniel Pipes of Middle East Forum, a well respected and reputable expert who examined many of my records - confiscated land deeds, birth certificates, newspaper reports on family connection to terror. As he wrote on his Web site, "Walid Shoebat took the time to visit me in my office today and to show me proofs that his life story is a true one. I accept that it is." (Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum, May 18, 2006) FOR MY defense of Israel and my battle against Jew-hatred I have addressed audiences at numerous government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the United States Air Force and many police agencies. They always scrutinize my credentials and background, and they've cleared me each and every time. My advisory board is comprised of generals and other senior officers from the US military. It is a shame that the Post was somehow duped into running an article against my character and credentials. The question everyone should ask is why is the media so bent in destroying my claims, especially the Israeli media which should in reality help me get my message out. www.shoebat.com/evidence_of_my_credentials.php