The FBI Is Very Bad At Messaging
This past Saturday Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British national, took several members of the Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, TX hostage. During the 11 hour ordeal, some of which was live-streamed on the synagogue’s weekly Shabbat stream, Akram was heard using antisemitic and anti-Israeli language and demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a woman serving a 86 year sentence for attempting to murder US military officials in Afghanistan. In addition to her many other faults, Siddiqui is an extreme antisemite who famously demanded the jurors on her trial to be DNA tested to make sure none were of Jewish descent. Akram even referred to Siddiqui as his “sister” which led to early reports that the hostage-taker was her biological brother Mohamed Siddiqui. Thankfully the standoff came to an end due to an incredibly gutsy move by Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who threw a chair at Akram once he started becoming more agitated, creating a chance for himself and the others still in the synagogue to escape. Akram died of a gunshot wound, at this time the FBI has not confirmed if he was shot by agents or if the shot was self-inflicted.
The FBI had a…rather interesting take on these events. The initial public statement was that the standoff “was not specifically related to the Jewish community” and that Akram was “singularly focused on one issue.”
Excuse me, what?
If one wanted to be factual but not accurate they could describe the events as being “not specifically related to the Jewish community.” Akram held a group of people hostage in a building while demanding the release of a prisoner, the hostages escaped, and Akram was killed.
I mean, you could say that with a straight face I suppose.
Even Joe Biden tried to play dumb about Akram’s motives
Truly a mystery, Mr. President.
By Sunday the FBI changed their stance, putting out a statement that declared “this is a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted, and is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
Good work guys.
The question is, why the hesitancy to speak the truth from the beginning? There was no new information discovered between the initial statement and the revised one, and the information we did have was widely known. There was no mystery as to Akram’s demands or why he chose to target a synagogue on Shabbat. Everyone with at least three brain cells could figure out that this was a terrorist attack against Jews.
Since 9/11, there has been a certain hypersensitivity to anything that can be perceived as Islamaphobic, to the point of twisting oneself into a pretzel to avoid the label. I think that is what happened here with the initial statements from the FBI and Biden — nobody wanted to be the one to say that a Muslim man targeted Jews because, even though those are the actual facts, accusations of Islamaphobia are going to be flung by bad-faith actors.
To avoid the appearance of Islamaphobia, however, the FBI tried to deny a terrorist attack against the Jewish community. Even worse, the FBI reversing its stance after 24 hours looks more motivated by the widespread backlash to the original statement instead of an honest correction. The way the FBI chose to handle its communications on the Beth Israel standoff reeks of political and PR posturing versus simply telling the public the truth of what took place.
No intelligent person thinks that Akram’s actions are a reflection of all Muslims or of Islam. Likewise, no intelligent person needs to humor grievance mongers who would either cast his actions as a reflection of Islam or those who will frame any criticism of a Muslim’s actions as Islamaphobic. It’s time our institutions stop pandering to either group.
Originally published at https://jenmonroe.substack.com on January 18, 2022.
