The United States says it is determined to follow the terrorist money trail, shutting down front groups, seizing assets, hammering financial institutions that aid them.
That’s a nice agenda, a necessary one, a vital step in conducting this war on the terrorists.
And, while we’re at it, we ought to take a serious look at the way Yasser Arafat, the modern-day inventor of terrorism, has squandered away billions of dollars in foreign bank accounts and investments – especially since the U.S. funds him with taxpayer dollars.
Back in 1999, Palestine Liberation Organization hackers, apparently concerned about the deepening economic hardship of Arafat’s constituents in Gaza and within other parts of the Palestinian Authority, first disclosed the hidden wealth accumulating in European and U.S. banks and stock portfolios.
The dissidents broke into computers at the PLO Tunis headquarters to discover Arafat had been concealing a vast fortune – billions of dollars in numbered bank accounts in Zurich, Geneva and New York.
The PLO, it turns out, owns shares in the Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo stock exchanges, including holdings in Mercedes Benz and property in prestigious areas of European capitals, including Mayfair in London.
In an ironic twist, the organization that once specialized in airliner hijackings controls shares in several airlines, including the national carriers of the Maldives and Guinea Bissau.
Arafat is something of a Robin Hood in reverse – stealing money from his own poor and passing it on to his own elite. The PLO levies taxes on Palestinians working in Kuwait and other Persian Gulf states, as well as accepting large-scale donations from wealthy states such as Saudi Arabia.
Arafat himself controls this fortune.
Still, he constantly has his hand out for more aid – including direct foreign aid from Washington and governments in Europe.
So, Arafat the murderer, is also a thief and a con artist.
His response to the revelations by those around him was to declare jihad on any suspected of disloyalty.
Still, Arafat enjoys an undeserved respectability and credibility in the West. Even though we have declared a war on terrorism, he has been exempt. He has a get-out-of-jail-free card. He is perceived as a “partner for peace,” which he is not.
He’s nothing but a gangster, a criminal. No meaningful peace can ever be achieved by working with him. Israel is beginning to understand this – particularly after the recent assassination of Cabinet Minister Rehavam Ze’evi – but the United States continues to give him the stature of a moral equivalent in the Middle East.
Some argue that there is no one else. They ask: “If not Arafat, who then?”
The truth is that if we excuse what Arafat has done throughout his terrorist career, then we must give Osama bin Laden a free ride, too. There is simply no difference. Both are evil. Both are villains. Both are killers. Both are liars.
Better for the West to disengage from Middle East politics than to force accommodations with such people. Maybe Americans just don’t have the stomach for what needs to be done. That’s OK. But the war has come home, and it is imperative for Americans to understand whom the enemy is.
Bin Laden may be a face we can agree on. But he is hardly alone.
The truth is out there about Arafat. U.S. leaders know that truth and are keeping it from the people. If we accommodate this terrorist, we are only asking for more terrorism – even more depraved, even more bloody, even more spectacular.
At the very least, it’s time for Americans to demand that Washington suspend all funding of Arafat. It’s simple arithmetic. The man is socking away money in Swiss accounts. What justification can there be for sending him more U.S. taxpayer dollars?
Secondly, we must insist that Arafat be kept out of this country, that he be denied the privilege of meeting with U.S. leaders, audiences in the White House, visits to the United Nations.
And, lastly, while we’re investigating the terrorist money trail, how about taking a look inside those Swiss and New York bank accounts and demanding to know why and how that money is being misused and misallocated?
Don’t miss Joseph Farah’s exclusive report “Jihad in America” in the November issue of Whistleblower magazine, WorldNetDaily’s monthly offline publication. Order your subscription now.
