Islamic Jihad: No ceasefire in 2006

The end of 2005 also spells the end for any ceasefire agreement with Israel, at least in the eyes of Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad. From the Associated Press:

The Islamic Jihad and several armed groups with ties to the ruling Fatah movement said Saturday they won't necessarily observe a truce with Israel in 2006.

The limited cease-fire, negotiated in March, expires Saturday, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian mediators are trying to win an extension. Hamas has largely stuck to the agreement, as part of what has been portrayed as Hamas' gradual transformation into a political party.

The smaller Islamic Jihad never laid down its arms and carried out a series of suicide bombings and other attacks against Israel in recent months. Islamic Jihad claimed it was committed to the truce in 2005, and that the attacks were retaliation for perceived Israeli truce violations.

In a statement Saturday, Islamic Jihad said: "We reaffirm that the official end of the truce agreed to in Cairo last March comes at midnight on Saturday." It was not clear whether the group would participate in talks on extending the cease-fire.

Interesting to note that Islamic Jihad -- an organization which is substantially supported by Iran -- rather than Hamas is leading the effort to sabotage any sort of ceasefire negotiations with Israel.

Bomb targets Indonesian Christians

Looks like the fears of increased jihadist violence against Indonesian Christians during the holiday season were warranted, according to the Associated Press:

A bomb ripped through a crowded meat market Saturday in an Indonesian province that has been plagued by sectarian violence, killing at least eight people and wounding 45, officials said. Many of the victims were believed to be Christians.

The attack occurred in the town of Palu on Sulawesi island as people were preparing for New Year's Eve celebrations, flocking to the morning market that sold and slaughtered pigs, said Brig. Gen. Oegroseno, police chief of Central Sulawesi province.

The bomb appeared to be a homemade device, he said, loaded with ball bearings and nails to maximize the number casualties.

"The explosion was so loud, I couldn't hear for a couple of seconds," said Tega, a resident who lives nearby and uses only one name, like many Indonesians. "I ran out of my house and saw bodies lying around."

A few reflections on Wahid's "Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam"

The former President of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, has published a piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam: Muslims and non-Muslims must unite to defeat the Wahhabi ideology.

Many, many people sent to me in the course of the day yesterday, asking me to comment; but really, it contains nothing new. It is just more of the kind of analysis we have seen by the bushel since 9/11: Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace, and the big bad Wahhabis are hijacking it into something else. But as I show in my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), and as Andrew Bostom shows in immense detail in The Legacy of Jihad, the Wahhabis are neither the originators nor the sole proprieters of the ideology of conquest and supremacism that is Islamic jihad. Certainly they are its most powerful and energetic exponents today, but if anyone thinks the problems that the Islamic world has with non-Muslims would vanish if the Wahhabis somehow disappeared is just whistling in the dark. Even a cursory glance at Iranian Shi'ism should establish that.

Wahid says:

It is time for people of good will from every faith and nation to recognize that a terrible danger threatens humanity. We cannot afford to continue "business as usual" in the face of this existential threat. Rather, we must set aside our international and partisan bickering, and join to confront the danger that lies before us.

Agreed.

An extreme and perverse ideology in the minds of fanatics is what directly threatens us (specifically, Wahhabi/Salafi ideology--a minority fundamentalist religious cult fueled by petrodollars). Yet underlying, enabling and exacerbating this threat of religious extremism is a global crisis of misunderstanding.

Pretty much the only thing that distinguishes the jihad theology of the Wahhabi/Salafi "minority fundamentalist religious cult" from the jihad theology of all the eight schools of Islamic law (madhahib) is that the Wahhabis are much more willing than the traditional schools to declare other Muslims to be unbelievers and wage jihad against them. The teachings about offering unbelievers conversion, subjugation or death are not significantly different.

All too many Muslims fail to grasp Islam, which teaches one to be lenient towards others and to understand their value systems, knowing that these are tolerated by Islam as a religion. The essence of Islam is encapsulated in the words of the Quran, "For you, your religion; for me, my religion." That is the essence of tolerance. Religious fanatics--either purposely or out of ignorance--pervert Islam into a dogma of intolerance, hatred and bloodshed. They justify their brutality with slogans such as "Islam is above everything else." They seek to intimidate and subdue anyone who does not share their extremist views, regardless of nationality or religion. While a few are quick to shed blood themselves, countless millions of others sympathize with their violent actions, or join in the complicity of silence.

"For you, your religion; for me, my religion" is from Sura 109 of the Qur'an. Muslim scholars consider it an early Meccan sura. Traditional Islamic theology has held for centuries that on points of disagreement the later Medinan suras take precedence over the early Meccan ones -- and in what most Muslim authorities consider to be the last sura of all, Surat At-Tawba (sura 9), we find the "Ayat as-Seif" (Verse of the Sword, verse 5) and the call to wage war against Jews and Christians until they submit as inferiors under Islamic rule (verse 29). The idea that sura 109 must be understood in light of this material was not invented by Wahhabis: it is taught by the great medieval Qur'an commentator Ibn Kathir; by As-Suyuti, another revered commentator, and by many others.

Does Wahid not know all this, or does he just hope we don't? The jihadists have a coherent, developed, and traditionally-based theology explaining why they take sura 9 over 109. Does Wahid have a coherent theology explaining why Muslims should take 109 over 9 and leave non-believers in peace? If he does, he should share it with the world, which needs it desperately. But he gives no hint of it in the Wall Street Journal.

This crisis of misunderstanding--of Islam by Muslims themselves--is compounded by the failure of governments, people of other faiths, and the majority of well-intentioned Muslims to resist, isolate and discredit this dangerous ideology. The crisis thus afflicts Muslims and non-Muslims alike, with tragic consequences. Failure to understand the true nature of Islam permits the continued radicalization of Muslims world-wide, while blinding the rest of humanity to a solution which hides in plain sight.

Great. Then let's see you do it. Let's see you fight among Muslims what you call the Wahhabi theology, and teach that Muslims and non-Muslims should live together as equals in peace.

The most effective way to overcome Islamist extremism is to explain what Islam truly is to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Without that explanation, people will tend to accept the unrefuted extremist view--further radicalizing Muslims, and turning the rest of the world against Islam itself.

Unrefuted is right.

Accomplishing this task will be neither quick nor easy. In recent decades, Wahhabi/Salafi ideology has made substantial inroads throughout the Muslim world. Islamic fundamentalism has become a well-financed, multifaceted global movement that operates like a juggernaut in much of the developing world, and even among immigrant Muslim communities in the West. To neutralize the virulent ideology that underlies fundamentalist terrorism and threatens the very foundations of modern civilization, we must identify its advocates, understand their goals and strategies, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and effectively counter their every move. What we are talking about is nothing less than a global struggle for the soul of Islam.

Yes, we are. And bland platitudes is all we have gotten so far. Much, much more is needed.

The Sunni (as opposed to Shiite) fundamentalists' goals generally include: claiming to restore the perfection of the early Islam practiced by Muhammad and his companions, who are known in Arabic as al-Salaf al-Salih, "the Righteous Ancestors"; establishing a utopian society based on these Salafi principles, by imposing their interpretation of Islamic law on all members of society; annihilating local variants of Islam in the name of authenticity and purity; transforming Islam from a personal faith into an authoritarian political system; establishing a pan-Islamic caliphate governed according to the strict tenets of Salafi Islam, and often conceived as stretching from Morocco to Indonesia and the Philippines; and, ultimately, bringing the entire world under the sway of their extremist ideology.

This is the kind of thing that makes me suspicious. "Transforming Islam from a personal faith into an authoritarian political system"? But Islam has never been a personal faith as opposed to a political system. It has always had a political dimension, and has never accepted the sacred/secular distinction. This kind of thing makes me wonder if Wahid is just engaging in the same kind of deceptive analysis we have seen so much of already. And another thing: Morocco to Indonesia and the Philippines? What about Spain and Western Europe? And the U.S.A.? The jihadists have made clear their global intentions. Why not speak plainly about this?

Fundamentalist strategy is often simple as well as brilliant. Extremists are quick to drape themselves in the mantle of Islam and declare their opponents kafir, or infidels, and thus smooth the way for slaughtering nonfundamentalist Muslims. Their theology rests upon a simplistic, literal and highly selective reading of the Quran and Sunnah (prophetic traditions), through which they seek to entrap the world-wide Muslim community in the confines of their narrow ideological grasp. Expansionist by nature, most fundamentalist groups constantly probe for weakness and an opportunity to strike, at any time or place, to further their authoritarian goals.

Fine. Show us, please, instead of telling us, as we have already heard so many times, exactly how Wahhabi theology is based on a "simplistic, literal and highly selective reading of the Quran and Sunnah." If you could just explain this once, with honest, straightforward reference to Islamic history and theology, it would go so far to dispelling suspicion and making people of good will really open to working with you.

Those who seek to promote a peaceful and tolerant understanding of Islam must overcome the paralyzing effects of inertia, and harness a number of actual or potential strengths, which can play a key role in neutralizing fundamentalist ideology. These strengths not only are assets in the struggle with religious extremism, but in their mirror form they point to the weakness at the heart of fundamentalist ideology. They are:

1) Human dignity, which demands freedom of conscience and rejects the forced imposition of religious views;

And yet, Mr. Wahid, the denial of freedom of conscience goes back to Muhammad's baddala deenahu, faqtuhulu -- If anyone changes his religion, kill him (cf. Bukhari vol. 9, bk. 84, no. 57) and the death penalty for apostates is still taught by non-Wahhabi Muslim theologians. Please explain how you intend to overcome the influence of this.

2) the ability to mobilize immense resources to bring to bear on this problem, once it is identified and a global commitment is made to solve it; 3) the ability to leverage resources by supporting individuals and organizations that truly embrace a peaceful and tolerant Islam; 4) nearly 1,400 years of Islamic traditions and spirituality, which are inimical to fundamentalist ideology;

That needs to be spelled out, if true -- and there is a good deal of evidence that it isn't true.

5) appeals to local and national--as well as Islamic--culture/traditions/pride; 6) the power of the feminine spirit, and the fact that half of humanity consists of women, who have an inherent stake in the outcome of this struggle;

Please explain also Mr. Wahid how you intend to overcome this. The Qur'an, after all:

1. Likens a woman to a field (tilth), to be used by a man as he wills: "Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will" (2:223);
2. Declares that a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man: "Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her" (2:282);
3. Allows men to marry up to four wives, and have sex with slave girls also: "If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice" (4:3);
4. Rules that a son's inheritance should be twice the size of that of a daughter: "Allah (thus) directs you as regards your children's (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females" (4:11);
5. Tells husbands to beat their disobedient wives: "Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them" (4:34).

What was that again about the power of the feminine spirit?

I am not saying that Wahid is trying to deceive us. But if he isn't, he needs to address the obvious gaping holes in his analysis and recommendations. And the world at large needs to know about those gaping holes. The Wall Street Journal should have known better than to publish this shallow and misleading piece -- but everyone is so hungry these days for the soothing syrup of Islamic moderation and reason that they will swallow any kind of trumped-up counterfeit without a second thought.

Justice Dept. Probing Domestic Spying Leak

Quisling Search Alert. I hope they are squirming at the New Duranty Times, which has begun to cross the line from ignoring the global jihad (a la Walter "What Ukrainian Famine?" Duranty) to abetting it. From AP, with thanks to Richard:

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has opened another investigation into leaks of classified information, this time to determine who divulged the existence of President Bush's secret domestic spying program.

The inquiry focuses on disclosures to The New York Times about warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials said.

The newspaper recently revealed the existence of the program in a front-page story that also acknowledged that the news had been withheld from publication for a year, partly at the request of the administration and partly because the newspaper wanted more time to confirm various aspects of the program.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Justice undertook the action on its own, and Bush was informed of it Friday.

"The leaking of classified information is a serious issue. The fact is that al-Qaida's playbook is not printed on Page One and when America's is, it has serious ramifications," Duffy told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush was spending the holidays.

Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for the Times, declined to comment.

Indonesia: Christians threatened with terror attack again

More holiday cheer in Indonesia: "Christians threatened with terror attack: Jihad group warns of 'same bomb blasts as Bali' New Year's Eve," from World Net Daily, with thanks to Cindy:

Police are on a high state of alert in a predominantly Christian province of East Timor, Indonesia, after an Islamic group threatened an attack on local churches to coincide with New Year's Eve celebrations.

According to Asia News, a cellphone text message received Wednesday by radio Timor Voice read: "On New Year Eve, 31 churches in [East Tenggara Timor's] capital of Kupang shall receive the same bomb blasts as Bali did last October. [Signed:] From the Jemaah Islamiiyah Chief of the eastern region, Jihad for the Great Prophet Muhammad."

Provincial Police Chief Robert Bellarminus Sadarum said the threat must be considered "a serious and imminent danger" for the whole Christian community.

But the local chapter of the Indonesian Ulemas Council strongly denied claims the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiiyah is operating in the province.

What are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?

Nevertheless, according to Asia News, security officials have deployed about 2,250 soldiers and police officers, and Sadarum said "tighter security will be imposed around churches on New Year Eve."

Suicide bomber planned to blow himself up at children's party

Yet people the world over still think their cause is the cause of justice and freedom from oppression. "Islamic Jihad claims Thursday's West Bank suicide bombing," from Haaretz, with thanks to Olivia:

The Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility Friday for a suicide bombing in the West Bank that killed one soldier and two other Palestinians.

Islamic Jihad activists in the West Bank village of Atil, near Tul Karm, announced on loudspeakers that their bomber, Sohieb Ibrahim Yassin, 19, carried out Thursday's attack.

Army sources said the suicide bomber who killed an Israel Defense Forces officer and two Palestinians at an army checkpoint near Tul Karm Thursday was apparently planning to blow himself up at one of the many children's events taking place in Tel Aviv during this week's Hanukkah holiday.

Had the bomber not been stopped at the checkpoint, the attack would have been far more deadly, said the sources.

Bostom: “Democrats” For Jihad and Jizya

"Democracy – mere popular rule – should not be our primary objective for the Muslim world, but rather Muslim societies and governments who share our values, so we can safely share this planet." Andrew Bostom explains why the high hopes that some place in the democratic process in the Palestinian Authority and elsewhere in the Middle East is not necessarily justified. From The American Thinker (news links in the original):

Democracy does not always bring liberty and justice. According to available polling data, Hamas is poised to win a plurality of the votes in the forthcoming January 2006 Parliamentary elections for Gaza and the Palestinian Arab-controlled areas within Judea and Samaria. The prospect of such electoral results, despite Hamas’ continuous, bloody record of jihad terrorism (which merely confirms its openly espoused genocidal charter), creates a conundrum for those policymakers extolling uncritically the virtues of “democratization” in the Middle East, generally, and the areas under Palestinian Arab suzerainty, specifically.

Frank apologists for Hamas are quick to stress how past “liberation” movements were incorporated into electoral processes, while cynically ignoring Hamas’ heinous ideology. But they will be forced to grapple with the organization’s latest open pronouncements stating its plans for non-Muslim “citizens” under any Hamas-lead governments jurisdiction, and espousing an endless, annihilationist jihad against Israel.

Interviewed by Wall Street Journal reporter Karby Legget (and published in the December 23-26 edition The Wall Street Journal), Hassam El-Masalmeh, who heads the Hamas contingent at the municipal council of Bethlehem, confirmed the organizations plan to re-institute the humiliating jizya, a blood ransom Qur’anic poll-tax (based on Qur’an sura [chapter] 9, verse 29), levied traditionally on non-Muslims vanquished by jihad, and forced to live under Islamic Law (the Shari’a). Under the Sharia’s regulations, either the non-Muslim infidels must convert to Islam, or they pay the jizya—classically, in a humiliating public ceremony which often involved blows to the head or neck—and their life and belongings are protected. The nature of such “protection” is clarified in this definition of jizya by the seminal Arabic lexicographer, E.W. Lane, based on a careful analysis of the etymology of the term:

The tax that is taken from the free non-Muslim subjects of a Muslim government whereby they ratify the compact that assures them protection, as though it were compensation for not being slain.

The “contract of the “jizya”, or “dhimma” encompassed other obligatory and recommended obligations for the conquered non-Muslim “dhimmi” peoples. Collectively, these “obligations” formed the discriminatory system of dhimmitude imposed upon non-Muslims – Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Buddhists – subjugated by jihad. Some of the more salient features of dhimmitude include:

the prohibition of arms for the vanquished non-Muslims (dhimmis); the prohibition of church bells; restrictions concerning the building and restoration of churches, synagogues, and temples; inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims with regard to taxes and penal law; the refusal of dhimmi testimony by Muslim courts; a requirement that Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims, including Zoroastrians and Hindus, wear special clothes; and the overall humiliation and abasement of non-Muslims.

It is important to note that these regulations and attitudes were institutionalized as permanent features of the sacred Islamic law, or Shari’a. Islam manifests itself as a political ideology, not merely a religion, when its teachings are followed on these and other prominent and enduring features.

During his Wall Street Journal interview, El-Masalmeh stated explicitly,

We in Hamas intend to implement this tax (i.e., the jizya) someday. We say it openly – we welcome everyone to Palestine but only if they agree to live under our rules.

Nor is this the first time such pronouncements have been made publicly by Palestinian political, or religious leaders. Sheik Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Madhi expressed these identical sentiments with regard to Jews during a Friday sermon broadcasted live on June 6, 2001 on Palestinian Authority Television, from the Sheik ‘Ijlin Mosque in Gaza:

We welcome, as we did in the past, any Jew who wants to live in this land as a Dhimmi, just as the Jews have lived in our countries, as Dhimmis, and have earned appreciation, and some of them have even reached the positions of counselor or minister here and there. We welcome the Jews to live as Dhimmis, but the rule in this land and in all the Muslim countries must be the rule of Allah.

The inescapable conclusion is that the attendant Shari’a-based regulations associated with the jizya will also be imposed—all of which amount to gross violations of the most basic human rights norms (i.e., freedom of conscience, speech, and worship, codified for example, in the US Bill of Rights) accepted by modern, civilized societies worldwide.

More acutely ominous is the prospect that Hamas, with its openly expressed goal of jihad genocide vis a vis Israeli Jews, will achieve at least an electoral plurality and de facto control of key sociopolitical institutions within Gaza and the West Bank. In a Hamas pre-election video from December 12, 2005, the jihadist terror organization reiterated that it will not give up its armed struggle until Israel is destroyed entirely. The Hamas message also celebrates the organization’s love of death as being superior to Israel’s love of life, while expressing support for those Israeli Arabs who wish to destroy Israel “from within.” Hamas eagerly anticipates a day when their flag will fly over not only Jerusalem, but over all Israeli cities, including Acre and Haifa. The following are verbatim quotations from this Hamas video:

We succeeded, with Allah’s grace, to raise an ideological generation that loves death like our enemies love life. We will not abandon the way of Jihad and Shahada [Martyrdom] as long as one inch of our holy land is in the hands of the Jews….Congratulations to our people of 1948 [Israeli Arabs] on the liberation of Gaza. You wish to destroy them [the Israelis] from their interior. We will never forget you, and never leave you. A day will come when our flag will fly above all the quarters of our land. Our flag will fly on the minarets of Jerusalem, and the walls of Acre, and the quarters of Haifa.

Responding to an uncharacteristic European Union threat to terminate its own de facto jizya, i.e., “aid” payments to the Palestinian Authority, should Hamas gain significant Parliamentary seats in the January elections, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal warned about the dangers of “playing with the values of democracy and freedom”. What a bitter irony that a murderous jihadist organization has co-opted the rhetoric of true liberal democracies in order to impose the totalitarian Shari’a “democratically”. As writer Diana West noted appositely,

“It is vox populi. And just because the people have spoken doesn’t mean we should applaud what they say.”

Democracy – mere popular rule – should not be our primary objective for the Muslim world, but rather Muslim societies and governments who share our values, so we can safely share this planet.

Islamist extremist sought foothold in Japan

Japanese jihad update from Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

TOKYO (Reuters) - A member of an Islamist extremist group banned in Pakistan entered Japan two years ago to try to establish a foothold in the country, a Japanese newspaper said on Friday.

Japanese police had warned this month that Islamist extremists may tempt Muslim communities in Japan to turn radical and attack Japan, whose government has been a staunch backer of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

In a report that underscores such concerns, police learned from an informant that a member of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a Sunni extremist group outlawed in Pakistan, had entered Japan to start an SSP branch, the Sankei newspaper said.

After checking immigration records, police found that a Pakistani man in his 30s had entered Japan in 2003 with a visa for religious activities and that he had told others while worshipping that he came to Japan to establish an SSP offshoot, the newspaper said.

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan is one of seven militant groups that were outlawed by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States....

Tokyo police have arrested the 40-year-old Pakistani on suspicion of violating immigration laws, and are continuing surveillance activities to track down the SSP network in Japan, the newspaper said.

Japan, which has sent some 550 ground troops to Iraq on a reconstruction mission, has been on guard against possible attacks since being mentioned by members of Islamist militant group al Qaeda as a possible target.

Prior to Japan's deployment of troops to Samawa in southern Iraq, al Qaeda had reportedly threatened to "strike in the heart of Tokyo" if Japan sent troops to Iraq. Japan dispatched its main contingent of troops to Iraq in February 2004.

In May 2004, Japanese police arrested several foreigners in a probe into the activities of Lionel Dumont, a French national with links to al Qaeda who entered Japan on a false passport in 2002 and stayed for over a year.

There is no official data on the number of Muslims in Japan, but police sources have put the number around 90,000. They are mainly from Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Iran and Turkey, the sources said.

Fitzgerald: Jihad, Islam, and the Aryan Nations

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald discusses the alliance between the Aryan Nations and the global jihad:

A few selections from the Aryan Nations website:

“There never was a holocaust I wish there were but unfortunately it's nothing but another jewish fable, a holohoax as we call it, used to extort money out of countries, companies and anyone who will listen to the poor crying jews!”

“we are NOT adherents of the christian cult and we do not call ourselves christians!”

“When speaking of Aryan Islam, I'm referring to the spiritual and intellectual movement of those idealistic Aryan youth who embrace the TRUE Islam of the Qur'an and Sunnah. They include those who join or support the honorable warriors of Islam, the Mujahideen. We are an increasing number and can't be dismissed as "race-traitors" or any other labels attached to us by those who don't practice the TRUE National Socialism of honor and nobility.”

“‘...a link is created between Islam and National-Socialism on an open, honest basis. It will be directed in terms of blood and race from the North, and in the ideological-spiritual sphere from the East.’ - Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger; 1942”

“There is much information on the respect and cooperation that Adolf Hitler and others of the Third Reich had for Islam. This would be a good read for all those that claim to be National Socialists…”

“The jew is a parasite, an enemy of our Western Civilization.”

“Islam is our ally, and the 1500 cults all claiming to be “Christian” are our opposition…”

This is the most natural alliance in the world. In its emphasis on the collective, the umma, and indifference to individual autonomy, including the right to freedom of conscience, Islam has a good deal in common with Fascism.

The best article on this subject is that of Ibn Warraq, who takes an essay by Umberto Eco, in which the latter attempts to construct a description of Fascism. Ibn Warraq then applies each of the fourteen defining characteristics of Fascism to Islam, to see how well or ill those characteristics apply -- from an emphasis on a remote and largely imaginary past glory, to the division of the world between Believer and Infidel, to the need for a Final Triumph of former over latter.

Furthermore, the kind of psychically marginal people who join neo-Nazi groups are looking for the solace of a Total Explanation of the Universe because, for them, life is simply too confused and unsettling. Islam offers the same -- and in this respect, "reverts" to Islam who come to it out of some Spiritual Quest for Meaning are, on the whole, far more troublesome than those who are, through no fault of their own, born into Islam.

There are those who converted to Islam (what one might have done five or ten years ago is no longer possible with quite the same innocence today), but who, having made that choice, possibly based on all sorts of dreamy notions of Rumi and whirling dervishes and mysticism, and the supposed "universalism" of Islam (actually a vehicle for Arab imperialism), took their time in slowly understanding what it was all about, and then, deciding that possibly it could be "reformed," came to realize that that too was an illusory prospect, in some cases offered up by Muslim apologists, or by Muslims-on-the-make eager for foundation handouts to engage in some "reform" project. There are so many "brave new reformist Muslims" running around one can hardly get through their guff to get to the Ali Sinas and Ibn Warraqs, who have cogently explained why this "reform" business is a forlorn hope. But it takes awhile. When one is dealing with the difficult task of admitting to oneself that a spiritual choice was, in fact, wrong, or based on a misunderstanding, it is painful and requires courage, to walk away. And of course for many it is also dangerous, given the treatment of apostates in Islam.

The psychically marginal have always wanted to submerge their beings in a Collective. Any Collective will do, as long as they can be spared the anguish of thinking for themselves. Anything that provides a Total Explanation of the Universe, and what's more, a Total Regulation of Life, is likely to be welcome. The psychically marginal -- John Walker Lindh, David Hicks, and Richard Reid all come to mind -- are of course joined by the economically marginal, who seek a vehicle for the expression of their alienation from The System, whatever that system may be.

Islam and Fascism (or in this case Neo-Nazism) both offer that Collective, that Total Explanation, that Total Regulation. And if, as is shown here, one can throw in a shared hysterical antisemitism, that is one more unsavory link.

What one needs is for the development of an intelligent alarm being sounded about Islam and the jihadist impulse -- which can only come, it seems, once these aspects of it as a mental construct are understood. One could do worse than re-publish and spread about Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer." It is a human type, and in an earlier age, in the Western world, it would not have been Islam but Fascism that would have attracted the kind of people who, today, constitute the reservoir of potential "reverters."

That this is deliberately not understood reflects the desire of so many not to see Islam for what it is, and to perform mental gymnastics of every sort to keep on avoiding the difficult and unpleasant truth.

Knesset Members Rally Arabs for Syria; US, Israel are ´Spiders'

Israeli "oppression" alert: Knesset members freely and openly agitate for Israel's mortal enemies, without any reprisal or retribution at all. An update to this story from Israel National News, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Arab MKs continued to arouse anti-Israeli support in Nazareth. Legislator Barakeh said a strong Syria will help divide Jerusalem. The crowd sang the Syrian national anthem. Israeli Knesset Members Mohammed Barakeh and Azmi Bishara, along with Moslem clerics, denounced the United States and Israel at a pro-Syrian rally in the Galilee city on Thursday.

Barakeh told the crowd of 500 Arabs and Druze, "A strong and resistant Syria will bring closer the day in which Jerusalem will become Palestine's capital."

The rally was the second time in two weeks that Arab MKs gathered in Nazareth. Bishara rallied crowds against Israel and called for a return to the 1947 Armistice Lines.

"I will never recognize Zionism even if all Arabs do," Bishara declared. He had spoken the day after returning from an illegal visit to Lebanon, where visitors without Interior Ministry permits are considered as having entered an enemy country... We are the original residents of Palestine, not those who came from Poland and Russia."

Barakeh addressed the Arab and Druze crowd, comparing the United States and Israel to a large and small spider, and accused the two nations of trying to create a crisis between Syria and Lebanon. "We can clearly see the cobwebs" of the spiders, he told the audience as it cheered and waved Palestinian Authority (PA) flags and pictures of Syrian president Hafez Assad.

Moslem cleric Sheikh Ra'ad Salah stated, "We are facing an American-British-Israeli monster that threatens to swallow us all."

HAMAS Targets Spain

I have pointed out for quite some time that in traditional Islamic theology, any land belonging to the Dar Al-Islam belongs to it by right forever. Thus jihadists believe they have a natural right not only to Israel but to Spain. Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld has more evidence of this in FrontPage:

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos’ efforts earlier this year to remove HAMAS from the European Union’s terrorist list, have done little to change HAMAS’ agenda. It is not only Palestine that children in the West Bank and Gaza are asked to liberate; now they are asked to liberate Seville. The HAMAS children’s magazine, Al-Fateh, in a recent issue, (No. 66), tells the children about the city called Asbilia (Seville) and calls on them to free it, together with the whole country, from the infidels and to reinstate Muslim rule.

This is how the magazine has the city Asbilia (Seville) telling its story to Hamas’ children: “Salaam Aleykum my dear beloved. I would like to introduce myself: I am the city Asbilia, the bride of the country Andalus (Spain). In the past I was the Capital of the Kingdom of Asbilia… the Arab Muslims, led by the hero-commander Musa bin Nusair, conquered me in 713, after a siege, which lasted one month.

“In the year 97 of the Muslim calendar, the ruler of Andalus, Ayoub bin Habib al-Lahimi moved the Capital to my sister city, Cordoba… in the year 646 of the Muslim calendar, Ferdinand III besieged me and conquered me after a siege which lasted one year and five months, and that was due to the strength of my fortifications and my walls. This is when the Golden Age of the Muslims ended, and Asbilia (Seville) was lost by the Muslims.”

And the story goes on: “However, Muslim cultural expression and symbols still remain witness to the superior Muslim culture on my soil…I yearn that you, my beloved, will call me to return, together with the rest of the lost cities of the lost orchard [Andalus] to the hands of the Muslims so that joy and happiness will fill my land, and you will visit me because I am the bride of the country of Andalus.” (emphasis added)

This telling story comes at a time when Hamas, in English, states that its interest is “to liberate occupied Palestine.” However, this story to liberate Spain, in Arabic, in a form that children can easily relate to, describes the Fatwa issued by Yusuf Qaradawi on December 2, 2002.

The Egyptian-born Yusuf Qaradawi, an al Azhar University-educated member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who resides in Qatar, is one of the most influential Sunni clerics. The Fatwa, which the children’s story reiterates, follows the Muslim Brotherhood’s teachings -- which also serve as the basis of HAMAS’ Charter.

Qaradawi, calls on Muslims to conquer Europe, saying: “Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and a victor after being expelled from it twice – once from the south, from Andalusia, and a second time, from the east, when it knocked several times on the doors of Athens.” Qaradawi ruled that Muslims should re-conquer “'former Islamic colonies' in Andalus (Spain), southern Italy, Sicily, the Balkans and the Mediterranean islands."

Indeed, the activities of Radical Islamist movements in Spain are nothing new. Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas was sentenced last September in Madrid, to 27 years in prison for aiding the 9/11 attacks from Spain, and 16 of his co-conspirators were convicted for belonging to al Qaeda. On December 20, 2005, 16 additional al-Qaeda operatives on Spain were arrested for allegedly sending volunteers to wage Jihad in Iraq. These arrests are only the most recent since the March 11, 2004 train bombing in Madrid.

In a series of speeches about the importance of confronting al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq, President George W. Bush acknowledged that their aim is to “establish a totalitarian Islamic empire that reaches from Spain to Indonesia.”

However, this ideology is clearly not limited to al Qaeda’s terrorists. HAMAS’ children magazine, Al Fateh’s call to return Seville “to the hands of the Muslims” is no different than that of al-Qaeda’s call to establish the Caliphate. Evidently, HAMAS’ interests also extend to the liberation and Islamization of all occupied former Muslim territories, according to the dogma of the Muslim Brotherhood from which HAMAS originated.

Apparently encouraged by successful Jihad against Israel, HAMAS is now raising the ante, going international. Just as they have indoctrinated a generation of Palestinian children to commit suicide attacks against Israelis, they are now expanding their targets to include the rest of the Caliphate -– beginning with Spain. It is only a matter of time, before today’s Palestinian children, and others exposed to HAMAS’ publications start offering themselves up for the next stage of Jihad in Spain.

Tehran warms to nuclear plan

The Russians continue to manifest their eagerness to help Iran, ignoring Iran's support for the Chechens and the fact that they could be sealing their own fate. From AFP, with thanks to JE:

TEHRAN: Iran is ready to study a Russian proposal for the Islamic republic to enrich uranium on Russian soil, a top national security official has said in Tehran's warmest reaction yet to the offer.

"The new Russian proposal can be studied so that its economic, technical and scientific aspects will be clear," Supreme National Security Council member Javad Vaidi told the ISNA news agency yesterday.

He said the Russian proposal was based on the establishment of a "joint Iran-Russia company on Russian soil" for the enrichment of uranium, a key component of the nuclear fuel cycle....

Iran's enrichment demands have proved controversial, because highly enriched uranium can be used in the explosive core of a nuclear bomb. Tehran rejects US accusations it has a nuclear weapons program....

Moscow's proposal attacks the key sticking point in talks between Iran and the EU over Iran's nuclear program.

Its proposal would allow Iran to enrich uranium outside the country in Russia, giving Iran access to the nuclear fuel cycle but providing a guarantee its nuclear program is peaceful.

Yeah, surrrrrre.

Egyptian Police Kill 10 Sudanese in Cairo

Sudanese jihad fallout in Egypt. From AP, with thanks to JE:

CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian police turned water cannons on Sudanese war refugees and beat them with sticks Friday, brutally clearing out a squatters camp in a city park. At least 10 people were killed, the government said.

Hundreds of Sudanese have been living in the park since September to protest the U.N. refugee agency's refusal to consider them for refugee status. They want to be resettled in a third country, such as the United States or Britain, rather than go home after a peace deal ended the 21-year-long civil war in Sudan.

In Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, expressed his shock and sadness over the violence and deaths.

"Although we still do not have all of the details or a clear picture of what transpired, violence left several people dead and injured," Guterres said. "There is no justification for such violence and loss of life. This is a terrible tragedy and our condolences go to all the families of those who died and to the injured."

In a showdown played out during the first five hours of Friday, the protesters dismantled their plastic sheeting and cardboard, but most refused to leave on buses brought in to take them to camps elsewhere in Cairo.

Shortly before dawn, thousands of riot police encircled the camp, set up near the refugee agency to draw attention to the refugees' demands. Police fired water cannons at the protesters, then invaded the park when the Sudanese refused to leave.

Protesters could be seen fighting back with long sticks that appeared to be supports for makeshift tents.

Police beat the unarmed migrants with batons, continuing to hit them even as they were being dragged to the buses. One officer carried a girl of about 3 or 4 years old who was unconscious. An ambulance worker said the girl was dead.

A policeman clubbed a Sudanese man with a tree branch as two officers hauled the refugee away.

Authorities said 10 protesters were dead and 23 police wounded. Boutrous Deng, a protest leader, told The Associated Press that 15 Sudanese were killed, including two children.

Officials at the South Center, an independent Sudanese human rights group, said 1,280 refugees were taken by bus to three locations outside Cairo. In a statement faxed to AP in Cairo, the group described the police assault as "savage."

Iraq: Shi'ite family massacred

Of course, Islam forbids...Of course, we reject...Of course, we abhor...Yet the blood continues to flow while the bland talk bamboozles the unwary. "Govt talks resume; Shi'ite family massacred," from Reuters, with thanks to JE:

DUKAN, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite politician met its Kurdish president at a lakeside retreat on Thursday to sketch out plans for a grand coalition government capable of ending the country's violent sectarian unrest.

In an illustration of the size of the task they face, 11 members of a single Shi'ite family had their throats slit in an attack south of Baghdad. Police said insurgents had warned the family to move out of their largely Sunni neighborhood.

World premiere of film: "Islam: What the West Needs to Know"

This film has been a long time in the making and features not only Bat Ye'or and me, but Serge Trifkovic and others. I am very much looking forward to seeing it myself. "Pro-freedom film festival hits Hollywood: Event to screen movies celebrating 'the triumph of the human spirit'," from WND:

American Film Renaissance, the organization presenting patriotic and pro-America alternatives to typical movie fare, goes to the heart of the industry to host its first festival in Hollywood, Calif., next month.

AFR was begun to encourage the production and promotion of more traditional-values oriented movies in the U.S.

"Conservatives have been on defense in this culture war going on 40 years," founder and President Jim Hubbard told WorldNetDaily last year. "No war has ever been won playing defense. … My notion is that we should go to the offense. That's the only way you can win any struggle."

The organization says it's dedicated to promoting "films that reflect free speech, free enterprise, rugged individualism, freedom of religion and the triumph of the human spirit."...

Some of the films featured at the event include:

[...]

"Islam: What the West Needs to Know" will have its world premiere at the festival. The film features commentary from expert on Islam Robert Spencer and Bat Ye'or.

Palestinian Police Storm Gaza-Egypt Border

Good thing Condi Rice prevailed upon the Israelis to give up control of this border crossing, eh? From AP, with thanks to JE:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian policemen angry over the killing of a fellow officer stormed the Gaza-Egypt border crossing Friday, firing shots in the air and forcing European monitors to close the border and flee, Palestinian and European officials said.

About 100 policemen entered the Rafah compound and took up positions alongside border patrol officers at the customs section of the crossing, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said.

The European observers — responsible for monitoring the crossing and ensuring the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement are upheld — fled the area, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties....

The border was closed because according to the Israeli-Palestinian agreement the crossing cannot operate if the European contingent is not present, said Julio De La Guardia, spokesman for the European monitors....

The takeover is the latest in a rash of armed kidnappings and takeovers of government buildings that underscores the lawlessness in Gaza and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' inability to bring order to the coastal area following Israel's withdrawal in September.

A British woman and her parents were kidnapped Wednesday by armed gunmen near the Rafah crossing. The family's fate remains unknown. Palestinian security were searching for the family, while British diplomats monitored the situation.

A New Year’s Jihad Retreat

More disquieting developments in Florida, reported by Joe Kaufman in FrontPage (good news links in the original):

Watching the ball drop, twirling a noisemaker, kissing your sweetheart, and making a resolution that rarely comes to pass -- everyone looks forward to the memory of a new year. But one group will be ringing in the New Year a little differently…through a children’s jihad retreat, with a guest speaker who exalts terrorists and another who is linked to al-Qaeda.

The majority of Islamic organizations within the United States have, at one time or another, been cited for their connections to terrorism, whether by support of terror groups or through actual terrorist activity carried out by its members. Two of those organizations, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) have been working together putting on joint conferences. As stated in the New York Daily News (January 30, 2004), the organizations “have held conferences featuring speakers accused of terror ties and have published material supporting suicide bombings against Israel.”

Both ICNA and MAS stress the need for providing forums for Muslim youth. ICNA, in order to address this “need,” has created an apparatus called Young Muslims (YM). Likewise, MAS has established its own Youth Division. Through the two groups, children can learn the tenets of radical Islam by attending winter and summer camps.

Prior to 9/11, the camps would be referred to as “Jihad Camps,” but given the greater meaning of the term (holy war), why attract more attention than what’s necessary? Today, though, while the name has changed, the same radical message is taught. In YM Newsletter Issue 3 (2002/2003), Young Muslims extols the virtues of the works of Osama bin Laden’s mentor, Abdullah Azzam. According to YM Newsletter Issue 4 (2003), one of its goals is to assist in outreach “designed to call people to Islam, strengthen their belief in it, and organize them to work and to wage jihad in its cause.”

From December 31st of this year through January 2nd, the Tampa chapter of MAS will be launching a new camp, or as they put it, an ‘ILM & TARBIYAH RETREAT. Taking place in Lithia, Florida, at the Cedarkirk Camp & Conference Center, the theme of the event is “A Generation with a Mission.” That title is a little more subdued than the YM August 2002 “Planning for Our Akhira (afterlife),” but make no mistake, the speakers are just as extreme.

Featured at the “retreat” is the former President of MAS-Chicago, Chantal Carnes. Carnes is well known in the radical Islamist American community; she has given speeches at such venues as ICNA, MAS and Muslim Students Association (MSA) conventions. In addition to being a lecturer, she has also hosted a radio program for the Islamic Broadcasting Network (IBN). Each half-hour program was spent reviewing a different book.

On the occasion of July 22, 2003, Carnes and a guest had reviewed the title ‘Imam Shaheed Hassan Al-Banna - From Birth to Martyrdom.’ During the show, she lathered Al-Banna, the founder of the violent Muslim Brotherhood, with praise. She stated, “Every movement I can think of – every organization I can think of – in a way or another, is tracing back to what he started.” She said he had “inspired” her, and that “His life was captivating.” She said she liked “the fact that he was a shaheed (martyr),” and that she was going to model Al-Banna’s “personal development” with that of her own.

According to former federal prosecutor John Loftus, “Al Banna was a devout admirer of Adolph Hitler and wrote to him frequently. So persistent was he in his admiration of the new Nazi Party that in the 1930’s, Al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood became a secret arm of Nazi intelligence.”

Carnes also gushed about the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood started with only four persons. She exclaimed, “It’s not quantity, it’s quality!” According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Muslim Brotherhood is a “terrorist group”… “The Brotherhood shares with HAMAS a complete rejection of Western values and Communism and calls for the establishment of a pan-Islamic state founded on the basis of shari'a, or Islamic law… The two movements similarly share the view that Israel is the theological archenemy of Islam… As the precursor of the HAMAS movement, the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza promoted the long-term strategy of creating the foundations of a Muslim state that would eventually become powerful enough to destroy Israel.”

On another occasion, Carnes and her guest had reviewed a book (‘To Be A European Muslim’) written by the grandson of Hassan Al-Banna, Tariq Ramadan. She admiringly referred to Ramadan’s writing as being “deep.” She stated, “He’s actually not that old to be writing about such deep concepts.” In August of 2004, Ramadan made the news when the Department of Homeland Security barred him from entering the United States by revoking his visa and work permit. Cited was the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which denies entry to aliens who have used a “position of prominence within any country to endorse or espouse terrorist activity.”

Chantal Carnes thoughts on Al-Banna and his lineage are nothing new to MAS, for as Daniel Pipes states on his website (in a piece concerning a 2004 paintball event held by MAS-Tampa), “the Muslim American Society is the U.S. face of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

The other featured speaker for the MAS Retreat is Mazen Mokhtar. Mokhtar is the Youth Division Head of MAS-New Jersey and the Khateeb (sermon-giver) of Masjid Al-Huda and the Institute of Islamic Studies. Mokhtar is also associated with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

In August of 2004, shortly before he was to speak at a Young Muslims camp in Pennsylvania (‘A Few Good Men’), the U.S. government accused Mokhtar of assisting Al-Qaeda through the use of a web site he had created. The web site was www.minna.com, and it was a “mirror site” (replica) of www.azzam.com (Azzam Publications), a site named for Abdullah Azzam that was soliciting funds and recruiting Taliban, Chechen and Al-Qaeda mujaheddin (holy warriors) for terrorist operations overseas. Mokhtar’s site was to be used as a back-up for Azzam Publications, when Azzam was shut down after the 9/11 attacks, so that fundraising and recruitment could continue.

On Azzam Publications, in an “APPEAL FOR PROFESSIONAL WEB DESIGNERS,” it is stated, “…we hope inshallah, that Allah would reward you for any time or effort spent in assisting our aspiration of providing an independent media source from the Islamic perspective.” It seems that Mokhtar answered the appeal.

His reward? A search was conducted on the New Jersey home of Mokhtar, and copies of Azzam Publications sites were found on his computer’s hard drive and files. These sites were being run by a British citizen named Babar Ahmad, a man thought to have been part of an operation headed by captured Al-Qaeda mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

On Mokhtar’s Minna site, in the page titled ‘Jihad in Chechnya,’ a video CD depicting terrorist operations was being sold through the website. On the bottom of the page, it states, “Any enquiries regarding the content of this CD should be directed to the Islamic Army of the Caucasus, to Field Commander Shamil Basayev, Field Commander Khattab or their spokesman Movladi Udogov.” In September of 2004, Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the Beslan school massacre in Russia, which left over 300 dead, mostly children.

Acquaintances of Mokhtar’s expressed “surprise” at the notion that he would be affiliated with something such as this -- that his speeches were “mild,” not extreme. However, when one looks at his past, prior to his involvement with Al-Qaeda, one gets an entirely different picture.

On an Internet newsgroup forum, from the years 1992 to 1996, Mazen Mokhtar had made some very disturbing (and somewhat comical) remarks about the terrorist group Hamas and the concept of suicide bombing. Some of his statements are as follows:

“One of the reasons of my support for Hamas is that they have very high moral standards… If their standards were lax, they would have lost my support, and moral standards can't get any more lax than killing those who are innocent.” “Bombing houses is best left to the IDF (IOF?) they are the experts in the field. Hamas prefers to invest its limited resources in doing good.” “I have read the [Hamas] covenant. I support the covenant…” “Hamas’s path is the only path in the history of the Palestinian struggle against Israel that has produced results, and the results are impressive, I must say. I think it is clear that Hamas has the wider vision and the better plan.” “…the operations of HAMAS are heroic.” “In any action of mass self defense, there is the possibility that some innocent people will die… I have enough trust in Hamas to feel that no one is killed before being identified as a collaborator.” “Yes, [suicide bombing is allowed], assuming that the targets are legitimate (and the suicide bombing is a sacrifice, not a suicide.)” “[Blowing yourself up is not considered suicide], because it’s an effective method of attacking the enemy and continuing jihad… These are not people [sic] committing suicide because they are fed up with life, these are people who are sacrificing their lives for Allah.”

The Muslim American Society of Tampa cannot plead ignorance, with respect to the views of the two featured speakers it is sponsoring at its retreat. This is the case not just because MAS has associated with these two in the past, but because quite simply, the viewpoint of the organization is identical!

On the MAS-Tampa website, one can peruse through an e-library filled with many significant Islamic texts, all written or translated in English. Included in these works is a text entitled Sahih Bukhari, whose section, ‘Fighting in the Cause of Allah (Jihaad),’ begins with the following: “I asked Allah's Apostle, ‘O Allah's Apostle! What is the best deed?’ He replied, (1) ‘To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times.’ I asked, ‘What is next in goodness?’ He replied, (2) ‘To be good and dutiful to your parents.’ I further asked, what is next in goodness?’ He replied, (3) ‘To participate in Jihad in Allah's Cause.’”

Also of relevance on MAS-Tampa’s e-library are a number of discourses, letters and prayers authored by Hassan Al-Banna, himself. In one of the letters dated 1947, entitled ‘Toward the Light,’ there is contained a foreboding message. In it, Al-Banna lists a set of political, judicial and administrative goals. They are: “(1) An end to party rivalry, and directing the political forces of the nation into a unified front; (2) Amending the law, such that it conforms to all branches of Islamic legislation; and (3) Reinforcing the armed forces, and increasing the number of youth groups; igniting in them the spirit of Islamic jihad.”

With all of this in mind, one has to wonder how long it will take the participants in a jihad camp or retreat to accomplish the “deeds” and “goals” set forth in Sahih Bukharih and Al-Banna’s letter. Will they take the time to learn and grow as mature adults, or will they skip right to the third of each (Jihad) and move immediately towards the here-after (Akhira)?

Home Depot jihad?

Ali R. Warrayat sounds crazier than a bedbug -- and "deeply religious." What does this all add up to? Probably just a lone nut doing nutty things. With enough fuel from his religious texts to stoke the fires of his hatred. "Crash into store was a personal statement," from the East Valley Tribune, with thanks to Brenda Walker:

TO OUR READERS: The following story is based on witness accounts and a police report released Wednesday.

He placed both hands on the steering wheel, stared straight ahead and barrelled toward the front entrance of Home Depot.

Ali R. Warrayat hadn’t slept in days, planning this moment down to the last detail. Now, his face was void of any expression. A store employee jumped out of the car’s path. To drown out the man’s yells, Warrayat reached over to his car radio and blasted Arabic music before crashing through the front doors.

The scene was only the beginning of a violent rampage through the Chandler store on Dec. 18. For the 24-year-old Arizona State University student, the motives behind the attack were personal.

He told Chandler police he was angry at Home Depot, where he worked as a paint stocker, about not getting a proper raise. He was mad at the United States for proposing a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border.

He wanted to make America "more free."

So the Jordanian-turned-U.S. citizen devised a plan to make a grand statement by crashing into the store at Alma School Road and Chandler Boulevard and setting it on fire.

At first, he wanted to wear a Palestinian flag, but later decided to place it in the trunk of his car, along with a copy of the Quran and a necklace....

After crashing through the doors at 6 a.m. that Sunday, he expertly navigated the aisles and headed straight for the paint department, slamming his car into the flammable goods.

He jumped to the roof of the car, looked around for a second and then hopped to the ground.

He used a lighter to ignite the blaze, and loud explosions followed as store employees ran for safety.

Many employees recognized Warrayat, who worked in the store six months ago but transferred to a Queen Creek location after having difficulties with a supervisor....

As Warrayat headed for the exit, he swept merchandise from the shelves and then sat on the curb outside waiting for police to come and arrest him.

But his cooperation ended there as he kicked and struggled with officers when asked to get in the patrol car.

When an officer asked if he understood his Miranda rights, Warrayat shot back in a foreign language. The officer asked if he understood English, and Warrayat replied in English, "Do you speak Arabic?"

He was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and arson, causing about $1 million in damage. He is being held without bond at Maricopa County’s Lower Buckeye Jail in Phoenix....

Co-worker and friend Joaquin Bustamante said Warrayat was "gentleman-like and respectable with everyone."

"When I saw him on TV, he did not look like the Ali that I know," Bustamante said. "He was a hard worker and worked circles around everybody, and he was a very private person."

Bustamante said Warrayat was deeply religious and had a Quran hanging from his rearview mirror.

In police statements, Warrayat referred to his religion often. He said a swastika was once painted on the mosque where he prays, so he had the mark tattooed in red and black on the bottom of his foot. In his religion, stepping on things is considered disrespectful.

He also described trying to put the dog in his trunk to show it the Quran. He said dogs are "filthy" and that was why the dog didn’t want to be in the trunk with the holy book....

Initial images on his computer depicted men lighting Molotov cocktails and a cartoon of two bloodied and dead children with a Middle Eastern flag in the background....

Al-Qaeda in Iraq claims credit for attacks in northern Israel

War escalation alert: "Al-Qaida in Iraq took credit for Katyusha attack," from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Yacob:

Al-Qaida in Iraq, headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on Thursday took responsibility on their website for the Katyusha attacks in northern Israel on Tuesday....

On Tuesday it was reported that six Katyushas landed in northern Israeli cities, including three in Shlomi and three in Kiryat Shmona, where two apartments took direct hits.

This was the first time that Al-Qaida took responsibility for attacks on Israel taking place from Lebanon.

Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts

I believe we can win this war without discarding our own Constitution. I also think that narrow understandings of probable cause in jihad cases could be the death of us. From the New York Times, with thanks to JE:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.

The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out....

Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House, declined to comment in Crawford, Tex., when asked about a report in The New York Times that the security agency had tapped into some of the country's main telephone arteries to conduct broader data-mining operations in the search for terrorists.

But Mr. Duffy said: "This is a limited program. This is not about monitoring phone calls designed to arrange Little League practice or what to bring to a potluck dinner. These are designed to monitor calls from very bad people to very bad people who have a history of blowing up commuter trains, weddings and churches."

He added: "The president believes that he has the authority - and he does - under the Constitution to do this limited program. The Congress has been briefed. It is fully in line with the Constitution and also protecting American civil liberties."...

Government officials, in defending the value of the security agency's surveillance program, have said in interviews that it played a critical part in at least two cases that led to the convictions of Qaeda associates, Iyman Faris of Ohio, who admitted taking part in a failed plot to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge, and Mohammed Junaid Babar of Queens, who was implicated in a failed plot to bomb British targets....

The first challenge is likely to come in Florida, where lawyers for two men charged with Jose Padilla, who is jailed as an enemy combatant, plan to file a motion as early as next week to determine if the N.S.A. program was used to gain incriminating information on their clients and their suspected ties to Al Qaeda. Kenneth Swartz, one of the lawyers in the case, said, "I think they absolutely have an obligation to tell us" whether the agency was wiretapping the defendants. In a Virginia case, Edward B. MacMahon Jr., a lawyer for Ali al-Timimi, a Muslim scholar in Alexandria who is serving a life sentence for inciting his young followers to wage war against the United States overseas, said the government's explanation of how it came to suspect Mr. Timimi of terrorism ties never added up in his view.

F.B.I. agents were at Mr. Timimi's door days after the Sept. 11 attacks to question him about possible links to terrorism, Mr. MacMahon said, yet the government did not obtain a warrant through the foreign intelligence court to eavesdrop on his conversations until many months later.

Mr. MacMahon said he was so skeptical about the timing of the investigation that he questioned the Justice Department about whether some sort of unknown wiretap operation had been conducted on the scholar or his young followers, who were tied to what prosecutors described as a "Virginia jihad" cell.

"They told me there was no other surveillance," Mr. MacMahon said. "But the fact is that the case against a lot of these guys just came out of nowhere because they were really nobodies, and it makes you wonder whether they were being tapped."...

Defense lawyers in several other high-profile terrorism prosecutions, including the so-called Portland Seven and Lackawanna Six cases, said they were also planning to file legal challenges or were reviewing their options.

Bangladeshi government aiding jihad groups

Bangladesh jihad update: the jihadists have friends in high places. No surprise in that, really, since the jihad ideology is (as so few wish to admit) so deeply rooted within Islam. "A disquieting revelation: Time has come for government to clean house," from The Daily Star, with thanks to JE:

The facts could not be any clearer. Elements within the government have for a long time been sponsoring and sheltering the outlawed JMB and JMJB militants. This original revelation was reported in the media long ago and has since been corroborated time and again through confessional statements made during the interrogations of suspected militants.

The evidence suggesting such links is now so great and disquieting that it can no longer be plausibly denied, and the revelations of recently arrested JMB leader Lutfar Rahman are merely the latest in what now amounts to a mountain of substantiation.

What is becoming clear is that, when it comes to the militants, the government has been pursuing a policy that can at best be described as extremely short-sighted, and at worst, utterly reckless and indefensible.

The evidence is incontrovertible that in response to banditry of so-called leftist groups in the north-west of Bangladesh, certain elements within the government took a decision to sponsor the rise of the militant religious groups to take up arms against those outlaws. This is how the religious militancy arose and how it was able to spread far and wide with relatively little check from the authorities.

Gunmen kidnap three Britons on Gaza Strip tour

Peace In Our Time Update from the TimesOnline, with thanks to JE:

THREE Britons were kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen yesterday, the latest in a spate of seizures that has highlighted the growing lawlessness of the Gaza Strip.

A British aid worker, Kate Burton, 25, had been taking her visiting parents on a tour of the southern border town of Rafah when their car was stopped by masked gunmen. They were bundled into a white Mercedes and driven away at speed.

Last night police sources said that the kidnappers were negotiating with Palestinian officials for the release of the three Britons. It was not clear if any ransom demand had been made.

Numerous foreign citizens working in Gaza have been snatched by Palestinian groups over the past year, though invariably they have been freed unharmed within a few hours....

“Unlike in Iraq the kidnappings are not so much aimed at the foreigners themselves as at embarrassing the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and trying to show he has no control over the Gaza Strip,” John Strawson, a Middle East expert at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said.

Spencer on Alan Colmes radio show tonight at 11PM EST

I am scheduled to appear on the Alan Colmes radio show tonight at 11:00 PM EST; Alan needs a foil to show how wrong it is to check mosques for radiation. Of course, I will be doing my best for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

German Authorities Close Islamic "Multi-Kultur" Center

How easy it is for jihadists to operate under the cloak of multiculturalism. "German Authorities Close Islamic Center," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BERLIN - Authorities on Wednesday shut down an Islamic center once attended by a man who accuses the CIA of kidnapping him and sending him to a secret Afghan prison to be abused and interrogated.

The man's lawyer has linked the alleged kidnapping to the investigation of extremist activity at the center.

The state government of Bavaria said Wednesday it was shutting down the Multi-Kultur-Haus association in the southern town of Neu-Ulm after it seized material urging Muslims to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq.

Khaled al-Masri, a Kuwait-born German citizen who is suing the CIA for allegedly spiriting him to Afghanistan for interrogation, has said he visited the center several times before he was snatched....

Al-Masri has denied any connection to terrorism.

Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein told The Associated Press on Wednesday that investigators had noticed al-Masri visiting the Multi-Kultur-Haus but called him "rather a marginal figure."

Beckstein's ministry said the association was promoting extremist ideas and armed "holy war."

Israelis retaliate against jihadists in Lebanon

A follow-up to this story: "Israelis Attack Militant Base in Lebanon," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli jets blasted a Palestinian militant group's base a few miles outside the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday, hours after rockets fired from Lebanon hit a northern Israeli border town.

In their deepest strike into Lebanon in 18 months, the Israeli planes attacked a base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a small, Syrian-backed group that has been fighting the Jewish state for decades. Two guerrillas were lightly wounded, the group said.

Later Wednesday, Israeli warplanes flew low over southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa Valley in apparent reconnaissance flights that drew anti-aircraft fire from the Lebanese army, Lebanese security officials said.

Witnesses said warplanes roared over the PFLP-GC guerrilla base at Naameh, a hilltop base overlooking the Mediterranean five miles south of Beirut. They heard two booms.

The Israeli army said the attack was in response to rockets fired at the northern Israel town of Kiryat Shmona on Tuesday night. It said it views such attacks with "extreme severity" and holds Lebanon responsible.

Fitzgerald: The fifth column

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald makes some observations about the American Muslim community in the wake of the radiation scandal:

It is forbidden for a Believer to ally with an Infidel against other Believers. The American government should ponder that carefully -- especially the armed services, the diplomatic corps, and the intelligence services. There are people who may be Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only Muslims. There may be those who are bad Muslims, and who can be bribed to work against fellow Muslims. But those, one must assume, will be the exceptions. One must assume that when someone identifies himself as a Believer, he subscribes to the central idea of Islam (after monotheism): the idea that there is one division, and one only, that counts in the world: the division between Believer and Infidel.

This division has clear political implications, as the influential and high-profile Imam Muzammil H. Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of North America reminded us in 2002: “We must not forget that Allah's rules have to be established in all lands..."

And how can one do that when outright military conquest is not possible?

The answer, in the new conditions in which Mr. Siddiqi now finds himself, is clear: "..as Muslims, we should participate in the system to safeguard our interests and try to bring about gradual change..."

We "should participate" in order "to safeguard our [Muslim] interests" and "try to bring about gradual change..." which can only mean islamization -- a situation where, even if some Infidels remain, they are subjugated to the rule of Islam.

For a Believer, a True Believer such as Mr. Siddiqi, it cannot be otherwise. A past master, necessarily, at taqiyya and kitman, at obfuscation and speaking with forked tongue so that Muslims will understand clearly what he means and Infidels clearly misunderstand what he means -- this is a Muslim Everyman. For that he has earned what the courts like to call strict scrutiny. Every Muslim spokesman deserves such, especially in this New Season of Muslim Support for "Dialogue" and "Avoiding a Clash of Civilizations" and "Pluralism" -- meaning: let us take advantage of whatever freedoms are innocently proffered us until such time as Islam is fully entrenched and cannot be dislodged, and islamization is well underway through demography and a relentless campaign of Da'wa, aided and abetted by an equally relentless campaign of sweet nothings or when those won't do, intimidation and threat of litigation. It is the same everywhere, with the results we all see -- in Holland today, and in France and England tomorrow.

Is it beyond the wit of Americans to learn from the unhappy experience of others?

Is there any non-Muslim in Europe today who could disagree with the following statement: "The existence of a large population of Muslims in European countries has led, for the indigenous Infidels as well as for other non-Muslim arrivals, such as Hindus and Buddhists, to a situation that is far more unpleasant, unsettled, expensive, and physically dangerous than it would otherwise be." That statement is true. How one figures out what can be done, or cannot be done, and how one acts or fails to act, is another matter. But the observation itself cannot, by the realistic, be denied.

What can Muslims do to change this perception, should they choose to do so? Many things. When we learn of a single Muslim would-be terrorist, or actual terrorist, or instigator or promoter of ideas that naturally would lead someone to engage in acts of terrorism being turned in by a member of CAIR, or MPAC, or ISNA, and we learn it was done not to win a green card, and not for the payment of a large sum of money (as is the case with the very few Arab and Muslim informants who have been used), then maybe we'll talk.

Or if we hear of acts of derring-do, you know, some all-Muslim brigade that forms voluntarily and takes on the toughest jobs smashing the "insurgents" in Iraq or the Taliban in Afghanistan, whose exploits would be akin to those of the 442nd Regiment, composed entirely of Japanese-Americans, that was the first or second most dedicated unit in the Second World War, well then may be we'll talk.

But what we see instead is an attempt at every level to gut the quite mild security measures already taken, from preposterously forcing the government not to monitor radiation levels in mosques to protesting any attempt to give extra attention to people who are either Muslims or believed to be Muslims in airports and other searches. And this pressure comes from groups that constantly attack the government, whose officials have in the past been arrested and convicted of supporting terrorism. And when we see a Muslim Marine desert not once but twice (he is now safely in Lebanon) after giving us that stirring "Semper Fi" speech, and the Muslim soldier who killed two of his officers and wounded others, all because he sided with his fellow Muslims against these people, sleeping in their tents, whom he believed would "harm Muslims," or the sailor who apparently had contact with a Muslim ashore and offered to reveal details about the ship he was on, or the Muslim F.B.I. agent who refused to wear a wire because he would not record a "fellow Muslim" or.... well, if there were ever a record that indicated, as clearly as possible, that we are dealing with a Fifth Column, the record is there.

And why should anyone be surprised? Read the Qur'an, with commentary. Read the Hadith. Read the Sira, and find out what Muhammad said about Believers and how they should treat Unbelievers. Muslims are inculcated with the teachings of Islam; the world is divided, uncompromisingly between Believer and Infidel. And now those Muslims live, with Infidels, in Infidel lands. And Muslims threaten those Infidels, their laws, their customs, their understandings, their physical well-being. Why should anyone with a good knowledge of Islam, unfooled by the army of apologists intent on obscuring what Islam teaches, not believe that all Muslim groups should be treated as being made up of individual Believers whose sole loyalty is to the umma al-islamiyya, the Community of Believers, and to the Cause of Islam, to the Jihad to spread Islam? Why should Infidels think for one minute that Believers do not believe that? Perhaps CAIR or one of the other groups can explain how, despite Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira, a Muslim in America can owe his loyalty not to fellow Muslims and Islam, but to fellow Infidel Americans, and to the Infidel nation-state that is under the Constitution, and not, as in Iraq, with "Islam" as the final authority which cannot be contradicted.

Explain it to us, please.

We're all ears.

Spencer: Radioactive Mosques?

In FrontPage this morning I discuss the mosque-checking brouhaha. Many news links in the original:

New revelations that federal officials are checking mosques for radiation levels has the Council on American Islamic Relations in an uproar. CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper fumed: “This creates the appearance that Muslims are targeted simply for being Muslims. I don’t think this is the message the government wants to send at this time.” A CAIR statement claimed that the monitoring “could lead to the perception that we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but instead one in which fear trumps constitutional rights. All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend toward a two-tiered system of justice, with full rights for most citizens, and another diminished set of rights for Muslims.”

Indeed, the mainstream media has made much of potential Constitutional issues, trumpeting the fact that the radiation monitoring has been done without search warrants -- even though no actual searches have been carried out. Also, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse maintained that “FBI agents do not intrude across any constitutionally protected areas without the proper legal authority,” and that it does not monitor groups in general but only acts on specific information. Is there any such information in this case? Roehrkasse spoke of official concern with “a growing body of sensitive reporting that continues to show al-Qaida has a clear intention to obtain and ultimately use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear” weapons.

This has been public knowledge for years. Not long after 9/11, Americans discovered plans for constructing nuclear weapons in a former Al-Qaeda safe house in Kabul. A 2003 CIA report stated that jihad terrorists “have a wide variety of potential agents and delivery means to choose from for chemical, biological and radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attacks.” Other reports have claimed that Osama bin Laden himself met with Pakistani nuclear scientists; that Al-Qaeda has already obtained nuclear material on the Russian black market, and that jihadists already having brought those nukes into the United States. Others asserted that Al-Qaeda was planning to smuggle nuclear material into the U.S. from Mexico. But even if none of that is true, there is no doubt that jihadists are working in that direction. Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the masterminds of 9/11, has declared that “in killing Americans…Muslims should not exceed four million non-combatants, or render more than ten million of them homeless.”

But of course, no Muslims who believe that four million Americans should be murdered are actually on American soil, right? Unfortunately, we have no way to know this for sure. Political correctness and unproven assumptions have kept the media and even law enforcement officials from asking the hard questions they should ask of Muslim leaders in the U.S. Absurdities consequently abound. One police official lamented: “We’ll come back from a Kumbayah meeting with a local mosque and realize that these guys who just agreed to help us are in our terror files!” The most notorious example of this phenomenon may be former Cleveland Muslim leader Fawaz Damra, who signed the Fiqh Council of North America’s condemnation of terrorism and now faces deportation for failing to disclose his ties to terrorist groups. Damra, widely respected as a moderate voice up until his arrest, was never expelled from his communities in Brooklyn or Cleveland (or evidently even reprimanded) despite having said at a 1989 Islamic conference that “the first principle is that terrorism, and terrorism alone, is the path to liberation.”

The core problem is that peaceful American Muslims have not moved to expose, expel, or separate themselves from those who hold such sentiments. There is no wall of separation in the American Muslim community between Muslims who accept American pluralism and just want to live ordinary lives and those who hold to the same ideology of jihad and the destruction or subjugation of infidels to which Osama bin Laden has dedicated his life. There is no easy or reliable way to distinguish a Muslim who may be working to launch a chemical or nuclear strike in the U.S. from one who abhors the very idea. Do the Muslims who hope to perpetrate such violence operate or at least congregate in mosques? Yes, they do. Sahim Alwan, a onetime leader of the Yemeni community in Lackawanna, New York and president of the mosque there, has the distinction of being the first American to attend an Al Qaeda training camp. Maher Hawash’s transition from secular Intel exec to jihadist was accompanied by an increase in his Islamic fervor and frequent mosque attendance.

This doesn’t mean that every Muslim in the United States is secretly plotting a nuclear strike. But with all the evidence that Al-Qaeda is making every effort to launch such an attack, would it really be wise to risk everything on the assumption that none are? Hooper’s outrage over unequal treatment supposedly being accorded to Muslims founders on the fact that it is only Muslim groups that have declared their desire to launch a nuclear strike against the United States. We would be foolish -- suicidally so -- not to take all necessary steps to protect ourselves accordingly. If Hooper were genuinely concerned about the unfair targeting of Muslims, he could direct the efforts of his organization to making concerted efforts to work with law enforcement officials to identify and apprehend jihadists in the United States, and to turn Muslims in America away from the jihad ideology. The fact that he does nothing toward either of these ends, and instead raises false Constitutional specters against genuine efforts to protect this country from a catastrophic attack, speaks volumes. There is no Constitutional right to harbor radioactive material. This monitoring should continue.

Australia: Muslims to shame extremist teachers

This is, of course, just what we need -- if it is done sincerely and thoroughly. If and only if. But the jury is still very much out as to whether it will go to the core of the problem: the jihad teachings in the Qur'an, Hadith, Sira, and fiqh. More on this story from The Australian, with thanks to JE:

SELF-APPOINTED Muslim religious figures would be named and shamed and young followers warned away from them as part of a push to weed out extremist Islamic teachings in Australia.

Moderate leader Yasser Soliman yesterday backed the need to regulate and censor Muslim clerics, saying there was growing concern that Muslims "having read a few books in their back yard" were too often claiming "they're somehow sheiks, or imams, or clerics".

Under a plan being devised by moderate Muslim leaders -- and revealed in The Australian yesterday -- a new national board of imams would register clerics and set guidelines for religious figures, including setting qualification levels.

Under the plan, which has angered clerics such as Melbourne's hardline Sheik Mohammad Omran, sermons could also be monitored by the board.

The head of John Howard's Muslim Advisory Council, Ameer Ali, told The Australian that followers of the radical imams would be "told these whom they are following are not telling the right interpretation of Islam, and that's not what Islam is all about".

Dr Ali warned that clerics who failed to comply with the guidelines, which will be thrashed out at a national meeting of Muslim leaders next month, would be publicly identified.

"If the majority of the imams and the leaders are moderates and have to turn to set guidelines, then those who want to stay in the periphery will be identified," said Dr Ali, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

Iraq: Sunnis left out of police and army

Iranian Shi'ite expansionism update from The Australian, with thanks to JE:

BAGHDAD: Voting results from Iraq's election show that Sunnis, who ran Saddam Hussein's security apparatus, have been all but expunged from the nation's police and military.

The New York Times has reported that in contrast to the remarkable surge in Sunni participation in the political process, partial voting results made public yesterday show the group is severely under-represented in the new security forces.

Al-Qaeda in Gaza

Background that is pertinent to this story. Jamie Glazov of FrontPage interviews David Keyes, author of “Al-Qaeda Infiltration of Gaza: A Post-Disengagement Assessment”:

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is David Keyes, who assisted a former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. and specialized on terrorism at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He recently returned from the Middle East where he co-authored academic papers with the former U.N. ambassador and the former head of Israeli military intelligence research and assessment. His latest paper, entitled “Al-Qaeda Infiltration of Gaza: A Post-Disengagement Assessment” was published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

FP: David Keyes, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Keyes: Thank you for inviting me.

FP: There have been some disturbing reports that after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza, al-Qaeda has crossed into that territory from Egypt. Can you tell us what you know about this disturbing possibility?

Keyes: The Israeli Ministry of Defense recently reported that in the wake of disengagement from Gaza, al-Qaeda members infiltrated the evacuated areas from Egypt. This is not the first time al-Qaeda has been spotted in Gaza. There is, in fact, increasing evidence of al-Qaeda influence and infiltration in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Back in 2003, Israeli forces arrested Hamas terrorists after they returned from al-Qaeda training facilities in Afghanistan. That same year, two al-Qaeda operatives were recruited into Hamas in order to execute the Mike’s Place suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. More recently, according to the Palestinian Authority, a new al-Qaeda group called “Jundallah” (Allah’s Brigades) has formed in Gaza. In May 2005, this group executed its first attack against Israelis. Al-Qaeda’s presence in Gaza has also been confirmed by one of Hamas’ leading spokesmen, Mahmoud az-Zahar. Lastly, leaflets in Khan Yunis have been distributed by al-Qaeda’s “Palestine Branch.”

These are just a few of the recent developments regarding al-Qaeda in Gaza. As you can imagine, this does not portend well for the future of global counter-terrorism efforts. It is important to emphasize that this is not a danger to Israel alone. Rather, America and the entire free world are also threatened by the growing al-Qaeda presence in Gaza. Due to their global ambitions and uncompromising ideology, there is no safe place to hide from groups such as al-Qaeda. Nor is there a reasonable policy that will satisfy these fascists. Appeasement will only invite more terror and carnage. It is—quite literally—a fight to the death. New York, London, Madrid, Casablanca, Amman, Bali… this is only the beginning.

FP: What are Islamists up to in trying to infiltrate Gaza? What are their objectives?

Keyes: Naturally, they are attempting to destroy Israel. But that is certainly not all they seek. Radical Islamists, like al-Qaeda, hope to topple all Western governments, overthrow moderate Arab regimes, and impose the most severe restraints on all who disagree with their perverted world-view. They wish to replicate the Islamic conquests of the seventh century and restore the Caliphate. Wahhabism, specifically, typifies the most intolerant strain of Islam and actively seeks to subjugate Shiites, homosexuals, Jews, women, Christians, and anyone who even remotely resembles a non-Wahhabi. They make no distinction between civilians and the military. Those who struck America on September 11th were not all that different from the Wahhabis who put 5000 Shiites to the sword in Karbala in 1802. An infidel is an infidel. We must not kid ourselves about the true nature of this threat. Nor can we delude ourselves into thinking that the problem will dissolve of its own accord, if only left alone.

FP: Tell us the consequences if al-Qaeda achieves a foothold in Gaza.

Keyes: The existence of al-Qaeda anywhere, poses a grave threat to nations everywhere. Before September 11th, the presence of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, sheltered by the Taliban, raised little concern throughout the world. This was true on the security, as well as the human rights, level. Think: How many anti-Taliban rallies were held world-wide to protest the brutal oppression of women in Afghanistan before 2001? No, it took Operation Enduring Freedom to find something to protest. Those who sat silent as an entire population was enslaved by the Taliban somehow found time to protest the war it took to destroy that dastardly regime. Incidentally, the same was true of Saddam’s Iraq. The liberation of Iraq from the clutches of one of the worst tyrants of the 20th century, elicited more opposition than the Butcher of Baghdad’s own fascistic 30-year rule. Strange times we live in.

On September 11th, however, the world witnessed that the delusions of a relatively small number of fanatics could have the deadliest of consequences. Though the message had been sent countless times prior, from the seizing of American hostages in 1979 through the 1993 World Trade Center bombing up to the 1998 attacks on our embassies in Africa, few choose to take the threat seriously. The world—America included—was asleep at the wheel. Terrorism had been treated as a criminal problem and people like Mullah Omar, Abdul Rahman Yasin, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had little more to fear than the wrath of an American prosecutor armed with an arrest warrant. Unfortunately, these types of people don’t fear that type of response. What they have rightly come to fear is the U.S. 101st Airborne. Though bin Laden declared war on America in the mid-1990s, it was not until years later, after 3000 men, women and children had been slaughtered in a single morning that America decided to respond in kind. In short, we were not on war-footing against the forces of radical Islam and totalitarianism in the Middle East until it was far too late.

It would serve us well to remember that the deadly machinations of 9/11 were hatched largely in remote regions of Afghanistan, a far distance from America or Western civilization. It is in this context that the threat of al-Qaeda in Gaza should be viewed. Al-Qaeda has always sought security vacuums from which to operate, from Afghanistan in the 1980s to Somalia in the 1990s to the Waziristan provinces near the Pakistani border today. After the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda dispersed, in large part toward the Kurdish regions of Iraq. Many al-Qaeda members fled to Iran as well. Since Operation Enduring Freedom, two-thirds of al-Qaeda’s senior leadership have been killed or captured.

It is likely that al-Qaeda now believes it can capitalize on the disarray in Gaza. At a time when it needs all the help it can get, assistance from groups like Hamas, would be welcomed with open arms. Even a small number of al-Qaeda operatives in chaos-ridden Gaza posses a serious threat—especially if it continues unchecked and is allowed to metastasize. A former Chief of Staff of the I.D.F. recently remarked to me that the precise number of al-Qaeda members in Gaza is largely unimportant. Rather, their infectious ideology coupled with the dogged persistence of a few dedicated terrorists can wreak havoc upon the world.

FP: When the Israelis disengaged, they left supervision of the area in the hands of Egyptian and Palestinian security personnel. Isn’t this a joke? Egyptian security might be more credible than Palestinian “security” -- if that is what we can even call it – but this is really a tragic situation, no?

Keyes: Absolutely. Leaving oversight of sensitive entry-exit points in Gaza to the Egyptians and Palestinians was one of the worst upshots of Israel’s disengagement. In effect, it allowed for massive amounts of arms and terrorists to enter Gaza and approach Israel’s doorstep, with little or no interference. In the past few years, literally hundreds of smuggling tunnels have been discovered and destroyed by the I.D.F. Without the tireless efforts of the Israeli security forces, what awaits Gaza is all likelihood a mini “Hamas-stan,” “Hezbollah-stan” or “al-Qaeda-stan,” armed to the teeth, with the belief that enough violence can force Israel into retreat. Kassam rockets continue to reign down on Israel from Gaza with disturbing regularity. Though these rockets do not have the lethality of suicide-bombers, entire cities are held hostage by the frightful prospect of rockets randomly falling from the sky. Surely this is an untenable situation from Israel’s point of view.

As a result of disengagement, Israel has lost control over territory, which has proven to be a most vital asset in stopping terror attacks. As Israel withdrew from more and more territory during Olso, and allowed the Palestinians to build up a terrorist infrastructure, violence and suicide bombings flourished. Doron Almog, the General who was in charge of Gaza from 2000-2003, estimates that 70% of hostile action in Gaza was prevented inside the territory through offensive Israeli action. Additionally, Israel has lost much of its intelligence gathering capability which, for the past many years, has helped stop countless suicide bombings. It is possible that the true effects of disengagement will not be seen for some time to come. The second intifada, for example, began several months after Barak’s unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon. Many believe that the former was encouraged by the latter. Sheikh Nasrallah called on his Palestinian brethren to rise up and follow Hezbollah’s example of forcing Israel into retreat through armed struggle. Just a few days ago, Israel’s Defense Minister pointed to a number of attempted suicide-bombings and predicted a major outbreak in Palestinian violence. Disengagement was an enormous security risk for Israel. Though there is little reason for optimism here, let us hope that the Palestinians will do more than they have done historically in cracking down on terrorism.

FP: What can the U.S., Israel and other allied nations do to counter act this terrible threat?

Keyes: First and foremost, Egypt must be pressured to a far greater degree to siphon off smuggling routes and underground tunnels. It is no secret that al-Qaeda has built up forces in the Sinai and are likely moving toward Gaza to escape the heavy-handed tactics of Egyptian security forces. Egypt has done a terrible job cracking down on these tunnels, and has likely been complicit to a degree as well. Former I.D.F. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Yaalon stated not long ago that smoke was seen rising from Egyptian army posts after smuggling tunnels were blown up. Egypt receives about $2 billion of aid from the U.S. yearly. Despite the fact that it is a dictatorship, holds only sham elections, intimidates candidates, assaults voters in the streets, restricts basic freedoms of speech and press, the money still flows. The absolute bare minimum Egypt should be expected to do is effectively patrol its border, much as Jordan has done to counter its al-Qaeda threat. One can only conclude that the U.S. is not putting nearly enough pressure on Mubarak—not only in the way of Gaza smuggling—but regarding democratic reform as well.

The Palestinian Authority is, unfortunately, also a part of the problem. Though some believe Abbas is completely different from Arafat, his recent actions suggest otherwise. First, he has continually stated that he will not disarm or confront radical groups like Hamas. This is undeniably a recipe for continued bloodshed in the region. America should cease funding this madness in the PA—especially if Hamas (which has killed many Americans as well) is allowed to run in Palestinian elections. Abbas also recently enacted a law to send money from the PA to families of suicide bombers. That is exactly what Arafat and Saddam Hussein once did. Actions such as these directly encourage suicide bombing, period. Though many have pinned their hopes for Middle East peace on Abbas, the question remains as to how he can provide direct financial support to encourage suicide bombing and simultaneously be considered a moderate leader who is an ally in the war on terror?

The PA continues to refuse to take any serious measures against terrorist groups emanating from the territory they control. Israel stands alone in shouldering this heavy burden. The I.D.F. should further pursue its policy of targeted assassination against terror leaders. Periodically, Israel stops this policy for an extended period of time, but this only allows terrorists to reconstitute their infrastructure and rejuvenate their ability to fight. It is my belief that the I.D.F should continue in the vein of when it eliminated Hamas leaders Rantisi and Yassin in rapid succession, without apology. When radical Palestinian groups attempt to negotiate a cease-fire, often their first demand is an end to Israeli targeted assassinations. This is a wonderful indicator that the policy is working. Terrorist groups spend the majority of their time avoiding assassination, instead of planning future attacks, and that is the way it should be. Furthermore, immediately after a suicide-bombing, it is not unusual to hear that in response, Israel has destroyed a Hamas or Islamic Jihad weapons making factory. My question is, if Israel knew where the weapons factory was, why didn’t they take it out before the suicide-bombing? Would this not have been a more effective tactic? Where, after all, do terrorists get their weapons if not from weapons factories?!

FP: David Keyes, thank you for joining us today.

Keyes: It's been a pleasure. Thank you again for inviting me.

Gaza gunmen clash with police

"Gunmen from the ruling Palestinian movement Fatah traded fire with police and shut election offices." The impulse to civil war in Gaza comes from those who wish to establish a Sharia state there; Abbas and Fatah represent the last confused (because already diluted beyond recognition) manifestation of the secular Arab nationalist impulse, with Arafat already having transformed himself from a leftist revolutionary into a virtual jihadist in his last years. Civil war update from Gaza, via Reuters, with thanks to JE:

GAZA (Reuters) - Gunmen from the ruling Palestinian movement Fatah traded fire with police and shut election offices in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a new challenge to President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of next month's election.

The gunmen demanded changes to the latest proposed list of election candidates, which was due to be submitted by Abbas on Wednesday as a way to patch up a damaging split between Fatah veterans and younger rivals.

The internal Palestinian squabbles, clashes with Israel, and the prospect of Israel's own elections early next year have stalled any hopes of peacemaking in the near future.

The growing violence has driven some officials to urge Abbas to postpone the election, in which Hamas Islamic militants stand to benefit from the confusion within long-dominant Fatah.

Dadullah: My talks with them will only be for their destruction...

One appendage shy of human form has not dulled a Taliban commander's cognisance of jihad. From the AP:

In an interview late on Sunday, the commander, Mullah Dadullah, ruled out any reconciliation with the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai and claimed the country's new parliament -- its first in more than 30 years, inaugurated last week -- was "obedient to America."

"More than 200 Taliban have registered themselves for suicide attacks with us which shows that a Muslim can even sacrifice his life for the well-being of his faith. Our suicide attackers will continue jihad (holy war) until Americans and all of their Muslim and non-Muslim allies are pulled out of the country," he said.

Dadullah, who lost a leg fighting for the Taliban during its rise to power in the mid-1990s, is one of the hard-line militia's top commanders, responsible for operations in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan -- and as such, a man wanted by the US-led coalition hunting Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

[The Mullah] ruled out reconciliation and talks with Karzai's government, saying it "owed its existence" to non-Muslims, and to do so would amount to "joining Christianity and working for Christians."

"My talks with them will only be for their destruction and nothing else," he said.

Iran says Muslim nations should unite

In support of this article posted at Jihad Watch back in August, Iran's Majlis (Parliament) has stated their goal of a unified Islamic world.

“We strongly support unity among Islamic nations”, the Majlis Speaker said, adding that such unity was critical in preserving the interests of the nations.

Of course the "interests" of the Iranian nation come first because the comment was made in conjunction with a courtship of Indonesia regarding Iran's nuclear program.

Tehran is banking on Jakarta’s support in a possible upcoming showdown over its controversial nuclear activities which the West believes is for developing the A-bomb. Indonesia is one of 35 governing board members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that have the power to refer Tehran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council.

However, it is obvious the Iranian Majlis view their republic to be the leader of this future pan Islamic nation.

Rockets hit Northern Israel

Recent attention has focused primarily on the threat posed by the small rockets wielded by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Those weapons, however, pale in comparison to what Hezbollah has deployed in Southern Lebanon. The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Shi'ite terrorist group fired at least one such rocket into Israel on Tuesday night:

Four people were lightly wounded after a Kiryat Shmona home was hit by a Katyusha rocket fired by the Hizbullah late Tuesday evening.

Two impacts were reported in different locations in the city - one on Rehov Yehuda Halevi and one in the Vradim neighborhood in east Kiryat Shmona. Initial reports said that one of the impact sites was close to a high-tension wire, Israel Radio reported.

On the same street in 1974, terrorists stormed an apartment building and 18 people were killed, eight of whom were children, when PFLP terrorists detonated their explosives during a failed rescue attempt by Israeli security forces.

Kiryat Shmona residents have been advised to enter shelters.

Explosions were also reported in Moshav Shlomi in the western Galilee and in Nahariya. Security forces were checking whether the explosions in Shlomi were mortar shells or Katyushas.

For additional info on Hezbollah's rocket arsenal, refer to my article on the subject, featured in the Winter 2006 edition of the Middle East Quarterly.

Ban the Brotherhood

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen comment on the resurgent Muslim Brotherhood in FrontPage:

The recent electoral victory of the outlawed Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which won 88 seats up from 15 in the 454 member Parliament, should not be celebrated as an indication of liberalization, democracy and freedom. Neither should the 62 seat win predicted for Hamas - the MB’s progeny - in the Palestinian territories. Both the MB and Hamas are exploiting the U.S. call for democratization in the Middle East, using free elections to gain legitimate political power. However, neither organization has changed its charter; both seek to create a global Islamic state, where life would be dictated by the Shari’a.

On October 28, 2005, President George W. Bush denounced IslamoFascist movements which call for a “violent and political vision: the establishment, by terrorism, subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom.”

The violent version of this vision is the heart of the MB’s ideology and was promoted publicly until 9/11. But true to its strategy, the MB, the parent of all Sunni terrorist groups, is using its “flexibility” to deflect attention.

Egypt served as the laboratory for the MB’s strategy. In the decades since it was established in 1928, it worked under the doctrine of “concealment” (kitman) towards the “Islamization” of the country’s institutions and populace. During that time, it periodically engaged in direct action. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, the MB collaborated with the Nazis. Later they engaged in many forms of civil disturbance, from rioting to the takeover of a police station, to an attempted coup d’etat, as with the October 1981 assassination of the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. More recently, MB splinter groups, such as Gama'a al-Islamiya and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, using suicide bombings, have focused attacks on Western tourists, killing hundreds of innocent visitors and Egyptian bystanders over the last decade alone.

Pragmatic, like the Communists, the MB uses many other names and democratic slogans to misle