Joe Kent, the former counterterrorism director who resigned last week, is just another American with a shallow, Dave Smith–style understanding of the Middle East.
So when he says that ISIS and al-Qaeda were created and funded by the United States, I don’t blame him, many before him have repeated the same claim.
Today, this narrative is being recycled to support attacks against Israel, pushed by figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and others.
Their narrative goes like this: Israel controls U.S. politicians, and because Saddam Hussein was against Israel, the U.S. took him down.
Then they took Assad down, who was also against Israel.
Now they are trying to take down the ayatollah regime in Iran, again, for Israel.
These regimes, in their perspective, are not bad; they are simply resisting Israeli hegemony and the Zionist project.
This narrative doesn’t just vilify Israel, which is their primary goal, it also makes the West more vulnerable to Islamic jihad by rebranding it.
The same jihad that has existed for 1,400 years is reframed as “resistance to occupation.”
Yes, the CIA used jihadist groups in Afghanistan and in Syria, but the U.S. did not create them.
These groups existed long before modern America. Their ideological roots come from within Islam itself.
Look at what is happening to Christians in Syria tonight. What does Israel have to do with Muslims attacking Christians because they sell alcohol, destroying their property, and breaking their crosses?
What does Israel or the United States have to do with Egyptian Coptic girls being kidnapped by Muslims and forcibly converted to Islam?
What does Israel have to do with forcing Christians to live as dhimmis, second-class citizens, stripped of their freedoms and made to submit under Islamic rule?
Don’t be deceived.
Israel and the United States have nothing to do with what is happening to Christians or other minorities. The problem lies within Islam itself and with those who take it seriously.
Forget Israel for a moment and pay attention to how vulnerable the West becomes when people dismiss Islamic jihad as merely a creation of the U.S. and Israel.
Don’t be a useful idiot.