Original Article: http://shoebat.org/documents/cnn_smear2.htm

CNN SMEAR CAMPAIGN—THE MISSING FACTS

What Anderson Cooper did not know

Anderson Cooper on CNN interviewed his investigative reporter Andrew Griffin regarding the credibility of Walid Shoebat advising Homeland Security.

But what Anderson Cooper did not know during this interview were THE FACTS:

LIE #1: In Mr. Griffin’s article he wrote: “Neither Shoebat nor his business partner provided any proof of Shoebat’s involvement in terrorism, despite repeated requests”.

FACT: There were no repeated requests. What is damaging to CNN’s credibility is that we have all the email exchanges to prove that every request was answered and The Shoebat Foundation did respond to all of CNN’s emails and was even offered several documents including credible witnesses to validate Mr. Shoebat’s account:

“We will be willing to provide copies of documents that will answer your questions and witnesses on the condition that you guarantee they are protected and no names or photos or the contents of such documents will be made public. We will have you review these in person”. (see first email below) CNN never complied.

LIE #2: CNN claimed that they investigated Mr. Shoebat and had asked several agencies about Shoebat’s past.

FACT: On Anderson Cooper 360, Griffin never released any interviews with any official agency; no interviews with any police official, government officials or any recorded calls or any memos or any email correspondence (which we did) that validate any investigation took place with anyone.

Unless this is done CNN has no case.

We have also learned thru unimpeachable sources that CAIR operatives secretly worked with CNN in carrying out this political assassination of Mr. Shoebat.

Additionally, if CNN released the entire interview between Mr. Griffin and Mr. Shoebat it will destroy the whole claim and prove that CAIR’s input was evident. During the interview on tape Griffin claimed that he investigated Mr. Shoebat and found out that records show he was paid $13,000 and that he never have called Bank Leumi Branch in Bethlehem which today doesn’t even exist.

In the interview Griffin simply was repeating an article written by CAIR, which falsely claimed that the Shoebat Foundation was paid $13,000. Anderson Cooper should review the entire interview, which is damaging to CNN. What Griffin did was simply rely on an article written by CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations) based on an old article in which 3 x-terrorists were paid $13,000 in an event at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Griffin then changed his story to include the correct amount.

Griffin later found out that there was no Bank Leumi branch in Bethlehem to call since that branch was closed in which Griffin changed both stories with Cooper and lied intentionally. Griffin also stated that he checked with the Israeli police in Bethlehem when fact is, there is no Israeli police station in Bethlehem and the Palestinian Authorities would have no such records. Griffin later changed the story to say that he called Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv. Fact is, Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv has no such records either. Anyone can call Bank Leumi’s headquarters in Tel Aviv and check. We called ourselves and there are no records in Bank Leumi that tracks terrorist operations during 1976-1977.

LIE #3: Griffin claimed that he searched the Israeli prison records and there was nothing under the name Shoebat.

FACT:

1) Mr. Shoebat’s imprisonment can easily be verified with a click of a button since Mr. Griffin was not the only one investigating Mr. Shoebat’s prison story. Journalist Eileen Fleming who attempted to debunk Mr. Shoebat’s account on an OpedNews.com story had interviewed Shoebat’s family who confirmed that Mr. Shoebat was indeed in prison: “But, when he was in jail he met someone who invited him to join a group against Israel”. All of CNN’s claims weredebunked several times over in the past and its not the first time this happened.

2) Even if Mr. Griffin did check prison records, he was searching the wrong name. Had CNN examined our records that were offered to them, it will prove beyond doubt that Mr. Griffin made an error. When Mr. Shoebat was arrested he turned in his U.S. passport and not his birth certificate or I.D. card. His U.S. passport had a different last name.

Mr. Shoebat was born in Bethlehem and since his mother was a U.S. citizen he was under her passport as a child. When he matured he held his own passport, which used his mother’s information, which is not under the name “Shoebat”. We offered to clarify all this to CNN (see same email) on the condition to keep the documents private. CNN refused to offer privacy.

3) Mr. Shoebat was not in jail for his bombing operation but for planning civil unrest in which he was released without charge since the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem intervened in the case. He later joined a terror cell in Jerusalem. If Mr. Griffin was searching court cases and terrorism charges, he would not find anything. Yet Griffin talked about not finding court records regarding imprisonment for a terrorism case of a bombing operation in Bethlehem Manger Square.

LIE #4: CNN claimed that Walid’s cousin confirms that Walid was never a terrorist

FACT: CNN failed to ask Daood Hassaan Shoebat if he had any links to terrorists. He did. How could Daood Shoebat, the uncle of famed terrorist Arin Shoebat and Raed Khalil Awadallah Shoebat be a credible witness since both terrorists can be verified without a shadow of doubt. Arin Shoebat was the renowned mastermind of the dualOperation Reshon Letzion in which Issa Bdeir detonated a bomb, killing him along with innocent Jewish civilians. Arin survived, hesitating to kill children, a similar account to that of Walid’s, who published his story years prior to Arin’s activity. Raed Khalil Awadallah Shoebat is on the list of official martyrs. Anyone can use google translate in Arabic can confirm both links in which these names match 100%.

LIE #5: Mr. Griffin claimed that there was never a “firebomb” thrown on Bank Leumi and neither was there anything of that sort in Bethlehem Manger Square [during 1976-1977]

FACT: Mr. Shoebat never made any claim that he threw a Molotov cocktail on a bank, which completely debunks Mr. Griffin’s entire investigation. Why would anyone remember such a minor event? Mr. Shoebat had a real time bomb assembled by the notorious terrorist Mahmoud Al-Mughrabi whose account can be completely verified through United Nations reports and news agencies (see Lie #7, Point 1).

The most damaging to Mr. Griffin’s story is that there was a bombing at the Bank Leumi in Bethlehem’s Manger Square — as described in Mr. Shoebat’s books. What was not published in Walid’s books was a later research that was also documented by the United Nations. Between December 24 and 27, there were two explosions in that area: “Bethlehem (in Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity)” and “Explosive charge went off outside the local Courthouse 27 December 1977 JP. 2 Jan. 1978 Yediot Aharonot, 2 January 1978.”

LIE #6: Americans are wasting tax dollars in hiring Mr. Shoebat or x-terrorists to explain terrorism.

FACT: Police use X-Drug addicts to expose the mindset of drug users in order to combat the epidemic. Why can’t x-terrorists do the same? In fact, most FBI agents that deal with terrorism were involved on the war on drugs and now are transferred to the war on terror. Muslim terrorists are Muslim and it’s impossible to study the mindset without understanding Islam. This is the whole purpose to CNN’s attack.

LIE #7: Mr. Shoebat bills himself as an x-terrorist on the basis of a bombing activity of Bank Leumi.

FACT: Mr. Shoebat is rarely billed as an x-terrorist on the basis of only bombing Bank Leumi. Mr. Shoebat’s story is billed on the basis of several proven accounts:

1) He was recruited into the PLO by prison cellmate Mahmoud Al-Mughrabi – which led to the former’s involvement in a bomb plot that targeted several Bank Leumi branches. Several bombings of Bank Leumi are well documented in the United Nations Reports.

Al-Mughrabi [1] was Mr. Shoebat’s prison mate and his PLO recruiter: he sent Walid to bomb the Bank Leumi branch in Bethlehem. After his release from the Masqubiyeh, he was considered enough of a danger that Israel assassinated him on October 1, 1985: Israeli F-15B Eagle war planes, in Operation Wooden Leg, hit Arafat’s Tunisia headquarters in retaliation for the PLO’s murder of Israelis in Larnaca, Cyprus one week earlier. (The assassination mission that killed Al-Mughrabi can be pulled up on video [2] via Al-Jazeera.) Arab sources like Middle East Report lamented his death:

In pain and sorrow we learn that our friend Mahmud Al-Mughrabi was killed during the October bombing raid in Tunisia. Mahmud was born in Jerusalem in 1960. By the age of 16 he was under detention 12 times and he was one of the first to speak in public about the methods of interrogation of Palestinian detainees used by the General Security Services in Israel. He then gave his permission to being publicly identified as an informant for the Sunday Times expose of Israeli torture in June 1977. In 1984, he managed to escape to Jordan after years of increasingly marginal existence under steadily deteriorating conditions of military occupation.

Famed Egyptian terror-apologist Edward Said spoke of Al-Mughrabi:

One of the victims of the Tunis bombing was Mahmoud Al-Mughrabi, born in Jerusalem in 1960, under detention twelve times by the age of 16, one of the informants of The Sunday Times to expose of torture in Israel (19 June, 1977) who “managed to escape to Jordan after years of increasingly marginal existence under steadily deteriorating existence of the Israeli occupation”, according to a memorial notice by Israeli Jewish friends that was repeatedly denied publication in Arab newspapers in East Jerusalem by Israeli military censorship.

Al-Jazeera and Said are not “Zionist” sources, but Arab.

While Walid’s partner in crime and prison cell mate Mahmoud Al-Mughrabi was denied to have ever existed, he was notorious, very real and quite dangerous. He was a secret correspondent for the British Sunday Times – hired to report alleged tortures in the Russian Compound (Jerusalem Central Prison) and his name was published by the United Nations while privately conducting terror plots.

2) Close family ties to high as well as low-ranking terrorists, which can be reasonably proven. Walid was well connected to several terrorist members of his own family whom CNN interviewed—preferring to use these—to collaborate a false claim. Yet such interviews only add to his credibility.

A—His cousin was – Areen Ahmad Shoebat – the renowned mastermind of the dual Operation Reshon Letzion in which Issa Bdeir detonated a bomb, killing him along with innocent Jewish civilians. Areen survived, hesitating to kill children, a similar account to that of Walid’s, who published his story years prior to Areen’s activity.

B—Walid fled to the United States and was mentored under Jamal Said who is said to be an associate ofAbdullah Azzam, the godfather of Al-Qaeda who later was involved with the I.A.P (Islamic Association of Palestine) a branch of Hamas, which gave birth to CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations) which CNN is defending.

C—Then we have another cousin, exiled terrorist Jawad Younis who became Abu Zubaydah’s lawyer in absentia. Abu Zubaydah ended up in U.S. custody to later testify against 911 ‘mastermind’ Khalid Sheik Muhammad. Jawad is still an Islamist troublemaker in Jordan and an ardent supporter of Hezbollah:

“To His Excellency Mr. Nasrallah Secretary General of Hezbullah the Victorious by the will of Allah …We grip our hands with you, and all the Jihadists for the cause of Allah…as you lunge with your souls for the battle of the [Islamic] nation, to fight the demonic forces of America and Zionism, the sons of the great Satan.” Signed as #4 of this delegation Jawad Younis. (Letter of support to Nassrallah, dated 7/19/2006, published July 27th, 2006)

D—Another cousin is Raed Khalil Awadallah Shoebat, killed while attempting to plant a bomb at Ben Yehuda Street. Raed Awadallah Shoebat is on the official martyrs list. Anyone can use google translate from Arabic can confirm all the links in which these names match 100% to be Walid’s relatives.

E—Another cousin is Mahmoud Khalil Awadallah Shoebat who was imprisoned for years for his terror activity to later be released in a plea bargain. All the Awadallah Shoebat names provided are within the same household of the CNN witness Mr. Daood Awadallah Shoebat seen lying through his teeth.

F—Another cousin Eiad Shoebat, has an arrest warrant by the FBI wanted to major financial fraud suspected to be terror related. This involved contra band, passport fraud and major financial embezzlements that could be related to terrorism. This can be confirmed with the FBI. Homeland Security did all the proper due-diligence that CNN never did.

C—Walid’s violent acts included street violence and hand-to-hand confrontations with Israeli forces. On one occasion Walid nearly lynched an Israeli soldier, which also can be confirmed by accessing Israeli news archives on March 18th as well as March 30th 1976. The news broadcaster was Karam Zarour (Oded Zarrai) who broadcast the news item on 8 PM news on the Arabic station on Israeli TV. CNN never accessed the archives.

D—Walid’s experience in Chicago being active with the PLO as well as the Muslim Brotherhood prior to the inception of the I.A.P (Islamic Association of Palestine) which later gave birth to CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations). It is for this reason CNN and CAIR attack Mr. Shoebat.

It is important that when we examine evidence to avoid character assassinations due to political affiliation. CNN has a liberal agenda and we are conservative. Let us put our affiliations aside and pursue the facts. Will CNN be willing to pursue the facts or is there an agenda in line with CAIR’s?

Regardless of the facts, many will still doubt and continue the slander, but for those who do, try to refute a single factwe presented, they can’t.

FROM:

Keith Davies

TO:

Lister Tim

Message flagged

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 11:23 AM
Message body

Tim,

>It is my role at CNN to check all reporting for attribution and balance

And it is my roll to protect my client. We will be willing to provide copies of documents that will answer your questions and witnesses on the condition that you guarantee they are protected and no names or photos or the contents of such documents will be made public. We will have you review these in person.

In other words, such documents, phone calls to witnesses and names must be used to ONLY verify your quest and does not become part of your coverage. You can have your attorney call mine to iron out the details.

I also need to know if you are doubting Mr. Griffin’s claim that he called Bank Leumi. We will not go through a one way street in which you demand information and do not confess your mistakes. Mr. Griffin had made several claims which were proven false. Would you like me to point them all out again?

They are on film. Even Kathy Johnson claimed that the chant “To Jerusalem we march” during Egypt’s uprising was in Alexandria. Her attempt to refute the fact was also false; it was in Cairo Tahrir Square as Mr. Shoebat stated on camera. Try to find someone that knows what they are talking about instead of telling me about “attribution and balance”.

We have been telling the truth so far and provided you with an initial report and will not continue this unless you agree to our request to protect individuals lives and admit your mistakes.

Let me know if you agree and we can cooperate TOGETHER or else we should stop our exchange.

Keith Davies

From: “Lister, Tim”
To: Keith Davies
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 6:58 PM
Subject: RE: Walid Shoebat story

Dear Mr Davies

Thank-you for your reply. It is my role at CNN to check all reporting for attribution and balance; and to follow up leads that would ensure the most complete coverage of any story.

As regards the incident in Bethlehem in 1978, I note that in 3 – F of your original e-mail, you offer contact details for a journalist who has interviewed eyewitnesses. We would be very grateful for those details so as to be able to make every check possible.

Sincerely

Tim Lister

From: Keith Davies [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 4:26 PM
To: Lister, Tim
Subject: Walid Shoebat story

Dear Mr. Lister,

Thanks for your inquiry regarding the vetting process of Mr. Shoebat. I did not see your email of last Wedneaday till now. Thanks for following up.

When we were first contacted by CNN asking for evidence that corroborates Mr. Shoebat’s life account, we were glad, since we felt that you were serious in doing a joint effort in investigating the story and provided you with our initial detailed report. We also contacted our own sources in Israel to do some checking on what Mr. Drew Griffin erroneously claimed that he “personally contacted Bank Leumi” regarding the bombing which we had our contacts in Israel check to only find out that Mr. Griffin’s account was certainly false and that we believe Mr. Griffin had plagiarized his record.

We did not reflect this on the entire CNN team, so in our effort to iron this issue out we filed a complaint in which we referred to evidence as to why we believe that Mr. Griffin was being dishonest (see below). We summarized in our emailed letter that: “your investigators never called the bank but relied on a fraudulent article”.

We obtained a disappointing reply from Mr. Feder dated June 13, 2011, which stated that: “We stand by the reporting upon which Ms. Johnston and Mr. Griffin based their questioning. Your assumptions as to their sources have no basis in fact, and your allegations of lying are false and without basis”.

Although the response had no details to corroborate Mr. Griffin’s account, we concluded that you stand by your investigation and chose to provide your viewers with this false information since CNN was not able to corroborate Mr. Griffin’s claim.

The reason that we are at a loss is that after reading Mr. Feder’s response, which states that Mr. Griffin is being truthful, then Mr. Shoebat’s account must be according to you false.

And now we obtain an email that has valid inquiries from you, which if one reads can conclude that CNN is not fully convinced of Mr. Griffin’s account.

If you believe Mr. Griffin’s account, then why even continue this investigation? Why not simply make your story as it stands?

We are at a loss here since we still would like to presume our corroborated effort in obtaining the facts to provide your viewers.

Sincerely

Keith Davies,

The Shoebat Foundation

Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 7:10 PM

Subject: Your e-mail

Dear Mr. Davies,

Your May 29 email to Christa Robinson and Mark Whitaker has been forwarded to me for a reply. We will take your concerns under advisement.

We stand by the reporting upon which Ms. Johnston and Mr. Griffin based their questioning. Your assumptions as to their sources have no basis in fact, and your allegations of lying are false and without basis. Your email has been forwarded to CNN’s attorneys.

Dear Mr Whitaker:

I am filing a formal complaint against two of your “investigative journalists” Drew Griffen and Kathy Johnston for lying to us when they were questioning Mr. Shoebat (my client) in Rapid City SD. Drew Griffin one of your journalists stated that he received information from a “trusted source” that Mr Shoebat was paid $13,000 for his speech/lecture for the DHS in Rapid City (This is on Camera )This “trusted source” was CAIR – Council for American Islamic Relations” which has shown many times in the past a biased hatred for Mr. Shoebat and have made many false accusations against him. Even CAIR in their latest release against Mr. Shoebat stated the correct amount which came day or two after the event in which somebody at the DHS told them the actual figure, which was $5000.

The second lie is more serious in which Drew Griffen as well Kathy Johnston in an email confirmed that “CNN contacted Bank Leumi branch which Walid stated he had bombed in Bethlehem in 1976.” CNN or your investigators never called the bank but relied on a fraudulent article written by a freelance journalist, in his article stated he contacted THE BANK LEUMI, which was the bank Shoebat had bombed. This freelance journalist had an anti Shoebat agenda and his article was published only in the Op Ed column of the Jeruslalem Post which the Newspaper later printed a rebuttal. Further we hired an investigator ourselves and the bank branch in question was closed in 1996. The article written by Jorge Luyken in the Jerusalem Post was written in 2008, 12 years later so he could have never called the bank branch in question. Our investigator also contacted Bank Leumi headquarters in Israel who stated they would never release information like this unless one was a customer of the bank.

We would appreciate if you can ask these journalists their “trusted sources” internally so that you can determine whether you wish to expose facts to your audiences or slanted bias, egged on by the propaganda of CAIR whom seems to have an alliance which should not be tolerated by any independent media.

We asked Kathy Johnston by email the source of the person at Bank Leumi but she was unwilling to provide based on “protecting sources.” We fail to see how the so called source at the Bank Leumi could be in any danger or hurt for revealing a simple fact. If CNN is serious about the integrity of its news gathering some questions need to be asked concerning the agenda regarding this story as well as verifying for yourself as leaders of CNN News, the integrity of these journalists. If they lie about us then how can they be trusted with other important stories.

I look forward to hearing your comments and findings? please indicate when I should receive a complete response?

From: “Lister, Tim”
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 11:25 AM
Subject: Walid Shoebat story

Dear Mr Davies

Checking that you received this e-mail. Very much hope that you can help with the questions below.

Sincerely

Tim Lister

From: Lister, Tim
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 12:35 PM
To: ‘[email protected]’
Subject: Walid Shoebat story

Dear Mr Davies

I am involved in the vetting process for a story concerning Mr Walid Shoebat that has been shot by Drew Griffin. His producer Kathleen Johnston passed on to me your long and detailed e-mail of May 27th.

Thank-you for the information you have provided. We are still trying to find the answers to several questions.

Can I ask you to provide further details as follows?

We are having very little luck tracking down any of the Board members of the Forum for Middle East Understanding. If you have any contact information for board members, I would be very grateful for it. I note from IRS Form 990 from 2009 that Lance Silver is listed. Is he still a board member and are there any others?

As regards the incident in Bethlehem in 1978, I note that in 3 – F, you offer contact details for a journalist who has interviewed eyewitnesses. We would be very grateful for those details.

Do you have any contact details for James al-Yateem, who is referenced in your e-mail and Mr Shoebat’s blog posting of May 18th this year?

Similarly, in 4 – C, we have had no luck in accessing Israeli TV archives (which are very incomplete for that time) or in tracking down anyone by the name of Karam Zarour. Could that name be spelt differently?

Are you able to furnish us with any documentary evidence of Mr Shoebat’s convictions in Israeli court?

Can you tell us when Mr Shoebat entered the US ? Were US immigration authorities aware of his record of violence on behalf of the PLO?

Thank-you for your time – and for helping us pin down as many details as possible about Mr Shoebat’s experiences and background.

Sincerely

Tim Lister

Executive Editor, CNN