From 'Jihad watch'

[Snowden]

I think this is better than my starting a thread for each thing I find here that is worth noting. Really, there is little here that we dare not know, IMO:

Lebanon capitulates, cancels anti-Hizballah measures


Never mind.

Apparently sovereignty isn't worth fighting for. An update on this story. "Lebanese government capitulates to Hizbullah," by Roee Nahmias for YNet News, May 15:

Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi al-Aridi said in a press statement on Wednesday that the US-backed cabinet has cancelled two measures it took against Hizbullah, which triggered the worst internal fighting in the country since the 1975-90 civil war.

The two measures in question were the army's decision to overturn a government act to reassign the head of Beirut airport security, and the decision to probe a communications network set up by Hizbullah.

The government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said after a meeting that it was taking the step to preserve civil peace and facilitate an Arab League mediation effort to end Lebanon's 18-month old political crisis, which has left the country without a president since November.

The Hizbullah network Al-Manar reported the government's decision, which was accompanied by celebratory firing of weapons. "This decision will have numerous ramifications," the newscaster said, reading from a statement.

"Despite the fact that both of the government's decisions were used as an excuse for violence and use of weapons, and stressing that we are opposed to the use of armed violence for the achievement of political objectives, the government has decided to cancel both of its decisions."

Lebanese media reported that the decision to repeal the acts was instated despite Saudi Arabia's request that the government refrain from ceding to Hizbullah. The organization demanded that the decisions be revoked in exchange for removing the siege from the nation's airport and for halting the revolt it had declared.



http://www.jihadwatch.org:80/archives/021021.php

[Snowden]

France convicts 7 of recruiting for interior spiritual struggle


The New York Times headline says they were recruiting for jihad. How's that again? Recruiting for a benign struggle for self-improvement? What will the friends of the Times in the U.S. government say when they see the Gray Lady eschewing their new guidelines and speaking of jihad as if it had something to do with violence?
"France Convicts 7 of Jihad Recruiting," by Katrin Bennhold for the New York Times, May 15 (thanks to Davida):

PARIS — A Paris court sentenced seven men to prison terms of up to seven years on Wednesday for helping to send French youths to fight alongside insurgents in Iraq, ending a four-year investigation into a jihadist recruitment ring.

The men — five French, one Algerian and one Moroccan — were tried on charges including criminal association with intent to commit terrorism.

Jean-Julien Xavier-Rolai, the prosecutor, had accused the group of sending about a dozen young Frenchmen to join Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia who was killed in an American airstrike in 2006, after funneling them through radical religious establishments in Syria and Egypt.

At a six-day trial in March, most of the men testified that they had either been to Iraq after the 2003 American-led invasion or had planned to go, but they denied having been part of a network that recruited insurgents.

The group’s leader, Farid Benyettou, 27, was given a six-year-sentence. Mr. Benyettou, a former janitor and self-taught preacher, was accused of recruiting fighters from Paris mosques and justifying suicide bombings in private sermons given in his family apartment.
Boubakeur al-Hakim, 24, who had fought in Iraq and was accused of running a way station in Syria for French youths headed for Iraq, was sentenced to seven years. So was Said Abdellah, 39, a Moroccan citizen.

Nacer Eddine Mettai, a 39-year old Algerian national, was ordered jailed for four years for forging passports. Three others — one who fought in Iraq and two who had been planning to — were given lighter sentences....

The seven men, including three young French Muslims who died fighting against American forces in Iraq, were members of what has become known as the “19th Arrondissement cell,” named after the working-class, heavily immigrant Paris neighborhood where most of them lived. The cell had been under surveillance for at least a year before the seven men were arrested in early 2005....


Jihad Watch: France convicts 7 of recruiting for interior spiritual struggle

[Snowden]

Afghan teacher shot dead after speech condemning suicide bombings


Why Islamic reform is about as likely as an attack by men from Mars, part 65320: "Afghan teacher killed after speech condemning suicide bombings," from The Associated Press, May 14 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

KABUL, Afghanistan: A teacher was shot to death in northern Afghanistan after he gave a speech condemning suicide bombings, officials said Wednesday.

Abdul Hadi criticized such attacks as un-Islamic and un-Afghan during a speech Tuesday in the Archi district of Kunduz province, said Khair Mohammad Subat, the provincial education department director.

Hadi spoke at a gathering of about 700 people, including the Kunduz governor, and was on his way home when he was killed, Subat said....


Jihad Watch: Afghan teacher shot dead after speech condemning suicide bombings

[Snowden]

India blast has hallmarks of Al Qaeda

A Jaipur update from ABC Radio Australia:

Police in India are sifting through the sites of eight bomb attacks that killed at least 80 people in the north-western city of Jaipur. Police have questioned four people in connection with the attacks which left about 200 people injured.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: MJ Gohel terrorism expert and head of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.

GOHEL: Well it's early days yet but the modus operandi, the fingerprints of this attack do point very clearly to Al Qaeda or an Al Qaeda-linked group. We've seen this happening before where al Qaeda-linked groups have used soft symbolic targets to attack, they want to perpetrate mass casualty atrocities by deploying multiple coordinated bombings, and they want to hit at the economy of a country. Now all of those criteria are met here in this attack in Jaipur.

LAM: But all the same though there are several groups in India which may have grievances as well, including the Kashmiri separatists and also the Maoists?

GOHEL: There are certain groups within India and indeed it's possible that one or two may have cooperated. But the suspicion at the moment is forming on a group known as Huji, which was a group established by Osama bin Laden in 1992, and also there's another group but based in Pakistan, called the Lashkar-e-Toiba which has been responsible for attacks in India. And of course as you mentioned there have been attacks in Kashmir, indeed Kashmir was the first victim of this kind of Jihadi terrorism, because it goes back all the way to 1989. And there have been several attacks before in places like Delhi and in Bombay, trains have been attacked and other locations such as the Indian parliament was attacked also in 2001. But what we're now seeing is much more worrying. These attacks have spread to other major cities in India and there is a pattern to this going back over the last few years.

LAM: You mentioned the Lashkar-e-Toiba and indeed India's Foreign Minister is due to visit Pakistan later this month. What about the possibility that the attacks were aimed at derailing the peace process between India and Pakistan?

GOHEL: Well yes the peace process between India and Pakistan is still extremely fragile; India's constant complaint has been that a lot of terrorists are coming over across the border from Pakistan, and indeed we've seen a number of attacks across the world. The trail has led back to Pakistan, where al Qaeda and other extremist groups have established their headquarters. An attack like this could derail the peace process and of course there's also concern that an attack of this nature could set up communal tensions within India, which would be a great tragedy....


Jihad Watch: India blast has hallmarks of Al Qaeda

[Snowden]

Jordanian prof: Let's send suicide bombers with small nukes to Israel



Professorial. "Jordanian University Lecturer Ibrahim 'Alloush Suggests Sending Suicide-Bombers Armed with 'Small Nuclear Bombs' to Israel," from MEMRITV, May 13 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Following is an excerpt from an interview with Jordanian university lecturer Dr. Ibrahim 'Alloush, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on May 13, 2008.

Dr. Ibrahim 'Alloush: Whoever managed to get a martyrdom-seeker into Dimona armed with conventional explosives should consider how to get martyrdom-seekers into Dimona and elsewhere armed with non-conventional explosives and perhaps even small nuclear bombs. We should think in this direction.

Jihad Watch: Jordanian prof: Let's send suicide bombers with small nukes to Israel

[Snowden]

Hamas official: "After we defeat the Zionists we will persecute them... we will persecute them to eternity"

Land for what, now? "Zahar: 'We will persecute the Zionists'," from the Jerusalem Post, May 14:

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said Wednesday that a Palestinian state will be established on all of the land of Palestine and not only on parts of it, and that it will include "Jaffa, Lod and Haifa."

Zahar also reiterated Hamas' unwillingness to recognize the State of Israel and said that the group "will continue to persecute the Zionists wherever they are, after we prove that the Zionist army can be defeated - contrary to what was believed in the past, that it is impossible to beat the Zionists."

Speaking in the Gaza Strip, he went on to affirm Palestinian right of return, claiming that the "right of return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians is closer than ever."

"After we defeat the Zionists we will persecute them… we will persecute them to eternity, and the sun of the freedom and independence of the Palestinians will burn all of the Zionists," he continued.

"I think there's no doubt in anyone's mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process." - Dhimmi Carter, April 13.



Jihad Watch: Hamas official: "After we defeat the Zionists we will persecute them... we will persecute them to eternity"