IRIS Blog

From the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, summarized by the Presidents Conference Daily Alert

-The revelation that Hamas operates a command center in Saudi Arabia with close ties to Hamas militants executing attacks and the movement's political and social-welfare (dawa) operations is remarkable.

-Individuals, charities, and banks tied to the Saudi ruling class are among the most prolific supporters of Islamist extremism, of both the Palestinian and the global varieties.

-Individual contributions from Saudi Arabia were instrumental in helping Hamas develop the Kassam rockets it routinely shoots into Israel from Gaza. In December 2001, Israeli authorities arrested Hamas operative Osama Zohadi Hamed Karika carrying documents detailing the development of the Kassam rockets. Under questioning, he admitted that he was on his way to Saudi Arabia to brief unidentified supporters on the development of the rockets and to obtain their continued funding for the project. Karika also told his Israeli interrogators that he had personally secured initial funding for the rocket program in Saudi Arabia.

-Just last month, Saudi television ran a program on the jihad in Palestine that implored viewers to donate funds to the Palestinian intifada. Donors could send funds through the Saudi Committee for Support of the al-Quds Intifada's Account Ninety-Eight, "a joint account at all Saudi banks."

-Funding for terrorist groups, including Hamas, continues to flow from within Saudi Arabia, albeit at a slower pace than previously. But the exposure of a Hamas command center operating from Saudi Arabia marks a disturbing upgrade of Hamas's presence in the kingdom.

Israel's national treasures are being destroyed by the Muslim Wakf in the face of Israeli governmental apathy, as this story documents:

A First-Temple period seal has been discovered amidst piles of rubble from Jerusalem's Temple Mount, an Israeli archaeologist said Tuesday, in what could prove to be an historic find.

The small - less than 1 cm - seal impression, or bulla, discovered Tuesday by Bar-Ilan University archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay amidst piles of rubble from the Temple Mount would mark the first time that an written artifact was found from the Temple Mount dating back to the First Temple period....Barkay said that the find was the first of its kind from the time of King David....The seal was found amidst thousands of tons of rubble discarded by Wakf officials at city garbage dumps six years ago, following the Islamic Trust's unilateral construction of an mosque at an underground compound of the Temple Mount known as the Solomon's Stables.

After the Antiquities Authority voiced disinterest in thoroughly sifting through the rubble discarded by the Wakf, Barkay applied -- and eventually received ?a license from the Antiquities Authority to sort through the piles of earth thrown into the garbage dump in search of antiquities, and has since found scores of history-rich artifacts, from the First Temple Period until today amidst the rubble, including a large amount of pottery dating from the Bronze Ages through modern times, a large segment of a marble pillar's shaft, and over 100 ancient coins, among them several from the Hasmonean Dynasty.

While inexact, the ongoing sifting project, which is now being sponsored by Elad, has being called virtually unprecedented since archaeological excavation has never been permitted on the Temple Mount itself.

These two extraordinary articles from Azure Magazine are must-reads on the topic:

The Israel Museum and the Loss of Jewish Memory, by Eitan Dor-Shav

Memory in Ruins, by David Hazony

Where is Osama bin Laden and Why Hasn't He Been Caught?, by Steve Kroft

Waziristan is part of the Federally Administered Tribal Territories, an area roughly the size of Vermont. This 10,000 square miles of peaks and valleys set against the Hindu Kush Mountains is dotted with caves, tunnels and walled compounds, any one of which could be hosting the world's most famous fugitive. This is the area that Osama bin Laden and several hundred al-Qaeda fighters escaped to after the battle of Tora Bora in January of 2002. With the assistance of extremists in Pakistan, they set up headquarters and training camps and operated freely for more than two years until the U.S. pressured Gen. Musharraf into mounting a military operation against them.

Tens of thousands of soldiers were sent in, paid for by the American government to crush al-Qaeda, kill or capture what was described as a "high value target," and stop remnants of the Taliban from crossing into Afghanistan to attack American troops. The Pakistani Army was met with heavy resistance. The army says it has driven al-Qaeda from its base camps, but the enemy is still here. The terrain is not the only thing in Waziristan that's unfriendly. The local Pashtoon tribesmen are Pakistani in name only. They have their own language and customs, and are governed by their own tribal laws. In fact, CIA Chief Porter Goss as much as said that he believed that bin Laden was hiding in the tribal territories in Pakistan, and was being protected by the Pakistani government.

Consider these facts about Pakistan:

-It is fairly well-known that the madrassas educate for jihad. Jihad is part of the curriculum of public schools as well.

-Terror groups that are part of the Global Jihad operate freely without any governmental hindrance.

-The "Johnny Appleseed" of nuclear proliferation to the Axis of Evil, A.Q. Khan, was a Pakistani scientist. He operated a "nuclear Wal-Mart" for 30 years and was pardoned by the president who called him "my hero." US and international officials said it was ludicrous to believe that the government was not fully involved in the affair. One US official compared Khan's destabilizing impact on the 21st century to Hitler's and Stalin's on the 20th.

Thai General: Indonesians in on Thai Insurgency

Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya, a security adviser to Thailand's prime minister, said Thursday that Indonesian fighters are involved in Thailand's Muslim insurgency, contradicting government insistence the bloody separatist movement is a homegrown affair unconnected to Southeast Asia's al-Qaeda-linked terror network.

In a recent AP interview, a veteran Thai rebel leader warned that militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the Thai fight for a separate Muslim homeland.

Lukman B. Lima said the 21-month-old insurgency is getting moral and financial support from abroad, especially from Islamic sympathizers in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

In another interview earlier this week, a Thai Muslim who fought with the mujahedeen in Afghanistan and who has close contacts with the Thai insurgents said he believed fighters from the Indonesian province of Aceh with superior training have been operating in southern Thailand for some time.

by Max Boot

One of the keys to defeating any guerrilla movement is to cut off its outside support. The extremists attacking U.S. forces and our allies continue to receive sanctuary and support from neighboring states, notably Pakistan and Syria. Not pushing harder on Musharraf is perhaps understandable because of the widespread fear that toppling him would result in a more anti-American regime. Less explicable is our failure to apply greater pressure on Syria, whose regime is already as anti-American as it gets and which continues to act as a conduit for terrorists infiltrating Iraq. Foreign jihadis may be only a small part of the overall Iraqi insurgency, but they are its most vicious element - the monsters who drive cars filled with explosives into crowds of Shiites.

How has Syria been held accountable? Have U.S. and Iraqi troops crossed the border to destroy terrorist safe houses? The U.S. economic sanctions are toothless because there is almost no trade between Syria and the U.S. in the first place. The EU, ever helpful, has actually been moving to expand economic links with Syria by granting it "associate" membership.

UK: Israeli Offensive Appropriate

Hamas Makes Strong Showing in Palestinian Local Elections

Fatah Ahead in Palestinian Local Election, Official Says

Hamas Protests Fatah Election Violations

Abbas Has Done Little, Yet International Aid Flows Unabated

Palestinians Fire Two Mortar Shells at IDF Base North of Gaza

Egypt Police Kill Sharm Bombing Suspect

New Islamist Groups Planning London Attacks

Syria and the Hariri Murder - Editorial

From the Washington Times:

An imam who wrote a book on how to beat your wife without leaving marks on her body has been ordered by a judge in Spain to study the country's constitution.

The judge told Mohamed Kamal Mustafa, imam of a mosque in the southern resort of Fuengirola, to spend six months studying three articles of the constitution and the universal declaration of human rights.

Mr. Mustafa was sentenced to 15 months in jail and fined about $2,600 last year after being found guilty of inciting violence against women.

A judge released him after 22 days in jail on the condition that he undertake a re-education course.

Need I point out that the likelihood of success is zero? Committed Islamists do not consider the opinions of "infidels."

A must-read by Yossi Klein Halevi:

My journey into Palestinian Islam and Christianity, the faiths of my neighbors, was part of a much broader attempt among Israelis, begun during the first intifada, to understand your narrative, how the conflict looks through your eyes. Your society, on the other hand, has made virtually no effort to understand our narrative. Instead, you have developed what can be called a "culture of denial," that denies the most basic truths of the Jewish story.

According to this culture of denial, which is widespread not only among your people but throughout the Arab world, there was no Temple in Jerusalem, no ancient Jewish presence in the land, no Holocaust. Nowhere is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as popular as in the Arab world, which has also become the international center for Holocaust denial. The real problem, then, is not terrorism, which is only a symptom for a deeper affront: your assault on my history and identity, your refusal to allow me to define myself, which is a form of intellectual terror.

Grand Jury Indicts Two N.Y. Mosque Leaders for Conspiring to Support Terrorists

Air America Radio grounded by WHAT-AM

NY Times Reporter Judith Miller Released from Jail

At least 60 Killed, 70 Wounded in Iraq bombings

Arab Militia Attack on Darfur Refugee Camp Kills 29, UN Says

US Senate Confirms Roberts as Chief Supreme Court Justice

Egyptian Government Daily: Guantanamo Like Nazi Camps

Excitement and Fear Stalk Syria: UN Success in Lebanon Could Shatter Political Dominance of Military in Arab World

Three Wanted Islamic Jihad Terrorists Killed in IDF Activity

Over One Million Support Israel in Philippines

One million Christians will assemble on October 2 at the open air Luneta Grandstand to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and to declare and sign the five-point resolution of Jerusalem Summit Asia I and II....The five point resolution to be backed by the Christian leaders and the over one million attendees include: the petition to move Asian embassies to Jerusalem, the petition for Asian governments to oppose anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations, the petition for Asian governments to ensure funding measures not be diverted to terrorist activities against Israel, the petition for the media to provide balanced coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the encouragement of Asian governments to respect Judeo-Christian values. The resolutions are motivated by the biblical mandates for Christians to support Israel.

While most news stories present Islam as the fastest growing religion, in actuality Christianity is spreading faster as primitive religions like animism and pantheism give way to a near-universal acknowledgement of the monotheism ultimately based in Judaism. Here is a must-read article on the topic by Daniel Pipes (Hat tip: Soccer Dad), who distills a much longer must-read article. One author estimated evangelical Christians to number 707 million with an 8% annual growth rate. If that rate were sustained for 27 years, there would be more Christians than people.

A must-read by Hugh Hewitt:

Coverage was 'an emotion-binging joyride fueled by urban myth, rumor, and a deep desire to injure the Bush administration'

See also:
More Hurricane Katrina: Folklore vs. Fact

by Ephraim Kam. Summarized by the Presidents Conference Daily Alert

-The Iranians are conducting a clandestine nuclear program in parallel to the public one, the aim of which is clearly the acquisition of nuclear weapons. The Israeli intelligence assessment speaks of three or four years; the Americans add another year or two to this timetable.

-The Americans conducted a large-scale operation in Iraq in order to bring down a regime which was engaged, it was thought at the time, in supporting terrorism and having weapons of mass destruction programs. Iran is clearly in the same category, and therefore it is concerned about an American/Israeli operation against its nuclear facilities.

-From the Israeli viewpoint, an Iranian bomb will mean that for the first time an enemy country - and Iran is an enemy country by all definitions - will acquire the capability to inflict a very heavy blow on Israel. The more so since the formal Iranian position is that Israel should disappear from the map, that the solution of the Palestinian problem should be the establishment of a Palestinian state not alongside Israel but instead of Israel. No Arab government today holds such a position.

-A nuclear Iran has to take into account certain important constraints. One is American deterrence. The Iranians have no doubt about the balance of power between themselves and the Americans. And if they had any doubts, the American conduct of the war in Iraq left no doubt about American capabilities. The Iranians must also take into account that if Iran uses a nuclear bomb against any of the allies of the U.S., especially against Israel, America will regard this as an attack against itself, and will react accordingly.

-If Iran acquires the bomb, it will encourage other countries in the Middle East to join this nuclear arms race, especially Egypt, and perhaps Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Algeria, and Syria. It would be difficult for a country like Egypt, the leader of the Arab world, to stay out of this circle.

A must-read by Melanie Phillips:

On my travels for the past few days, I have been reading a book which tells the story of a quite astonishing part of British history of which I was previously unaware. In 'White Gold', Giles Milton records the appalling details -- gleaned, it appears, from a wealth of historical documents including diaries and letters -- of a seaborne Islamic jihad against Britain which lasted for no less than two centuries.

From the early seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, thousands of British men women and children were kidnapped by Arab corsairs and sold into slavery in Morocco where they were kept in conditions of unspeakable barbarism. The astounding thing is that these British victims were not merely seized at sea where they ran the gauntlet of such pirates in places such as the Straits of Gibraltar. They were actually abducted from Britain itself.

Making the Palestinian Argument, a must-read by Evelyn Gordon:

Nobody ever accused Israel of effective public relations. But the latest tactic adopted by the Foreign Ministry and American Jewish organizations represents a new low: arranging speakers and cultural performances that openly slander the country, in a misguided effort to demonstrate Israel's liberality.

Also, the Foreign Ministry is using public relations money to sponsor a rap group with anti-government and pro-drug messages.

On Sunday, I predicted the following regarding Israel's response to the rocket bombardment from Gaza:

The international press, which is complicit in Palestinian propaganda, is all too eager to present the Israeli and Palestinian misinformation as "savage revenge attacks"

Later that day, the AP published this:

The Israeli soldiers danced in a circle after firing the artillery and sang a biblical song of revenge.

The incident itself did not convey the impression that the AP was looking for, because it was a test firing (or perhaps a warning shot) into an empty field that caused no casualties. So the reporter ignored the fact that