Jennifer Rubin’s Self-Serving Analysis of the Norwegian Terror

Award for the most idiotic (not to mention self-serving) comment on the events in Norway goes to Jennifer Rubin, a neocon publicist with access to the elite media (and a remarkably low threshold for detecting anti-Semitism). Writing in her blog for the Washington Post (“Norway Bombing“), she quotes Thomas Joscelyn writing in (surprise!) The Weekly Standard:

We don’t know if al Qaeda was directly responsible for today’s events, but in all likelihood the attack was launched by part of the jihadist hydra. Prominent jihadists have already claimed online that the attack is payback for Norway’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

She goes on to write “there is a specific jihadist connection here: ‘Just nine days ago, Norwegian authorities filed charges against Mullah Krekar, an infamous al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist who, with help from Osama bin Laden, founded Ansar al Islam – a branch of al Qaeda in northern Iraq – in late 2001.’”

Her take home point is that U.S. has to recommit to fighting jihadists.

But we know now that Breivik was a strong supporter of Rubin’s favorite country, Israel, and would be more than happy to engage in jihad against the Muslims. Amazingly, even Rubin’s critics haven’t pointed this out (James Fallows and Steve Clemons in The Atlantic blog). Clemons wrote that he “appears to be a right wing, Christian fundamentalist”—a hopelessly inadequate description. Breivik comes across as someone who sees a positive role for historic Christianity in combating Islam but not as a devout believer.

Despite plenty of opportunity, Rubin has not issued a retraction.