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At Large
Nizar Nayouf, al-Haqiqa, and Syrian Christians
Unraveling and exposing a pro-Assad disinformation and smear campaign.
In an April 6 article for Ha’aretz I wrote with two co-authors, I traced the widely circulated claim that 90 percent of Christians had been ethnically cleansed from the Syrian city of Homs by Islamist militants back to a site known as al-Haqiqa (Arabic for “The Truth”). This site, despite claiming to oppose the Assad regime while being critical of the Syrian opposition, is accurately described by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) as a “pro-Assad” site.
Having shown the dubious veracity of the claim, I received abusive messages via Facebook on the following day from a Syrian journalist named Nizar Nayouf, who is currently living in exile in Europe. He started with, “Had it not been published in ‘Haaretz’, and you taught [note: I’m a student] in ‘Oxford’, I would think you are a member of the ‘Al Qaeda’ or ‘Mujahid’ with ‘Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!!’” He also included a denunciation for working with the “U.S.-Israeli racist Daniel Pipes.”
Nayouf’s attacks didn’t stop there. I was also greeted with my photo (along with a shot of Daniel Pipes) posted with the headline ”Israeli Newspaper Recruits Daniel Pipes’ Boys To Attack ‘al-Haqiqa’ and Defend the Criminals of the ‘al-Farouq Brigade’” on the front page of the al-Haqiqa website.
In the purported exposé, al-Haqiqa supposedly cites an anonymous Iraqi student at Oxford University to claim that I am actually an Israeli spy directing a Mossad operation network in Iraqi Kurdistan, hiding under the pseudonym of Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. As further evidence of this, al-Haqiqa draws attention to the fact that my profile picture on Facebook is an IDF paratrooper badge from the Yom Kippur War, as well as my affiliation with the Middle East Forum.
A self-proclaimed Marxist-Trotskyite and founder of the “National Council for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Syria” (SYNATIC), which is said to be the publisher of al-Haqiqa, Nayouf appears to have started life as a legitimate critic of the Assad dynasty. He was apparently imprisoned for just over nine years by the Syrian regime (from 17 March 1992 until 6 May 2001). He has also received numerous awards pertaining to press freedom.
Nonetheless, many of his recent articles, especially those on al-Haqiqa, push regime-friendly propaganda with numerous stories that can only be described as bogus.
Nayouf furthers his writing by playing to the fringe conspiracy-theorist community. In December 2011, Nayouf was interviewed by and contributed to a story with 9/11 conspiracy theorist James Corbett (an “independent journalist” who has also written a series of essays on the “New World Order”). The interview centered on Nayouf hilariously claiming (based on unnamed sources of his in Jordan) that U.S. troops were amassing on the Jordanian border with Syria.
Nayouf’s other Arabic articles are rife with harebrained conspiracy theories. In a number of other pieces, he makes rambling references to American, Saudi, and Israeli plots against Syria — many following a line established by the Assad regime.
In one note he published on Facebook and subsequently carried on other websites, Nayouf accused French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy and Free Syrian Army commander Riad al-Assaad of being agents for the CIA and French intelligence in an effort to assist with, “criminal acts in Afghanistan during the '80s and '90s for al-Qaeda.” In the same note Nayouf addressed a nonexistent “campaign to expel Syria from UNESCO,” stating “all those who take part in the campaign to expel Syria from UNESCO are committing an Israeli and Talbanistic crime.”
He even accused Lebanon’s pro-Western and anti-Assad Sunni Muslim party, al-Mustaqbal, of being a “gang of spies” hell bent on furthering “Wahabbism” in Syria. This was all part of an effort to “open the door for all forms of invaders, starting with the generals of Israel.”
Often Nayouf mixes anti-Semitic themes with his critiques of Islamism by accusing the Wahabbism of being “Talmudic.” In another article covering Mohamed Merah, the al Qaeda inspired gunman who murdered three French soldiers, three young Jewish students, and a rabbi, al-Haqiqa implied that the perpetrator might have been a controlled asset of the Israelis or French intelligence services.
Coming back to the article for Ha’aretz, it is to be noted that one of the reasons that the veracity of al-Haqiqa’s original story on alleged mass ethnic cleansing of Christians from Homs was challenged is that the “report” made no reference to the phenomenon of imposition of jizya (the traditional “poll-tax” in Islam extorted from Jewish and Christian minorities living under the “protection” of Islamic law: a concept not dissimilar to the Sicilian Mafia’s protection rackets).
About the Author
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a student at Brasenose College, Oxford University. His website is http://www.aymennjawad.org.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (13) | Leave a comment
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John786| 4.23.12 @ 8:00AM
Disinformation. Welcome to the real world. I don't usually agree with you mr Jawad. But you've done good to expose some of the lies. Maybe you should look ar some of the articles that appear on this site which are no more than hasbara. Regarding the minorities in Syria, they should through there lot in with the opposition. Only a free, democratic Syria can protect their rights. The time for sitting on the fence is over for all Syrians.
Ryan| 4.23.12 @ 10:23AM
Good luck in getting a free Syria out of the opposition as well.
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 4.23.12 @ 12:14PM
Free, democratic Syria? That's a big steaming pile of B.S. if I ever heard it. I don't trust any group that has Salafist/Wahhabists amongst its ranks and has friends like Ayman al Zawahiri. How did the Christians in Iraq fare when the U.S. toppled Saddam's Baa'thist regime there? I'll tell you how they fared...they became refugees many of them finding refuge in Assad's Syria. The once vibrant and ancient Assyrian and Chaldean Christians of Iraq live in fear of attacks from Sunni Islamists and Kurds alike and their population is but a fraction of what it was before Bush's war in 2003. Things are looking grim for Egypt's Coptic Christians as well as Wahhabist/Salafist militants have made Coptic Christians and their Churches their favorite targets since the fall of Mubarak.
Todd S| 4.23.12 @ 5:47PM
I disagreed with you on the blog but I think you are quite correct in your assessment here for the most part but are't the the Iranian supported Shia in Iraq attacking Christians as much if not more than the other groups? Certainly more than the Kurds from everything I have heard not too mention killing teenagers who look "Emo". Certainly Iran is doing everything they can to destabilize Iraq through their Shia agents. The Arab Spring is certainly a grim farce, Egypt is becoming Iran's counterpart in becoming a radicalized Islamic terror state.
Jack in Wi.| 4.23.12 @ 12:36PM
The Assads and Saddam Hussian were hardly saints but they let Christians practice their faith in relative peace. Both governments were mainly secular. They were a lot better for Christians then the Wahabi's and Shite rulers who replaced them, or in the case of Assad are trying to replace him.
Alan Brooks| 4.23.12 @ 6:28PM
Until you guys treat blacks better, to hell with your Mideast pieces such as Tamimi's. After ten years you can't string us along as if it is still September 12th, 2001.
Say, btw, why don't you nominate Donald Rumsfeld for POTUS? he's tanned, rested and ready.
Bob K.| 4.23.12 @ 11:10AM
What nonsense!
There is no pro-Assad media in the United States. Nothing of this pro-Assad disinformation you write about gets disseminated anywhere in the USA.
Perhaps you are writing about the media in the Near East and Middle East? They take a different perspective of the politics surrounding the Syrian situation than the USA does: See their comments about the situation in Syria in these articles:
http://atimes.com/atimes/China/ND21Ad02.html
And in this one about the "Fast and Furious Sunni Revenge." See the next to last paragraph:
http://www.atimes.com//atimes/.....9Ak02.html
You are fortunate to be able to write articles here. Do yourself a favor and do some re-writing before you submit it for publishing.
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 4.23.12 @ 12:04PM
I don't know about mass persecution, but I know that Syrian Christians have been kidnapped and murdered by the Sunni opposition. I also know that an early slogan of the opposition has been "Christians to Beiruit, Alawites to the wall". Maybe it is you Jawad Al Tamimi who are being a propaganda tool for the United States. I know for a fact that a regime change in Syria that would bring to power a Sunni opposition that includes Wahhabist Islamists would be worse for all of Syria's religious minorities Alawites, Druze and Christians alike and thus these minorities overwhelmingly support Assad.
Vespa| 4.23.12 @ 3:08PM
This is an incredibly naive article and much of what is said is incorrect. Let's just take Unesco and Syria as an illustration, where the author states there was no campaign to expel Syria but in Nayouf's head. Well, in which case not only his but UPI and various other bodies have written about this, and that the Unesco resolution was made to retain Syria despite the strong opposition/campaign for the US and Uk on 8 March 2012. (http://www.prweb.com/releases/syrian-expatraites-org/regret-unesco-decision/prweb9272121.htm) I'm sorry but this is just one of the many flaws/ holes in this author's article - I have read Syriatruth and while sometimes it does 'go other the top', I do not believe it is pro-regime in any way that this author claims. As you get older, Mr Al Tamimi, you will realise the world is not black and white but full of shades of grey - and this is what Nayouf's website has illustrated in its coverage of Syria.
حقیقت| 4.23.12 @ 6:02PM
I just looked at the link provided by another poster to the UNESCO press wire and it doesn't seem like this was made up by Nayouf. So what is true here? From what I know, this is a man who is documented by many credible sources from the UN/Unesco itself to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as having spent over nine years imprisoned by the Assads (mostly in solitary confinement) who was brutally tortured, who is slated by the Syrian regime as an American agent and for his friendships with Israeli citizens. If you read the Arab press you will know that he has recently been accused of divorcing his Christian wife to marry Amiria Hass - the leftist Jewish Ha'aretz journalist.
Next time, it would be a good idea to get your facts straight before making such bald accusations. While I have no way of verifying the truth of the allegations concerning the Christians in Homs, I too remember hearing the opposition slogan "Christians to Beiruit, Alawites to the wall".
Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between but this article lacks all credibility.
dunce| 4.24.12 @ 3:28AM
The idea that any muslim would do anything to help any Christian is bizarre. Almost as strange as the idea that any Christian would take a side in this dispute. What amazes me is why have the Christians stayed in any muslim majority country.
FeFe| 4.24.12 @ 1:52PM
Dizzying.
Karma| 6.12.12 @ 5:41AM
Well, I'm no fan of Nayouf but it does seem that this is exactly what is going on in Homs, if not else where. Unless you believe this Fides report is also disinformation. I think there is reasonably conclusive proof now , not just from the sources below, that the Christian communities are being driven out and under attack. http://www.fides.org/aree/news.....07&lan=eng
And this is an interview with a Christian nun near Homs. Is this a lie too? http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/
The question it raises is what was the authors of this articles motives in writing this?