- Zachariah Anani
Zachariah Anani (also Zack or Zak) is a former
Sunni Muslim Lebanesemilitia fighter. He would later convert toChristianity and seek refuge inCanada in 1996. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2007/200701/20070116.html 'Zachariah Anani phone interview' on CBC radio (January 16, 2007)] ]Background
Zachariah Anani was born in Beirut "from a long line of imams and was expected to become one at the age of 14." Anani became a fighter in a Lebanese militia and "at the age of 14, he made his first kill." [http://arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=7494 'Ex-terrorists' in Ann Arbor / Credibility questions' by Ali Moossavi (TheArabAmericanNews.com)] ]
According to his biography on shoebat.com, Anani claims to have been trained to fight and kill
Jews , and to hateChristians and Americans. He says his family was pleased with his decision because they believe Islamic teachings promise reaching heaven if he were to die in battle against "unbelievers". Ironically, Anani faced Muslim groups, who fought among themselves, most of the times while facing Israelis only once. [ [http://www.shoebat.com/anani.php Biography of Zachariah Anani on shoebat.com] ]He was later to meet an American Southern Baptist missionary who inspired him to convert to Christianity and later moved to Canada.
Criticism
Canada's only court-qualified expert on global jihadism and former RCMP Jihadism expert, Tom Quiggin, said Anani's story of terror and murder seems improbable considering time and place.
Quiggin suggests that considering Anani's date of birth ("in 1957 or 1958") and the age he states to have joined the millitant activity (age 13, 1970 or 1971) are too early for the time the fighting in Lebanon became truly aggressive, around 1975. Quiggin adds that Anani states he left Lebanon to go to Al-Azhar University, Egypt at the age of 18, which means he left Lebanon within a year of when the fighting actually started.
Quiggin claims that, while Anani may have been a low-level militant, street fighter or insurgent; There are doubts that he was a
terrorist in Lebanon in the early 1970s. [ [http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=4a479502-4490-408e-bdb5-f2638619a62c Windsor Star: 'Doubt cast on Anani's terrorist claims' by Trevor Wilhelm (on canada.com)] ]References
External links
* [http://www.shoebat.com/anani.php Biography of Zachariah Anani on shoebat.com] .
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE0YWJQEd4Q 'Terror Cells in USA, Walid Shoebat & Zak Anani' on 'O'Reilly' (Video on youtube.com)] .
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaUftcRJ5wo '3 former terrorists talk about their culture' on 'Your Mourning' (Video on youtube)] .ee also
*
Walid Shoebat
*Nonie Darwish
*Wafa Sultan
*Ibrahim Abdullah
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