Barak Reacts to Kassam Strike with One-Day Closure of Crossings

Arutz: Link to Article Source

(IsraelNN.com) Arab terrorists violated the two-month-old temporary ceasefire Tuesday night with the 43rd Kassam rocket on the western Negev since the truce went into effect on June 19. Defense Minister Ehud Barak retaliated by ordering that all Gaza crossings be closed, hours after announcing the reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Gaza Terrorists Launching

The weapon exploded in an open area at a kibbutz west of Sderot, and there were no injuries or damage. Dozens of mortar shells also have been fired on Israel in the past eight weeks, in violation of the agreement, but Israel has not carried out any counter terrorist operations.

Dozens of mortar shells also have been fired on Israel in the past eight weeks, but Israel has not carried out any counter terrorist operations.

The Gaza crossings were re-reopened this week following previous retaliatory measures aimed at discouraging Arab terrorists from continuing the attacks on Israel, which began nearly eight years ago with the beginning of the Oslo War in September 2000.

Defense Minister Barak said the crossings will remain closed until Thursday, when the situation will be reexamined. Gaza residents have been able to circumvent the crossings by receiving goods and merchandise smuggled through a large network of tunnels underneath the Philadelphi Route, which includes the city of Rafiah that straddles the Egyptian-Gaza border.

Alon Shuster, chairman of the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council where the latest rocket struck, reiterated charges that government is not making a sufficient effort to protect area residents, particularly in terms of fortifying public and private buildings.

"Even if there were total calm, my mind wouldn't be at rest," he said. "I still believe that the government is not doing all it needs to be doing in terms of fortification. Even the ongoing budget debates should not interfere with the fortification efforts."

For more information about the Israelis who are being affected by Kassam attacks visit Iron Rain.

Son of top Hamas leader converts to Christianity

By Aaron Klein
Source: WorldNetDaily
Posted: July 31, 2008

JERUSALEM – The son of one of the most popular leaders in the Hamas terrorist organization has moved to the U.S. and converted to Christianity, it has emerged. In an exclusive interview with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Masab Yousuf, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, slammed Hamas, praised Israel and said he hoped his terrorist father will open his eyes to Jesus and to Christianity.

"You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Muhammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death."

Masab slammed Palestinian society as "an entire society [that] sanctifies death and the suicide terrorists. In Palestinian culture a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheiks tell their students about the 'heroism of the shaheeds.'"

Masab's father is considered the most popular Hamas figure in the West Bank. He is serving a sentence in Israel for planning or involvement in multiple terror attacks, including an infamous 2002 suicide bombing in the school cafeteria of Jerusalem's Hebrew University in which nine students and staff members were killed.

Further articles on this subject can be found at:

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Israeli Ad Pulled Due to Saudi Pressure

Source: Arutz 7
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) Nissan Motor Company has asked its Israeli distributor to pull a local television commercial for the new Nissan Tiida (sold in the U.S. under the name Versa). The decision came after a Saudi Arabian official threatened Nissan with a region-wide boycott.

The commercial, produced by the firm of Inbar-Merhav-Shaked, depicts a group of Gulf Arabs in traditional dress and surrounded by bodyguards attacking a Tiida compact. After hitting, cursing and throwing a shoe at the car, the protagonist is pulled away as a voice-over says, "When you are the most fuel efficient, it's clear that you won't be loved by the oil emirates."



The Japan Times of August 9 quoted a Nissan spokesman in Japan as saying, "The commercial was produced by a local automobile distributor based on its own judgment, and Nissan Motor has nothing to do with the commercial." Daniella Raybenbach, spokesperson for Nissan Israel, confirmed that they had received a request to kill the ad.

Upon the release of the commercial earlier this month, Saudi Arabia's Dubai-based MBC TV quoted a Saudi official as saying, "It's my opinion that Nissan made a huge error by igniting these [racist] instincts. We need to apply punishments... against these things. In order for Nissan to keep its interests in the region, it must apologize." Other Arabic newspapers followed suit in calling for a boycott of Nissan.

The Nissan Company's corporate website claims that it "is one of the most popular and successful automobile brands" in Saudi Arabia. In June 1994, Nissan "set up a regional Middle East headquarters in Dubai, thus becoming the first Japanese car manufacturer to accomplish this feat," the website boasts.

Search for Terrorist in Kenya

Source: NTVKenya

Homegrown Terror Threat - U.S. Lawmakers Take Aim

Source: FoxNews.com
08 Aug 2008 02:01 AM CDT

Many Americans believe that the threat of homegrown terrorism is gravest in Europe, but according to the U.S. government, in the last 18 months more than a half-dozen plots were thwarted right here at home.

Sen. Joe Lieberman says the threat is growing.

“Bottom line: There is a threat of homegrown terror in America,” he said. “It is not as great as in European cities, but it is growing and we have to take it seriously.”

Three young Ohioans were convicted in June on terrorism charges after officials gathered evidence against them that included suicide bomb belts filled with ball bearings.

Mohammed Amawi, Marwan el-Hindi and Wassim Mazloum were part of a terror cell in Toledo that wanted to launch attacks against U.S. troops overseas — made all the easier by their status as Americans.

“Being an American gives you a passport around the world,” said Andrew Cochran, chairman of the Counter terrorism Foundation and editor of the Counter terrorism blog. “These again are instances of homegrown's who take it to the limit. … These people wanted to go all the way to Iraq.”

Other homegrown terrorists have planned attacks on the homefront. Derrick Shareef, then just 22, was inspired by a violent Islamist ideology to plan a grenade attack against a shopping mall in Rockford, Ill. He eventually pleaded guilty to terror charges.

The Internet is fast becoming the dominant tool for the training and recruitment of terrorists. Some lawmakers are attempting to shut down such sites and those with the most extreme propaganda tapes, often made by Al Qaeda’s media arm, As-Sahab.

“I am continuing to work to try to bring down the terrorist Web sites on the Internet,” Lieberman said. “I think the critical role… [is] reaching out to try to stop the problem in local areas before it starts.”

The shutting down of certain Web sites is a prospect some critics are dreading.

Gaza Terrorists Warn Truce May End in Three Weeks

Source: Arutz 7 News

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

(IsraelNN.com) The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in Gaza warned Thursday that the temporary ceasefire may end in three weeks, when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins. The month is frequently marked by an increase in terrorism.

Map of Gaza

PRC official Abu Mujahed charged that Israel is violating the agreement by not making progress in freeing terrorists and prisoners or opening up the border at Rafiah. He also said Israel must allow free movement at Gaza crossings. Israeli security sources said they have relaxed examinations of goods and merchandise passing through Gaza crossings as the temporary ceasefire enters its eighth week, although one rocket was fired on Israel this week.

PRC terrorists allowed several journalists to film a training exercise in which bombs were exploded and live fire was used in a raid on a mock Israeli army base built on the grounds of former Jewish communities that Israel destroyed three years ago.

Abu Mujahed told Reuters that "politicians will stop talking and military men will act" if Israel does not show progress in freeing hundreds of Arab terrorists and prisoners and allowing free movement of good at Gaza crossings.


"The Zionist occupation has not yet agreed to the demand to release our prisoners, so our fighters are preparing for the next round in which we will try to abduct more Israeli soldiers to swap them for our hero prisoners," a PRC spokesman told Reuters.

Abu Mujahed said that the PRC and other terrorist groups had agreed to abide by the truce, which began in mid-June, for 10 weeks, when Ramadan begins. He did not say whether Hamas also was looking towards Ramadan as a possible date for renewal of attacks on Israel.

The ceasefire officially calls for a halt in terrorist attacks and Israel counter terrorist actions in Gaza for several months, when it may be extended to Judea and Samaria.

Hamas has demanded that Israel allow Egypt and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to re-open the border at Rafiah, where the international boundary runs through the city. Israel and Hamas differ on the conditions of the ceasefire, Hamas claiming that the border must be re-opened before talks can advance on freeing kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Israel has said that the agreement calls for the border to be opened up after Shalit is returned home.

Olympic Terror Threat By Chinese Islamic Group

Source: National Terror Alert
Posted: 07 Aug 2008 11:06 AM CDT

An Islamic group that has threatened to attack the Olympics released a new video warning Muslims to avoid planes, trains and buses used by Chinese, a US group that monitors militant organizations said Thursday.

The six-minute video, issued two days before the Beijing games open, was purportedly made by the Turkistan Islamic Party, which seeks independence for China’s western Xinjiang region, the SITE Intelligence Group said. The militants are believed to be based across the border in Pakistan, where security experts say core members have received training from al-Qaeda.

“Choose your side,” says the speaker, grasping a rifle and dressed in a black turban and camouflage with his face masked. “Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are,” he warns Muslims, according to SITE.

The Washington-based IntelCenter, another agency that monitors militant groups, identified the speaker as Abdullah Mansour from the group’s religious education department. He speaks in the Turkic language of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority with a population of about 8 million in Xinjiang.

Last month, the group issued videotaped threats and claimed responsibility for a series of bus bombings in China in recent months. The latest video features graphics similar to ones used earlier: a burning Olympics logo and an explosion imposed over an apparent Olympic venue.

The latest video claims the communist regime’s alleged mistreatment of Muslims justifies holy war. It accuses China of forcing Muslims into atheism by capturing and killing Islamic teachers and destroying Islamic schools, according to the SITE. It says China’s birth control program has forced abortions on Muslim women.

“I think what they’re doing is they’re trying to capitalize on the buildup to the games,” said Ben Venzke of IntelCenter.

More than 100,000 soldiers and police were guarding Beijing and other Olympic co-host cities. Terrorism experts say the heavy security presence would likely force attackers to target less-protected areas.

“I think the actual Olympics themselves, the venues, the guests, the athletes, are going to be safe,” said Drew Thompson, director of China studies at the Nixon Center in Washington. “I would not be an alarmist.”

Thompson added that Uighur groups haven’t demonstrated they have the capacity to attack Beijing or other host cities during the games.