This Kennedy was our friend: RFK - supporter of Israel murdered by Arab terrorist

THE JERUSALEM POST ^ | Jun. 4, 2008 | LENNY BEN-DAVID

[Biggirl]

I correct myself, was wrong on the word jihadi. Did not know that Sirhan Sirhan was a Christian.

[Biggirl]

Not knowing Sirhan’s religion and it being a missing jigsaw piece in this historic study is a reminder to get the facts straight.

[Gay State Conservative]

RFK by today’s standards would be like what we have seen in folks such as Joe Leiberman or Zell Miller...

Nope...absolutely can't agree with on this.If you study him closely,particularly after JFK was killed,you'll see that he would have turned out to be another McGovern,another McCarthy,another Ramsey Clark.He was an opportunistic multi-millionaire semi-Marxist when he died.

You've gotta trust me on this.I've paid close attention to the Kennedys (from close up) for more years that I care to admit.

[Slump Tester]

He would've been another Bill Clinton, too. None of that family could keep it in their pants.

Here's a couple of good books to shed a little light on the Kennedy family "character". They also have lots of interesting stuff about their assassinations:

Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America by Sam (Author), Chuck Giancana

JFK And Sam: The Connection Between the Giancana And Kennedy Assassinations by Antoinette Giancana, John R. Hughes, and Thomas H. Jobe

Both Kennedy assassins were patsies that were set up to take the blame. The Chicago mob also bumped off a local mayor, Anton Cermak in 1933. They used another "single crazed gunman " as the triggerman, and made it look like it was an attempt on FDR, but they got who they wanted and the public bought it as a failed attempt on FDR.

[Pelham]

“Sirhan Sirhan was a Muslim?”

Nope, although today I heard the CBS News mistakenly say that he was. Sirhan was an Arab Christian. A coworker of mine worked alongside him one summer at Santa Anita Racetrack, shoveling out stalls.

[Biggirl]

Can you get sources to back up what you said please, it would be appriciated.

[Biggirl]

Not suprising, Chicago and its crime and corruption seems to come into play.

[Biggirl]

By today’s standard, he would be called an IslamoChristian, an Arab Christian but one that acted more like a Muslim.

[Gay State Conservative]

Can you get sources to back up what you said please, it would be appriciated.

My sources are his speeches.Read some of the speeches he made in the year or so before his death and you'll understand that he was the Barak Huessein Obama of his day.

As I said...I've been following the Kennedys for longer than I care to admit And I'm old enough to have had a draft card.For how long...and how closely...have you been following them?

[Biggirl]

Often when current events that will involve the Kennedys, be it with Sen. Ted and his battle with cancer, which included calling upon Sen. Barak to give the graduation speech at a Weslyin University or this year’s presidential contest, I tend to look back into history and in a special way when it involves those who had a hand in our country’s history.

[Das Outsider]

Arab Christian, there were a number of Christian terrorists at the time, most prominent the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, still around though now Muslim. Marxist organizations, as are all (?-am I missing anyone) of the Arab terrorist groups. Big on hijacking and airport attacks. Arab terrorist would be better than jihadist in describing Sirhan, same motivation, but Christians have gotten out of the business, so I’m not sure there’s much harm. And as I noted, it was Arafat killing American diplomats to free him.

That's precisely why I asked the question: Sirhan was an Arab--not Muslim--terrorist. According to his father, he preferred 'Palestinian' over 'Arab Christian,' and that's precisely where Sirhan was coming from, though not in the sense that some today speak of "Palestinians," i.e., a monolithic Islamic people.

Nevertheless, his hatred for the state of Israel was like that of the Islamic organizations and teachings around at the time, and there may have been some influence in Sirhan's adolescence and early adulthood; but that again was probably closer to Arab nationalism than Islamic jihad.

In other words, we pretty much agree. Thanks for the clarification, SJ. ;)

[Das Outsider]

... A coworker of mine worked alongside him one summer at Santa Anita Racetrack, shoveling out stalls.

In fact, Sirhan aspired to be a jockey around that time, didn't he?

[Pelham]

“In fact, Sirhan aspired to be a jockey around that time, didn’t he? “

I hadn’t heard about that. I suppose it’s possible considering his size.

[Pelham]

“By today’s standard, he would be called an IslamoChristian, an Arab Christian but one that acted more like a Muslim.”

I don’t recall any mention of Islam being an issue back in 1968. It seemed more that Arabs who had lost their land to Israel nursed a considerable grudge over that fact, be they Christian or Muslim. I’m not certain of what Sirhan’s motive was but I suspect it was along this line.

The Arab terrorist organizations that turned up in the 70s were Marxist and played a role in the Cold War. The man who shot the Pope for example. The first time I associated terror with Islam was Iran in 1979, and of course that was Iranian rather than Arab.

[Das Outsider]

I hadn’t heard about that. I suppose it’s possible considering his size.

He very well could have, that is, were it not for that accident at the track. I imagine Sirhan would have blown his money at the track either way, as he was reputed to have done.

I heard that he was particularly vocal around his co-workers when it came to "the Jews" and Israel--at which of his handful of odd jobs, I don't know.

[Pelham]

This seems to be a fairly good site for some Sirhan background:

http://www.crimemagazine.com/05/sirhansirhan,0906-5.htm

[aruanan]

It seemed more that Arabs who had lost their land to Israel nursed a considerable grudge over that fact, be they Christian or Muslim. I’m not certain of what Sirhan’s motive was but I suspect it was along this line.

He moved to the U.S. when he was 12. It makes more sense to blame it on ouija board reading than political reasons. After all, what did Bobby Kennedy have to do with Palestinian grudges? It could have been he was PO'd at Bobby Kennedy over the death of Marilyn Monroe. It's far more likely that his blood was stirred by Marilyn between 12 and 18 years of age (when she "died") than by things going on back in Israel. I remember her death clearly and I was 10 at the time.

Sirhan was born in Jerusalem[1] to Christian Palestinian parents and was raised in the Maronite Church. In his adult life however, he made several religious conversions, joining Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist churches, and dabbled in the occult.[2] His family, which moved to the United States when Sirhan was 12, briefly lived in New York, and soon moved to California.

[Pelham]

I suggest you read the link I posted above.

Sirhan was an alienated character who identified with Arab nationalism, as did his mother. He felt deeply humiliated by Israel’s defeat of the Arab armies in the 1967 war.

That victory was being celebrated when Robert Kennedy was campaigning in 1968, and RFK was very outspoken in his support for Israel.

[Das Outsider]

I don’t recall any mention of Islam being an issue back in 1968. It seemed more that Arabs who had lost their land to Israel nursed a considerable grudge over that fact, be they Christian or Muslim.

Less than a year after the end of the Six-Day War, Sirhan wrote one of the most explicit entries in his notebook regarding the assassination of RFK, though he appears to have been planning something prior to June, 1967. Some might consider Israel's victory Sirhan's point of no return (he chose the one-year anniversary of the start of the war for the RFK assassination), but I don't know that for sure. Johnson's approval of sending those bombers to Israel was probably the last straw for him, if it wasn't earlier. Sirhan blamed the decision on Robert Kennedy.

As I said in post 31, Sirhan preferred to be called a 'Palestinian' and spoke of the Jews (Israel) as an enemy of the Arabs as a whole. Sirhan grew up in an atmosphere where only half of the term "Arab Christian" or "Arab Muslim" really meant something.

I’m not certain of what Sirhan’s motive was but I suspect it was along this line.

That's what his parents said. Sirhan's father was sympathetic with his son's cause, though he regretted the RFK assassination, if even half-heartedly. Both mother and father Sirhan cited Arab nationalism and retribution for Israel's actions towards the Palestinian people as their son's motive.

[Das Outsider]

Less than a year after the end of the Six-Day War, Sirhan wrote one of the most explicit entries in his notebook regarding the assassination of RFK, though he appears to have been planning something prior to June, 1967.

And by "planning something," I don't intend to mean that he had it out for Kennedy in particular before that, though some have said that Sirhan had targeted RFK before he became known for his support of Israel. Ascertaining the "true motive" in that case, or just how Sirhan came to know of Kennedy's pro-Israel stance before it was really made public is where such an idea runs into potential roadblocks.