July 31, 2006
 
PARALLEL UNIVERSE: Seattle Jewish Federation Shootings: When is a Hate Crime a Hate Crime?
 
"Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive" - Sir Walter Scott (Marmion, 1808)
 
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
 

Naveed Haq

Hinton, WV (HNN) – I detect spin control in the news accounts I’ve read about the shooting spree by a Muslim man named Naveed Haq at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on Friday, July 29, 2006 that resulted in the death of one woman and severe injuries to several more. At least 3 women are in critical condition as I write.
 
Both Reuters and the L.A. Times and Seattle’s two major dailies quickly decided this was the act of a deranged man acting alone, not a hate crime or – heaven forbid – a terrorist attack. The news providers quoted police and city officials who are treating it as a hate crime.
 
Yes, it’s a hate crime when Muslims attack Jews in the U.S. Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said authorities are treating the shooting as a hate crime based on conversations with police during the rampage. Haq selected the Federation after doing a Web search looking for "something Jewish," Kerlikowske said.
 
This is a phenomenon happening all over Europe that is underreported – or not reported at all -- by our MSM (mainstream media). Why? They don’t want to offend the peaceable Muslims, the same peace-loving types who slash the throats of Dutch filmmakers and cause Danish cartoonists to go into hiding. The same cartoonists – plus a particularly nasty specimen from Norway -- are now portraying Israel as the reincarnation of Nazi Germany and aren’t afraid of being attacked by Jews. Jews in Stockholm are being advised not to call attention to themselves with distinctive Jewish skullcaps; I wonder if Muslims are receiving the same advice?
 
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has what struck me as a sympathetic account of this shooter of women, saying that:
 
“Those who knew Naveed Haq said Saturday that to them he was an enigma, a puzzle that they wish they could have solved before his deadly rampage in a Seattle Jewish center.
 
“Stunned and saddened by the news, some of Haq's acquaintances recounted many of what they saw as the contradictions of his life.
 
“He held a degree in electrical engineering and was the son of a successful engineer, yet he couldn't keep a regular job. He was smart, creative and skilled as a writer. He recently won an essay contest for a U.S. Institute of Peace scholarship.
 
“Yet Haq was frustrated at his lack of friends and female companionship. He told friends he felt alienated from his own family, in part because his career had disappointed his father and also because he had disavowed Islam last year, converting to Christianity.
 
“Haq had begun studying the Bible, attending weekly men's spiritual group meetings, only to stop coming a few months after his baptism.
 
“He had told the group's leader that he seen too much anger in Islam and that he wanted to find a new beginning in Christianity.
 
“Yet in the midst of his shooting spree in Seattle Friday, he declared himself an angry Muslim.
 
“Acquaintances said he never seemed the fanatic religious extremist he played out on Friday. Instead some think his anger was really directed at problems in his personal and professional life.”
 
So, P-I reporter, what do you want me to do, feel sorry for a would-be mass murderer because he couldn’t get his life together?
 
The Seattle Times, city's the other big daily, tells us that the murder of one woman and the wounding of five others will be considered murder and attempted murder, rather than federal hate-crimes: “The man accused of barging into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and killing one woman and wounding five others will be prosecuted on state murder and attempted-murder charges rather than federal hate-crime laws, officials said.
 
“Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, appeared Saturday before Seattle District Court Judge Barbara Linde, who set bail at $50 million. Haq, wearing a King County Jail uniform, stood silent before the judge, occasionally whispering to his attorney.”
 
Again, in an attempt to humanize this terrorist, The Times, the paper printed a “We are shocked" statement from Haq’s family, repeating the familiar statement that attacks on Jews are “utterly contrary to our beliefs and Islamic values. We have always believed and practiced in fostering love, peace and harmony with everyone, irrespective of religion, race and ethnicity."
 
Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske credited one of the victims, Dayna Klein, who is 17 weeks pregnant, with acting heroically and helping calm the explosive situation. Here’s my advice: Follow the Chief’s advice and treat this both as a hate crime AND a murder and lock Haq up forever if – as it seems very likely – he’s convicted of murder and attempted murder.
 
Advice to Jewish Centers around the nation: Do as the Los Angeles Israeli consulate does and hire Israeli guards who are more than just night watchmen. I’ve been in the consulate and the guards there make Chuck Norris and Sly Stallone look like 97-pound weaklings. If I were looking for protection and had a lot of money, I’d hire a Mossad or Shin Bet veteran, too.
 
HNN sends its condolences to the family of the dead woman, Pamela Waechter, 58, and to the other women who were shot in this cowardly act of terrorism.
 
We also stand in awe and pride of Davna Klein, who according to news accounts “after she was shot in the forearm covering her abdomen, she still rushed to call police and stayed on the line even as the gunman warned her to hang up the phone, the chief said.”