Dallas Paper: HLF Sentences Heavy, But Just

While supporters continue to argue that the five men convicted of financing Hamas with more than $12 million through the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) did nothing more than give aid the needy, the Dallas Morning News argues that U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis handed down appropriate sentences Wednesday.

Former HLF Chief Executive Shukri Abu Baker and co-founder Ghassan Elashi will serve 65 year prison terms. Three other defendants received sentences of 15 and 20 years each. The sentences were heavy, but appropriate, the Morning News said in an editorial.

"[A]nyone who helps fund groups that make bombs to blow people up deserves stiff punishment."

The newspaper also took note of the defendants' seeming defiance in court, with none acknowledging any wrongdoing. Before Judge Solis cut him off, Abu Baker spent nearly 20 minutes addressing the court, talking about his family history and the emotional challenges caring for a chronically ill daughter. That, the Morning News said, reflected on the "twisted thinking" of the defense:

"His daughter's cystic fibrosis had absolutely nothing to do with Palestinian grievances against Israel. His statement was an appalling attempt to distract the public from the true effect of his crime: to collect money that helped Hamas kill, maim and fulfill its goal of wiping Israel off the face of the earth."

The newspaper is in a position to know. Its reporters, led by Steve McGonigle, spent years uncovering connections between HLF and Hamas only to see the group file a libel suit and wage pickets claiming the newspaper was on a crusade against them. Here is a transcript from a 1996 interview reporter Gayle Reaves conducted with Baker in which he denies any Hamas connection.

"We were never associated with Hamas to start with to distance ourselves later on. We never associated with Hamas anyway."

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Solis repeatedly said that the evidence proved this wasn't true. "The purpose of creating the Holy Land Foundation was as a fundraising arm for Hamas," he said.

Evidence showed part of their effort was devoted to derailing U.S.-led peace initiatives during the early 1990s. Hamas, the Morning News said, has offered Palestinians nothing in the alternative but "wanton, deliberate carnage ...ruling over a kingdom of rubble, starvation and misery."

You can see some of the newspaper's original stories here.

Congressional Republicans Offer Obama Speech Tips

Ten Republican members of Congress have sent President Obama a letter urging him to be frank and direct when he addresses the Muslim world next week from Egypt.

The Middle East once was home to tolerance and diversity, the letter said. But that has been squelched by a radical form of Islam "intent on dividing humanity into Muslims and non-Muslims." The President should urge the international community to declare Al Qaeda and the Taliban threats to humanity and advocate on behalf of reformists.

In addition:

"We ask you to call upon the governments of the Middle East to commit to defend freedom and democracy in pluralistic Lebanon, and to call for a stop to political assassinations and a disarmament of militias within their borders. We urge you to ask the Arab League to help the mostly Muslim population of Darfur, which is subjected to a genocide at the hands of a regime whose president is under indictment by the International Criminal Court. We urge you to ask them to help Pakistan in its war against the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations. We ask you to call on the Organization of Islamic Conference to abandon its goal of imposing so-called "Defamation of Religions" laws which will repress reformists and groups seeking democracy in Muslim and non-Muslim societies alike."

The letter also urges the President to demand recognition of the state of Israel as the first step in any peace efforts. Read the entire letter here.

Israel: Iran-Venezuela Axis Traffics in Terror, Uranium

Iran and Venezuela have embarked on a new campaign to produce uranium and to establish new terror operations in South America, according to a new Israeli Foreign Ministry report. The document, which was leaked to Ynetnews.com, says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is helping Iran make military, diplomatic, and intelligence inroads in South America.

The report, prepared in advance of a visit to South America by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, states that Tehran is setting up Hizballah cells in Venezuelan territory. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Ayalon warned that Iran has terrorist "sleeper cells" in South America, including those that carried out the March 17, 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, in which 29 people were killed and more than 240 wounded, and the July 18, 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in the Argentinean capital, in which 85 were killed and more than 200 wounded.

The report points to collaborative efforts by Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to damage U.S. interests in South America:

"Since Ahmadinejad's rise to power, Tehran has been promoting an aggressive policy aimed at bolstering its ties with Latin American countries with the declared goal of 'bringing America to its knees.' "

Iran and Venezuela have set up a direct flight route that regularly serves "Iranian technicians" and established a $200 billion fund aimed at garnering the support of more South American countries for the cause of "liberation from American imperialism," according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry report. Venezuela has also issued permits that allow Iranian residents to travel freely throughout South America.

Bolivia and Venezuela deny Israeli charges that they are providing uranium to Iran. Both nations have uranium deposits, and Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales have been among the most vociferous defenders of Tehran's nuclear activities at the United Nations and elsewhere.

During a November 2008 visit to Caracas by President Dmitriy Medvedev, Russia and Venezuela signed a framework agreement for nuclear cooperation that includes Russian technical assistance for uranium mining. That – and the fact that Chavez has aggressively sought nuclear cooperation with Iran – has many of Venezuela's neighbors worried.

As the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace explained in a recent profile of Venezuelan nuclear program: "Given Venezuela's close cooperation with Iran, those states and companies that would contemplate nuclear cooperation with the Chavez government should consider whether they might help recreate the alarming history of Iran's nuclear program and subsequent international crises."

Der Spiegel: Hizballah Linked to Hariri Murder

European Union officials say they are reluctant to designate Hizballah a terrorist organization because it is represented in the Lebanese parliament and continuing to engage the group "could bring them closer to the democratic process." This argument seems almost surreal in the wake of a report that the United Nations special tribunal investigating the February 2005 killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has concluded that Hizballah was behind the murder.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reports that Lebanese investigators have found evidence that Hizballah special forces were involved in killing Hariri, a bitter political rival of Hizballah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. This contradicts the findings of an earlier U.N. tribunal which concluded in late 2005 that Syrian security forces and senior Lebanese officials were responsible.

A new United Nations special tribunal on the assassination which began work March 1 has found that Hizballah was behind the bombing of the motorcade in which Hariri and 22 others were killed. Lebanese security forces told that they had found a network of mobile phones used in the Hariri assassination. The magazine reported that:

"All of the numbers apparently belong to the 'operational arm' of Hezbollah, which maintains a militia in Lebanon that is more powerful than the regular Lebanese Army. While part of the Party of God [Hizballah] acts like a normal political organization participating in democratic elections and appointing cabinet ministers, the other part uses less savory tactics, such as abductions near the Israeli border and terrorist attacks, such as those committed against Jewish facilities in South America in 2002 and 2004."

Der Spiegel reported that investigators discovered which Hizballah member acquired the small truck used in the attack and were able to trace the origins of the explosives.

The trail eventually led investigators to the identity of the man they suspect of masterminding the Hariri killing: Hajj Salim, 45, who is believed to be the commander of Hizballah's military wing. He has largely assumed the duties of Imad Mugniyeh, one of the world's most notorious terrorists, who was assassinated in Damascus in February 2008. Salim's Special Operational Unit of Hizballah reports directly to Nasrallah, (who also serves as Hizballah's political leader) and to General Kassim Sulaimani in Tehran.

In response to the Der Spiegel article, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for an international arrest warrant to be issued for Nasrallah.

Somali Imam's Radical Statements Draw Media Attention

Federal agents in Minneapolis are investigating the disappearance of 20 or more Somali men who may have returned to Africa to wage jihad. Now an imam who runs a mosque and youth center there is drawing media attention for some radical statements.

Hassan Mohamud's work serves the Somali community in the Twin Cities. Mohamud was shown on a video – since removed from YouTube – soliciting donations to his programs that "can save you from the hell of living in America."

See a local Fox affiliate's report with the video here.

Over at Pajamas Media, Patrick Poole notes that Mohamud has developed a reputation for radical statements, including a past article that said Palestinian suicide bombers were justified:

"When asked if he believed that suicide bombings were wrong under any condition, he had to stop the interview three separate times and consult his attorney before responding. That prompted [reporter Tom] Lyden to comment, 'It may be complicated, but if it's difficult for the imam some may wonder how clear it is for the young people he's teaching.' Coincidentally, Mohamud is also an attorney and teaches a course on Islamic law at the William Mitchell College of Law."

It's not clear what relationship, if any, Mohamud has to the missing Somalis. He has denied knowing them. But as the Fox affiliate noted, he didn't know whether any had attended his mosque or participated in its youth programs.

McCarthy: Put a Chill on "Lawfare"

As we mentioned earlier this week, there is movement in the U.S. to stem "lawfare," or the use of courts to silence or intimidate critics of radical Islam.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy makes a strong case for proposed congressional legislation that would allow U.S. citizens to counter-sue those who bring libel suits in foreign courts where standards of proof for plaintiffs are far less stringent than American courts.

The most glaring case involves Rachel Ehrenfeld, who was sued in British courts by a Saudi magnate suspected of financing terrorism. Khalid bin Mahfouz won damages against Ehrenfeld for her book, Funding Evil, even though it was never published in England.

It is the government's job to protect American liberties, McCarthy argues. Allowing "lawfare" like bin Mahfouz's to flourish poses a direct challenge to some of our most cherished freedoms. McCarthy puts the issue in a nutshell:

"If information cannot be freely exchanged, if journalists must fear being sued over information reported in good faith on matters crucial to our defense — matters such as the financial networks supporting jihadist terror — then we cannot make sound security policy. We become dependent on government — in all its dysfunction and political correctness — with no means to evaluate its performance or induce it to change. We become reliant on government for our information. In fact, we become hamstrung even in our efforts to learn what little the government is willing to reveal."

Letting Americans fight back in court creates no burden on other nations to conform to our laws and legal standards, McCarthy said. But it could offer a dose of reality to those inclined to shop the globe for the most favorable courts in an exercise dubbed libel tourism:

"We will arm Americans with reciprocal power to sue you for damages in a court far away from your home — albeit in an American federal court that will surely give you a fairer shake than American journalists have gotten in the British court that has become known as "the Club Med for libel tourists.'"

Read the whole article here.

Evil, But Not Geniuses

There's a knee-jerk reaction when a terror-plot is broken up before the desired calamity is done. It's a two-part attempt to cast the alleged terrorists as incapable of actually pulling off their planned attack and to cast them as victims of an FBI informant who led them to their fate.

There are signs of that phenomenon in the immediate aftermath of terror charges against four men who were arrested after parking what they thought was a car bomb outside a New York synagogue. They were petty criminals and not the smartest jihadis on the block.

A New York Post editorial argues that doesn't make them less dangerous:

"Don't be misled by the amateurish nature of their misadventure. What the four lacked in brains, they more than made up for in malign intent.

And the fact that their plot went as far as it did -- the men actually had planted what they thought were deadly bombs before the feds moved in -- dramatically underscores, as Police Commissioner Ray Kelly noted, the very real threat of homegrown terror cells."

The Post also notes with concern that at least three of the suspects seem to have been radicalized during previous prison stints. There's plenty of evidence showing some prison imams preach radical messages to their captive audiences. The editorial concludes that
"It's time that this boil was lanced."

Egypt Claims to Break Up Brotherhood Jihad Camp

Egypt's arrest of 13 Muslim Brotherhood officials last week on charges they ran secret jihadist training camps is the latest move in an ongoing government crackdown on the Brotherhood.

According to Adnkronos International:

"Prosecutors claim that the accused hid their training camps behind the guise of so called 'sports camps' and young recruits were taught how to use arms before being sent to 'war zones' to show their solidarity for besieged Gazans their and opposition to Israel's recent military offensive."

The Brotherhood, an 80-year-old movement that seeks to make Islamist law the governing basis for society, claims to have moderated over time and that it is a political movement, not a violent one. However, Egypt has arrested many members and leaders, however, and the Wall Street Journal reports the Egyptian public has lost interest in its political agenda due to "saber rattling and proposed restrictions on women and Christians."

Getting Tough on "Lawfare"

Citing a host of legal and governmental efforts in the U.S. and abroad aimed at stifling free speech, two opponents of "lawfare" say it's time to start punching back.

In a column in Tuesday's Washington Times, Brooke Goldstein and Aaron Eitan Meyer cite examples of lawfare, or the use of civil litigation, to try to defeat your opponents and enemies, including a United Nations effort to criminalize statements considered defamatory toward Islam and ongoing lawsuits of a similar vein.

The two were part of a conference on the issue organized by the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum, the Federalist Society, the Center for National Security Law and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

If nothing slows the lawfare phenomenon down, Goldstein and Meyer advocate returning the favor:

"Perhaps, turning radical Islam's tactics against it is the solution. If Europeans can be prosecuted by Islamists using the European Union's legal system, should it then not follow that radical Imams in Muslim countries can be cited by European citizens and extradition be requested by them to European courts for their anti-Semitic and anti-Christian rhetoric? Whatever the particular solution may be, some attempt must be made, and soon."

The lawfare event drew some attention after U.S. Sen. Alren Specter (D-PA) withdrew last week from speaking at the conference. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) claimed victory, saying the move came after it launched a petition drive urging Specter not to attend.

The Middle East Forum points out that's not the case.

Troubling Report in Germany

Radical Islamists and neo-Nazis pose an increasing threat to Germany, a new German government report finds.

A growing number of Muslims favor bringing Islamic law, or Sharia, to Germany. In addition, the country appears to be a top target for terrorist groups.

"Islamist terrorism continues to be a real threat to Germans," a United Press International report quotes Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble saying Tuesday.

The findings come in a 303-page annual report, which claimed that radical Islamists are seeking training in Al Qaeda run camps in Pakistan. Germans increasingly are the targeted audience in sophisticated Internet recruitment videos.

"We are seeing more video threats that are addressing Germany and its military engagement in Afghanistan directly, and they are increasingly in German," said Heinz Fromm, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

To make things worse, the report finds a spike in radical right wing extremism, including the spread if racial hatred and neo-Nazi propaganda material.

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