http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324235304578436841540252644.html?mod=us_most_pop_newsreel Enemy Combatants in Boston Was there a FISA order issued for Tamerlan Tsarnaev? A row has broken out over whether the Obama Administration is violating the legal due process of Boston terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by not reading him his Miranda rights before questioning. The more relevant question for the safety of the U.S. […]
http://www.timesofisrael.com/no-regrets-for-uk-jewish-academic-who-lost-landmark-anti-zionism-case/
REMINDS ONE OF THE OLD JOKE. WHO IS AN ANTI-SEMITE? ONE WHO HATES JEWS MORE THAN IS NECESSARY….RSK
LONDON – The UK is already known as a hub for the delegitimization of Israel, but the situation is about to worsen. According to Ronnie Fraser, there is likely to be an upturn in anti-Israel activity on university campuses and among trade union activists.
The reason is a landmark legal case, launched by Fraser himself, which he just lost. A freelance mathematics lecturer, Fraser took the University and College Union (UCU) to an employment tribunal for harassment, alleging that its anti-Zionist activity – including several votes on an academic boycott – crossed the line into anti-Semitism to the extent that the academics’ trade union was “institutionally anti-Semitic.” In a mammoth case heard over 20 days in late 2012, 10,000 documents were presented and 29 witnesses testified on Fraser’s behalf, including two members of Parliament. Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson also submitted written evidence.
The stakes were clear: win, and anti-Israel activists would have to be much more careful about the language and tactics they used. Lose, and they would gain some legal protection.
On the eve of Passover, the employment tribunal rejected Fraser’s case in scathing terms, clearly seeing it as an attempt to shut down debate on Israel.
“At heart,” wrote the three judges, “it represents an impermissible attempt to achieve a political end by litigious means.”
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/04/19/remembering-warsaw-by-trashing-zionism/
“Jews of every conceivable religious and political belief lived, fought and died in Warsaw. But their plight illustrated that the Zionist idea that Jews must take their fate into their own hands was correct. What the Zionists understood in the pre-Holocaust era was that the belief that Europe could remain home to millions of Jews was an illusion. Zionist leader Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky told the Jews of Warsaw on Tisha B’Av—the date on which Jews commemorate the destruction of their ancient Temple—in 1938 that “the catastrophe is coming closer” and they and the rest of European Jewry must be evacuated. Rather than working with him to save European Jewry, the Bundists mocked Jabotinsky.From the perspective of 2013, the Zionist critique of pre-war Jewish complacence is still compelling. Today, even the U.S. State Department has concluded that a troubling wave of anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe. In France, the largest Jewish community on the continent is under siege with many leaving for Israel. The concept that the Jews must have a state of their own where they can stand against the still-vibrant forces of hate remains irrefutable.”
Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of one of the greatest acts of heroism in the history of the world. On April 19, 1943, SS forces entered the Warsaw Ghetto to begin the final “liquidation” of the enclave in which hundreds of thousands of Jews had been herded. But instead of rounding up the tens of thousands of starving Jews, they were attacked by Jewish resistance forces that stalled their advance and set off a battle that would last for weeks. Two separate groups organized the resistance. One was the ZOB—The Jewish Combat Organization—a coalition that was largely led by left-wing Zionists. The other was the ZZW—the Jewish Military Union—led by right-wing Zionists. Both fought bravely in a struggle that could not alter the fate of the Jews of Warsaw but which nevertheless reminded the world that the honor of the Jewish people had been redeemed in even the most hopeless of circumstances.
Resistance to the Nazis was expressed in many ways, and we now understand that those who stayed with the elderly and children as well as those who died with dignity in other ways deserve to be remembered just as do those few who were able to take up arms against their murderers. But we rightly remember the Warsaw Ghetto fighters and all those who were able to resist the Nazis because their efforts were a symbol of heroism that has inspired subsequent generations of Jews to stand up against those who seek to carry on the hate of Hitler and his legions. The most famous moment of the revolt was the raising by the ZZW of the flag of Poland and the blue and white banner of Zionism over Muranowski Square. This was an event that even the Germans considered of immense importance since it showed their opponents were part of a nation they could not kill–a nation that would be reborn five years later as the State of Israel.
But in a curious act of revisionism, the New York Times commemorated the Ghetto Uprising today with an article that seeks to push back against this narrative and to replace it with one that downgrades the importance of Zionism in both the story of the Warsaw revolt and its place in Jewish history.
Yale University scholar Marci Shore’s “The Jewish Hero History Forgot” focused on Marek Edelman, one leader of the ZOB who was not a supporter of Zionism. While Edelman deserves to be honored as a hero, her attempt to debunk the traditional view of the uprising tells us more about the left’s animus toward Israel than it does about the events of 1943 or the Jews of Poland. Though all those who resisted and even those who did not should be memorialized, the idea that Edelman’s distaste for the Jewish state should be the last word about the Holocaust is as offensive as it is a distortion of Jewish history.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324874204578436592210910044.html?dsk=y
If your concern about the threat posed by the Tsarnaev brothers is limited to assuring that they will never be in a position to repeat their grisly acts, rest easy.
The elder, Tamerlan—apparently named for the 14th-century Muslim conqueror famous for building pyramids of his victims’ skulls to commemorate his triumphs over infidels—is dead. The younger, Dzhokhar, will stand trial when his wounds heal, in a proceeding where the most likely uncertainty will be the penalty. No doubt there will be some legal swordplay over his interrogation by the FBI’s High-Value Interrogation Group without receiving Miranda warnings. But the only downside for the government in that duel is that his statements may not be used against him at trial. This is not much of a risk when you consider the other available evidence, including photo images of him at the scene of the bombings and his own reported confession to the victim whose car he helped hijack during last week’s terror in Boston.
But if your concern is over the larger threat that inheres in who the Tsarnaev brothers were and are, what they did, and what they represent, then worry—a lot.
For starters, you can worry about how the High-Value Interrogation Group, or HIG, will do its work. That unit was finally put in place by the FBI after so-called underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up the airplane in which he was traveling as it flew over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 and was advised of his Miranda rights. The CIA interrogation program that might have handled the interview had by then been dismantled by President Obama.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4370252,00.html
Saudi Arabia opens luxury rehab center for Qaeda terrorists
Extremists jailed during crackdown on local branch of al-Qaeda will be able to swim, work out and watch television between meetings with counselors. ‘To fight terrorism, we must give them an intellectual and psychological balance,’ says director of rehab centers
Saudi Arabia is hoping to wean jailed al-Qaeda terrorists off religious extremism with counseling, spa treatments and plenty of exercise at a luxury rehabilitation center in Riyadh.In between sessions with counselors and talks on religion, prisoners will be able to relax in the center’s facilities which include an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool, a sauna, gym and a television hall.
The new complex is the work of the Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care, a body set up seven years ago to rehabilitate extremists jailed during a Saudi crackdown on the local branch of al-Qaeda.
“Just under 3,000 (Islamist prisoners) will have to go through one of these centers before they can be released,” interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told AFP during a tour of the new center.
Another center has already opened in the western port city of Jeddah, and three more are planned for the north, east and south of the desert kingdom.
The new facility in Riyadh, however, is the first to offer inmates a taste of luxury as an incentive to moderate their beliefs.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/20/investigators-explore-possible-link-between-boston-bombing-suspect-and/ Investigators are exploring potential links between Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and an extremist group known as the Caucasus Emirate, sources tell Fox News. The purported leader of the separatist and Islamic extremist group is Doku Umarov, a Chechen Islamic militant in Russia whose ordering of numerous attacks on civilians has earned him […]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/21/abdella-ahmad-tounisi-arrested-al-qaeda-chicago-teenager_n_3125096.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl2%7Csec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D301933
April 20 (Reuters) – An 18-year-old Chicago-area man accused of planning to join an al Qaeda-linked group fighting in Syria has been arrested by the FBI, the agency said on Saturday.
Abdella Ahmad Tounisi of Aurora, Illinois, was taken into custody late on Friday as he prepared to board a plane at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport bound for Turkey, the FBI said in a statement.
It added that Tounisi was a friend of Adel Daoud, an American accused of trying to stage a bombing outside a downtown Chicago bar last year. The agency said Tounisi had not been involved in that plot.
Tounisi appeared before a U.S. magistrate on Saturday on one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was ordered held until his next court appearance on Tuesday, the FBI said.
A criminal complaint accused Tounisi of making online contact in March with a person he thought was a recruiter for Jabhat al-Nusrah, the militant Islamist Syrian group that the U.S. government calls a foreign terrorist organization operating as a wing of al Qaeda in Iraq.
The supposed recruiter was an FBI employee working undercover, the agency said.
Tounisi said in emails to the FBI employee that he planned to get to Syria via Turkey and was willing to die in the Syrian struggle, the complaint said.
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Speedy heart monitoring. Sheba Medical Center researchers and Israeli start-up Lev-El Diagnostics of Heart Disease have developed an algorithm that could save lives by quickly identifying patients with heart disease. Patients used to have to wear heart monitors for 24 – 48 hours. Now they are diagnosed in one hour.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8667
The cutting edge of cell therapy. 18 Israeli companies develop or market cell-based treatment products – an unprecedented large proportion in relation to the country’s population. All of them are attending the Israstem Conference in Ramat Gan starting Apr 22, to discuss stem cells, cell therapy, and regenerative medicine.
http://www.iati.co.il/news-item/1211/stem-cell-research-blooming-in-israel
More clues in search for cause of Alzheimer’s. Researchers at Tel Aviv University gave electric stimulation to the brains of rats and found that high-frequency “bursts” produced the same destructive plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=309740
Success in IBD trials. Israel’s BiolineRX has announced positive results for the Phase IIa clinical trial of BL-7040, an oral treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease affect as many as 1.4 million individuals in the US alone.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000836889&fid=1725
A lifeline on your wrist. Israeli start-up Oxitone has developed a blood-oxygen monitor that can be worn on the wrist by those “at risk” to warn of any sudden deterioration in their condition. Oxitone has been selected for GE Healthcare’s Start-Up Health Academy Entrepreneurship Program – one of only two companies outside of the US to be chosen for their 3-year program that turns fledgling businesses into prime companies.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-israeli-medical-technology-steve-jobs-needed/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-tttvK_EELs
Boston Marathon – hospital had Israeli training. Dr Alasdair Conn, Chief of Emergency Services at Massachusetts General Hospital stated that two years ago they asked the Israelis to set up a disaster team that could respond to a mass-casualty event. This prepared them for dealing with the Boston Marathon bombing.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/04/15/boston-marathon-blasts-doctor-credits-israelis-with-helping-set-up-disaster-team-video/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Gaza weekly deliveries: In the week ending 6th April, 992 trucks brought 27,880 tons of goods into Gaza.
http://www.cogat.idf.il/894-en/Matpash.aspx
Industrial park for Nazareth. Israel has opened a new industrial park in Nazareth to promote economic cooperation between the region’s diverse Jewish, Christian and Muslim citizens. It is modeled on nearby Tefen Industrial Park, designed to bring together industrial, educational and cultural facilities all in one space to foster innovation, growth and peace.
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=60732
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5cBo9pfpM
Just like me, just like you. (Thanks to Stuart Palmer) Dozens of Haifa University’s 800 overseas students from 40 countries wanted to let the world know that they share desires and ambitions with local Israelis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IeH9nNftJmY
Israel’s on-line Ambassadors. A Muslim Bedouin girl, several Druse, a Pole and 26 Israeli Jews make up the latest group of Haifa University students training to represent Israel as unofficial ambassadors in the international aren. Muslim Ayat Rahal says “I want to show a true picture of Israel. It’s not all protests.”
http://www.jpost.com/InJerusalem/ArtsAndCulture/Article.aspx?id=309464&prmusr=ospPNLnMsogHMz%2fBt3oysnXdghKrZqzS6HDusMl0mW1f5sqMdXwWzbCZQ%2boocCKh
Egyptian academics study Israeli language and culture. I’m taking this article at face value, but I’m very surprised. At any one time, close to 20,000 students at nine of the 14 Egyptian universities study Hebrew. Each year, at least 2,000 Egyptian students graduate with bachelor’s degrees that include the study of Hebrew.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/egyptians-interest-in-israeli-culture.html
Yale student union’s President is Israeli. Daniel Avraham has made history at Yale University after having been elected as the first Israeli to serve as the institution’s student union president. The 24-year-old Jerusalem native is a graduate of Herzliyah’s Gymnasia high school and a former intelligence officer in the IDF.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/167268#.UXA8tUqi-7o
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The fastest emergency response. (Thanks to NoCamels.com) Israeli start-up NowForce has developed a replacement for expensive emergency call centers. It comprises a distress signal app for the smartphone; an app for the rescue worker (including paging and directing); finally, a dispatch center back-end solution. In the Missouri police department NowForce has cut response times to one sixth of those experienced previously.
http://nocamels.com/2013/04/nowforce-uses-cellphones-for-quicker-emergency-team-response/
Your smartphone can have Everything. If you search for anything on a smartphone running the new Firefox operating system, it will fire up the software from Israeli start-up Everything.me. Then things really happen as it loads applications dynamically to show you everything you might want, in connection with your search.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xz2pD-gRzpY
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/04/11/new-app-everything-me-launcher-is-like-building-a-home-screen-on-googles-im-feeling-lucky-button/
Pump your photos up to the Cloud. Israel’s Pumpic is for those who frequently want to share large numbers or high quality photos with their friends and colleagues. Users can send up to 10,000 images – each up to 100 MB in size – instantaneously. Pumpic has just raised $700,000 in its first round of financing.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000836895&fid=1725
Fixing mobile phones wirelessly. Two Israeli companies Cellebrite and CommuniTake are working together to establish a service that can diagnose and repair smartphones whilst still in the hands of the customer.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000836803&fid=1725
Israelis get top European award. Eight Israeli companies received the Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe Award, given to Europe’s leading private companies in recognition of their innovations and technologies. They were Celeno, Modelity Technologies, MyThings, NLT Spine, Phinergy, Somoto, Valens and WalkMe.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000837219
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000836794&fid=1725
Inside the Technion – Israel’s Hard Drive. A rare positive article in the New York Times about one of Israel’s top education institutes. It features an Israeli-Arab student – one of the 20% of Arabs at the Technion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/education/edlife/inside-the-technion-israels-premier-technological-institute-and-cornells-global-partner.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
The biggest hi-tech celebration. Israel’s high-tech industry – in the form of the Israel Advanced Technologies Industry group – threw a huge Independence Day party for hundreds of guests in Tel Aviv. Representatives of 17 R&D labs of multinational companies, including Intel, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo, HP, Oracle and Philips talked about the innovations, accomplishments, and contributions they make to their parent companies.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/65-years-on-israel-is-top-choice-for-tech-by-multinationals/
http://www.iati.co.il/news-item/1202/iati-mncs-conference-great-success-naftali-bennett-shared-his-vision
65 years of innovation. This is the definitive list of Israel’s inventions. It includes the solar water heater, amniocentesis testing, drip irrigation, desalination, unmanned drone aircraft, 8088 and Centrino computer chips, RSA encryption, Quasicrystals, instant messaging, Pillcam, the flash drive, ReWalk and a whole lot more.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/65-years-of-innovation-from-rummikub-to-the-god-particle/
http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2485/Will-FBI-Director-Mueller-Ever-Be-Held-Accountable-for-Anything.aspx
Don’t take your eye off the Saudi national story … however:
A press release on the FBI website of Friday, April 19, 2013 tells us that “a foreign government” — Russia — alerted the FBI in “early 2011” that Tamarlan Tsarnaev was “a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.”
How you say “radical Islam” in Russian? Never mind. This is big and shocking news on several levels. The first concerns the government reflex to suppress speculation regarding Islamic terrorism, or even terrorism, period as when David Axelrod let fly that the president was thinking “tax day” might be what we used to obsess over as the so-called root cause. We might even look back on FBI’s special agent in charge Richard DesLauriers’ plea to the public on Thursday evening (April 18) as reinforcing the domestic confines of the suspect pool by omission. His carefully genericized statement failed to open the public mind to any suggestion that the suspects might not be homegrown locals.
Somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members of the suspects,
True enough. of course, and somebody did. It is not known whether anyone in the public — including the terrorists’ “ashamed” uncle — actually called up the FBI with that information.
But might the FBI have already known the Tsarnaev brothers’ names before they asked us for help? By the FBI’s Friday admission, the foreign government — Russia — had already raised red flags over Tamarlan Tsaernov in early 2011. (Notice, the FBI continually emphasizes the Russian communique as a “request” for information, not a warning.)
Here from its press release is the FBI’s story, or cover story:
Once the FBI learned the identities of the two brothers today, the FBI reviewed its records and determined that in early 2011, a foreign government asked the FBI for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
“Today” means April 19, four days after the Monday bombing attack. When and how did the feds learn those names? At what point after midnight and into the wee hours of Friday morning — when the shootout began that left MIT police officer Sean Collier, 26, “assassinated,” as a police official put it — did the Tsarnaev name pop up? Are we supposed to believe that no one at Robert Mueller’s FBI pulled that “early 2011” Russian warning — sorry, “request” — about that Chechen Muslim Tamarlan Tsarnaev in the Boston area after two Al Qaeda-style pressure-cooker bombs went off on Monday killing and maiming and terrorizing Americans in the heart of Boston?
The [Russian] request stated that it was based on information that he was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.
Again, not a warning, but a “request.” Maybe the FBI is trying to prevent anyone from remembering that it dismissed red flags (emails with jihad-preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki) that went up in December 2008 over the perpetrator of another jihad attack — sorry, “workplace violence” — committed by Nidal Hassan at Ft. Hood in November 2009.
Back to Boston 2013:
In response to this 2011 request, the FBI checked U.S. government databases and other information to look for such things as derogatory telephone communications, possible use of online sites associated with the promotion of radical activity, associations with other persons of interest, travel history and plans, and education history. The FBI also interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and family members. The FBI did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign, and those results were provided to the foreign government in the summer of 2011.
That’s reassuring.
The final line is priceless.
The FBI requested but did not receive more specific or additional information from the foreign government.
What more did the FBI need from the Russkies — a Koran? This is no joke, of course. FBI Director Mueller’s has presided over the purge of Islamic training materials (military training has been simiiarly purged) while practicing what we might think of as extremist Muslim outreach. Now this. Of course, this scandal takes in anyone in the Obama administration in charge of national security.
Congressional oversight, anyone?
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/04/20/know-boston-bombers/
I know the Boston bombers
By Alyssa Kilzer
Published April 20, 2013
The FBI released images of the pair of suspects believed to be responsible for the bombing attack near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Investigators are asking for the public’s help with any information leading to their whereabouts. The FBI is urging anyone who recognizes the men to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or go to the bureau’s website, FBI.gov.
I started getting facials from Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (pronounced Zu-bey-da) six years ago when I was 17 at a spa in the Boston area. She soon after left the spa and contacted my mom to have us start coming to her house, at 410 Norfolk St., right on the line of Cambridge and Watertown.
All throughout my senior year of high school and four years of college I went to her house about three times a year. The last time I went to the house was in December and January of 2011/2012.
The first few years the third-floor apartment was often crowded with her two sons, now identified as the alleged Boston bombers, and her two daughters, one of which was around my age. It was definitely not a glamorous place to get a facial, as the “spa” was set up in her living room, and during these years the family expanded.
The staircase was crowded with their shoes, the house filled with noises of arguing, cooking, etc. She would often apologize for this. Her daughters and Dzhokar, the younger son, always struck me as perfectly nice and normal kids about my age. As far as I knew the daughters also attended Rindge (the local public high school) along with their brother.
She gave a damn good facial, often working on my skin for two or three hours, and this is why my sister, mom and I continued to go back to her home for years.
During this time one of Zubeidat’s daughters, and then the other, were set up in arranged marriages, and started having kids. This was something I found slightly disturbing, as one was just my age (18-19) and didn’t seem to be happily married.
Within two years I heard that she had been beaten badly and eventually filed for divorce, which was at first against her mother’s wishes. Later Zubeidat said that she had accepted the divorce because it was an unhappy marriage. Her daughter then moved back into the house with her child. Her younger son, Dzhokar, was often in the room or the room next door looking after his nephew while I was getting my facial.
There were usually issues with parking on her crowded Cambridge Street. Sometimes she would have Dzhokar go down to the street to put the visitor-parking pass into my car window (Yes, I gave him my car keys). Once he moved my car, which made me nervous, as the street was so crowded and parking spots so small. Dzhokar was always friendly to me and seemed easy going. In 2010-11, there was a day when Dzhokar wasn’t home, so Zubeidat took the parking pass out to the street for me.
I noticed that she first put on a hijab before going outside. She had never worn a hijab while working at the spa previously, or inside the house, and I was really surprised.
Between 2008 and 2012 I got to know her pretty well. During those 2-3 hours I spent a lot of time asking her about her personal life, background and her family. (I’m a writer and tend to ask people exhaustive questions about their personal lives, especially as interesting a character as this.)
The hijab shouldn’t have surprised me so much, because she had become increasingly religious while I was in college. She often mentioned Allah, and the lessons of the Koran. “Allah will reward him,” she said once about my brother, when I told her that my brother and mom were close, and that I thought my brother would take care of my mom later in life.
She started to refuse to see boys that had gone through puberty, as she had consulted a religious figure and he had told her it was sacrilegious. She was often fasting. She told me that she had cried for days when her oldest son, Tamerlan, told her that he wanted to move out, going against her culture’s tradition of the son staying in the house with the mother until marriage.
She started saying things like, “Don’t worry, there aren’t men in the house today,” when I asked if I could use the bathroom, which I thought was kind of funny at the time, since I didn’t mind if there were men in the apartment or not.
In my last year of college I was getting a facial from her, and asking her about why she had originally come to the United States with her family about eight or ten years previously.
She told me that she and her husband had been lawyers and political activists in Russia. They had fled the country after “something that her husband did.” Her daughter had recently been divorced at this time, and her daughter’s ex-husband had taken their child to Russia, refusing to return him. Finally the child was returned.
When my mom asked Zubeidat how they had gotten the child back, she told her that “my [Zubeidat’s] husband is crazy” and everyone knew it. When he threatened the daughter’s ex-husband’s family, they returned the child.
During this facial session she started quoting a conspiracy theory, telling me that she thought 9-11 was purposefully created by the American government to make America hate Muslims. “It’s real,” she said, “My son knows all about it. You can read on the internet.”
I have to say I felt kind of scared and vulnerable when she said this, as I am distinctly American, and was lying practically naked in her living room.
Throughout my years of knowing Zubeidat I certainly had more contact with her daughters, one of whom attended the Catherine Hinds Institute and aspired to open a spa, and Dzhokar, than with the older brother Tamerlan.
Those three children were always friendly and kind to me. I think I only met Tamerlan twice, and he wasn’t friendly. Zubeidat certainly mentioned arguing with him, and being worried about him in general after he got his girlfriend pregnant. I never met Zubeidat’s husband. I know that a few years ago her husband got cancer, but she told us that the doctors had caught it early, and that he was doing well. She made one long trip to Russia in the period of 2011-2012.
While Zubeidat was very good at giving facials, I can say that her increased religious zeal and offensive political suggestions about 9-11 in part influenced my decision to not return to her home since January 2012. Those details aside, she struck me as a hard-working woman who cared a lot for her family.
When my mom called me earlier today telling me about how she had seen the picture of Dzhokar this morning and called the FBI, I couldn’t believe it. As her client for years I felt affection for Zubeidat and was very distraught to hear that her sons could have committed such horrific crimes.
When I read online that she had left for Russia a few months ago, my first reaction was to think that she might have known about the attacks her sons were planning. Articles online suggest that she is in Russia because of her husband’s poor health. I know that her husband often went to Russia without her, and for extended periods of time.
She was also very close with her sons and showed many signs of political leanings herself. Of course this is only my personal conjecture, and to my knowledge there is no proof about the parent’s involvement at all.
The actions of the two men have been atrocious beyond words. I wrote this story in order to help clarify some of the untruths I read online during the past few days, and I hope that any knowledge I have shared about the family can help investigators get to the bottom of these terrorist actions and not cause any further harm.
Since writing the original article I have experienced enormous relief following the capture of Dzhokar. I continue to pray and think about the victims of the bombings and everyone in Boston.
Alyssa Kilzer is a 23-year old writer and yoga teacher. She is earning her Master’s degree in Creative Writing, specializing in life-writing and non-fiction works. She is originally from the Boston are
