French Killings A Reminder that Terrorists Emphasize Jewish Targets

Updated 5 p.m.

Le Monde reports the investigation into the school shooting is focusing on three former paratroopers who were dismissed based on suspicions they were neo-Nazis.

Monday's shooting attack in Toulouse, France stands as a reminder that Jews face terrorist threats anywhere in the world, recently retired Israeli counterterror chief Nitzal Nuriel warns.

At least four people were killed – three of them children – when a helmeted gunman hopped off a moped and opened fire outside a Jewish school in Toulouse Monday morning. A man fitting a similar description killed three soldiers in separate attacks in the region last week.

Some reports indicate the same gun was used in all three attacks.

Three of the four dead include a teacher at the school and his two young children. French President Nikolai Sarkozy vowed to catch those responsible.

"You cannot murder children like this on the territory of the Republic without being held to account," he said. "Today is a day of national tragedy."

"I want to say to all the leaders of the Jewish community, how close we feel to them. All of France is by their side," Sarkozy said.

Though the killer's connection is not yet known, Nuriel told the Jerusalem Post that a coalition of terrorist groups has agreed to strike Israeli and Jewish targets anywhere possible. "They attack whoever they can and wherever security is lax," he said.

Israeli and American security officials have warned Jewish organizations in the United States that they could be targeted in future terrorist attacks, especially if Iran or Hizballah decide to strike here.

American Jihadist in Somalia Now Fears For Safety—At Hands of Jihadists

Alabama-native and designated Al-Shabaab leader, Omar Hammami, aka Abu Mansour al-Amriki, appears to be at odds with his former group, according to a video posted on YouTube Friday.

In the video, titled "urgentmessage," Hammami tells viewers in both Arabic and English that because of differences over "matters of Shariah and matters of strategy" he now feels his "life may be in danger by the Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen."

The video is simplistic—only a minute in length and lacking the usual production glitz of Hammami's previous releases. He dons a black and white keffiyeh and stands in front of a plain backdrop adorned only with an al-Qaida flag and a Kalashnikov.

The message is short and to the point. No further details are given as to the differences that have led to the current state of concern for Hammami.

If his claim is proven true (and, for instance, is not a hoax being orchestrated by Hammami in cahoots with the Somali terrorist group), it would be a stark change of fortunes for the American Shabaab leader.

Florian Flade over at Jih@d notes that just last year, Hammami had appeared at a number of rallies held by al-Shabaab and "was even holding speeches on the occasion of Osama Bin Laden's death in Pakistan in May 2011."

Flade speculates that the current situation Hammami finds himself in may be the result of increased suspicion of foreigners by core Shabaab leaders:

"Some fighters—especially from Kenya and Ethiopia—had been accused of being spies and were executed. Perhaps Hammami is now facing a similar fate."

CAIR Official Sees "NYPD-CIA-Israeli" Conspiracy

Council on American-Islamic Relations-New York (CAIR-NY) board member Lamis Deek espoused anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist views in a Facebook post Monday.

Deek peddles the idea of an "NYPD-CIA-Israeli alliance in NY," and vows to New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg that "Palestinian Flags will overwhelm NY streets soon….a personal, personal promise."

Deek habitually accuses invokes Israeli bogeymen to her American audiences.

During a "Know Your Rights" presentation at a CAIR leadership conference and chapter banquet last April, Deek accused the Israeli Mossad of posing as FBI agents in America.

"It was discovered or published that a lot of the interviews that Muslims believed they were going into with the FBI, it turns out it wasn't with the FBI at all," Deek said. "Guess who it was? Mossad, Israeli intelligence in New York and New Jersey."

Deek urged audience members to never talk to FBI agents, saying agents will break the law to set up Muslims.

"If an agent tries to arrest someone or search their property, "ask to see the warrant," Deek advised later in the program, "because if the Mossad can go around pretending to be FBI, they can go around pretending to have search warrants."

As a Palestinian activist and attorney, Deek has maintained her anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist stance for quite some years. Aside from her affiliation with CAIR-NY, Deek was a high profile organizer of the Viva Palestina convoy that departed for Gaza in July 2009.

During a fundraiser for that convoy, Deek said the goal was not about providing charity to needy people, but to make a political point for the Palestinian people. That point includes a future without Israel. "[I]n choosing Hamas, what they chose was one united Palestinian state on all of the 1948 territories from the north to the very south. That is what Palestinians chose. And in supporting Palestinian choice we are saying we support their right to liberation from violent colonialism."

Deek is also a co-founder and co-chair of the Palestinian advocacy group, Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition.

At a February 2011 Al-Awda and International Socialist Organization event at Barnard College, Deek proclaimed that "Israeli policy has always been to ethnically cleanse using layered forms of oppression and massacres."

Carter's Blind Brotherhood Trust

Former President Jimmy Carter is dismissing threats from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to void the country's peace treaty with Israel, saying he met with Brotherhood officials and takes them at their word.

"They assured me personally — and they have made public statements accordingly — that they will honor the peace treaty that I helped to negotiate back in 1979," Carter said last week. "And I don't have any doubt that they will carry out their promise to me."

Since then, Egypt's new Muslim Brotherhood-dominated house of parliament unanimously demanded Israel's ambassador be booted out of the country. Other senior figures have called for a referendum on the treaty. Meanwhile, Hamas, the Brotherhood's Palestinian terrorist offshoot, has opened offices in Cairo for leaders who left the upheaval in their former Damascus base.

A UPI report Wednesday shared none of Carter's optimism:

"The political triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood, the most powerful of Egypt's Islamist groups and the godfather to just about every Muslim militant organization in the Middle East, in post-Mubarak elections threw the continuation of the treaty deeply in doubt. Now controlling the largest party in Egypt's Parliament with 47 percent of the 508 seats, the Muslim Brotherhood's senior figures refuse to recognize Israel."

Oddly, the Brotherhood reposted an article about Carter's comments, keeping intact critical comments about the naiveté of his position. "[F]ormer President Jimmy Carter, the chief negotiator of the 1978 deal, says he trusts the Islamists to do the right thing no matter what," it says. "The reason: because they told him so."

Feds Warn Afghan Deaths Could Trigger Domestic Retaliation

Sunday's killing of 16 civilians by an American soldier in Afghanistan could prompt retaliatory attacks within the United States, FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials say.

In an "awareness bulletin" sent to law enforcement agencies Wednesday, and first reported by ABC News, the agencies expressed concern "that this event could contribute to the radicalization or mobilization of homegrown violent extremists [HVEs] in the homeland, particularly against U.S.-based military targets which HVEs have historically considered legitimate targets for retaliation in response to past alleged U.S. military actions against civilians overseas."

An attack is possible, but unlikely, the bulletin said. More certain is the likelihood that the killings "will likely be incorporated into violent extremist propaganda and could contribute to an individual's radicalization to violence."

Threats may be most likely "against U.S. military targets in the homeland," an unnamed official told CBS. In December, an investigative report from the House Homeland Security Committee's Republican staff said that the Pentagon considers the U.S. homeland to be "the most dangerous place for a G.I. outside of foreign warzones," and the top threat faced by American soldiers at home "is from violent Islamist extremists."

Court records show that threat is fueled by a false belief that America's war against terror is a war on Muslims.

Ex CAIR Director Promises Sharia for Egypt

A former community relations director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) promises to "complete the implementation of Islamic law in Egypt" if elected its president.

Bassem Khafaji, who was deported from the United States in 2003 after pleading guilty to bank and visa fraud, hopes to win the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party.

In an excerpt of a speech last week translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Khafaji said that, "as a Muslim Egyptian, I am convinced of (the need to) complete the implementation of Islamic law in Egypt. I do not hide this truth in any way, because it is in keeping with the inclination of the Egyptian people."

Events from marriages to deaths already are conducted in accordance with sharia law, he said. "What the Egyptian people want is to complete this implementation. As president, I will personally assist in the completion of the correct implementation of the shari'a, by consulting the experts (in Islamic law). "

That's certainly consistent with Muslim Brotherhood ideology. Since enjoying dramatic electoral success in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year, Brotherhood officials have made several statements about restoring a caliphate, or global Islamic state.

Alleged Iran Terror Plot Thwarted in Azerbaijan

Officials in Azerbaijan say they have arrested 22 people who were working with Iran's Revolutionary Guards in plots to attack the American and Israeli embassies in Baku.

Security officials say they seized "(f)irearms, cartridges, explosives and espionage equipment" during the arrests.

Azerbaijan sits between Iran and Russia on the Caspian Sea. Relations with Iran have been rocky of late.

The country's defense minister met with senior Iranian officials earlier this week after Iran criticized an Azerbaijani arms deal with Israel. Iran also has accused its neighbor of letting Israel conduct intelligence gathering operations from Azerbaijan, a charge government officials denied.

Wednesday's arrests are the second involving Iranian terror activities in the past month. Officials arrested 20 other people in late February on suspicion they were plotting attacks for Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hizballah.

The arrests come on the heels of warnings from Israel's security council that its citizens avoid traveling to Turkey due to imminent Iranian-backed terrorist plots targeting them.

Diplomatic targets appear to be priority for Iran in recent terror plots. Last month, terrorists suspected of being tied to Iran planted bombs on cars belonging to Israeli diplomatic officers in India and Georgia. A third plot in Bangkok failed when police moved in on the suspects and one of them blew off his own leg in an explosion.

An indictment filed in New York alleges Iran financed a plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington.

"American Taliban" Lawyer Elevated at DOJ

The promotion of Tony West to the No. 3 position in the Justice Department has some critics of the Obama administration scratching their heads.

As an attorney, West represented "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, who was captured fighting with the Taliban against American allies in Afghanistan in 2001. West was a top fundraiser for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and has been an assistant attorney general in the department's civil division.

As acting attorney general, West "will be a key counterterrorism policy maker, including on Gitmo detainees," notes former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy. Judicial Watch called that a "scary development."

Because his appointment is to an acting position, West does not face a Senate confirmation. He was approved for the civil division job in an 82-4 vote.

Iron Dome Thwarting Gaza Rockets

More than 40 rockets were fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza into Southern Israel Monday, the fourth straight day of attacks targeting civilian areas. In all, more than Israeli military officials say, more than 200 rockets have been fired since Friday, placing more than 1 million people at risk.

Retaliatory Israeli airstrikes reportedly have killed about 20 people.

The good news is that Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defense system "aced its first serious test" by knocking down a majority of the incoming rockets targeted. The system uses radar to identify missiles which are most likely to land in populated areas.

Dozens of missiles fired from Gaza have been intercepted. Videos showing several examples can be seen here.

Analysts say the success rate would be challenged by greater volume. Most of the rockets fired this week are believed to come from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Resistance Committees. An Islamic Jihad official indicated it might escalate the conflict, saying it might unleash "fire and destruction."

"Islamic Jihad is frustrated by its inability to inflict real damage on Israelis while the IDF has dealt a significant blow to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and their weapons storage facilities," Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai told Army Radio Monday night.

Israeli defense officials say the Islamic Jihad is doing Iran's bidding by firing the rockets. Should things escalate, they say they have plans to take more aggressive action to stop the attacks.

Three Iron Dome batteries are in place in southern Israel. Officials hope to activate 13 throughout the country for more protection and are developing similar systems for longer-range missiles.

NYPD Criticism Draws New Scrutiny to Chris Christie

Heated rhetoric between New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York officials over the NYPD's surveillance activities on Muslim subjects in New Jersey is reviving questions about Christie's views toward radical Islam.

Christie expressed anger about the surveillance following disclosures in a series of Associated Press reports. "I don't know if this NYPD action was born out of arrogance, or out of paranoia, or out of both," he said when asked about it on his monthly radio show, "but we're taking a real good, strong hard look at it from a policy perspective at the governor's office level."

That prompted U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., to tell a radio interviewer "I wish Chris Christie was more concerned about keeping people alive than he is about trying to score cheap political points."

Jonathan Tobin analyzes the situation, finding it is more than "two politicians who love to run their mouths and are intolerant of criticism." Rather, he sees Christie cynically choosing sides to cultivate Muslim political support. As the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported last year, Christie's appointment of Sohail Mohammed to be a state judge was a troubling sign. Mohammed had represented Mohammed Qatanani, an imam suspected of Hamas ties, in a deportation case.

"Christie not only sought to prevent the deportation but spoke at the imam's mosque which had previously been the site of a $2 million fundraiser for Hamas by the now banned Holy Land Foundation," Tobin writes.

Christie, then a U.S. Attorney, took sides against the Department of Homeland Security by allowing a top lieutenant to testify as a character witness for the imam. Christie later embraced Qatanani at a Ramadan breakfast.

"It is difficult to view his involvement in the Qatanani case as anything but a cynical pander for votes on the part of a man who was about to run for governor," Tobin writes.

Before Christie nominated him to the bench, Mohammed prayed for the acquittal of former Holy Land Foundation officials later convicted on more than 100 counts related to the group's illegally routing more than $12 million to Hamas-controlled charities, and he defended Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian during a cable television appearance.

In an editorial, the New York Daily News questions Christie's insistence he didn't know the NYPD engaged in intelligence gathering in New Jersey. The NYPD's reputation, the governor said, was to keep people in the dark, so "if the NYPD has a choice between telling you and not telling you, more times than not, they don't."

But predecessors and senior law enforcement officials were told, meaning if Christie is being candid, the newspaper wrote, then he "was generally clueless about this important aspect of terror-fighting on his turf. That's a problem."

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