THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 90, April 23, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
NIZAR NAYOUF, AL-HAQIQA, & SYRIAN CHRISTIANS
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
PORTRAYING SYRIAN CHRISTIANS AS PROPAGANDISTS FOR THE BASHAR ASSAD REGIME: DISSEMINATION BY NIZAR NAYOUF & AL-HAQIQA OF FALSE
CLAIMS OF MASS PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA BY THE OPPOSITION TO THE ASSAD REGIME -- ATTRIBUTING SUCH UNSUBSTANTIATED STORIES OF
CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION TO "CHRISTIAN SOURCES" IN SYSIA, CREATING THE RISK OF INFLAMING ANY PRE-EXISTING ANTI-CHRISTIAN SENTIMENT IN SYRIA &
TURNING THE CLAIMS OF MASS PERSECUTION INTO SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES -- AL-HAQIQA AS A PRO-ASSAD SITE
FULL STORY:
In an April 6, 2012, article for Ha'aretz I wrote with two co-authors, I traced the widely circulated claim that 90 percent of Christians had been ethnically
cleansed from the Syrian city of Homs by Islamist militants back to a site known as al-Haqiqa (Arabic: The Truth). This site, despite claiming to
oppose the Assad regime, while being critical of the Syrian opposition, is accurately described by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) as a
"pro-Assad" site.
Having shown the dubious veracity of the claim, I received abusive messages via Facebook on the following day from a Syrian journalist named Nizar
Nayouf, who is currently living in exile in Europe. He started with, "Had it not been published in Haaretz, and you taught [note: I'm a student] in 'Oxford',
I would think you are a member of Al-Qa'ida or Mujahid with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!!" He also included a denunciation for working with the "U.S.-Israeli
racist Daniel Pipes."
Nayouf's attacks didn't stop there. I was also greeted with my photo (along with a shot of Daniel Pipes) posted with the headline "Israeli Newspaper Recruits
Daniel Pipes' Boys To Attack al-Haqiqa and Defend the Criminals of the al-Farouq Brigade" on the front page of the al-Haqiqa website.
In the purported exposé, al-Haqiqa supposedly cites an anonymous Iraqi student at Oxford University to claim that I am actually an Israeli spy directing a
Mossad operation network in Iraqi Kurdistan, hiding under the pseudonym of Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. As further evidence of this, al-Haqiqa draws
attention to the fact that my profile picture on Facebook is an IDF paratrooper badge from the Yom Kippur War, as well as my affiliation with the Middle
East Forum.
A self-proclaimed Marxist-Trotskyite and founder of the "National Council for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Syria" (SYNATIC), which is said to be the
publisher of al-Haqiqa, Nayouf appears to have started life as a legitimate critic of the Assad dynasty. He was apparently imprisoned for just over nine
years by the Syrian regime (from March 17, 1992, until May 6, 2001). He has also received numerous awards pertaining to press freedom.
Nonetheless, many of his recent articles, especially those on al-Haqiqa, push regime-friendly propaganda with numerous stories that can only be
described as bogus.
Nayouf furthers his writing by playing to the fringe conspiracy-theorist community. In December, 2011, Nayouf was interviewed by and contributed to a story
with 9/11 conspiracy theorist James Corbett (an "independent journalist" who has also written a series of essays on the "New World Order"). The interview
centered on Nayouf hilariously claiming (based on unnamed sources of his in Jordan) that U.S. troops were amassing on the Jordanian border with Syria.
Nayouf's other Arabic articles are rife with harebrained conspiracy theories. In a number of other pieces, he makes rambling references to American, Saudi, and
Israeli plots against Syria -- many following a line established by the Assad regime.
In one note he published on Facebook and subsequently carried on other websites, Nayouf accused French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy and Free
Syrian Army Commander Riad al-Assaad of being agents for the CIA and French intelligence in an effort to assist with, "criminal acts in Afghanistan during the
1980s and 1990s for al-Qa'ida." In the same note Nayouf addressed a nonexistent "campaign to expel Syria from UNESCO," stating "all those who take part in
the campaign to expel Syria from UNESCO are committing an Israeli and Talbanistic crime."
He even accused Lebanon's pro-Western and anti-Assad Sunni Muslim party, al-Mustaqbal, of being a "gang of spies" hell bent on furthering "Wahabbism"
in Syria. This was all part of an effort to "open the door for all forms of invaders, starting with the generals of Israel."
Often Nayouf mixes anti-Semitic themes with his critiques of Islamism by accusing the Wahabbis of being "Talmudic." In another article covering Mohamed
Merah, the al-Qa'ida inspired gunman who murdered three French soldiers, three young Jewish students and a rabbi, al-Haqiqa implied that the
perpetrator might have been a controlled asset of the Israelis or French intelligence services.
Coming back to the article for Ha'aretz, it is to be noted that one of the reasons that the veracity of al-Haqiqa's original story on alleged mass
ethnic cleansing of Christians from Homs was challenged is that the "report" made no reference to the phenomenon of imposition of jizya (the traditional
"poll-tax" in Islam extorted from Jewish and Christian minorities living under the "protection" of Islamic law: a concept not dissimilar to the Sicilian Mafia's
protection rackets).
And so, what does Nayouf have his al-Haqiqa outlet put out just three days after our article was published? An "exclusive" 1300-word report claiming
that the al-Faruq Brigade has been imposing jizya on Christians in Homs Governorate. This is no coincidence: Nizar has clearly intended his outlet's "report"
to be a refutation of the Ha'aretz article.
Credit for drawing attention to this al-Haqiqa report goes to BBC Monitoring Middle East (BBC-MME), which, like MEMRI, does a
good job of highlighting Arabic media discourse for English speakers via a mailing list for subscribers. Indeed, it should immediately be noticed that the
BBC-MME summary of the story does not in any way vouch for the claims made by al-Haqiqa. Had the BBC thought there was any
veracity to the report, it would surely have highlighted the story on its website.
What further reveals the bogus nature of this latest al-Haqiqa story is the additional claim that "hundreds of Pakistani armed men" have flooded into
the Homs area to fight the regime's forces. Nayouf's outlet traces this claim to "very reliable local sources" that account for this Pakistani presence by
attributing the fighters' origins to Turkey and Europe (and the United Kingdom in particular).
Really? There no other reports in other outlets to corroborate these claims. Why have these Pakistani fighters come to Syria, but did not similarly head to
Iraq to fight the Shi'i-led Iraqi government's forces and the "infidel" Coalition forces that were occupying a Muslim country at the height of the Iraq War?
In fact, hundreds of foreign Sunni jihadists were captured in Iraq by Coalition forces, and none of them had Pakistani origins. A 2008 report from the West
Point-based Combating Terrorism Center only reported one Pakistani being detained at Camp Bucca, the main detainment center for third-party nationals in
Iraq. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of foreign Sunni insurgents were Arab fighters from the Middle East and North Africa.
Dr. Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the GLORIA Center and spent time in February, 2012, embedded with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) inside
Syria. When asked about al-Haqiqa's report, his answer was clear, "File under regime cut-out, fake opposition, straight out of the Ba'athist playbook.…
Of course there are Islamist fighters in the FSA and this should not be denied or underestimated, but this particular info sounds very much like regime
info-ops."
For good measure, I also forwarded al-Haqiqa's story to Leftwing journalist, Nir Rosen. Like Nayouf, Rosen is no fan of U.S. policy in the region. Yet,
unlike Nayouf, Rosen has traveled extensively inside Syria (especially in Homs) over the past year.
Rosen stated that al-Haqiqa's story of imposition of jizya was completely fictitious, pointing out that, even if the al-Faruq Brigade wanted to impose
jizya, it is not in control of the areas named in the report, lacking sufficient organization to gain said control. Moreover, there is no evidence that the al-Faruq
Brigade is led and dominated by Islamist militants wanting to impose jizya on Christians.
It is unfortunate that Nayouf and al-Haqiqa are continuing to disseminate false claims of mass persecution of Christians in Syria by the opposition,
and putting such unsubstantiated stories in the mouths of "Christian sources" in Homs Governorate. The effect of this material portrays Christians as
propagandists for the regime. This is something that will only inflame any anti-Christian sentiment that already exists and could turn claims of mass
persecution into self-fulfilling prophecies.
Lacking arms or a defensible geographic hinterland to defend themselves, Christians are generally "sitting on the fence" and refraining from openly taking
sides in the present conflict. It is not in their interests to be portrayed as partisans. Thus, Nayouf and al-Haqiqa are not helping Syrian Christians.
Let us hope they will desist from any further irresponsible dissemination of bogus reports and conspiracy theories.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Syria
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Brasenose College, University of Oxford (Oxfordshire, United Kingdom), and an adjunct fellow at the Middle East Forum.
The foregoing article by Al-Tamimi was originally published in the American Spectator, April 23, 2012, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/3218/nizar-nayouf-al-haqiqa-syrian-christians)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
April 23, 2012
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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