Anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer says death of Jamal Khashoggi is ‘no loss’

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Screen capture by Right Wing Watch video

Arch-conservative anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer said earlier this week that she doesn’t care about the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Appearing on CrowdSourceTheTruth, she insisted his death wasn’t a loss, calling him an “enemy of the state” who deserved what he got, Right Wing Watch reports.

Khashoggi, a citizen of Saudi Arabia and a U.S. resident, was murdered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last October. He had written columns criticizing the government of Saudi Arabia, and the policies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Newsweek reports.

“I don’t really care about the fact that Khashoggi was murdered,” Loomer said on the program. “You’re going to live by the sword, you’re going to die by the sword.”

Loomer and others who support Saudi Arabia have tried to paint Khashoggi as a radical Islamist with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

But even if he did have ties to the organization, Tamara Cofman Wittes, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, writes “whatever sympathies and associations he may have had, they do not change the apparent fact that Jamal Khashoggi was kidnapped, murdered, and dismembered to silence his freedom of expression.”

The U.S. Intelligence community alleged early on that the journalist’s murder came at the Crown Prince’s behest. President Donald Trump was firmly rebuked by members of Congress after supporting claims from Mohammed bin Salman, who has denied involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, over claims from U.S. Intelligence officials.

Meanwhile, Loomer and her ilk continue to fear-monger, criticizing then-Rep. -Elect Ilhan Omar as “anti-Jewish,” and a member of a religion where “homosexuals are oppressed,” and “women are abused,” and “forced to wear the hijab,” NBC News reports. Loomer found herself booted off of Twitter for that one last November, but it doesn’t seem her views have changed. If anything, she’s become more extreme.

“Jamal Khashoggi was a Muslim Brotherhood operative,” she said on CrowdSourceTheTruth, “and so I don’t really feel sympathy for him. I mean, these jihadis are a dime in a dozen and they may have differences in terms of which sect they promote, or they may have differences in which terrorist organizations they advocate for or belong for, but at the end of the day, their ideology is the same and so I don’t really view the death of Jamal Khashoggi as a loss.”

She also sharply criticized those who portray Khashoggi as a victim, she said. Because in her right-wing view of the world, he isn’t one.

“He was producing pro-Muslim Brotherhood propaganda and I don’t really view his death as a loss for the field of journalism or a loss for the American people.”

She characterized Khashoggi as an “enemy of the state” and criticized media institutions for generating sympathy for the fallen journalist.

“He’s not a hero,” she said.

But members of Khashoggi’s family beg to differ, telling The Washington Post he had no connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Jamal Khashoggi was not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood,” his family said in a statement. “He denied such claims repeatedly over the past several years. Jamal Khashoggi was not a dangerous person in any way possible. To claim otherwise would be ridiculous.”

Loomer is a conspiracy theorist and a former contributor to Rebel Media, a far-right Canadian site. Which means that anything she says about Khashoggi is suspect. And her anti-Muslim rhetoric fans the flames of hate at a time when the U.S. is being roiled by racism and attacks against Muslims are on the rise.

Wednesday the Committee to Protect Journalists announced the beginning of a project called “The Last Column,” to honor journalists killed in the middle of doing their jobs.

“We’re currently living in one of the most dangerous times for journalists, with reporters being imprisoned in record numbers and murders on the rise,” said CPJ advocacy director Courtney Radsch said. “We can’t allow violent forces to determine what we know about the world.”

This video by Right Wing Watch discusses Loomer’s vile comments.

Featured image by Right Wing Watch video