For The Record - The IPT Blog

Palestinian terrorists have launched numerous rockets in to Israel since Tuesday, prompting the largest Israeli response since Egypt brokered the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel last November.

The latest salvo launched by a Salafist militant group calling itself the Mujahadeen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem sent Israelis in Sderot and other towns near the Gaza border scrambling to get into bomb shelters. No injuries have been reported.

The group said the rocket attacks were in response to the death of a Palestinian prisoner detained by Israel who died of cancer on Tuesday while serving a life sentence.

Terrorists have sporadically fired rockets into Israel since the cease-fire including two during President Obama's visit last month.

Gaza is home to several Salafist groups that share al-Qaida's belief in a global jihad. They are believed to number anywhere from dozens to hundreds.

After retaliatory strikes were made Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon vowed that the Jewish state "will not allow shooting of any sort (even sporadic) towards our citizens and our forces," adding that he holds Hamas responsible.

More rockets were fired into Israel early Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

The Israeli military deployed an Iron Dome anti-rocket battery in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat in response to the tensions. Eilat came under attack from rockets fired from the Egyptian-controlled Sinai last year.

Not surprisingly, a Hamas spokesman blamed Israel for the latest round of fighting in an interview with Reuters television.

Egypt, which brokered the November agreement, has demanded an explanation from Hamas about cease-fire violations. Hamas acknowledged its responsibility for letting the terrorists fire rockets into Israel and told the Egyptians it would take action to stop the attacks.

A Salafist source told Agence France Presse that Hamas had arrested two Islamists in connection with the rocket attacks. Hamas's interior ministry, however, denied any arrests had been made.

"Our security apparatus is part of the resistance and does not arrest anyone who resists the occupation," said Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan. "On the contrary, we encourage resistance."

Nonetheless, the Salafist group urged Hamas to release the militants it says were detained.

U.S. Embassy Tweet About Comedian's Arrest Sparks Row With MB

A post on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo's Twitter feed promoting comedian Jon Stewart's attack on Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood triggered a diplomatic spat Wednesday.

Stewart slammed Morsi on the "Daily Show" Monday for arresting Bassem Youssef, the man known as "Egypt's Jon Stewart," for insulting Morsi and Islam on a similarly-themed comedy show.

"Democracy isn't democracy if it only lasts up until someone makes fun of your hat," Stewart said.

The Muslim Brotherhood responded with a post saying its Freedom and Justice political party objected to the American embassy's post as "flagrant meddling in #Egypt' domestic affairs." In a separate post, the party wrote: "Another undiplomatic & unwise move by @USEmbassyCairo, taking sides in an ongoing investigation & disregarding Egyptian law & culture."

Morsi's office also denounced the U.S. Embassy for the "Daily Show" post. "It's inappropriate for a diplomatic mission to engage in such negative political propaganda," the president's office wrote.

That post appears to have been removed. U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson had the original post taken down, too, Foreign Policy Magazine's Cable Blog reports. State Department officials want it restored, the blog says, to avoid any appearance that online pressure led to its removal.

Morsi's office issued a statement on its Facebook page Wednesday denying that he had anything to do with charges being brought against Youssef.

"The Presidency reiterates the importance of freedom of expression and fully respects press freedom. All citizens are free to express themselves without the restrictions that prevailed in the era of the previous regime," the statement said. "The first legislation passed under President Mohamed Morsy was concerned with the prevention of pre-trial detention of journalists. This demonstrates the determination of the President to encourage press and media to operate in a free environment.

"We urge citizens to exercise their legal right to freedom of speech while respecting the rule of law."

Closer to home Mohamed Elibiary, a member of President Obama's Homeland Security Advisory Council, took issue with media attention on Youssef's arrest.

"A lot of AstroTurf advocacy in media on this," Elibiary wrote on his Twitter feed Tuesday. In politics, "AstroTurf" is a cynical term describing well-funded campaigns deceptively designed to appear to be grass-roots driven.

Elibiary was accused by Egypt's El-Rose Youssef magazine in December of having ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

Pentagon Denies Fort Hood Shooting Victims Purple Hearts

Congressional efforts to secure Purple Hearts for Fort Hood shooting victims have met with failure. Pentagon officials sent a position paper to congressional staffers Friday detailing the military's opposition.

Thirteen people were killed and 32 others were wounded in the 2009 massacre at the Army post. The attack has not been labeled a terrorist act despite evidence that the alleged shooter, Nidal Hasan, communicated with an American-born al-Qaida cleric and was motivated by Hasan's belief that America was at war with Islam.

U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, whose district includes Fort Hood, introduced legislation in February that would award combat status to military and civilian victims. That came after an ABC News investigation featured several victims who said they had been neglected by the system.

Sgt. Kimberly Munley told ABC that her gunshot wound should be considered no different than getting shot in combat by an insurgent in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The Pentagon disagrees, saying that issuing a Purple Heart to victims could "irrevocably alter the fundamental character of this time-honored decoration" and "undermine the prosecution of Major Nidal Hasan by materially and directly compromising Major Hasan's ability to receive a fair trial."

Hasan's trial is set to begin on May 29. The Pentagon has refused to classify his rampage as terrorism and classified it as "workplace violence" instead.

Carter is backing down for now, saying he may renew the push after Hasan's trial.

"The DOD position paper is dead wrong to oppose this legislation," Carter told ABC News. "These victims deserve recognition and compensation for the injuries and loss of life from a direct attack on a U.S. military installation."

The Pentagon paper isn't sitting well with victims, many of whom have filed a lawsuit against the Army for classifying the shooting as "workplace violence" and for putting their care at a lower priority than those who have suffered injuries sustained in combat overseas.

"It's a slap in the face. Given everything that has occurred over the last three and a half years, this is incomprehensible, and in many respects, not worth of the Army. It's regrettable and tremendously wrongheaded," victim attorney Reed Rubenstein told ABC News.

Comedian Arrested In Latest Egyptian Crackdown on Free Speech

No single critic of the Muslim Brotherhood has been as effective as Bassem Youssef, the Egyptian funny man known by many as "Egypt's Jon Stewart," but that effectiveness has come with a cost. An arrest warrant for the comedian was issued on Saturday on charges of "insulting Islam" and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.

Youssef's show, "al-Bermaneg," attracts 30 million viewers throughout the Arab world and is known for lampooning Egypt's political and religious elites, including Morsi. The regime's chief prosecutor opened an investigation into Youssef in January after receiving a complaint.

The arrest represents the most serious affront to free speech since the Brotherhood took power last year, Human Rights Watch director Heba Morayef tells The Guardian. "This is the crackdown," she said.

Youssef's warrant came less than a day after nine opposition activists and four lawyers were arrested in Alexandria. It also followed legal proceedings launched by Morsi-appointed Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah against five prominent activists for allegedly inciting violence against the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Pathetic efforts to smother dissent and intimidate media is a sign of a shaky regime and a bunker mentality," Opposition leader Mohamed Elbaradei wrote in a Twitter post Saturday.

Youssef promises to take his show's satire "through the roof" and not give in to intimidation. Egyptian prosecutors charged Youssef under a 200-year-old law that he finds absurd.

"If we made a whole revolution and we didn't change a law like this, then this is quite ridiculous," Youssef told CBS News. "President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have not made any serious steps to actually improve liberties in the country."

"This kind of program is extremely new to the region ... We are destroying taboos and taking away the holiness of leadership through satire, through humor," Youssef continued. "So I think many people up there are panicking, and they don't know how to deal with it."

Targeting Youssef may backfire against the regime because of the widespread international press attention his situation has received.

In the clearest condemnation of the Morsi government to date, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned Youssef 's arrest on Monday, along with the other recent efforts to stifle free speech in Egypt.

"We are concerned that the public prosecutor appears to have questioned and then released on bail Bassem Youssef on charges of insulting Islam and President Morsi," Nuland said in Monday's State Department press briefing. "This coupled with recent arrest warrants issued for political activists is evidence of a disturbing trend of growing restrictions on freedom of expression."

Nuland also condemned the Morsi regime for being slow to investigate allegations of police brutality and suppression of press freedom during the December 2012 demonstrations connected with the constitutional referendum.

"So there does not seem to be an evenhanded application of justice here," she said.

Muslim Writer Praises New Emerson Documentary

American journalists have been "subdued" when it comes to reporting on Islamic radicalization, "largely by intimidation and the fear of accusations of Islamophobia –[which] is the Islamists' greatest coup," Muslim physician and writer Qanta Ahmed argues in a new column.

She points to Investigative Project on Terrorism Executive Director Steven Emerson's new documentary, "Jihad in America: The Grand Deception," for examples about radical connections and ideals espoused by national Islamist groups that are ignored by the media.

"'The Grand Deception' exposes radical Islamists in their own words," Ahmed writes, something "shattering to any Muslim in America - and is exactly why our communities invite unwanted scrutiny. In their own voices, American Islamists demand violent jihad against the United States."

The documentary has impressed other viewers, with Orange County Register editorial writer Rory Cohen calling it a "must see" for showing "how far the Muslim Brotherhood has reached within our own political fabric in less than three decades."

But media coverage fails to show the diversity of ideas and beliefs held by Muslims in America, Ahmed writes, noting adherents to 70 sects and people with roots in nearly as many countries. There's a "battle for America's Muslim narrative" that the media fails to recognize and cover.

"If only the media paid the same scrutiny to such data as to that gathered by the IPT in The Grand Deception … we would greatly advance the public debate. It's time to emerge from our torpor. Refusing to debate these issues, however uncomfortable or intimidating, is a grand deception indeed, one which we accomplish at our own hand and our own peril."

Read her whole column here. Learn more about the film "The Grand Deception" here.

Army Vet Charged For Fighting with Syrian Terrorists

A 30-year-old Army veteran from Phoenix is charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States after he acknowledged fighting with a designated terrorist group in Syria.

Eric Harroun was discovered after posting videos of him with al-Nusrah Front fighters earlier this year. He met with FBI agents in Virginia after returning to the United States earlier this week, telling them he knew the U.S. designated al-Nusrah a terrorist group but still agreed to be on an "RPG Team," carrying rockets, an AK-47 and anti-armor rockets which were fired at forces loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

He posted several pictures and videos online showing him carrying rocket propelled grenades and other weapons. The video that vaulted him to national attention came in January, and featured him celebrating in English after a Syrian helicopter appeared to be shot down. He also posted the incident on his Facebook page, writing "Downed a Syrian Helicopter then Looted all Intel and Weapons!"

In another video, he tells Assad "your days are numbered. You are going down in flames. You should just quit now while you can and leave. You're gonna die no matter what. Where you go we will find you and kill you."

He met earlier with FBI agents at a U.S. Consulate in Turkey when he traveled there. He described how al-Nusrah terrorists, who are also part of al-Qaida in Iraq, initially were suspicious of him. Those concerns disappeared after Harroun took part in an attack in which he helped save the life of a wounded comrade. He said he believed he shot 10 people in total, but didn't know how many died.

He also told investigators "that he hated al-Qaeda, that he did not know any al-Qaeda members, and that he would fight against any regime if it imposed Sharia law in Syria because he was opposed to all forms of oppression," an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Paul Higginbotham said.

Harroun also expressed a desire to go to Palestinian territories, writing on Facebook that "The only good Zionist is a dead Zionist."

He served in the U.S. Army from 2000-03, receiving a medical discharge after he was hurt in a car accident.

Bahrain Labels Hizballah Terrorists, EU Dawdles

As we noted earlier this week, Hizballah's alliance with dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria's bloody civil war has left the Shia organization politically weakened.

Investigations also have found Hizballah responsible for a terrorist bombing in Bulgaria last year and for sending an operative to Cyprus to scout targets for attacks on Israeli tourists. But that has yet to be enough for the European Union (EU) to designate Hizballah a terrorist group.

The parliament in a Persian Gulf state, Bahrain, voted this week to do what the EU won't. The terrorist designation is believed to be driven by sectarian factors – Bahrain's ruling class is Sunni, but its population is mostly Shia, the Times of Israel reports. Bahraini officials blame Hizballah for stoking anti-government protests since the Arab Spring began. But they also blame Hizballah for bombings last fall in the capital Manama that killed two people.

President Obama called on the EU to designate Hizballah a terrorist group during last week's trip to Israel. He cited the Bulgaria bombing, saying Israelis were targeted "because of where they came from; robbed of the ability to live and love and raise families. That's why every country that values justice should call Hezbollah what it truly is: a terrorist organization."

Hizballah replied by saying Obama "speaks like an employee of the Zionist entity [Israel]."

A Bulgarian investigation found Hizballah responsible for last July's a bombing attack that killed five Israelis and the Bulgarian bus driver. Interim Bulgarian Prime Minister Marin Raykov said he won't push the EU to designate Hizballah, but will release more information about the investigation.

"For Bulgaria it is of key importance to have a common position, to have a consensus on this [within the EU]," Raykov said. "We will continue the investigation … We will provide the needed evidence."

Some EU countries indicated that they aren't persuaded to act against Hizballah by existing Bulgarian information. Others have expressed concern that designating Hizballah would increase tension in the Middle East.

Under that standard, no evidence would prove sufficient. Coddling Hizballah has only allowed it to stockpile tens of thousands of missiles capable of striking the heart of Israel. Its forces are fighting in Syria and training forces to buck up a ruthless dictator. That, in turn, is stoking sectarian tension in Lebanon.

And its operatives continue to plot terror in Europe and elsewhere. Investigations tie Hizballah to plots and attacks on Israeli diplomatic officials in Asia and Europe starting in 2011.In addition to the Bulgarian investigation, a court in Cyprus last week convicted a Hizballah operative guilty on five charges relating to his work scouting travel patterns of Israeli tourists.

Hizballah paid Hossam Taleb Yaccoub for six missions in Cyprus between 2011 and his arrest last summer, just days before the Bulgarian attack. His mission echoed aspects of the Bulgarian bombing, including tracking Israeli flight schedules, identifying tour buses which carry Israelis and more.

This is not enough for the EU to act. It would be difficult to imagine writing this under other circumstances, but if only the Europeans could be as clear-eyed about terrorists as Bahrain.

Three Terror Cases Wrapped in One Day

Monday was a productive day in law enforcement's ongoing effort to thwart terrorist plots before people get hurt.

In New York, a judge unsealed a December 2011 guilty plea by a Somali national for providing material support to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame's plea has been under seal. He was taken into custody in the Gulf of Aden in April 2011 as he traveled between Somalia and Yemen. He was kept at sea for two months of questioning by intelligence officials before the criminal charges were filed.

In addition to fighting for al-Shabaab, Warsame procured weapons from AQAP and taught others to use explosives. He also worked with American citizens in conspiring to support AQAP with money, equipment and people. Warsame has cooperated with U.S. investigators, providing what a source described to CBS News as "an intelligence watershed."

"Ahmed Warsame served as a critical link between two foreign terrorist organizations and was an operational terrorist leader, commanding hundreds of fighters," Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said in a statement. "His capture, successful interrogation, and guilty plea demonstrate how U.S. military, intelligence, and law enforcement assets coordinate to neutralize threats and protect the country."

In addition, a jury convicted Abdel Hameed Shehadeh of repeatedly lying about his attempts to join the Taliban or al-Qaida during trips to Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. When Pakistan refused to let him into the country, Shehadeh returned to the United States and tried to enlist in the U.S. Army.

"[H]is true motive was to deploy overseas, where he would commit treason by defecting and fighting alongside insurgent forces," a government statement said. Shehadeh, a 23-year-old former Staten Island resident, faces a maximum 21-year prison sentence.

Another would-be terrorist was sentenced Monday. A federal judge in Seattle ordered Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif to spend 18 years in prison for plotting to attack a military processing center with machine guns and grenades. Latif, a convert to Islam born as Joseph Anthony Davis, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to murder U.S. officers and to use weapons of mass destruction.

An informant alerted law enforcement to plans Abdul-Latif made with a co-conspirator to attack the center. Their discussions were audio and videotaped, and Abdul-Latif worked to obtain the weapons needed. He planned to attack the center on a Monday in July 2011, when it would be crowded with new recruits. Officials fear children at an adjacent day-care center would have been killed had the attack occurred.

"Abdul-Latif undertook his plot in furtherance of his long-standing and deeply felt radical beliefs," the prosecution sentencing memo said. "To this day, he has not disavowed the radical ideology that inspired his attack plot, nor has he expressed any meaningful remorse for his conduct."

Morsi Threatens Opponents

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi warned opponents Sunday that he would act against the Muslim Brotherhood's opponents if rioting continues.

Morsi's threat followed violent demonstrations Friday at the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters that left 160 people injured.

"If investigations prove that certain political figures are implicated, the necessary measures will be taken against them, whatever their status," Morsi said on his Twitter account on Sunday, also carried on state television. "If I have to do what it takes to protect this country, I will do it."

"I urge all political forces not to provide any political cover for acts of violence and rioting. I will not be happy if investigations prove the guilt of some politicians," Morsi said.

Widespread rioting and demonstrations between opponents and the Brotherhood have been a regular part of Egyptian life since Morsi announced he was assuming emergency powers last November.

Exactly what Morsi intends to do remains to be seen. He declared states of emergency in three cities near the Suez Canal in January to combat violence there, but Yasser El-Shimy, an Egypt analyst for the International Crisis Group, told Lebanon's Daily Star that a broader state of emergency is unlikely.

"My impression is that Mursi and the Brotherhood in general have had it with violence that is taking place and they are running out of patience," El-Shimy said. "This definitely is the strictest he has spoken regarding the rioting. Now Mursi feels there is enough public opinion on his side to justify taking stricter measures."

Opponents see Morsi's words as a not-so-veiled threat to use more repressive measures against dissenters.

"We can expect the worst. Morsi's threat signals the death of the state of law. They show that he is president only of the Muslim Brotherhood," Khaled Daud, spokesman of the National Salvation Front opposition coalition, told Agence France Presse.

Michael Meunier, a Coptic Christian who heads Egypt's Al-Haya Party and is a member of the National Salvation Front, tells the Investigative Project on Terrorism that Morsi will have to make good on his threat to keep his credibility.

However, he has proven erratic in the past when it has come to carrying out his threats, which Meunier said makes it difficult when it comes to predicting what he will do.

Morsi's condemnation of violence by opponents amid his simultaneous refusal to condemn violence on the part of his supporters against dissenters likely will lead to civil war, Meunier said.

Western Passports Aiding Hizballah Terror Plots

Two stories this week show Hizballah's global reach as a terrorist organization.

First, Hizballah is recruiting people with Canadian passports "because of its value, because it facilitates travel so easily and so smoothly," Canadian Security Intelligence Service Assistant Director of Intelligence Michael Peirce told a parliament committee Thursday.

The testimony came during a hearing on legislation that would allow Canada to strip people of their Canadian citizenship if they commit acts of war against the country. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney wants to broaden that to include treason and terrorism.

A dual citizen of Canada and Lebanon is suspected of organizing a bombing attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last summer, Stewart Bell of Canada's National Post reports. The suspect used his Canadian passport when he went to Bulgaria. A Bulgarian investigation blamed Hizballah.

"If the allegations are true," Kenney said, "these terrorists clearly have no sense of loyalty or commitment to this country. Rather, they are violently committed to extremist ideas, and willing to kill innocent civilians and allies of Canada."

Also Thursday, a criminal court in Cyprus found an acknowledged Hizballah member guilty of five charges relating to his work scouting Israeli tourists.

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub told the court he gathered information on Israeli flights to Cyprus and scouted which hotels attracted Israeli tourists.

Yaacoub's travels were aided by his Swedish passport, the New York Times reported, drawing little attention as he crossed borders within the European Union. Magnus Norell, a witness in the case and a former Swedish Secret Service analyst, called the case "a rare opening, a rare lifting of the veil" on Hizballah operations and on preparing for a terrorist attack.

Those disclosures, in addition to the Bulgaria attack, should be all the argument needed for the EU to follow the United States and Canada and designate Hizballah a terrorist organization, Norell told the Times. "It's long overdue."