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What Might Israel Have To Do With The New Orleans ‘Terror Attack’? [1]

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Date: 2025-01-02

(Hint: atrocities beget atrocities)

As a preface, I want to make absolutely clear that this essay in NOT in any way an excuse or justification for the horrible act that Shamsud-Din Jabbar did in murdering at least 15 people and injuring dozens more in New Orleans on New Years Day morning. That act was despicable, and he deserved to be shot dead by police. Period.

Rather, this essay is to try to put some focus on a factor that might well have contributed to that person’s behavior… and might inspire similar acts by others in the future…but which the mainstream media have absolutely ignored to date. The supposed ‘experts’ have opined about the person being ‘recruited’ by ISIS, and have made vague references to how ISIS ‘opposes Western values’, etc. But I would like to identify a much more current and specific possibly motivating factor.

That potentially contributing element to an attack by an otherwise un-notable 42 year old lifelong U.S. (presumably Muslim) citizen (and former member of the U.S. military) against U.S. civilians, could very plausibly be outrage triggered by the unprecedented and horrendous ongoing slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians by Israel…using bombs and other military equipment supplied by the United States.

Although these incidents receive almost no coverage in the U.S. media, anyone who cared to look (e.g., with access to international coverage) could literally see almost daily reports of Israel’s bombings killing multiple civilians… often in attacks on hospitals, schools or designated refugee areas. In all, over 45,000 people have been killed by Israel’s military, many of which were women and children. How might that deliberate and repeated carnage motivate someone who empathized with those Palestinians, or perhaps even had relatives or knew someone affected by those bombings?

These acts by Israel are widely condemned in the international community. Many, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of war crimes as early as October 2023. More recently, in October 2024, a UN Commission found that Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in their attacks on Gaza health facilities and in their treatment of detainees and hostages. Israel has even been accused of genocide, for restricting access to water in Gaza. Most recently, in November, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu, for war crimes committed in Gaza.

Yet in spite of all that, the U.S. has done absolutely nothing to sanction Israel, and indeed has continued to fully supply the bombs and armaments that Israel is using to carry out this slaughter.

Once again, the purpose of this essay is NOT in any way to justify the murderous actions by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, nor the horrendous initial attack on Israel by Hamas. That October 7th 2023 attack was despicable, and Israel had every right to respond. But their response has gone way beyond anything justifiable, as all of the international condemnation described above demonstrates.

The purpose of this essay is to try to help our country respond appropriately to the New Years Day atrocity. Rather than just a knee-jerk attack on all Muslims (which I fear the new Trump Administration will facilitate), or just responding with some kind of military attack on the remnants of ISIS overseas, we need to understand how our behavior in the international community can have terrible consequences at home. Whether ‘recruited’ by ISIS, or simply a ‘lone wolf’ acting alone, the outrage at U.S. complicity in what is happening in Gaza could well contribute to a decision to commit such a horrible act here in the U.S. So in addition to increased surveillance and defensive measures, how about reforming our behavior that contributes to predictable outrage?

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