“’This is the kind of truck you use for construction, but he wasn’t doing construction,’ said Carlos Batista, 23, who noticed that one of the trucks was parked outside a vacant building nearby for nearly a week. ‘Why would you spend the money to rent this kind of truck and just leave it outside if you’re not using it? … Now I think he was practicing.’”
“If you see something, say something,” right? So why didn’t Carlos Batista report this suspicious activity to police? The Los Angeles Times reporter Barbara Demick doesn’t appear to have asked him that. Could it be because Bastista was afraid that to alert authorities to something like that would be “Islamophobic”? There have been many other instances of people fearing to report suspicious activity by Muslims for fear of being labeled “Islamophobic.” I discuss this self-defeating but all-pervasive phenomenon in my new book Confessions of an Islamophobe. Have you preordered your copy yet? Get it here.
“New York attack suspect’s family was ‘very mysterious,’ neighbor says,” by Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, November 1, 2017:
Even in a neighborhood packed with immigrants, all with their own customs, languages, foods and idiosyncrasies, there was something about Sayfullo Saipov and his family that seemed not quite right.
With the benefit of hindsight, neighbors now believe that the 29-year-old Uzbek immigrant was plotting an attack long before he allegedly plowed his rented truck down a bicycle path in Lower Manhattan, killing eight people.
Three weeks before Tuesday’s attack, a neighbor had noticed that Saipov frequently rented trucks like the one used in the attack.
“This is the kind of truck you use for construction, but he wasn’t doing construction,’’ said Carlos Batista, 23, who noticed that one of the trucks was parked outside a vacant building nearby for nearly a week. “Why would you spend the money to rent this kind of truck and just leave it outside if you’re not using it? … Now I think he was practicing.”
Others were uncomfortable with Saipov’s wife, who wore a niqab, a Muslim garment that reveals only the eyes. Other women among the many Muslims in the neighborhood wear simple head scarves, neighbors say.
“It was unusual around here. You could only see the eyes’’ said Dolores Stanton Vargas, 59, who lives across the street from the neighborhood mosque.
Saipov and his wife, Nozima Odilova, 23, moved about 15 months ago into a scruffy low-rise red-brick building behind the mosque. They had two girls, one now 6 and another 4, and a baby boy who was born about six months ago.
“The wife hardly went out. They were very mysterious,’’ said Altana Dimitrovska, 63, a Macedonian immigrant who lives in the same building. She said that the wife would watch through the curtains of her window as the girls played in the front courtyard, and would occasionally push the baby around the courtyard in a stroller. Saipov was the one who took the older girl to school.
“The girls didn’t have friends. There were no parties,’’ Dimitrovska said.
Language and cultural impediments kept the young family from befriending many people in the neighborhood. But Saipov did have two friends, men who looked similar to him with long beards, who were frequent visitors along with their wives, neighbors said. The wives dressed similarly to Saipov’s wife — wearing the niqab — which made them stick out in the neighborhood.
Over the summer, Batista got into a quarrel with the two visiting men who yelled at him for riding a noisy dirt bike in the evening. Saipov, he said, came out of the apartment and patched up the argument.
“Actually, he was kind of the peacemaker,’’ said Batista. “He seemed pretty nice. After that, he would wave at me when he drove by.’’
The Saipov family was last seen at the apartment complex over the weekend, neighbors said — suggesting that Saipov might have moved his wife to another location in anticipation of the attack. But he rented the pickup truck nearby at a Home Depot in Passaic, N.J.
Saipov immigrated to the United States in 2010 after winning what is called a diversity visa in a lottery designed to bring in immigrants from underrepresented nations. He lived initially with an Uzbek family in Cincinnati who were acquainted with his father. Although he spoke little English, he quickly started working as a truck driver and trying to start his own business. The year after his arrival, he registered his first company, Sayf Motors, at their address in Symmes Township, Ohio, signing the documents of incorporation with the Ohio secretary of state in tidy cursive handwriting….
Andy says
The mentally disordered liberals have made people think twice before calling the authorities due to this Islamphobia label nonsense.
President Trump Calls for Death Penalty for NYC Terror Suspect Sayfullo Saipov
https://www.christianpost.com/news/president-trump-calls-death-penalty-nyc-terror-suspect-sayfullo-saipov-205207/?utm_source=newsletter
gravenimage says
New York State has not executed anyone since 1963. Perhaps they should reverse that moratorium in this case…
AvantiBev says
This is a FED crime so he could be executed but in this Age of Sentimentality, highly improbable.
Frank Cicero says
This is a classic replay of the 1993 bombing of the WTC. . Not only should we kill him but also drop a few bombs on his useless country for not apolizing for his terrorist actions.
Linde Barrera says
I wonder where this Islamic murderer was living when he killed the 8 souls in lower Manhattan, and the name of the hospital that is currently caring for him.? Although this Islamic murderer had a wife and 3 children, his family meant nothing to him because he “did it all for Allah” and he will suffer the consequences from US laws. Amen.
marble says
Not long ago, the NYPD was one of the best anti-terrorism forces in our country.
Emilie Green says
Here’s what’s so delicious in all of this. That the facts about Islam, which have been asserted by the counter-jihad movement, including thru the educational efforts of Robert, for years, are being played out right in front of the left on the left’s own holy ground (NYC itself).
They are so much on the defensive now.
gravenimage says
I don’t find there to be anything “delicious” about Jihad terror attacks.
Ashley says
Neither Mr. Batista nor the Patterson police could have done a damn thing. Saipov committed no crime until the moment he mowed down innocents. He wasn’t known to the local police. He wasn’t on any watch list. He rented trucks in the past. His wife wore a niqab.
It is always in hindsight that the neighbors start yipping and yapping about their “suspicions.”
I’m more concerned about the Home Depot truck rental agent. This morning I learned that the NYPD reached out to 148 truck rental businesses INCLUDING the one in question in Passaic, NJ in response to similar vehicle attacks in Europe. NYPD schooled truck rental agencies about suspicious “indicators.” One look at the strange dude with the strange name should have been INDICATOR #1. I’m not suggesting that Home Depot should have denied the truck rental but a call to the authorities was DEFINITELY warranted. You know…”Strange dude with strange name just pulled off our lot in one of flat-beds. He’s heading West and the tag numbers are xxxx” Or, “I’m dealing with someone that makes me feel uneasy. I’m going to stall the paperwork until you get here.”
Let CAIR and their ilk go after the NYPD. At least Home Depot wouldn’t be in the hot-seat if they were merely following NYPD’s directives…
Ashley says
Sorry…here’s a link to one of the several articles regarding this matter that I failed to post.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/10/nyc_terror_suspect_sayfullo_saipov_arrest_police_s.html
Kudos to the NYPD for reaching out to the truck rental businesses. SOMEONE fucked up.
Westman says
What I find strange is that no suspicions are relayed to authorities anonomously. Could this be a consequence of cell phone records and government spying on citizens? Where I live, not even the 7-11 has a pay phone anymore.
StacyGirl says
It’s tragic that this will keep happening. Like so many others Saipov was on the FBI radar and a repeat offender across the country. He should have been deported after his first offense. He had no reason to be in this country other than to cast votes for Dem politicians. He was allowed to bring in 23 more slaves of Allah. Tragic.
Ashley says
Like so many others Saipov was on the FBI radar and a repeat offender across the country.
_____________________
Link?
I’m aware of past traffic violations but nothing that indicates he was on the FBI radar.
Ashley says
My apologies… I see now he was on the FBI radar.
Why wasn’t he flagged when he rented that Home Depot truck???????
ElderlyZionist says
“He lived initially with an Uzbek family in Cincinnati who were acquainted with his father. …he registered his first company, Sayf Motors, at their address in Symmes Township, Ohio,”
Um. I think I sometimes order a kebab wrap from their restaurant. They have several paintings of the Blue Mosque of Samarkand up on the walls, and always play Uzbek music videos on the dining room TV. The marinated steak kebabs are good…
eduardo odraude says
Please consider boycotting Muslim establishments. Among the many reasons for doing so, there is the consideration that if they realize you are Jewish they may put unpleasant or toxic things in your food. Not all Muslims hate Jews, but the percentage is quite high, because the Qur’an is full of Jew hatred. See, for example:
http://quotingislam.blogspot.com/2012/02/top-islamic-authority-tells-main.html
eduardo odraude says
And the risk is not just to Jews, I might add, but to any non-Muslim in a Muslim restaurant. We know the news story about feces in the chocolate cake, to give just one example.
See
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-513621/Shop-owners-sold-chocolate-cake-sprinkled-human-faeces.html
ElderlyZionist says
“Please consider boycotting Muslim establishments.”
Kna’wha’cha’mean. Daddy told me not to let anyone who hates me prepare my food. But I can’t eat at home “all* the time. And I like Near Eastern cuisine, so what’s a Yidddisher yingeh to do? Actually the last place that gave me the ‘special sauce’ was a ribs joint in my old neighborhood. I don’t think they were Muslim, but I got a lot of dark looks there, so to speak. I moved.
Alex Smythe says
Elderly Zionist: you might try eating shish kebobs (souvlaki) and hummus at a Greek-owned restaurant, especially one that has pork souvlaki on the menu (though of course you wouldn’t eat that yourself) because the owners are likely to be non-Muslim. A lot of good Ethiopian and Indian places are also owned by non-Muslims, though it may be not be obvious if they’re non-Muslim.
gravenimage says
Good point, Alex. There are also Israeli restaurants in some places.
A shout out to the excellent Holy Land Restaurant in my own neck of the woods.
WorkingClassPost says
The really sad thing is that any neighbor reporting this activity, probably would be accused of profiling and bigotry.
gravenimage says
Grimly, likely the case.
Guest says
I will never understand why people ignore this.
gravenimage says
They are terrified of people calling them “Islamophobic” or “racist”.
eduardo odraude says
The diversity lottery letting this guy in is a classic example of the extreme kind of multiculturalism: diversity so extreme that it brings in people who would kill diversity.
Do we want to live in a society where it is dangerous to criticize one religion? Do we want the new normal to be jihad terror?
There is no way to vet would-be Muslim immigrants and know that they won’t become devout followers of the example of warlord “prophet” Muhammad. So you have to choose: exclude Muslim immigration? Or accept a society in which jihad terror becomes a normal part of the fabric of life, and people in the public sphere are mostly to terrified to criticize Islam, and civil and political rights tend to weaken or be lost altogether, because that is what happens in countries with large numbers of Muslims. Even Indonesia, vaunted as a Muslim democracy, requires people to have religious identity cards, and not all religions are valid for those cards. Even Indonesia in the province of Aceh has been introducing Islamic law. Meanwhile, the core of the Islamic world, the Middle East and North Africa, is a disaster for human rights, the worst region in the world, worse than Asia, worse than sub-Saharan Africa, worse than the Americas. Do we want to bring representatives of that religion and its culture here? To do so is to take a huge risk with Western civilization — and we may live to see how badly it turns out in France, the UK, and Germany. The sensible thing to do would be to wait and see what happens in Europe — wait a generation, and then if Europe remains part of the free world, perhaps it would make sense to allow Muslim immigration again. But we won’t do the sensible thing, will we? Too many ignoramuses who think all religions are equally malign and who therefore do not bother to study specific characteristics.
Muhammad affirms that those who do not follow him will be slaughtered
On page 222 (326 in the Arabic) of the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad:
http://www.quotingislam.blogspot.com
eduardo odraude says
“too terrified,” not “to terrified”
gravenimage says
Neighbor of NYC jihad mass murderer noticed suspicious activity, did not report it
……………………….
Because to say anything would be “Islamophobic”…
And now eight people are dead.
Would it have made a difference if Carlos Batista had spoken up? Maybe not–but maybe it would have.
Alex Smythe says
Gravenimage: not only 8 dead, but also 12 seriously injured. And ir could have been even worse yet; apparently, he had deliberately chosen Halloween because he thought that he’d have a good chance of running down many children as well.
MFritz says
Hey, don’t blame this guy! Most decent neighbours wouldn’t report “suspicious” behaviour. We don’t need THAT kind of society!
Better start with our corrupt politicians and make them cut the connections to the financiers of muslim terrorism. Watch the mosques closely and listen to what the imams preach. And don’t let terrorists and extremists into the country. Drain the swamp and you don’t need snitches as neighbours.
Creole Gumbo says
No matter what you call the police for as being “suspicious” you get ignored and are given a pat reply which is that they cannot do anything until AFTER an action has occurred.
John Forbes says
NO ONE SHOULD BE AT ALL AMAZED AFTER WHAT THE POLLS IN THE UK DISCOVERED WHERE OVER 60% OF SO CALLED MODERATE MUSLIMS ADMITTED THAT IF THEY KNEW OF A TERRORIST PLOT BY ANOTHER MUSLIM THEY WOULD NOT INFORM THE BRITISH POLICE!
THIS REINFORCES THE STATED STANCE OFTEN VOICED BY MUSLIMS – THAT THEY OWE ALLEGIANCE TO ALLAH ONLY & HIS PROPHET MOHAMMED & NOT LAWS MADE BY MAN !
THIS IS BUT ONE PART OF THE – NO RESEARCH- DONE BY OUR ARROGANT POLITICIANS , POLICY MAKERS , DENIERS IN POSITIONS OF POWER !