CAIR Rep Speaks on Hamas TV

The executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) spoke on a Hamas-linked television channel, telling Arabic-speaking viewers that right-wing ideologues are fueling violence against Muslim Americans. It's not the first time that a CAIR official has hyped American Islamophobia to hostile foreign media sources.

According to a summary issued by the government's Foreign Broadcast Information Service, CAIR's Executive Director Nihad Awad appeared via telephone with the head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood group, the Islamic Action Front, and others for a July 23 broadcast of Hamas-linked Al-Quds TV.

Discussing the terrorist attack in Norway and right-wing extremism, Awad said American hostility towards Muslims was bound to turn into violence. The Norway attack marked the beginning of a wave of violence against Muslims and left-wingers in the West, he said. Right-wing media in the West is living in a state of self-denial by claiming Muslims are dangerous and that their incitement isn't fanning violent hate.

As a consequence, Awad said his organization asked President Obama to stop U.S. intelligence agencies from allowing right-wing ideologues to "train" political and military leaders about Islam.

On the same program, a Hamas spokesman was cited blaming Anders Breivik's attack on an "ongoing instigation of the Zionist enemy and Zionist lobby against the Palestinian people" and their allies.

Ali Abu al-Sukkar, the head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council, also spoke by phone about the Zionist lobby's role in militarization and instigation against Muslims. To al-Sukkar, violence against Muslims in the West should be considered a part of Western attacks on Islamic countries, and thus a clash of civilizations. It is also part of the Western double standard of blaming Islam for attacks by Muslims but not Christianity for Christian extremists.

It is not the first time a senior CAIR official appeared on hostile foreign media channels to criticize American policy and attitudes. "It's really a disturbing situation where, primarily right-wing extremists are exploiting and promoting anti-Muslim sentiment for their own political gain," spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told Iran's state-run PressTV on June 6th. "And I think we're going to see more and more of it leading up to the 2012 elections." Hooper added that anti-Muslim sentiment is raging in America.

He made similar comments to PressTV on Wednesday.

Shabaab Claims American Deaths in Somalia

Somalia-based terrorist group al-Shabaab claims to have killed "American trainers" in a raid on an African peacekeepers base, in an official communiqué issued Monday. If true, it would hint at a previously unreported level of American involvement in the war on Somalia's main Islamist terrorist organization.

There have been no reports, however, about any American casualties in Somalia this week. Two suicide bombers attacked a base with African peacekeepers Monday, killing at least two people. Ugandan military officials dismissed the al-Shabaab claim in a statement. "We lost two soldiers and that was explained by Amisom. We are expecting their bodies today," a spokesperson said. "It's a lie that there are American soldiers training UPDF soldiers in Somalia."

But al-Shabaab's statement quoted a spokesman named Ali-Mohamed Rage, who claimed both African Union forces and American trainers were among the casualties. "We have already displayed the corpses of the slain Ugandan soldiers to the media yesterday and today Allah has enabled the Mujahideen to add three more Americans to the list; that is in addition to the American sniper killed in yesterday's battle," he added, but did not note when and where American bodies would be displayed.

American air raids have killed al-Shabaab regulars and leaders, but little information exists about Special Operations troops on the ground. A 2007 Associated Press report discussed the presence of a small American team in Somalia and Eritrea, both struggling against Islamist extremism and terrorism. However, senior U.S. defense officials dismissed the possibility of large numbers of ground troops.

"The only way we are going to kill or capture the surviving al-Qaida terrorists is for U.S. special forces to go in on the ground," said Hussein Aided, a former U.S. Marine and deputy prime minister, in 2007. "They have the know-how and the right equipment to capture these people."

Salafists, Brotherhood Ascendant in Egypt

While world attention is focused on the ‪trial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Muslim radicals are making headway towards turning Egypt into an Islamic republic, according to Israeli Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh.

The security situation in the Sinai Peninsula has deteriorated, with Islamists suspected of attacks like this one - a July 29 assault on an El Arish police station which left seven people dead. "If Egyptian authorities do not move quickly to crush the extremists and regain control, the Sinai Peninsula could soon become a separate Islamic emirate run by Salafis, Hamas and al-Qaida," Abu Toameh writes in a column published by Hudson New York.

"The Facebook folks who triggered the anti-Mubarak revolution have been replaced by Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood supporters," he adds. "It is only a matter of time before Egypt turns into an Islamic Republic that is aligned with Iran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad."

Last week, hundreds of thousands of pro-Salafist demonstrators gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square in a massive show of force. The Salafists have established a political party called Al-Nour, ("The Light") to run in Egypt's next elections.

Alarmed that the Salafists or the Brotherhood might prevail, Egypt's ruling military council has yet to set an election date. But it will not be able to postpone it indefinitely, and many Egyptians appear sympathetic to the Islamists, Abu Toameh writes.

Since Mubarak's ouster, Salafists and their supporters have been accused of encouraging and participating in a wave of violence against Christians and secularists in Egypt.

Abu Toameh contends that many Western analysts exaggerate the differences between the Salafists and the Brotherhood. Although they have doctrinal differences about the role of religion and politics, "both parties want to see an Islamic regime in Egypt - one where moderation and pragmatism are non-existent," he writes.

Read the op-ed here.

Hamas: Reconciliation to Increase Terror

Hamas' political leader slammed his Palestinian Authority counterpart for "aimless kangaroo-like" political gymnastics in the latest round of failed unity negotiations, according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Hamas' Mahmoud al-Zahar also confirmed that the group has no intention of surrendering any piece of what it considers Palestinian land, reinforcing its rejectionist message.

"We in Gaza conducted a plan of resistance in order to drive the occupation out. The plan was accomplished, and not a single settler or soldier remains on the Palestinian land in Gaza. Our plan is to continue this approach," Zahar said in a July 21^st interview with Dream TV. "At this moment in time, we say to you, first of all: We want Palestine in its entirety - so there will not be any misunderstandings. If our generation is unable to achieve this, the next one will, and we are raising our children on this. Palestine means Palestine in its entirety, and Israel cannot exist in our midst."

Zahar slammed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his approach of turning to the United Nations for a state. The move is likely to be blocked by an American veto and would embrace borders that recognize Israel's existence, Zahar said, which Hamas rejects completely. "Therefore, anyone who says that Hamas has accepted the 1967 borders, I would like to make something clear: We will establish a state on any piece of land, but without giving up on any piece of Palestinian land," he added.

For Hamas, a reconciliation deal means cooperation in carrying out terrorism from the Palestinian Authority-ruled West Bank. "Hamas knows the goal of its platform," Zahar said. "We liberated Gaza through resistance. We want to conduct resistance in the West Bank as well. The problem is the security cooperation and the occupation."

Rocket Attacks From Gaza on the Upsurge

Israeli Air Force (IAF) planes struck several Hamas training camps Thursday morning, one day after a pair of long-range rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel. One of the rockets fell in an open area near Kiryat Gat, the other in Ashkelon, damaging a road. Five people suffered minor injuries while running for cover after sirens went off signaling the impending strike in Ashkelon.

The Gaza City training camps reportedly belonged to Hamas' military wing. The IAF also targeted a smuggling tunnel in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border.

Gaza-based terrorists responded Thursday night, firing another rocket that landed near Kiryat Gat. Another early report said two rockets landed in the area, one exploding at a cattle barn. The IAF launched retaliatory strikes Thursday night.

Several days earlier, Gaza-based terrorists fired a rocket into southern Israel, wounding a 55-year-old Israeli Arab woman. The victim, a Bedouin shepherd, suffered shrapnel wounds.

After Wednesday's rocket attacks, Israel Defense Force (IDF) officials said they did not expect a larger escalation in attacks that despite a recent increase in rocket fire from Gaza. The most recent attacks had come from terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida and "Global Jihad elements," they said, rather than Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Four rockets were fired from Gaza in June; since the beginning of July, there have been more than 25.

Terrorist organizations in Gaza have shown no reluctance to operate in the open. They continue "to hold extensive training activities to increase their military-operational capabilities and bolster their image in the Gazan public eye," reports the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

Last week, for example, Hamas' military wing conducted training exercises that included firing light arms. And the PIJ held its own military exercise in which 400 operatives participated. The objective was to "prepare everything necessary to confront an instance of Zionist aggression."

Al-Qaida Weapons Reaching al-Shabaab

The Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab has acquired weapons from the Yemeni-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a Somali official told VOA News.

Ten ships filled with weapons from al-Qaida set sail recently from the coast of Yemen, but the Yemeni government intercepted two of them.

Hussein Haji Ahmed, the Somali consul in Yemen, said that he thinks the remaining ships successfully sailed across the Gulf of Aden and reached part of the Somali coast controlled by al-Shabaab.

The news confirms fears of collaboration between al-Shabaab and al-Qaida's Yemeni branch expressed during a recent House hearing held by Rep. Peter King, R.-N.Y.

"There are growing concerns that al-Shabaab in Somalia is linking up with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen to better train these radicalized young men in order to attack Americans around the world, as well as launch attacks against our homeland," King said.

"Shabaab's most senior leaders, including its founders, have longstanding ties to al Qaeda," hearing witness Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said in written testimony. Witnesses agreed that al-Shabaab poses a "direct threat to the U.S."

Al-Shabaab's foreign support isn't limited to AQAP, indicating that the group has a growing support network in the region.

A recent United Nations report found that members of the Kenyan Muslim Youth Centre (MYC) "openly engage in recruiting for al-Shabaab in Kenya and facilitate travel to Somalia for individuals to train and fight for 'jihad' in Somalia."

MYC Chairman Ahmad Iman Ali, the report said, moved to Somalia in 2009 and has recruited a force of 200-500 fighters there. The Kenyan group also publishes a weekly bulletin that includes al-Shabaab and al-Qaida support material.

Eritrea, which is separated from Somalia's northern border only by the small African country of Djibouti, also has been accused of aiding the Somali terrorist group.

A UN report released in July said that Eritrea has been funneling $80,000 a month to al-Shabaab through its embassy in Kenya. Ethiopian Justice Minister Berhane Hailu claimed there is concrete evidence of Eritrea's al-Shabaab support. Eritrea denies the claims.

Senators Urge Terror Designation for Turkish Group

Five U.S. senators called for the designation of the Hamas-tied Turkish Charity IHH as a terrorist organization in a letter to President Obama late last month.

The letter states that last June, 87 senators urged the president to investigate IHH for possible designation under Executive Order 13244 and now, "one year later, we urge your formal designation of the IHH without delay."

The letter notes that IHH is a member of the Union of Good, an umbrella organization formed to financially support Hamas and designated by the Treasury Department in November 2008. It is signed by Senators Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; James Risch, R-Idaho, James Inhofe, R-Okla.; Mark Kirk, R-Ill. and Mike Johanns, R-Neb.

IHH's ties to Hamas have been confirmed by the U.S. government and the group is under investigation for potential designation.

IHH has partnered with Viva Palestina, a UK-based group which has delivered millions of dollars to the Hamas regime in Gaza. During Viva Palestina's third convoy that arrived in Gaza last January, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told IHH members of the convoy that "The IHH has particularly delivered substantial amount of aid to the people of Gaza. IHH President Bulent Yildirim offered help and stood beside our side during the war."

IHH also helped drive last year's deadly flotilla confrontation in the Mediterranean Sea which resulted in the death of nine activists and prompted international outcry.

The group also has offices in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. "We only work through Hamas, although we don't limit our aid to its followers," said Muhammad Kaya, who heads the IHH branch in Gaza. "We consider Israel and the United Nations to be the terrorists, not Hamas."

Read the letter here.

Palestinian Urges Breeding Next Generation of Mujahideen

Palestinian media continue to disseminate messages glorifying militancy, as a Palestinian researcher encouraged Palestinian women to raise their children to be jihadists.

Preparations should begin before the women even get pregnant, instructed Khaled Al-Khaldi, head of the Center for Palestinian Historiography and Documentation. His July 10 article, "How did the Sahabiyat Rear their Sons," was published on the website of a Gaza newspaper and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Palestinian women, he wrote, should follow the example of the sahabiyat in hopes of raising mujahideen. Sahabiyat were considered "pure, virtuous crusaders of Islam" during the life of the prophet Muhammad.

"The women who lived in the time of the Prophet reared their sons with a religious and jihad-based education, raising a generation that defeated two empires - the Persian and the Byzantine - and led [the Muslims] out of the darkness and into the light." Al-Khaldi wrote. "The education they gave their children began even before conception, as even prior to pregnancy, they would resolve to give birth to mujahideen for the sake of Allah."

Using hadiths to support each claim, al-Khaldi provides additional instructions for Palestinian mothers. In order to raise children who could physically bear the burden of jihad, mothers are told to watch what they eat during pregnancy and ensure they breastfeed long enough for their sons to grow strong.

On a spiritual and psychological level, al-Khaldi advises teaching one's children the military exploits of Muhammad as examples to be emulated as well as ensuring children can keep secrets and live a disciplined life free from pleasure and temptation.

"These women taught their children Muhammad's life story and war [exploits], so that they would follow in his path of jihad," claimed al-Khaldi. "They taught [their children] good values... and to keep secrets...So that their children would be mujahideen who were stronger than the infidels, they raised them to live a hard life and distanced them from pleasure and luxury."

Al-Khaldi concludes by appealing to the Palestinian mothers as essential to the effort of raising "a new generation that will liberate the [Muslim] lands and holy places."

Brit Jailed for Advocating Attacks on Parliament Members

A British Islamist who called for attacks against members of his nation's parliament has been jailed for 12 years, according to the Washington Post. Bilal Zaheer Ahmed's threat prompted the shut down of Revolution Muslim (RM)'s website, which was linked to numerous terrorist plots in America and Britain.

Ahmed's threat listed the names of Members of Parliament who had voted for the Iraq war, and urged other Islamists to carry out attacks on the politicians during open meetings with the public. His post also suggested that plotters follow the plan of Roshonara Choudhry, a young woman who had carried out the model of attack he suggested. He also linked to religious texts that inspired her to carry out jihad and saluted her efforts by saying, "We ask Allah to keep her safe and secure, to hasten her release and to reward this heroine immensely."

Revolution Muslim, a small Internet group that regularly engaged street proselytizing, was linked to numerous terrorist plots. Former RM leader Zachary Chesser pled guilty to providing material support to al-Shabaab, and for making threats on the lives of "South Park" producers who drew the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Colleen LaRose, Bryant Neal Vinas, Tarek Mehanna and Daniel Maldonado are among several other terrorists linked to the site. Even Samir Khan, an American media specialist working with al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula, was tied to the group.

Following the decline of Revolution Muslim, the group's then leader Younus Abdullah Muhammad formed another website called Islam Policy. From Morocco, Muhammad continued the group's violent rhetoric and gave online courses in Islamic financing. He was arrested and is awaiting deportation from the country to face trial for his role in the "South Park" threats.

Syrian Crackdown Hardens Resolve on Both Sides

Syria continued its brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, a day after state forces killed at least 80 civilians in the city of Hama. The use of tanks and live ammunition on civilians has further isolated Syria's regime, prompting new sanctions from the European Union.

"The reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime," President Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "Syria will be a better place when a democratic transition goes forward. In the days ahead, the US will continue to increase our pressure on the Syrian regime, and work with others around the world to isolate the Assad government and stand with the Syrian people," the statement said.

Syrian forces killed more than 140 across the country Sunday, including at least 80 in the Islamist center of Hama. The city was the scene of a famous massacre in 1982, where the regime suppressed an Islamist uprising by killing at least 10,000 people. Both sides seem to be preparing for more conflict during the month of Ramadan, with the size and voracity of Sunday's violence hardening resolve on both sides.

"It is time for the [United Nations] Security Council to take a clear stand on the need to end the violence," warned E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The E.U. added five additional names to a list of 30 Syrian government officials, being targeted by a visa band and assets freeze.

Turkey, one of Syria's strongest regional allies and a major trading partner, also condemned the attacks. "The incidents of Sunday simply horrified us. I am shaken by the use of heavy artillery and tanks against the people of Hama, right on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan," Turkish President Gül told the Anatolia news agency on Monday.

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