Breivik: Radical pro-Israeli gunman (UPDATED)

UPDATE: I have since been told by more than one source that Breivik and Fjordman, his putative internet persona, are not the same person; my understanding is that the jury is still out, and that, at any rate, Fjordman is possibly an ensemble of writers. What is beyond doubt, however, is Breivik's association with the rabidly pro-Israeli/anti-Palestinian trend on the fringe of European politics. I insist that it is still valid to ask what connection these beliefs had on his actions.

Like countless others in the Middle East, I was glued to a TV screen with a group of friends as news of the Norway attacks came in. To be fair, many of us were relieved to learn that the ostensible culprit was not "one of us"--given the massive efforts Norway makes to contribute to a better life to people in the region, it would have been an understandable attack on a very friendly country.

What remains worrying, however, is that some in the mainstream media continue to insist that blaming Muslims for the attack was perfectly reasonable. Of course this was nothing as compared to the way in which some of the media jumped the gun and pontificated wildly about the prescriptions to "fix the Muslims". Muslim terrorists have done stupid things; I'm not going to suggest a new discussion about how representative they are of Islam, save to say that, unfortunately, Muslims are a bit lacking when it comes to introspection of their religious beliefs. What is absolutely bizarre, however, is that nobody is paying attention to how a man who was been spewing virulently racist and violent views for over five years might have actually put his money where his mouth has been all this time.

That last link is to a source so valuable I am going to repeat it:

http://chromatism.net/fjordman/fjordmanfiles.htm

Fjordman, the online alter ego of Breivik, contributed to rabidly anti-Palestinian blogs like Gates of Vienna and Jihad Watch. To be sure, Fjordman's musings on the matters of the day were indicative of his break with reality and kind of absurd mis-reading of philosophy, part of which includes his identification of Maimonedes as a Muslim (well, that kind of makes sense ...). Yet the important questions remain to be asked:

Many organizations have freely partaken in a kind of hysterical smear campaign against Muslims: not just the violent ones, not even just those with beards, but basically anybody with a name like "Mohammed". What responsibility do they now carry for breeding this violent of paranoid violence?

Why is nobody making the Israel connection with Fjordman? If a pro-Palestinian had taken up arms in a country which was as avowedly pro-Israeli as Norway is pro-Palestinian, there would be hell to pay for it (possibly reasonably so ...). If a man with attitudes towards Palestinians can buy 6 tonnes of fertilizer, surely some needs to ask what risk there is to Palestinians and their supporters around the word. Non? How likely are groups like the Jewish Defense League to follow suit?

I leave you with those!!