Congressman On Synagogue Hostage Situation: Now ‘An International Investigation,’ ‘There’s Something More Here’

Conservative News DailyJanuary 16, 2022

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN on Sunday that the hostage situation that unfolded on Saturday at a synagogue in Texas has turned into an international investigation that there was “something more” to the events that happened.

“First of all, this is a disturbing case that demonstrates that anti-Semitism is unfortunately alive and well,” McCaul said. “I think they chose this synagogue because she, Siddiqui, the Lady al Qaeda, they call her, is being detained in a Fort Worth prison facility. To answer your question, I know the FBI has now fanned their investigation out to London and Tel Aviv. So this has now turned into an international investigation. So there’s something more here. And the fact he’s calling for Lady al Qaeda’s release from prison has been, as you said, in the jihadist world kind of a cause celebre.”

“And so I think we’re going to find out a lot more in the next 24, 48 hours. He is British. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s Pakistani, just like Siddiqui. And we need to get to the bottom of this,” he continued. “We haven’t seen one of these radicalized attacks in a few years now, and it is disturbing to see it raise its ugly head again.”

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: I do want to first get your reaction to the situation yesterday in your home state of Texas, where a gunman, an anti-Semite apparently, held four Jews hostage at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, outside Fort Worth.

The FBI has not released the name of the suspect. He demanded that the U.S. free Aafia Siddiqui. She’s a Pakistani neuroscientist convicted of attacking American troops. She’s in jail not far from Fort Worth.

That’s a frequent cause for Islamic terrorists worldwide, the freeing of this woman? Have you seen any evidence that what happened at the synagogue in Texas yesterday was part of any sort of larger international plot?

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): Well, the hostage-taker did — first of all, this is a disturbing case that demonstrates that anti-Semitism is unfortunately alive and well.

I think they chose this synagogue because she, Siddiqui, the Lady al Qaeda, they call her, is being detained in a Fort Worth prison facility.

To answer your question, I know the FBI has now fanned their investigation out to London and Tel Aviv. So this has now turned into an international investigation. So there’s something more here. And the fact he’s calling for Lady al Qaeda’s release from prison has been, as you said, in the jihadist world kind of a cause celebre.

And so I think we’re going to find out a lot more in the next 24, 48 hours. He is British. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s Pakistani, just like Siddiqui. And we need to get to the bottom of this.

We haven’t seen one of these radicalized attacks in a few years now, and it is disturbing to see it raise its ugly head again.

TAPPER: Indeed.

Let’s turn back to Russia and the United States. Talks between the two countries continued — concluded this week without any resolution to the tension over what seems an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine. A top U.S. official warned — quote — “The drumbeat of war is sounding loud.”

What do you think, if anything, more that Joe Biden and American allies can do to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine, or do you think it’s inevitable at this point?

MCCAUL: Well, I think the key here is deterrence. If Putin sees deterrence coming back from the United States and our NATO allies, he may second-guess his calculation to invade Ukraine.

Now, Ukraine is the breadbasket of Russia. Putin wants to restore the glory of the old Soviet empire. He’s been wanting to do this for quite some time. He invaded Crimea right next to — with a land bridge. He would like the Port of Odessa to control the Black Sea.

But I’m not seeing a lot of deterrence. I’m seeing some tough rhetoric, but not a lot of action. I would recommend — I talked to Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman prior to her negotiations — that you have to put things on the table like sanctions. You have to talk about more arms sales, weapon sales to Ukraine.

And this Nord Stream 2, the idea that the president waived congressionally mandatory sanctions on Putin’s pipeline, I don’t know how that’s in the national interests of the United States. And it just emboldened and empowered Putin to start completing his pipeline.

And I think, most importantly, Jake, as you and I talked about Afghanistan over the summer, last summer, I think people, our foreign adversaries, like Putin, President Xi in China, the ayatollah, and Kim Jong-un, all view that as a moment of weakness.

So we are not projecting strength, as Reagan