Earlier this year, an American serviceman was sent to prison for an attempted terrorist attack that received little coverage. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Emelie Chace-Donahue, and Thomas Plant relate the facts:

In March 2023, authorities sentenced the former U.S. Army private Ethan Melzer to 45 years in prison for plotting a terrorist attack against his own unit, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, during its upcoming deployment to Turkey. Melzer had leaked sensitive information about the deployment to co-conspirators—one of whom was an undercover FBI source whom Melzer believed was a member of al-Qaeda. The prospect that the attack might kill Melzer himself did not faze him; . . . he hoped his planned attack would provoke the United States into another costly war.

Melzer, despite his eagerness to help al-Qaeda, is not a Muslim at all, but a member of a secretive occult group called the Order of Nine Angles (O9A), which may have as many as 2,000 members. Its philosophy is anti-Semitic and loosely neo-Nazi, and it encourages its members to take radical actions by seeking out what its texts call “insight roles.” Gartenstein-Ross, Chace-Donahue, and Plant explain:

O9A should be seen as a Satanist movement and philosophy that is influenced by elements of fascism. . . . At the heart of the O9A’s outlook is a self-proclaimed mission to aid individual and societal evolution toward enlightenment by balancing human and supernatural forces. To progress toward this enlightenment, O9A holds that Western civilization must unlock its true pagan ethos, which has been corrupted by Judeo-Christian values. To this end, O9A encourages individuals to commit “sinister” and “heretical” acts conducive to liberation from artificial societal norms, thus breaking down the current social system.

Insight roles are lifestyles that adherents adopt that contradict their natural predispositions. For example, someone who considers himself honest might turn to a life of crime. Insight roles have many potential outlets: joining an “insurrectionary political organization,” assassinating those who support the current societal system, “undertaking jihad,” or joining or forming an anarchist or neo-Nazi group.

Some O9A texts also position the “Magian ethos,” [i.e., Judaism and Christianity], alongside white supremacist and anti-government conspiracy theories, including those alleging that a New World Order or Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG) is a hidden hand behind major world governments and events. Moreover, some O9A texts use terminology and references directly linked to white supremacism and neo-Nazism.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.