Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

Why is AOC Silent on Sri Lanka Massacre?

 
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by Daveda Gruber:

In the wake of the terror attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, while most people in the free world mourned over the loss of human lives, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was silent on social media.

The horrific attack on Christians had the Islamic State group taking credit for the bloodshed. The government also confirmed that the attacks came from Islamic fundamentalists. The gruesome explosions left 359 people dead to date.

In all, three churches and three hotels, were targeted by seven men who posed for a picture before committing the deadly deed.

In March, Ocasio-Cortez was quick to comment on the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand but stayed unusually silent on the Sri Lanka terrorist attack.

American citizens died in the holy day massacre of Christians.

Following the attack in New Zeland, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter and tweeted several times on the terror attack to criticize the Trump administration while proposing tougher gun control measures in the U.S.

At the time, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted this:

Many Twitter users found this odd and asked her about it. I felt the need to convey this message to Ocasio-Cortez so, I tweeted this:

I wasn’t making up anything. I wrote the truth. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted 14 times about the terror attack on Muslims in New Zealand, but has posted nothing about the terror attack on Christians by Muslim extremists in Sri Lanka.

I guess Ocasio-Cortez has different standards for Christians and Muslims. It appears that AOC believes that Muslims being attacked deserve her attention but Christians being attacked by Islamic terrorists doesn’t.

Could Christian Massacre in Sri Lanka have Been Avoided?

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by Daveda Gruber:

In Sri Lanka’s deadliest violence since a devastating civil war in the South Asian island nation ended a decade ago, nearly 300 people were murdered in mass explosions on Easter Sunday by an attack by a domestic radical Muslim group.

Authorities in Sri Lanka had apparently received warnings that a potential attack was coming but took no action. The threat was revealed to authorities on April 4th, nearly two weeks before the attack.

In coordinated explosions that were detonated in three churches and three luxury hotels in and around Colombo, which is the capital city. A few hours later two more explosions went off at a guesthouse and near an overpass.

While at least 290 people were known to have lost their lives in the massacre, another 500 were injured. The death toll could rise.

On Monday the government of Sri Lanka said that the attacks likely were carried out by a local militant group that goes by the name “National Thowfeek Jaamath” which is a radical Islamist organization that promotes an Islamic terrorist ideology.

The director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, Anne Speckhard, said,  “These attacks appear to be quite different and look as if they came right out of the ISIS, Al Qaeda, global militant jihadist playbook, as these are attacks fomenting religious hatred by attacking multiple churches on a high religious holiday,”

In early April, several times, international agencies warned of possible attacks. Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the defense ministry wrote to the police chief on April 9th to give law enforcement a warning about the intelligence.

On April 11, police wrote to the heads of security of the judiciary and diplomatic security division about the warnings. It is not known if any action was taken.

Political dysfunction within the government is allegedly the cause for  Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet and other top government officials to have been unaware of the threat. An investigation is said to have been launched into the breakdown of communications within the government.

On Sunday Wickremesinghe said, “We must look into why adequate precautions were not taken.”

The ultimate blame for the horrific blasts has been put on at least seven suicide bombers who were citizens of Sri Lanka. Forensic analysis of body parts found at six sites determined the number of the suicide bombers who conducted the coordinated assault.

Authorities said foreign links to the plot were suspected and at least 24 suspects were in custody for questioning.

On Monday, one of the churches that was targeted, St. Anthony’s Shrine, had a van parked outside close the church since Sunday. It exploded scaring many pedestrians who ran for their lives but no injuries were reported after that blast.

The archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, said, “We placed our hands on our heads when we came to know that these deaths could have been avoided. Why was this not prevented?”

On Sunday the U.S. State Department confirmed “several” Americans died in the attacks. A revised travel warning for Sri Lanka has been issued. It says that terror groups continue to plot and may possibly carry out new attacks in hotels and churches. Possible targets include tourist locations and transportation hubs, noting the terrorists “may attack with little or no warning.”

Social media has remained blocked after officials said they needed to curtail the spread of false information and ease tension in the country of about 21 million people.

Christians were targeted in this horrendous attack. That fact is clear. Now, I think back to Paris, France and the very large fire that burned Notre Dame Cathedral. There were no fatalities but the beautiful structure became a raging blaze of flames.

Was the fire an accident? I, for one, would not rule out that the fire may have been intentionally set. Notre Dame is a religious icon and I have no doubt that there were some evil people who celebrated the fire that damaged the Christian symbol.

The targeting of Christians is becoming more and more widespread and I find that to be very disturbing.