NY State Police Concerned About Aerial Attacks

Foiled terrorist plots in the United States and Spain have New York State law enforcement officials advising people to be wary of anyone with an unusual interest in remote-controlled planes or extreme sports like sky diving, hang gliding and paragliding.

An unclassified report from the New York State Intelligence Center viewed by the Investigative Project on Terrorism pointed to recent arrests in Spain and in Massachusetts in terror plots involving aerial attacks.

Spanish authorities arrested three men last month, seizing "enough explosives … to blow up a bus." A video showing a large remote controlled plane dropping packages led officials to believe the suspects were plotting to attack a shopping center in the British territory of Gibraltar around the time of the Olympic Games in London.

In July, Massachusetts resident Rezwan Ferdaus pleaded guilty to charges connected to a plot to fly an explosive-laden remote-controlled plane into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.

"Terrorists and extremists are thinking outside of the box and could use either of these tactics as a method for delivering or detonating explosives, especially at a crowded gathering" like a sporting event or a concert, the New York State advisory said.

A remote-controlled plane can carry 20 lbs. of material while a paraglider theoretically could navigate with more than 175 lbs. of explosives, which would make steering difficult.

Signs of suspicious activity include people seeking lessons in hang gliding or similar sports who withdraw before finishing a course, have sketchy identification papers or who ask unusual questions about drop sites.

Radical Imam May be Out at Northeastern

Northeastern University appears to have removed Abdullah Faaruuq from his position as the school's Muslim chaplain after a new video showed him supporting "convicted Islamist terrorists, and [as] a religious leader who is inciting Boston Muslims against the U.S government."

The university has not issued any statement about Farruuq, but his Northeastern web page has been taken down.

"The apparent dismissal of Chaplain Faaruuq by President [Joseph] Aoun is commendable, said Charles Jacobs, president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance, in a news release. The group issued the new video and has long chronicled Faaruuq's actions. "It demonstrates the kind of leadership that is required on many college campuses which harbor hate promoting extremists."

"Leaving Faaruuq in place would have meant a continual betrayal of Muslim parents who may not be aware that their children are being radicalized on its campus," Jacobs added.

It's unclear why the university acted now, when Jacobs' group and the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported on Faaruuq's statements in 2011. He spoke at a Dec. 8 fundraiser for Aafia Siddiqui, also known as "Lady al-Qaida." Siddiqui, an MIT-educated neuroscientist, was carrying notes about mass casualty attacks when Afghan officials arrested her in 2008 and handed her over to American officials. During questioning, she grabbed an Army officer's M-4 rifle and fired it at the Americans.

"What a brave woman she is," Faaruuq said of Siddiqui. "What a brave woman she continues to be, and how much her bravery and her faith and her belief warrants our support at this time." Had his mother been in Siddiqui's shoes, "she would have took (sic) her West Indian machete and cut her way through those kafirs [unbelievers]."

Siddiqui was convicted in 2010 and is serving an 86-year prison sentence.

Faaruuq got to know Siddiqui when she attended his mosque in Boston, Jacobs said. Faaruuq also served as a Muslim chaplain in Massachusetts prisons, and the two worked together to distribute Jihadist literature.

Faaruuq also served on a committee working to Free Tarek Mehanna, who was convicted in December on four counts related to his desire to provide support to al-Qaida and three counts of lying to federal investigators.

While Jacobs was pleased with Northeastern's apparent action, he's not through asking questions. "We need to understand how this was allowed to persist for years," he said, "and we need to be sure there are processes in place to monitor and correct any teachings of hate at the University."

Orlando Jihad

Central Florida's growing Muslim population hosts its share of radical elements caught engaging in significant criminal activity. Among the latest snared by federal law enforcement efforts is Imam Abu Taubah, whose real name is Marcus Dwayne Robertson. As reported by Family Security Matters in January, Robertson was charged last year with federal firearms violations, having been a previously convicted felon found to be in unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Robertson had been the imam of the Masjid Al-Ihsaan mosque in Orlando. The property at that address is owned by the Istiqaamah Foundation Inc. The former name of the mosque was the Islamic Center of Orlando until it was changed in 1998. Robertson, also known as Taubah, is not identified in any of the Florida corporate documents for the mosque.

Robertson's criminal activity in central Florida did not end with his guilty plea to the gun charge. He awaits sentencing on that offense pending the outcome of yet another case involving Jonathan Paul Jimenez, who pleaded guilty on August 28 in Orlando to false claims and one count of making a false statement to a federal agency in a matter involving international terrorism. Robertson is implicated in the Jimenez case, accused of having trained Jimenez in martial arts, weapons usage and Islamic ideology in preparation for jihad. Robertson is also accused of helping to arrange overseas travel for Jimenez to support his jihadist endeavors. Robertson is scheduled for trial next month on those charges.

Robertson has a history of engaging in cooperative plea deals with prosecutors in exchange for lenient sentences, to include when he was originally arrested in New York City for bank robbery. The outcome of his pending Orlando federal cases, and if any new defendants are charged with jihad related offenses, will be worth watching.

U.S. Terror Designations Renew Challenge to Pakistan

Eight leaders of the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba were designated as terrorists Friday by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Meanwhile, reports indicate the State Department is close to issuing a similar designation of the Haqqani Network, which also operates from Pakistan and is responsible for some of the most significant attacks against American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

A congressional deadline for the administration to act against the Haqqani Network, or explain why it won't, is just over a week away. Pakistan has refused repeated American requests to root the terrorist group out of a lawless region close to the Afghanistan border. A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan last week killed the group's operations commander Badruddin Haqqani.

The eight Lashkar officials targeted by Treasury Friday work in the group's "propaganda campaigns, financial networks, and logistic support networks," a Treasury statement said. That includes "commanders planning attacks to those managing LET's relationships with other terrorist groups," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen.

Lashkar-e-Tayyiba is considered responsible for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, including six Americans. Treasury describes one of the men designated, Sajjid Mir, as the attack's project manager, ordering terrorists to execute hostages taken during the multi-day operation.

Investigations into the attacks showed that officials in Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency assisted the plotters.

ProPublica's Sebastian Rotella reports that the designation "sends a pointed, if largely symbolic, message to a Pakistani government that remains unable or unwilling to crack down on the extremist organization."

A designation of the Haqqani Network would be an ever greater challenge to Islamabad, which only recently reopened key supply routes for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Iran Embarrassed Twice at Event it Hosts

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned Iran's repeated statements calling for Israel's annihilation and its Holocaust denial in remarks made in Tehran Thursday.

Ban addressed the 120-nation "Non-Aligned Movement" summit hosted by Iran. The regime had hoped the event would portray the Islamic Republic as a respected player internationally, despite global economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear weapons program.

That didn't go as planned.

"I strongly reject threats by any member state to destroy another, or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts such as the Holocaust," Ban said. "Claiming that Israel does not have the right to exist or describing it in racist terms is not only wrong but undermines the very principle we all have pledged to uphold."

The Times of Israel called it "a stinging rebuke" of the Iranian regime. Haaretz described the site of Ban's speech "with frowning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at his side."

Ahmadinejad has made a series of statements predicting the day Israel is wiped off the map. The most recent came earlier this month on "Quds Day," an annual event created by the Ayatollah Khomeini to protest Israel's existence.

Ahmadinejad called Israel "a cancerous tumor" and vowed that "The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land."

Iran's English-language news outlet, Press TV, published a column dismissing Ban as "a servile puppet of American imperialism."

The second speaker to contradict Iranian policy was a surprise. Egypt's newly elected President Mohamed Morsi blasted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime as "oppressive" and endorsed the opposition seeking Assad's ouster. Assad is considered a key ally for Tehran and Iran has supported Syria's brutal slaughter of opposition forces with arms and even its elite troops.

"The Syrian and Palestinian people seek freedom, respect and human justice," Morsi said. He also countered Iran's effort to claim credit for the "Arab Spring" saying the "Egyptian revolution was the cornerstone of the Arab Spring, days after the upheaval in Tunisia, and then in Yemen, Libya, and now against the oppressive Syria regime."

Ban echoed the criticism, saying "Those who provide the arms to either side in Syria are contributing to the misery. Further militarization is not the answer."

Iranian officials had praised Morsi's election and expressed hope for better relations with Egypt.

Jasser: DNC Tolerates Radical Islamists in Charlotte

Party leaders are drawing criticism for refusing to repudiate a three-day Islamist gathering before next week's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte featuring radicals Siraj Wahhaj and Jibril Hough.

The Blaze reported that a group called the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA) is holding a Jumah, or Friday prayer session, next week. It will kick off three days of programs and events in Charlotte "relative to the American Muslim plight," a BIMA statement said. Hough is a BIMA spokesman, while Wahhaj is scheduled to speak during the weekend events.

Zuhdi Jasser, head of the American Islamic Foundation for Democracy (AIFD), called on party leaders to disassociate themselves from Wahhaj and Hough, who have long records of radical statements.

BIMA plans to hold an "issues conference" Friday and Saturday covering the issues of "NYPD Illegal Surveillance"; "anti-Sharia bills"; "Masjid Zoning Laws"; and "Islamaphobia (sic)."

The group's "Jumah at the DNC Protocal (sic)" declares that it is "mandatory that concerned Muslims stand up for their Constitutional and Human Rights and repel the outright injustices that are being perpetrated against the American Muslim community."

Wahhaj testified on behalf of blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman in the sheikh's 1995 trial in connection with a plot to bomb New York landmarks, calling him a "respected scholar." Abdel-Rahman was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Wahhaj has also predicted America's demise if it failed to adopt the Islamic agenda and called for the establishment of an Islamic state in the United States.

Jasser points to Hough's comments suggesting the United States is fighting a war against Islam; his work with the Islamic Political Party of America, which backs the supremacy of an Islamic state, and his connection with the Jamaat al-Muslimeen, an Islamic separatist group that calls for the release of convicted terrorists like Abdel-Rahman, Aafia Siddiqui and Imam Ali al-Timimi.

Jasser also faults Hough for failing to condemn statements by JAM and its allies urging support for the Taliban, denying the Holocaust and calling the United States a "satanic system."

Democratic officials have had the opportunity to distance themselves from Wahhaj and Hough but have refused to do so. When asked, they give "a boilerplate answer" that there are "a lot of groups" that function around the convention and dismiss the notion that anything is wrong with BIMA participation, Jasser said.

"If it was the KKK or the Nazis, would they allow them to use their name or their brochures…on the website announcing this program?" Jasser said in an interview with the Fox Business Network.

Read the AIFD's report on Jibril Hough's radical links here.

Clerics Preach Incitement and War

Two prominent Muslim clerics issued statements urging violence against Israel and the United States, in communication reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Egyptian cleric Safwat Higazi told a television interviewer that the Muslim Brotherhood still harbors ambitions to become "masters of the world." Muslims want peace, he said, but "welcome war" if that doesn't get "what is rightfully ours."

The interview focused primarily on Israel, with Higazi defending a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for the murder of any Israeli a person may encounter. "If that Zionist is fighting me, occupying my country, and killing people who are my brothers in country, religion, and humanity – then it's an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and whoever started it is to blame," he said.

In May, Higazi introduced Brotherhood official Mohamed Morsi's presidential campaign in Egypt, saying Morsi would restore "the United States of the Arabs" with "the capital of the Caliphate" in Jerusalem.

Higazi said he opposes the Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, but then argued it never would have happened if not for the 1973 Yom Kippur war in which Egypt and Syria waged a surprise attack against Israel that eventually was beaten back.

Meanwhile, MEMRI posted translations of a sermon by Somali Sheikh Muhammad Al-Jazouli that appeared on the Internet in May. He criticized what he described as "reality in America," and urged mujahideen, or fighters, to be "steadfast for a little longer on the path of harming America. America is drawing its last breath. Do not let it catch its breath!"

He wished for the power to do more. If he had it, "I swear by Allah that within six months, I would blow up these time bombs, turning the US into a thing of the past."

Delusional on Iranian Diplomacy

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns argues that to resolve the conflict over Iran's nuclear program, the winner of November's presidential election needs "to create a direct channel between Washington and Tehran and begin an extended one-on-one negotiation with all issues on the table."

In an op-ed published by the Boston Globe (republished by the Atlantic Council of the United States) Burns, the director of the Aspen Strategy Group writes that because multilateral efforts to stop Iranian nukes have failed, Washington needs to work toward "compromise."

"The United States, not Israel, must lead on Iran during the next year," according to Burns. "It is not in America's interest to remain hostage to Prime Minister Netanyahu's increasingly swift timetable for action. We need the freedom to explore negotiations with Iran on our own slower timeline before we consider force."

Now, two Israeli security analysts; Ephraim Asculai, senior research associate at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies, and Emily B. Landau, director of INSS' Arms Control program, make a strong case that Burns is ignoring the crux of the problem. Iran has no intention of negotiating an end to its atomic- weapons programs, Asculai and Landau write in The Times of Israel. Over the past decade, a series of diplomatic initiatives with Iran "have met with failure. Indeed, [President] Obama came into office with his hand outstretched to all US adversaries, and got a slap in return from Iran. The international community is currently at the end of a very long process in which not only has diplomacy been attempted over and over - in different formats, and with different states taking the lead – but it is indeed the only strategy that has been attempted so far."

"Iran is not interested in a nuclear deal because it would mean giving up its long-held goal of attaining a military nuclear capability – a goal that it is close to achieving, and for which it has paid a heavy price," they add.

Ringleader of NC Terror Cell Gets 18 Years

The ringleader of a North Carolina terror cell was sentenced to 18 years in prison Friday in connection with a plot to wage violent jihad overseas.

Daniel Patrick Boyd pleaded guilty in February 2011 to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and plotting to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. Between 1989 and 1992, Boyd received military-style training in terrorist camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan for the purpose of engaging in jihadi attacks. He also fought Soviet troops alongside the mujahideen in Afghanistan, court records show.

Anes Subasic, one of seven other defendants in the case, was tried separately on immigration and terrorism charges and received a 30-year sentence.

"People who are plotting to harm Americans are no longer a world away from us. Daniel Boyd led a group of extremists who chose to target innocent citizens in the U.S. and abroad. The Raleigh-Durham Joint Terrorism Task Force thwarted his plot and will keep pursuing those who threaten our society," Chris Briese, Special Agent In Charge of FBI Charlotte, said in a Justice Department statement.

In a recorded conversation, Boyd and Subasic had what prosecutors described as "a coded conversation in which they discussed preparing to send two individuals overseas to engage in violent jihad." Another recording showed the two men discussing exercising care so to avoid FBI scrutiny.

Several of the defendants led by Boyd traveled to Israel in June 2007 hoping to die "as martyrs in furtherance of violent jihad." After failing to get into the country, the men returned to plot attacks within the United States, including scouting the Marine Corps base at Quantico for a possible attack.

Boyd cooperated with authorities, prosecutors said during the sentencing hearing. After pleading guilty, Boyd testified against several of his co-conspirators who were convicted last October.

Boyd's two sons Zakariya and Dylan Boyd pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and received prison sentences between eight and nine years. Three other men charged in the plot—Hysen Sherifi, Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan and Ziyad Yaghi—were found guilty on similar terrorism conspiracy charges. Sherifi was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Hasan and Yaghi got 15 and 31 years respectively.

ADC, CAIR Form Election Partnership

A notorious Islamist group and a national Arab anti-discrimination organization have teamed up to spur Muslim and Arab American voter registration and turnout this fall in national swing states.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) will join the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) for registration, phone bank and other get-out-the-vote efforts in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the ADC announced.

CAIR and its founders were implicated as part of a Hamas-support network operating in the United States. Internal records admitted into evidence in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five former officials, showed CAIR was an official part of the "Palestine Committee," which existed to help Hamas politically and financially.

Last month, ADC decried the treatment given to two other members of that network after they were deported pursuant to court orders. The group's release failed to identify the men involved or mention their connection to the Hamas support operation.

And both groups stood by former White House reporter Helen Thomas after Thomas made anti-Semitic comments about Jews' connection to Israel and said Zionists run the media and American politics.

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