UK: 'Why does ISIS never attack Israel', media wonders

Robert Fisk in his article "Isis blinds journalists with its barbarity, but we must continue to report" brings up the old conspiracy theory.   h/t The Debate Link

Why does Isis never attack Israel – indeed, why does its hatred of Crusaders and Shias and Christians and sometimes Jews rarely if ever mention the very word “Israel”? And why do Israel’s air raids on Syria always target Syrian government or pro-Syrian Iranian forces, but never Isis?

The problem with this theory?   ISIS did threaten Israel:

The ISIS spokesperson directed several threats towards Jews and Christians, saying they faced two options: "Convert to Islam or pay the ultimate price when your armies are expelled from Muhammad's peninsula, from Jerusalem, and all Muslim lands."

Just a couple of months ago, they threatened Israel as part of their showdown with Hamas. 

"We will uproot the state of the Jews (Israel) and you and Fatah, and all of the secularists are nothing and you will be over-run by our creeping multitudes," said a masked Islamic State member in the message addressed to the "tyrants of Hamas".

And then they attacked Israel.


Of course, Robert Fisk might not be aware of this, because like most Western journalists he ignores the rockets that Palestinians fire at Israel.   They don't exist, therefore Israel is not threatened by ISIS.  QED.

 Here's what Israel's Prime Minister has to say about ISIS:

“Terrorism is knocking at our borders,” the prime minister said during a visit to Hadassah Hospital at Ein Karem, where he met with a female soldier injured when attacked by a Palestinian woman at a checkpoint earlier in the week.

“ISIS is not just opposite the Golan Heights. At the moment it is also in Egypt, opposite Rafah, facing our borders, and we are joined with Egypt and with many other countries in the Middle East and the world in the struggle against the extremist Islamic terrorism that is guided by two elements – Iran and the Shiite extremists, and ISIS and the Sunni extremists — as well as other factions such as Hamas,” he said, using one of the acronyms for the Islamic State group.

 Oooh.  Obviously a Zionist-ISIS conspiracy is afoot.

According to Israel's National Security Council’s Counter- Terrorism Bureau:

One of the main threats is plots against Israeli and Jewish targets in northern and Western Europe by ISIS operatives who have returned from fighting in Iraq and Syria. That said, they see Israel as a sort of “secondary target” for these potential terrorists, who are believed to be more likely to attack targets identified with the establishment in their own countries in the West.

It is true that ISIS is not attacking Israel head-on.   But that has to do with their strategy and their options of starting a war just now, rather than some top-secret Zionist-Islamist plot to take over the Middle East.

Islamic State has attacked Jews outside of Israel, most famously at the Hyper-Cacher in Paris.  Robert Fisk wants us to think that Israel is arming ISIS so it would attack Jews.


So why isn't Israel joining the Coalition against ISIS, you might wonder.  Well, there's this thing called Arab antisemitism.

“Highlighting Israel’s contributions could be problematic in terms of complicating efforts to enlist Muslim allies in this effort,” said Michael Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “[It] would also provide propaganda ammunition for the very jihadis that we are trying to fight.”

But Israel supports the Coalition.  "These groups must be fought, they must be rolled back, and they must ultimately be defeated. That’s why Israel fully supports President Obama’s call for united action against ISIS.”


As for why ISIS never mentions the very word "Israel"?   Maybe he should ask Iran why they never mention that word.   This must be beyond Fisk's comprehension, but not calling somebody by name does not usually show that you are lifelong friends.


Robert Fisk is engaging here in the most vile antisemitic tropes.   Jews are being terrorized by Islamic State and he's accusing them of supporting it.  Try Googling "Islamic State and Israel".  You will find mostly vile antisemitic sites pushing the same canard: Israel is partnering with ISIS, Israel is evil, Jews should be exterminated.

This is what passes for proper British media these days.