Israel's Sudan Attack and Arms Smuggling

Sudan claims that Israel was behind an April 5 missile strike on a car in Port Sudan that killed a top Hamas terror operative.

Two men were incinerated in a Hellfire missile attack that evening, including Abdul-Latif Ashkar, a senior member of the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing. Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writes that Ashkar was reportedly a founder of Hamas' "aid and logistics department."

Hamas denied any connection to either of the dead men, but Palestinian sources contradicted this. The Palestinian Ma'an News Agency reported that Ashkar was the successor to senior Hamas terror operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was assassinated in Dubai last year, presumably by Israel.

The Sudanese claim to be victims of Israeli aggression. But since seizing power in 1989, the Islamist dictatorship there has collaborated with Iran. Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helped deliver military assistance and training to Khartoum. Last year, Sudanese opposition media reported that Iran runs a weapons factory in Sudan which provides arms to Hamas.

Many of the weapons coming from Sudan cross Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and are smuggled into Gaza using sophisticated tunnels financed by Iran. Schanzer notes that Wikileaks cables show that Washington warned Sudan over the flow of Iranian arms to Gaza during the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas two years ago. A March 2009 cable showed that the United States knew of Iranian plans "to transship military equipment from Syria to Sudan, to be transferred to Hamas."

In early 2009, Israel is believed to have launched a series of raids against targets in Sudan to prevent Iranian arms smuggling into Gaza. Sudanese officials said the attacks included two airstrikes in the eastern desert and the sinking of a ship carrying weapons in the Red Sea.

The Israeli operations in Sudan can be viewed as an extension of Israel's ongoing efforts to prevent Iranian proxies such as Hamas and Hizballah from firing rockets into Israeli territory. This has become much more difficult for Israel with the collapse of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government, Schanzer writes:

"Indeed, Israeli defense officials report that Egypt recently halted construction of an underground steel wall designed to stop weapons smuggling along its border with Gaza. This makes the operations in Sudan all the more vital in stemming the flow of Iranian weapons."

Read the full article here. Read more about the April 5 strike in Port Sudan here.

Concerns Raised Over Practice of Sharia Law in Britain

The application of Sharia (or Islamic) law is on the rise in Britain, raising concerns over the law's consistency with democratic values and its impact on particular groups of citizens, according to a report by Britain's One Law for All Campaign.

One Law for All wants the UK government to eliminate Sharia courts and other legal applications of religious law "and to guarantee equal citizenship rights for all." Among the supporters it lists are writers Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and a host of secular and atheist groups.

"Sharia law is a form of religious dogma and tyranny. It is homophobic, sexist, and anti-democratic," Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell is quoted saying in the report.

Islamic law is implemented in Britain through Sharia Councils and Muslim Arbitration Tribunals (MATs). Sharia Councils are defined as religious bodies that aim to reach an agreement between the parties involved instead of a judgment. MATs, on the other hand, have a legal classification under the Arbitration Act 1996. Their rulings are binding in law, provided participating parties agree beforehand to abide by its decision. Despite this distinction, in practice, Sharia Councils also engage in arbitration and often ask people to sign an agreement to make their decisions binding.

Both Sharia Councils and MATs are criticized for threatening the legal rights of a large section of the British population, namely women and children. For example, in Islam, only men have the right to unilateral divorce and child custody reverts to the father at a preset age. Both these laws are typically upheld in Britain by Sharia Councils and MATs regardless of the specifics of the case.

While the decisions of Sharia courts are often contrary to British law and public policy and can be challenged in a civil court, they rarely are. The reasons for this include women's lack of understanding of English or their rights under British law and pressure and intimidation from the Muslim community.

Discrimination and human rights violations are being further institutionalized in the UK as Sharia courts gain greater approval. In fact, some law firms in the UK now offer Sharia law consultation along with traditional legal representation. Critics maintain that the powers of Sharia courts must be curtailed to stop abuses to the rights of women and children and restore the democratic principle of equality before the law.

Though calls for the implementation of Sharia in the UK currently refer mostly to the widespread use of the civil code in handling family issues, statements from supporters of Sharia in Britain suggest that their ultimate goal is to impose Islam's brutal penal code on British society as well.

"If Sharia law is implemented, then you can turn this country into a haven of peace," said Suhaib Hasan, Secretary General of the Islamic Sharia Council and Spokesperson of the Muslim Council of Britain. "Because once a thief's hand is cut off nobody is going to steal. Once, just only once, if an adulterer is stoned nobody is going to commit this crime at all."

For the full report, click here.

Al-Qaida Advancing Amid Middle East, North Africa Turmoil

Branches of al-Qaida in the Middle East and North Africa are hoping to make advances amid civil unrest, particularly in shaky Yemen. The organization appears willing to use tactics that it has traditionally shunned, such as strategic limitations on attacks to pressure fragile political structure.

"The new regime after President Ali Abdullah Saleh will take time at least to become as hard as Saleh on Al Qaida," said Saeed Obaid Al Jimhi, chairman of the Al Jimhi Centre for Studies, a Yemeni think tank specializing on the terrorist organization. "They (Al Qaida leaders) think Saleh was the worst and hardest to them … They know that any terrorist operation would be in the interest of President Saleh, so they are turning to politics now."

Al Jimhi noted that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is more concerned with other Islamists rising to power, who might persecute them to shed a negative image in the West. If the dominant Islamist party of Islah were to take power, AQAP would refrain from local attacks until the regime faltered at ruling the failed state. When corruption appeared, the group would strike the regime to appear as leaders of the next revolution.

Al Jimhi's observations show an increasing political awareness, to match the growing operational capacities of AQAP. Following America's increased role in striking Yemeni militants, the group "emerged as a more disciplined and professional organization," write Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman of the Associated Press. "It ditched cell phones in favor of walkie-talkies and coded names. Information was passed through intermediaries. If someone needed to send an email, it was shielded by highly sophisticated encryption software."

The North African branch of the group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM], is taking up new positions in isolated areas in the region. AQIM is building a new base in the Wagadou forest of Mali, near the Mauritanian border, according to the Agence France Press. Last week, the organization also posted a message claiming the murder of two Mauritanian government spies in the Malian town of Timbuktu, reversing gains made against the group in raids last year.

Op-ed: Why Muslims Should Support Burqa Ban

An activist for moderate Islam called for Muslim communities to support France's ban on the veil and attacked the "rote ritualism" of the face covering in an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor. According to Dr. Qanta Ahmed, the veil has become a political symbol of division and ignorance, one which Western society is right to prohibit.

"Limiting face-veils to a private practice within the home can yield a more cohesive society, if only Western authorities are courageous enough to carry this through," Ahmed wrote. "Authorities will succeed only if they are supported by educated Muslims intimate with the nuances of veiling beyond a literal construction."

For Ahmed, the veil does not symbolize the modesty and chastity that she believes underlies both male and female roles in Islam. Rather, it is a political symbol that "obscures the faith's complexity and pluralism into a single, faceless monolith." Yet, because of its popularity amongst those reviving traditional Islam in post 9/11 America, it is often taken as a symbol of devotion among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Ahmed disputes the idea that Muslim women should turn Islam's philosophy of modesty into a simple piece of cloth. She sees this and other manifestations of separateness as the desire of "Islamist Muslims [to] push the limits of societal balance beyond the pale." For her, the Islamists' "actions, and not the state's, ultimately limit the progress and acceptance of all Muslims, whatever the extent of our external symbols of Islam."

Ahmed has authored several columns on the subject of Islamism and the need of Western society to take strong action. She also is the author of In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom, an account of her experiences under Saudi Arabia's repressive religious law.

USS Cole Mastermind to Stand Trial at Gitmo

U.S. military prosecutors have re-filed charges against the alleged mastermind of the attack on the American warship USS Cole, in 2000. The perpetrator is one of three individuals who have been identified as eligible for military trials at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian national of Yemeni descent, is accused of orchestrating the attack in 2000 in which a small, explosives-laden dinghy rammed into an American warship docked in the Yemeni Port of Aden.

"The charges allege that Nashiri was in charge of the planning and preparation for the attack on USS Cole (DDG 67) in the Port of Aden, Yemen, on Oct. 12, 2000. The attack killed 17 sailors, wounded 40 sailors, and severely damaged the ship by blowing a 30-foot by 30-foot hole in her side," according to the U.S. Department of Defense press release.

Nashiri also is accused of coordinating the attempted attack on the USS The Sullivans in the Port of Aden in 2000 and the attack on the French civilian oil tanker, the MV Limburg in 2002. The latter attack killed one crewmember and resulted in the release of 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden. All these acts were allegedly carried out while Nashiri served as operations chief for Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Nashiri was apprehended in Dubai in 2002 and initially charged during Bush's presidency. The case was dropped, however, in 2009 as part of an Obama administration initiative to examine the detention policy at Guantanamo Bay. This initiative included a stay on all military trials and the filing of charges against prisoners. The original charges against Nashiri included the death penalty, which military prosecutors are seeking again in the newly filed charges. The decision to proceed with capital charges requires the approval from the Pentagon appointee overseeing the Guantanamo tribunals, retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald.

President Obama maintains that his administration is dedicated to closing the Guantanamo detention facility. However, his official resumption on March 7 of military tribunals and the filing of new charges for specific detainees designated by the Justice Department indicates that the facility will remain open for the near future.

Of the approximately 170 detainees at Guantanamo, defense officials reported that about 80 are expected to face trial by military tribunal. Among them is the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four of his co-conspirators, who until recently were scheduled to face trial in federal court in New York.

Why Was CAIR Founder Spared?

Department of Justice officials declined a request last year to prosecute Omar Ahmad, a co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), on Hamas-support charges emanating from the successful prosecution of a Texas charity.

Now U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is asking Attorney General Eric Holder to explain why. King's letter, released Monday, follows a report from Patrick Poole last week that senior Department of Justice officials in March 2010 turned down a request from prosecutors in Dallas to bring the case.

"Who made the final decision not to prosecute?" King asked in his letter. "Who, if anyone, from the Executive Office of the President, consulted with, advised, or otherwise communicated with the Department of Justice" on the issue?

Ahmad and CAIR were among hundreds of unindicted co-conspirators in the terror-financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). In 2008, a federal jury in Dallas convicted HLF and five former officials on 108 counts related to illegal Hamas support.

If additional charges were to be brought, it is logical that Ahmad would be among the targets. Records show he played a significant role in a coalition of groups assembled to help Hamas politically and financially in America. That group, called the Palestine Committee, gathered in Philadelphia in 1993 to discuss ways to "derail" U.S.-brokered peace accords between Israelis and Palestinians.

FBI wiretaps show that Ahmad was one of three people on a telephone call to decide who would attend the Philadelphia meeting. Though he was not a part of HLF, records show the charity paid for Ahmad's travel to the Philadelphia meeting.

He called that meeting to order and led much of its discussion, including his ready agreement to deceive Americans about the group's true objectives.

In addition, CAIR appears among other Palestine Committee organizations in a 1994 meeting agenda for the group.

Four months later, Ahmad, also known as "Omar Yehya," called another meeting of committee members to try to resolve tension between HLF and a rival fundraiser. Despite not being an HLF officer, he was heard on another wiretap discussing salary issues for an HLF official, Mohamed El-Mezain, who was moving to San Diego to open a branch office.

That, and other evidence, showed Ahmad served as "a leader of the Palestinian committee," testified FBI Special Agent Lara Burns.

The HLF evidence prompted the FBI to cut off formal communication with CAIR in 2008. That policy continues, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified before a House committee earlier this month. Mueller said the Bureau has concerns with CAIR's national leadership.

According to Politico's Josh Gerstein, this is not the first time DOJ officials passed on charging Ahmad. "Some prosecutors wanted to include CAIR and others in the case at that time," Gerstein reports.

Palestinians Confess to Massacring Family of Five

Israeli security forces have arrested two men who they say have confessed to carrying out the March 11 massacre of five Israelis in the West Bank settlement of Itamar.

Investigators say Ehud and Ruth Fogel and three of their children - Yoav, 11; Elad, 4: and Hadas, three months - were all stabbed or shot to death by Palestinian terrorists from a neighboring village.

Two other children sleeping in the residence were unharmed. One of the perpetrators said he would have killed them as well had he realized they were in the house. The bodies were discovered when an older sister - 12-year-old Tamar - returned home from a youth event.

Both of the killers, Hakim Maazan Niad Awad, 17, and his 18-year-old cousin Amjad Mahmud Fauzi Awad, lived in the Arab village of Awarta, a little over one mile away from Itamar.

The pair, affiliated with the Syria-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), provided considerable detail about the terror plot and reenacted the crime for Israeli investigators.

Carrying wire cutters and knives, the Awads walked from Awarta to Itamar where they scaled the security fence. They broke into the home of the Fogels' next-door neighbors and stole an assault rifle and a protective vest.

Then the men went to the Fogel home and killed Yoav and Elad. Ehud and Ruth Fogel struggled with the terrorists in the bedroom before being stabbed and shot to death. The Awads then left the house, only to return a short time later to steal another gun. At that point, the infant daughter Hadas woke up and cried, so the intruders stabbed her to death.

After murdering the five members of the Fogel family, the Awads walked back to Awarta and told Hakim's uncle, PFLP member Salah Adin Awad, what they had done. He hid their firearms and told them to burn their blood-soaked clothing.

Read more here and here.

Audit Wraps Canadian Charity's Hamas Support

The Canada Revenue Agency revoked the charitable status of the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy Canada (IRFAN) last week, saying it "is an integral part of an international fundraising effort to support Hamas."

The Toronto Star obtained a copy of a federal audit of IRFAN, which found the group sent $14.6 million to charities tied to Hamas between 2005 and 2009.

IRFAN-Canada is still permitted to function as a non-profit organization, but it no longer can issue tax receipts to its donors. The audit also found that IRFAN-Canada has redistributed more than $580,000 that has been raised for disaster relief such as the 2004 tsunami and the 2008 Pakistan earthquake to projects in the West Bank and Gaza. The audit said that IRFAN used "deceptive fundraising" so that it could send money to Hamas.

The group describes itself as "an international and humanitarian organization committed to alleviate the sufferings of needy worldwide."

But the audit's findings are strongly similar to what prosecutors proved about the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), what had been the largest Muslim charity in the United States. While it touted its work in health care and education, records showed HLF illegally routed more than $12 million to Hamas through a network of charities controlled by the terrorist group.

IRFAN-Canada's promotional videos "demonize Israel, characterize the Arab-Israeli conflict as a religious war, appeal for all Arab and Muslim nations to join in the struggle against Israel and glorify martyrdom," the audit said.

This is not the first time that IRFAN-Canada has had legal problems. A 2002 tax audit revealed that it "maintained partnerships" with organizations that have direct connections to Hamas. In April 2010 IRFAN-Canada was given a one-year suspension for failing to maintain proper records.

The audit indicates that the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services, now defunct, and IRFAN-Canada were consolidated in 2001 by Rasem Abdel-Majid. The Jerusalem Fund was deemed to have connections with terrorist organizations in 2000 by the Privy Council. The consolidation was concealed, "leading us to consider the strong possibility that this exercise was intended to circumvent to the CRA's refusal to grant JFHS registration as a charity," the audit said.

IRFAN-Canada denies these accusations, however it acquired at least some of the Jerusalem Fund's assets.

The CRA said that IRFAN-Canada's behavior damaged the Canadian charity system's integrity.

Irvine 11 Plead Not Guilty

The 11 University of California, Irvine and UC Riverside students charged with misdemeanors in connection with their disrupting Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech at UC Irvine last year pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Friday. The students are each charged with one count of conspiracy to disrupt a meeting and one misdemeanor count of disrupting a meeting.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson will hear arguments on May 13 over whether parts of the grand jury investigation will be released. He will hear arguments on the motion to remove District Attorney Tony Rackaukas from the case on June 17. The defendants claim that Rackaukas is biased against Muslims based on a reference to the case as the "UCI Muslim Case" in an email. They also claim that he illegally issued subpoenas.

Defense attorneys are trying to paint the picture that the students are fighting for democracy. "This isn't about the war on Gaza, it's about democracy here," said defense attorney Jacqueline Goodman. "It was a principled protest by top students.… They're fighting for all of us."

The students organized the disruption through the Muslim Student Union at UCI in February 2010. They subsequently attempted to hide evidence that they had organized the disturbances. The repeated disruptions forced the ambassador to pause his speech for about 20 minutes until order was restored. The entire incident was captured on video.

"They're caught red-handed," Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner said, "They very intentionally tried to shut down" Oren's speech.

FBI Official Spotlights Islamist Terror Threats

Mark F. Giuliano assistant director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, painted a troubling portrait of the jihadist threat in a Thursday afternoon address. Speaking to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Giuliano focused on two particular dangers: al-Qaida and homegrown Islamist terror.

Giuliano said the most serious threat to the American homeland comes from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Leaders of the group like Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan "have published articles on the Internet detailing their intent to strike the United States," he said.

Key AQAP leaders "were born or educated in the United States and understand our culture, our limitations, our security protocols and our vulnerabilities. They use this understanding to develop and refine new tactics and techniques to defeat our security measures and attack us," Giuliano said. AQAP realizes "the importance and value of reaching English-speaking audiences and are using the group's marketing skills to inspire individuals to attack within the homeland. In many cases, they are attempting to provide them with the knowledge to do so, without having to travel or train abroad."

He added that the two most recent AQAP attempts to strike the U.S. – the attempted Christmas Day 2009 bombing of Northwest Flight 253 and the attempted bombings in October 2010 of air cargo flights traveling from Yemen to the United States – illustrate the diversity of the threat. "In each instance, AQAP was able to recruit a small group of individuals committed to attacking the United States and whose backgrounds were less likely to trigger security scrutiny," Giuliano said. "Additionally, AQAP claimed a significant victory for each attack due to both the fear they created and the economic impact expended by the United States and others to screen passengers and packages compared to the small expenditure on their part. "

The homegrown threat manifests itself in two different ways. Individuals inside the United States such as Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan; Hosam Smadi, who pled guilty to attempting to bomb a Dallas skyscraper; and Khalid Aldawsari, who allegedly plotted to bomb the home of former President George W. Bush, "become radicalized and motivated to conduct attacks against the homeland," Giuliano said.

In other cases, like those of Najibullah Zazi and Faisal Shahzad, individuals "become radicalized in the United States and travel or attempt to travel overseas to obtain training and return to the United States or to join and fight with groups overseas."

Read the full speech here.

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