As Palestinians Celebrate Israeli Kidnappings, Hamas Calls For Intifada

Editor's note: This post has been updated to correct an error regarding the number of people in the Schalit prisoner exchange.

Last week's kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers continues to generate widespread celebration within Palestinian society. In addition to people doling out candy and sweets in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza, online campaigns praise the kidnappings as a potential opportunity for future prisoner trades.

One of the movements, "Three Schalits," is led by Hamas affiliates featuring dozens of photos of smiling Palestinian people and young children holding up the three-fingered symbol in direct reference to the three abducted boys. The three-fingered salute serves as the movement's logo and is a variant of the 4-fingered, R4BIA Muslim Brotherhood salute.

Gilad Schalit is an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas. He was released in 2012 in exchange for more than 1,000 terrorists held in Israeli prisons. Since then, Hamas and other terrorist groups have openly called for more kidnappings to generate similarly lopsided exchanges.

Hamas officials condone the attack as legitimate resistance and an opportunity to proliferate its military operations to the West Bank, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports. They also are calling for a third Intifada and the demise of the Palestinian Authority (PA), despite a recent reconciliation agreement merging Hamas with Fatah.

"We call upon our people in all parts of the West Bank to confront the occupation, whether as a part of mass confrontations or privately-initiated resistance [operations]," Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran wrote on his Facebook page.

The new Palestinian unity government must halt all security coordination with Israel and "silence the voices calling to help the occupation locate the three abductees," said Hamas' Ahmad Bahar, deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament.

"Three settlers or soldiers are currently in the hands of the Palestinian resistance," said senior Hamas official Yousuf Rizqa. He praised the abduction for its careful planning and execution. The three teenagers are frequently referred to as "soldiers" by Palestinian officials, even though they are not.

Fatah members also are praising the kidnapping, even though their leader, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, has condemned it. As a Palestinian Media Watch report shows, Fatah's official Facebook page featured a cartoon depicting a victory sign with three fingers instead of two, referencing the three abducted youth. Another official Fatah cartoon casts the three kidnapped boys as rats with Stars of David.

These examples emphasizes the PA's double speak. Abbas makes statements that insinuate coordination with Israel to locate the youth and condemning the kidnappings. Yet, official media representing Abbas' party continue to praise the terrorist act and mock the kidnapped boys.

Still, Hamas is using the PA's public conciliatory tone to make political gains, the MEMRI report showed.

"The PA's attempts to gain an achievement by helping the occupation locate the hostages spells the beginning of its end and its ejection by the people," wrote Ibrahim Al-Madhound, editor-in-chief of the Hamas-affiliated Siraj Al-I'lam. Cooperation with Israel must stop, he said.

"This three-pronged operation is a good opportunity for real changes in the West Bank," he added, "and it will mark the beginning of an intifada, be the consequences what they may."

Texas Men Charged with Terror Support

Two Austin area residents were charged in separate complaints with providing material support for terrorism.

One complaint accuses Michael Todd Wolfe (a.k.a "Faruq") of planning to travel to the Middle East "to provide his services to radical groups engaged in armed conflict in Syria."

In a meeting with government informants, Wolfe "indicated that he had learned that al Qaeda in Syria was training brothers from other countries (foreign fighters) and then sending the fighters back from Syria to their home countries to conduct terror attacks." Wolfe indicated that Allah put jihad in front of people to determine who the real men were."

The investigation began last August, after Wolfe's wife confided to an FBI informant that Wolfe "just wants to hop into Syria. He's just ready to die for his deen [religion]," the complaint said. She indicated that "she wanted to support her husband's goal of traveling to perform a violent form of jihad" as part of her hijrah – a religious migration to Muslim lands.

Hundreds of fighters from America and the West are believed to have gone to Syria in recent months to wage jihad. Last month, Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha (also known as "al-Amriki) became the first American suicide bomber to die in Syria. Abu-Salha traveled to Syria and trained with the al-Qaida affiliated al-Nusra front.

A separate complaint alleges that Rahatul Ashikim Khan, 23, tried to recruit people in Internet chat rooms to wage violent jihad overseas.

Khan, a Bangladesh native naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2002, was a full-time student at the University of Texas in Austin. He became active in a chat room in early 2011, calling himself a "jihadi." Another participant turned out to be a government informant.

Khan "discussed guns, training, the war against Islam, his preparation for the Third World War, shooting, and getting the youth interested in the knowledge of jihad (inner struggle/holy war)," the complaint said.

He later introduced the informant to an unnamed coconspirator, who recruited the informant "to travel overseas for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad in Somalia," the complaint said. Khan later introduced the informant to a second unnamed conspirator who faces similar terror support charges in South Florida.

The Florida man allegedly discussed possible ways to smuggle the informant into Somalia to join forces with the al-Qaida-tied Somali terrorist group, al-Shabaab. The coconspirator also mentioned the possibility of the informant "operating within the United States."

Both Khan and Wolfe are in federal custody and face up to 15 years in prison if convicted

DHS Adviser Says Caliphate's Return Inevitable

A member of President Obama's Homeland Security Advisory Council known for controversial Twitter posts that seem to support the Muslim Brotherhood wrote Friday that it is "inevitable that 'Caliphate' returns."

Mohamed Elibiary has been controversial since he was first appointed to the taskforce in 2010. He was closely associated with Shukri abu Baker, former executive director of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development - one of five people convicted for illegal Hamas support in 2008. Elibiary argued that there was a "lack of evidence" in the HLF case and suggested that it was a political prosecution.

He previously praised the late Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb, whose ideas have undergirded the modern jihadist movement – especially his call for violent jihad and for the purification of Islam from the forces of unbelief – on Twitter.

Qutb believed that if the Caliphate – abolished in 1924 – ever were to be re-established, that a vanguard would need to replace the regime of one country with an Islamic state, much as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) aims to do in Iraq and Syria.

Baghdad served as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate from 762 A.D. until the city was sacked by the Mongols in 1258 A.D.

"#Silly. As I've said b4 inevitable that 'Caliphate' returns. Choice only whether we support #EU like Muslim Union vision or not," Elibiary wrote in response to question from David Reaboi, who formerly worked for the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., about the ISIS rampage through Iraq last week.

Elibiary responded to a question from Reaboi asking if there was a need to be "outraged" about CNN reports about religious restrictions ISIS was imposing in Iraq.

"#CNN just broadcast list of #ISIS hudod rules [acceptable behavior]. Reminds me of how we were outraged pre 9/11 by #Taliban banning white socks 4 women. #Iraq," Elibiary wrote.

Reaboi then asked Elibiary if he supported restoring the caliphate, but Elibiary declined to give him a direct answer. Instead, he suggested that conservatives, including the Investigative Project on Terrorism, had misread the lessons of 9/11.

"Y'all in the #NatSec ubber hawks camp misread 9/11 & should reassess ur belligerence. #CSP #IPT #Blaze," Elibiary tweeted.

Elibiary earned the ire of the Coptic community last fall after he sent out a series of offensive tweets. He also drew criticism in November for describing America as an "Islamic country" with an "Islamically compliant constitution."

Considering Elibiary's history, this exchange about a return of the Islamic Caliphate is unlikely to be his last controversial Twitter post.

Palestinian Media Makes Light of 3 Students' Kidnapping

Editor's note: This post has been updated to correct an error regarding the number of people in the Schalit prisoner exchange.

Israeli military and security officials continue an intense search for three teenaged students believed kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that "Hamas terrorists carried out Thursday's kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers; we know that for a fact."

It is the consequence, he said, of the recent reconciliation agreement that united the terrorist group Hamas into the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority. "The dangers of that pact should now be abundantly clear to all," Netanyahu said. "This will not advance peace; it will advance terror."

Eyal Yifrach, 19, and 16-year-olds Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel disappeared Thursday, apparently as they tried to hitchhike home from the Makor Chaim Yeshiva in Gush Etzion.

More than 100 Palestinians have been arrested and Netanyahu's cabinet is weighing options on a broader response.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the kidnapping Monday. But general Palestinian reaction, including in the PA-controlled media, have taken a far more disturbing tone. Celebrating terrorist attacks and honoring killers has become common in Palestinian culture under both Hamas and the PA.

The PLO's executive committee called the kidnapping "alleged" and condemned Israel's response as racist.

In Gaza, the kidnappings sparked the requisite "celebration" in which sweets are distributed after terrorist attacks against Israelis. This instance, documented by Palestine Now, showed a picture of a woman handing out pastries, with a cutline describing "happiness at the capture of the soldiers in Hebron."

And cartoons in the PA press have taken a light, mocking tone about the situation. One changed the World Cup logo, which features three hands forming the Cup trophy, to show three hands raised in surrender and the host-country Brazil replaced by a reference to Hebron, which is close to the scene of the crime.

A second cartoon, also published by PA news outlets, shows three yarmulke-clad mice hooked on a fishing line.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a branch of the Fatah movement which runs the PA, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and said it would hold the three teens "in return for thousands of prisoners." The Times of Israel reports that the claim's authenticity is in question.

Kidnapping Israelis has been a goal for Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to generate prisoner-swaps for terrorists in Israeli prisons. In 2011, Israel agreed to release more than 1,000 prisoners, many with blood on their hands, to win freedom for Gilad Schalit, a soldier kidnapped and held by Hamas for five years.

Moderate Muslim Panel Warns of Islamic Anti-Semitism

The University of Toronto hosted a conference on Sunday featuring panel discussions devoted to modern anti-Semitism. According to the Canadian Jewish News, one of the panels was titled "Muslims against Anti-Semitism" featuring Raheel Raza, author of Their Jihad... not my Jihad!, and Tahir Gora, founder of Canadian Thinkers' Forum, a think-tank focusing on anti-Semitic activities in the Muslim diaspora. The panel discussion also included Tarek Fatah, author of The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths of Muslim Anti-Semitism and founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress.

The three Muslim participants spoke out strongly against persistent anti-Semitism in Canada and throughout the Islamic world, fueled by radical Islamist ideology.

Raza warned against subtle anti-Semitism that sometimes is present within fora devoted to interfaith dialogue.

"Some aspects of anti-Semitism you see flat out, like Israeli Apartheid Week. But then there are those subtle forms that come under the umbrella of interfaith dialogue – the whole term interfaith dialogue has been hijacked by [extremist] Islamists."

Raza spoke about the anti-Semitism prevalent throughout early Islamic education and in the campaign to get universities to boycott and divest from companies which do business in Israel.

"If anti-Jewish sentiment is taught early in mosques, then is there any wonder you have Israeli Apartheid Week and BDS campaigns in places of education?"

Fatah referred to Israeli Apartheid Week and the BDS movement as blatantly anti-Semitic.

"What else is it? There's no BDS against Saudi Arabia. I've never heard of anyone having a BDS movement against China manufacturing goods out of slave camps…If you can't boycott Saudi Arabia, you can't boycott Israel."

Florida Man Found Guilty in Multiple Bomb Plot

A federal jury found in Tampa convicted a radical Muslim Tuesday for plotting to attack multiple targets with a vehicle bomb, assault rifle and other explosives. Sami Osmakac, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the former Yugoslavia (Kosovo), was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered machine gun. His intended targets included a popular pub near downtown Tampa and the Hard Rock Casino.

Evidence presented during his three-week trial showed that Osmakac was inspired by radical Islamist ideology. In a recorded conversation with a government informant, Osmakac expressed his desire to die for the cause of Islam: "We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?" When the informant told Osmakac that "you haven't lived half your life yet, bro….you don't want to have kids, take a wife, have children?" he responded saying, "Allah allows people to have children in Jannah ["Paradise" in Arabic].

Jurors also saw a surveillance video showing Osmakac and an undercover FBI agent "going over guns, grenades and ammunition, and Osmakac trying on ammunition vests." The undercover agent also videotaped Osmakac explaining his motives to wage violent jihad. In the eight-minute video, Osmakac sat "cross-legged on the floor of the hotel room, with the pistol in his hand and the AK-47 displayed behind him." He "stated his belief that Muslims 'blood' was more valuable than that of people who do not believe in Islam. He also stated that he wanted 'pay back' for wrongs he felt were done to Muslims."

Some officials of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) criticized the case against Osmakac, alleging government entrapment. "Not enough terrorists to go around so we have to find mentally disturbed individuals and create them," CAIR Tampa director Hassan Shibly wrote in a Facebook posting.

After the videos were played in court, Shibly absolved Osmakac of responsibility, calling him a "mentally disturbed youth." The presiding judge previously rejected claims Osmakac was not mentally competent to stand trial.

Following Osmakac's January 2012 arrest, Shibly accused the government of wrongdoing. "The weapons and explosives were provided by the government. Was he just a troubled individual, or did he pose a real threat," he said. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times later the same day, he wondered, "Would there have been any real plot without the support and assistance of the FBI?"

Several other CAIR officials issued similar statements dismissive of the case.

Osmakac's sentencing is scheduled for October 7. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

IDF Chief: Syrian Battlefield Experience Makes Hizballah a Greater Threat

Hizballah's combat experience in Syria could make it a more potent threat to Israel, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.

"The bad news from our point of view is that while Hizballah is fighting on three fronts … it is also amassing experience we will one day face," Gantz said, noting that the terrorist group has more firepower than most states. Gantz warned that this experience combined with the terrorist group's firepower makes it a force to be reckoned with – one that Israel will eventually have to confront.

He spoke spoke Monday at an annual policy conference in Herzliya, Israel.

Only a handful of nations – the U.S., China, Russia, Israel, France and the U.K. – have more firepower than the terrorist militia, he said. Hizballah's close connection with the "radical axis led by Iran" adds to the threat facing Israel by contributing to the Islamic republic's strategy of encircling and isolating it. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which threaten Israel with rocket fire from Gaza, also form part of this axis.

"At the same time, World Jihad elements in Syria are getting stronger," Gantz said.

He estimates that the Syrian civil war could last another 10 years.

He warned that Hizballah would be "set back decades" by the damage that Israel would wreak on it in the case of a future war. But the lessons from the 2006 Lebanon war show that an all-out war carries a high cost for Israel.

The war proved that Hizballah no longer was the ragtag Shiite militia that emerged with Iran's backing in the 1980s. It grew into an effective, coordinated fighting force that proved challenging to the IDF. Hizballah stopped Israeli tanks using the latest Russian antitank weaponry and showed unprecedented discipline.

This coordination still exists. Reports from Syria show that Hizballah is organized similar to a regular national army, operating with a military command structure, the latest infantry weapons, and armored vehicles.

Estimates place 4,000 to 10,000 Hizballah fighters in Syria. Assad owes his grip on power in part to Hizballah's capabilities, which have helped repel the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Jabhat al-Nusra and other Sunni jihadist groups.

Although the IDF would still enjoy superiority over Hizballah in a future war, the terrorist group's experience in Syria could give it improved combat performance and force coordination against Israel, much like modern national armies. Hizballah may be able to mount larger-scale offensive operations.

The new threats from Hizballah and other terrorist organizations mean the IDF will need to adapt to maintain its military supremacy, Gantz said.

British Report Finds Islamist Intimidation in Birmingham Schools

British Prime Minister David Cameron promises a "robust response" to the "culture of fear and intimidation" that British investigators found at five state schools in Birmingham, England, where Islamic extremists allegedly plotted to subvert and run them according to rigid Islamic norms.

A report released Monday by the U.K.'s Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) found evidence that certain governors of the affected schools had tried to "impose a narrow faith-based ideology."

In some cases, staff and headteachers said that they had felt "intimidated," "undermined" or bullied by the governors into making changes they opposed. Some headteachers, including those with records of improving standards were either marginalized or forced out of their jobs.

"Some teachers reported that they were treated unfairly because of their gender or religious beliefs," said Ofsted director Sir Michael Wilshaw.

One primary school's governors opposed mixed-gender swimming lessons despite the headteacher's commitment to having them. Wilshaw also noted that the governors excessively micromanaged the schools' day-to-day operations.

One school hosted a guest speaker who previously prayed for victory for Muslims in Afghanistan, in addition to "victory to all the Mujahideen all over the world. Oh Allah, prepare us for the jihad."

The report was prompted by an alleged plot for Islamists to take control of public schools that surfaced in March. The five-step "Operation Trojan Horse" plot was detailed in a letter suspected by some of being a hoax. It focused on schools with large Muslim populations to have "hardline" parents turn against the teachers and school leadership. Those staffers would be replaced with people who would then run the schools according to a radical interpretation of Islam.

News of the letter sparked cries of "Islamophobia" and "fabrication" from Tahir Alam, director of the Park View Educational Trust that runs the schools, who had been implicated as a plotter.

A report by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) – the agency that oversees academies in the U.K. – found that the schools hastily replaced a literacy lesson at one school with a lesson about Christianity when they knew inspectors were coming.

EFA also found that Park View School, Golden Hillock School and the Nansen Primary School were teaching curriculum from a "conservative Islamic perspective" in violation of British law, which requires non-faith schools to be nonsectarian.

Consequently, Ofsted informed Cameron that it will conduct unannounced random inspections, and provide him and the U.K.'s education minister with reports on the situation in Birmingham until the situation has been fully resolved.

David Hughes, a governor with the Park View Educational Trust, dismissed the Ofsted report, saying that his schools had been "grossly misrepresented" as having been "infiltrated by extremists."

The Trojan Horse plot was an unfounded smear, Hughes said, and that the investigations were are the result of an anti-Islamic agenda.

Report Debunks "Cold-Blood" Claim on Palestinian Deaths

When recent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down, some Palestinian officials, including chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, cited a spike in Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli security forces as a factor.

Israelis, Erekat said, "killed 66 Palestinians in cold blood" since negotiations started last summer. A new report, however, investigates the backgrounds of those killed, finding that a majority were members of radical terrorist organizations.

B'Tselem, an Israeli monitoring group, lists 43 Palestinians who were killed by the IDF from August 2013 through the end of March. In his report, Lt. Col (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs finds an overwhelming majority of those killed were combatants from radical Islamist terrorist organizations.

Those terrorist groups include Hamas and its al-Qassam Brigades military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades (Palestinian Islamic Jihad's military wing), al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing), the al-Qaida associated Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

It is important to note that the nine people who were not affiliated with an organization were killed in response to standard military procedures. Three were killed as they approached a military outpost at the Gaza border and three others were killed participating in violent demonstrations. After firing at an IDF force, a Palestinian man was killed and another instance included a woman shot by return IDF fire following an initial escalation of violence emanating from Gaza.

The information won't be persuasive to Erekat and others in the Palestinian Authority. In an April interview, Erekat insisted Hamas is "a political organization" and not a terrorist group. That view seems to extend to the entire Palestinian Authority, which recently accepted a unity agreement with Hamas.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh made it clear on Saturday that the deal changes nothing when it comes to the group's devotion to violence over peace.

"We emphasize now that we will not retreat from [our] plan to liberate our lands and ensure the right of return and the release of [terrorist] prisoners," he said.

That is the context to bear in mind when Palestinian officials decry Israeli military action. If Palestinians work with terrorist groups, that's righteous political activity. If Israelis kill someone who is waging an attack or facilitating violence, that's cold-blooded.

To read Halevi's report, click here.

Hizballah condemns Maronite patriarch's meeting with South Lebanon Army exiles

Last week's meeting between exiled members of the pro-Israel South Lebanon Army (SLA) and Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai has evoked a storm of protest from Hizballah and aligned media outlets such as Al-Akhbar, who labeled the ex-SLA members "collaborators."

The SLA was a Maronite Christian militia supported by Israel prior to the Jewish state's withdrawal from its Lebanese security zone in 2000. Lebanon prohibits travel to Israel, however, religious leaders are exempt. Many SLA members fled with their families into Israel after the pullout, fearing reprisals from Hizballah or vengeful mobs.

The Lebanese media portrayed the visit as a "historic sin."

Rai became the first Maronite patriarch ever to visit Israel when he accompanied Pope Francis on his visit to the Holy Land last week. Approximately 11, 000 Maronites live in Israel.

"We never wanted to leave our country, and the patriarch knows that," said Henry al-Ghafri, a SLA exile who attended Rai's mass last week in Capernum, Israel in comments to Agence France Presse (AFP). "Israel is not our country, I want to return to Lebanon [but] a lot of people in Lebanon … have disowned us now."

The patriarch preached peace and reconciliation during his trip to Israel, promising the SLA exiles he would intercede on their behalf with Lebanon's leaders to let them return home.

Rai has been preaching about the need for peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims in recent months, saying it is "the core of the Lebanese experience."

The Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Nahar reported Monday that the meeting had triggered an "organized campaign" against the patriarch because of the meeting. Shiite scholar Sayyed Ali Fadlallah, son of a late Shiite cleric, described in Western circles as the mentor of Hizballah, attacked Rai for the meeting, denouncing the exiles as "tools of the enemy" and "traitors."

Hizballah MP Ali Mekdad denounced the SLA exiles on Saturday, saying that he did not want to see "Israeli agents" returning to Lebanon.

"We tell those who are preparing a draft law or a proposal to bring back those agents who betrayed the country ... We do not want Israeli agents among us here in Lebanon," Mekdad said. "We suffered enough from them during the occupation. They are not even proud of their Lebanese citizenship and we are not proud to call them Lebanese."

Followers of the Hizballah-aligned Maronite Christian politician Michel Aoun have declined to come to the patriarch's defense.

MP Ziad Aswad, a member of Aoun's party, expressed sentiments similar to those expressed by Hizballah about the SLA exiles, saying that many of them were "criminals" who had direct contacts with Israeli intelligence.

Rai rejected the characterization of the SLA exiles as "traitors" or "collaborators," saying they had not fought against the Lebanese state and that the time had come for "reconciliation" during an interview with Lebanon's LBCI TV last week.

Lebanese MP Sami Gemayel, the son of Lebanon's former President Amine Gemayel and a leader in the right-wing Kataeb Party, defended the patriarch, saying that the campaign against Bkirki evoked reminders of Lebanon's bloody 15-year civil war.

"This campaign is unjustified and it indicates that the files of the civil war have not been shelved yet and that some parties are still insisting on evoking files that prevent the Lebanese from closing ranks," Gemayel said, according to a statement from his party. "Media campaigns against Bkirki (the Maronite patriarchate) will not resolve the problem of the Lebanese who were forcibly exiled to Israel."

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