Recording ISIS's Iraqi crimes - book review

• Published date: 07 October 2021
• Author: BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Her September 16 dispatch for the New York Post titled "The transformation of Kabul, one month after the Taliban takeover" captures the dire plight of Afghans in the capital and the ominous security climate for women.

Discussing the Taliban terrorists running the city, she comments, "Most won't make eye contact or acknowledge me – as a woman – but occasionally, you will find one who looks me dead in the face."

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McKay, a fearless war correspondent, has crisscrossed conflict areas for Fox News, where I started to read her stories. I have been a dedicated reader of McKay for years because her work spills over with humanity and seeks to illuminate the struggles of ordinary people in battle zones.

The Australian-born McKay commenced work as a Fox News Digital reporter in 2007, delving deep into the war zones of Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.

Her new book, Only Cry for the Living: Memos From Inside the ISIS Battlefield, reflects the great breadth of the veteran journalist's vision, which articulates a limitless curiosity about the Islamic heartland in the Mideast.

For Israelis, Jews in the Diaspora and many others, McKay's dispatch about her first Shabbat dinner in Kurdistan offers fascinating insights into Kurdish-Israeli and Kurdish-Jewish relations. In her chapter titled "Jews Come out of Hiding" from October 2016, she writes, "'Jews would be surprised to find that they are freer and safer here than in certain European capitals,' insisted Sherzad Omer Mamsani, a Jewish government representative."

She notes, "There were still no synagogues or public places for Jewish prayer and gathering. Some KRG officials said that they were trying to open temples in the region, but others claimed that such efforts were hindered by sour relations with Baghdad, along with concerns over Iranian-funded militias and the ongoing jihadist threat."

McKay's book deals with the rise and fall of the Islamic State. Her chapter on "Freed Fallujah" from July 2016 is a brutal reminder of the ideology that animated the Islamic State movement: "Differing accounts were a testament to the mistrust and fear that pervaded the city. Under ISIS control, Friday morning prayers were followed by mass executions in the public square. Sometimes people were locked in cages with ravenous wild animals; sometimes they were blown up. Sometimes they were set on fire...