Muslim Brotherhood Tells Obama "Accept Arab Will"

Officials with the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremists are demanding that Obama live up to his rhetoric by dropping Israel and allowing Sharia law to flourish in the Middle East, the Times of Israel reports.

"Accepting the will of the Arab people is the most important change," wrote Muslim Brotherhood official Issam al-Aryan on his Facebook page, suggesting that the Brotherhood be allowed to set the tone in the region. "In the absence of direct American influence, Egypt can affect and lead the process of building a democratic and constitutional regime that will become a dream for African and the southern hemisphere."

A Hamas official expressed hope that a second Obama term might include policy changes more to the group's liking. "He now has an opportunity to implement those promises to the nations of the region, far from pressures by the Israel lobby and politicized money," said Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu. He also suggested that Obama adopt "a moral policy, devoid of double standards" toward regional issues.

Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received Obama's victory warmly, the Palestinian Authority was not without its own demands on the American leader.

"We have decided to take the Palestinian issue to the UN and we hope that Obama will stand by this Palestinian right," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "What Obama needs to do is stop the Israeli settlement policy and not act to stop the Palestinian activity at the UN," he said, referring to America's defunding of a United Nations agency after it admitted Palestine as an official member.

Iran, a sponsor of Hamas, also chided the president by comparing his peace rhetoric to crippling sanctions his government imposed on the Islamic Republic. Judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani attacked "US crimes against the Iranian people" and added that "the Americans should not think they can gain concessions from the Iranian people by coming to the negotiating table."

The Treasury Department announced new sanctions on Thursday.

If Iran decided it wanted to negotiate with America, it would be "prepared to negotiate with the devil in the pits of hell," said international affairs adviser Mohammad Javad Larijani about U.S. peace overtures.

Obama Supporters: President's Re-election Means 'No More Israel'

Several Obama supporters told conservative blogger Anne Sorock of RebelPundit.com on video election night following President Obama's re-election that they hope that it means the end of Israel.

Sorock captured the video as a group of pro-Obama revelers as the gathered along State Street in downtown Chicago to celebrate and posted it on the Rebel Pundit blog.

"I'm here tonight for Obama," a man told Sorock. "What does it mean to me? No more Israel."

He then went on to mock Mitt Romney and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for threatening to use force against Iran to keep it from getting nuclear weapons, contrasting it with his belief that Obama will not intervene to protect the Jewish state.

"Obama said f*** that sh*t. Kill those mother f***ers," the man said referring to Israel.

The comments were completely unsolicited, and Sorock told the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) that they caught her by total surprise.

"I was surprised," Sorock said. "It was the first time that somebody mentioned foreign policy."

She had expected the man to tell her that he was glad Obama was re-elected for domestic reasons.

His response prompted her to ask others in the crowd who were primarily college students what they thought about Israel and Iran's nuclear weapons quest. The responses surprised her.

Two other individuals she caught on video, including one claiming to be of Jewish heritage, objected to Israel's very existence.

One man said on camera that Israel was "being unfair to Palestine."

"Palestine was there first, and Israel moved in in the 1940s and that's an unfair attack," the man said.

The self-described individual of Jewish extraction agreed, accusing the Israelis of "taking advantage of the misfortune that the Palestinians have had."

"I really do not think that us being with Israel is a good choice for us or the world," he said.

Hamas Steps Up Terror from Gaza

Terrorist attacks targeting Israelis from Gaza surged last month, according to a new report from the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). While total attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem (nearly all of them employing firebombs) rose slightly from September's levels, mortar and rocket strikes from Gaza more than quadrupled, rising from 23 to 96 in October.

More than 12,800 rockets have struck southern Israel killing 44 civilians since 2001, according to the Israel Defense Force (IDF). More than 800 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel from Gaza this year, the Wall Street Journal noted in a Sunday editorial.

After 80 rockets were fired from Gaza Oct. 24, human-rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky noted that the barrage had sent more than 1 million Israelis scrambling for cover (the equivalent would be 40 million Americans).

"I'm angry that while human rights organizations like Amnesty (International), Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and others do not waste a single opportunity to condemn Israel for human rights violations against the Palestinians, the human rights of Israelis are seemingly not important enough for them" to criticize, Ostrovsky wrote in The Huffington Post. "Is Jewish blood really that cheap?"

"I'm angry that so many people are blind to the fact that Iran, which has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and now seeks to obtain nuclear weapons, is the primary funder and supplier of arms to Hamas," he added.

The terror problem has worsened since Hamas seized power in Gaza five years ago, as the territory has increasingly become a safe haven for Palestinian Islamic Jihad and radical Salafist groups. Israeli defense officials note that Hamas operatives fire rockets from populated areas of Gaza.

"By operating from densely populated areas, Hamas willingly endangers its own people, turning their schools into terror sites and weapons depots," an IDF statement said. It released this Oct. 27 video of terrorists firing rockets into Israel into Israel from Gaza neighborhoods.

Hamas representatives have boasted of the group's willingness to use Palestinian civilians as human shields.

"For the Palestinian people death has become an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel," a Hamas representative declared in a 2008 interview. "Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: 'We desire death as you desire life.'"

While Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system and good luck has kept Israeli casualty levels low, "no defensive system is perfect and at some point a Palestinian barrage may take a large toll in lives, forcing Israel to respond in a major way," the Journal observed. "When that happens, Israel will be urged to show 'restraint' by the usual diplomatic suspects."

Convicted Terrorist Stands Trial in Murder-for-Hire Scheme

The trial of a former member of a North Carolina jihad cell accused of plotting to kill witnesses who testified against him opened Monday at the U.S. District Court in Raleigh, NC.

Hysen Sherifi sought help from an inmate to hire a hit man to kill and behead three witnesses who testified against him at his previous terrorism trial. But the inmate turned out to be a government informant. Sherifi allegedly told the informant that he wanted to "use the photographs of the dead bodies and severed heads to convince other potential witnesses not to testify against him, or his co-conspirators." The informant claimed he knew a hit man, nicknamed "Treetop" or "Tree" in court papers, who would be willing to carry out the killings for money.

Sherifi, a Kosovo native, is serving a 45-year prison sentence for conspiring to wage jihad overseas and engage in military-style training. Sherifi plotted with Daniel Patrick Boyd, the alleged ringleader of the terrorist cell to attack U.S. military personnel and their families at the Marine Corp Base located in Quantico, Va.

The murder-for-hire scheme involved Sherifi's brother, Shkumbin Sherifi, and friend, Nevine Aly Elsheikh. Both pleaded guilty last week in the murder-for-hire scheme.

Elsheikh provided the hit man the names, addresses, and photos of Sherifi's intended targets. Both Elsheikh and Shkumbin Sherifi together gave the hit man $5,000 to cover the cost of carrying out the murders.

Hysen Sherifi's trial is expected to last through the week.

The Haqqani Network's Trail of Terror

The State Department announced Monday that Qari Zakir (AKA Abdul Rauf), chief of suicide operations for the Haqqani Network, has been listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Zakir, an operational commander for the network in four Afghan provinces, oversees its training program which includes instruction on building improvised explosive devices and the use of heavy weapons.

The Haqqani Network, a Taliban-affiliated jihadist group operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan, is one of the most violent terror organizations in the region. Since 2008, it has attacked targets including restaurants and hotels in Kabul; the headquarters of NATO's security force in Afghanistan; and the U.S. and Indian embassies there.

Zakir is the tenth Haqqani Network leader designated by the State Department. Its terrorist "credits" include a coordinated September 2011 attack against the U.S. embassy, NATO headquarters and other targets in Kabul. Sixteen people (including at least six children) died as a result of the attack carried about by jihadists using guns and rocket-propelled grenades in tandem with suicide bombers.

Personnel chosen from Zakir's training program carried out the Kabul attack and others, which included an August 2010 strike against two NATO facilities in eastern Afghanistan and a June 2011 attack on the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel which killed 11 civilians and two Afghan policemen.

In congressional testimony last year, outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen blasted Pakistan's military spy agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate, for supporting the Haqqani Network.

Mullen linked ISI collaboration with the Taliban to the June and September 2011 attacks in Kabul. With ISI support, Haqqani operatives "planned and conducted" the assault on the U.S. Embassy, Mullen said. "We also have credible evidence that they were behind the June 28^th attack against the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations."

"The Haqqani Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency," Mullen added.

NATO plans to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014 don't appear to have reduced the Haqqani Network's interest in targeting Western forces. Mullah Sangeen Zadran (who is on the U.S.-designated terrorist list for supporting al-Qaida and holds a U.S. soldier hostage) has just released a video inviting Kurds and Turks to come to Afghanistan to participate in jihad.

"We, the Afghan Taliban, are continuing our jihad while aware of the games and the aims of the United States, NATO and the collaborating apostates," Sangeen said. "Without our jihad they would certainly be able to subvert the Afghan people, too."

In a video released in July, Sangeen vowed that the fight would continue after the war in Afghanistan ended. "Jihad is not only in Afghanistan," he said, adding that "America will leave here in disgrace."

Hamas Reaping Benefits From Schalit Deal

Israeli security forces have arrested 30 Hamas activists in recent months on suspicion of establishing a headquarters in Ramallah, part of a recruiting campaign aimed at establishing student cells at West Bank universities.

The Shin Bet security service said that the suspects were working to create similar terror cells in Hebron, Bethlehem and Abu Dis, a Jerusalem suburb. Two of them allegedly participated in the October 2000 lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah.

In May, Israeli authorities said they had broken up a Hamas-funded terror cell calling itself "The Holy Warriors Brigade." Two members of the group (which may have been organized by several terrorists jailed in Israel) admitted detonating explosives near the Kiryat Arba security fence and planning to kidnap Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The effort to reconstitute Hamas in the West Bank may be aided by terrorist-tied prisoners who were among the 1,000 released from Israeli prisons last year in a deal for kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit.

Israeli defense officials say that dozens of those released for Schalit have resumed terrorist activity. More than 200 of them were deported to the Gaza Strip, with many joining Hamas' leadership, while others have been firing rockets into Israel and developing new weapons. Operatives deported to the West Bank include members of a Hebron terror cell that planted a bomb in Jerusalem and plotted the kidnapping of an IDF soldier.

On October 18, the anniversary of Schalit's release, the Hamas regime in Gaza released a video reconstructing the kidnapping. Hamas' Gaza boss, Ismail Haniyeh, hailed the operation as a "road map" for freeing prisoners in the future.

The situation is probably not going to get better anytime soon. Israel has agreed to permit the return of 18 more of the Schalit prisoners to the West Bank, and officials are concerned that corruption and financial problems could undercut Palestinian security forces' ability to monitor the released militants.

"These are the people in charge of making sure the released terrorists do not return to terror activity," an Israeli official said. "When they break the law, they cannot be trusted to halt terror attacks, so Israel must take over the job."

HLF And SCOTUS, More To Consider

Monday's refusal by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the appeal by defendants in the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) case not only ended the defendants' hopes for legal relief, but it likely dashed similar hopes for key Islamist organizations named as un-indicted co-conspirators (UCC) in the prosecution.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and ISNA's related North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) were all named UCCs. The designation allowed prosecutors to get statements into evidence that were part of the conspiracy, even if the groups and individuals named were not charged.

These organizations asked the presiding judge to purge their names from the list, and ISNA and NAIT even took his denial to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld his decision. While the courts found that the list should not have been filed in public, the courts refused to remove anyone's name. U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis found "ample evidence" linking CAIR, ISNA and NAIT to Hamas.

Hamas is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and a federal judge, in a criminal trial involving charges of material support for Hamas, has ruled that co-conspirator organizations, even though un-indicted, were associated with that FTO. The Supreme Court decision is likely to be the last word on the case.

The FBI officially cut off ties with CAIR in 2008 citing concerns about evidence linking the group to Hamas. That disassociation continues today, though indications are some FBI field offices have inexplicably disregarded the FBI Headquarters' directive.

In view of the Supreme Court ruling affirming the HLF convictions, it might be time to consider if those FBI publicly expressed concerns about CAIR links to Hamas might now be translated into genuine investigative efforts instead of mere termination of outreach activities.

Israel, Iran And A Bombing In Sudan

Last week's bombing of a munitions factory in Sudan continues to generate analysis and conjecture.

Israeli officials aren't commenting on the air raid, though Sudan immediately blamed Israel for the attack which killed two people. The target is believed to be a conduit for arms between Iran and Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Israel learned of the plant and its connection to Iran after the 2010 assassination of Hamas weapons procurer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, Britain's Sunday Times reported. Preparation for the long-distance raid began shortly after that. The newspaper cast the raid as "a dry run" for a possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, noting that, at a distance of 2,400 miles, the Sudanese plant was farther from Israel than Iran.

Eight F-15 fighter jets flew along the Red Sea, refueling in mid-air, with four dropping one-ton bombs on the weapons plant, reports claim.

Mabhouh carried a copy of a 2008 agreement between Iran and Sudan authorizing the plant's work making weapons for Hamas, the Times report said. (The report requires a subscription. Israel Hayom published a summary here.) Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly supervised work at the plant.

The only clear fact is that a weapons factory in Sudan was bombed. Who did it, and what implications it has for Israel, Hamas, Iran or anyone else remains unclear.

The Sunday Times quoted an unnamed Israeli defense source boasting: "This was a show of force but it was only a fraction of our capability — and of what the Iranians can expect in the countdown to the spring."

The Washington Post's Max Fisher offers four theories with the caveat that any, all or none of them could be true. So there's that.

Beyond The Line For HLF

While Monday's refusal by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal by defendants in the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) prosecution effectively closes the case for the defense, it could open options for the government.

In addition to the five defendants, HLF as an organization also was convicted in the case. As we reported in December 2008, there are potential enforcement ramifications stemming from the HLF case beyond the five convicted defendants. This is particularly true now the appellate process has been exhausted in favor of the prosecution.

Since HLF has now been legally determined to have been an organization involved in terrorism support, foreign nationals who worked for HLF or otherwise assisted it may be subject to immigration enforcement action in the form of removal (deportation) proceedings.

In fact, even naturalized U.S. citizens who may have been involved in HLF activities before they naturalized may be subject to either criminal fraud prosecution and/or revocation of their citizenship status if they misrepresented their involvement with HLF or the nature of HLF activities while they were affiliated with the organization.

The Supreme Court decision finalizing the HLF appeals process firmly strengthens the position for law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and their ability to aggressively investigate and prosecute additional suspects who may have been involved with this organization.

End of the Line for HLF

The United States Supreme Court has decided not to accept appeals from the five Holy Land Foundation officials convicted of illegally funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, essentially concluding the case.

The court had no comment in declining to hear the case Monday.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected similar arguments last year in upholding the convictions against Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh. They were convicted on a total of 108 counts in 2008 and are serving sentences ranging from 15 years to 65 years in prison.

The defendants wanted the Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit ruling by rejecting the prosecution's use of Israeli security officials whose identities were never disclosed. That, defense attorneys argued, hampered their ability to cross-examine the witnesses and violated the defendants' rights to confront their accusers.

But other testimony and evidence was consistent with the Israelis' testimony, the Fifth Circuit found. And there is precedent – especially in drug prosecutions – for courts balancing witness safety against the defendants' confrontation rights. "[T]here was a serious and clear need to protect the true identities of [the Israeli witnesses] because of concerns for their safety," the Fifth Circuit ruling said.

In addition, prosecutors did provide sufficient information for defense attorneys to cross examine aggressively. The "defense was therefore well-armed with information upon which to confront and cross-examine both," the appellate court found.

The defense and its supporters continue to cast the Holy Land Foundation as a victim of overzealous post-9/11 prosecutions. The group merely raised money for needy Palestinians, they argue, and was never connected to any violence.

But evidence and testimony in the trial showed the HLF sent money to Palestinian charities controlled by Hamas. "The purpose of creating the Holy Land Foundation was as a fundraising arm for Hamas," U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis said at the 2009 sentencing hearing.

HLF had been one of the nation's largest Muslim charities before being shut down in 2001.
Other disclosures in the case tied several prominent American Islamist groups – especially the Council on American-Islamic Relations – to a Muslim Brotherhood network in the United States created to provide Hamas with political and financial support.

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