IRIS Blog

Caroline Glick has a must-read explaining the little understood financial elements of the War on Terror. What she misses, however, is the zakat link between 'moderate' Muslims and jihad. Muslims who believe in the necessity of armed jihad have a dispensation from active violence if they support Islamism financially:

Monday the verdict in the largest terror finance case in US history was read in a Texas courtroom. The case against the Holyland Foundation for Relief and Development and five of its principal leaders - which ended in a mistrial - was predicated on the interconnection between terrorism and international finance. The five men were accused of financing Hamas by transferring millions of dollars to organizations in Judea, Samaria and Gaza that served as distributors of charitable or zakat contributions to Hamas members and entities.

Perhaps the greatest problem with the term "war on terror" is that it confuses both the public and those charged with prosecuting the war on all levels about the nature of the enemy we face. The jihadists who seek to dominate the world in the name of Islam are not merely involved in violent activities. Organizations like Hamas, Hizbullah and al-Qaida devote the majority of their efforts to spreading the message of jihad by proselytizing fellow Muslims through propaganda, educational and welfare activities. These actions are vital for building popular support both for their terror activities and for their larger political goals.

Essential to the aims of the jihadists is the Muslim sacrament of zakat. Zakat, one of the pillars of Islam, requires Muslims to donate 2.5 percent of their incomes to charity. As the indictment in the Holyland Foundation case showed, most of the money that the five defendants transferred to Hamas was transferred through zakat committees in Palestinian cities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. These committees then transferred the monies to Hamas terrorists, their family members, political leaders and terror cells.

LABELING the Holyland Foundation a terrorist entity and freezing its funds was one of the first concrete actions that the Bush administration took in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The move was a turning point in the US perception of the nature of terror organizations.

If until September 11 the US related to terror groups as essentially cell-based armed groups, since the attacks on Washington and New York, curbing terror funding has been a central pillar of the US war effort. And targeting supposedly charitable organizations registered in the US, which like the Holyland Foundation served as conduits for money laundering and terror financing was one of the first courses of action that the Bush administration embarked on in its campaign against the global jihadist network.

Read the whole thing...

Terror attacks are foiled daily, but this one wasn't:

Palestinian terrorists opened fire at a hitch-hiking stop outside the Shomron city of Ariel shortly before noon, wounding a 20-year-old soldier in his stomach. A helicopter was called to the scene to evacuate the victim, listed in moderate-to-serious but stable condition, to a Tel Aviv-area hospital.

A second man was also shot and was wounded very lightly.

The attack occurred shortly before 11:30 AM, when a long round of shots rang out from a west-bound car that passed by the hitch-hiking post along the moderately busy highway. The car was seen to have Palestinian Authority license plates, and immediately made a U-turn and sped off back towards central Shomron. The terrorists also shot at Israeli cars on the highway, wounding another man lightly in his leg.

A little-known Fatah terrorist cell has claimed responsibility for the attack. Fatah is headed by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas....A car was reported to be ablaze in one of the Arab villages in the area, and is believed to be the vehicle used by the would-be murderers.

The problem with Islamist terror in general is that the perpetrators generally receive aid and comfort by anti-infidel Muslim communities. Speeding into a village and setting your car on fire is not a low-profile event, but it is likely that no one will talk about it, either because of support or fear.

How do we know that the terrorists were not Fatah members who were recently let out of jail by Israel after signing an "I promise to be good" pledge of honor? Or wanted Fatah fugitives who traded their illegal guns for money plus official weapons?

Two years ago, I warned that prisons are the West's Achilles' Heel:

Jail is Like a College Campus in Incubating, Not Deterring Jihad

Today brings more evidence:

Al-Qaeda prisoners in UK jails are being hardened instead of reformed, top Whitehall sources have told the BBC.

A major programme of radicalisation is underway in prisons, targeting vulnerable young men and preaching violent jihad, it has been claimed.

The BBC’s Frank Gardner said sources claim Islamist convicts are undergoing the same process IRA members did at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland.

Ministers hope to tackle the problem by training prison imams, he added.

Muslims have been rioting in Amsterdam for the past week:

Police have arrested six alleged arsonists in an Amsterdam suburb in the wake of a week of violence after the death of a young man of Moroccan origin, a police source said on Monday.

"Police have again arrested three men suspected of intending to light fires" on Sunday evening, Amsterdam police said. The young men, 16 to 27 years old, had filled up an oil drum with petrol and one was carrying an illegal firecracker when arrested, it added.

Police arrested three other youths on Saturday in possession of a bottle filled with petrol....

Police arrested a number of suspects on Wednesday but all were freed due to lack of evidence.

No punishment whatsoever for the rioters. Islamists have discovered the Western Achilles' Heel:

We are fighting our enemy with a kind heart

Despite mountains of evidence, many archeologists treat the Bible with the reflexive skepticism many reserve for "Wet Paint" signs.

Here, for example, is a quote from the director of Tel-Aviv University’s Institute of Archaeology:

there exists no archaeological evidence for Solomon’s Temple

Today brings another major confirmation of the existence of the Temple from those obsessed with eradication of its memory:

Israeli archaeologists overseeing infrastructure work to replace electrical cables on the Temple Mount have discovered a sealed archaeological level dating back to the era of the first biblical Jewish Temple, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Sunday. The Antiquities Authority announced it had discovered fragments of ceramic table ware and animal bones dating from the 6th to the 10th centuries BCE. "The layer is a closed, sealed archaeological layer that has been undisturbed since the 8th century BCE," said Jon Seligman, Jerusalem regional archaeologist for the Antiquities Authority.

See also: Photos of Archaeological Finds

Two recent Israeli Prime Ministers who were negligent with the nation's security met their own demise because of their own dirty tricks that backfired.

Yitzhak Rabin's handpicked head of intelligence ran agents to pretend they were right-wingers and perform despicable acts in front of news cameras to discredit opposition to the Oslo accords. Witnesses reportedly contacted the police prior to his murder to report one of these agents encouraging Yigal Amir to assassinate Rabin.

Ariel Sharon chose a medical team who made bold-faced lies for him for political gain. These deceptions contributed to his negligent care that led to his permanent incapacitation.

Now a third Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, nearly met the same fate at the hands of Fatah members, whose members he armed, pardoned and funded:

Some of the five Fatah operatives suspected of plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Olmert were members of the PA security forces and were meant to guard the prime minister's convoy, Channel 2 television quoted Israeli security officials as saying on Sunday.

Their punishment? Two months in jail:

A group of gunmen affiliated with Fatah attempted to hit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's convoy as it made its way from Jerusalem to Jericho for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on August 6, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet ministers Sunday morning....

Following the incident, the Palestinians arrested three suspects, who were later released, according to Israeli officials. Two other cell members are being held in Israel.

On Sunday, Israel filed an official complaint with the Palestinian Authority following the suspects' release.

Who says Israel doesn't take terrorism seriously?

Israeli security sources expressed their anger over the release, which took place "after these terrorists' involvement in the foiled attack was made clear."

The cell included five members who were involved in terror attacks and previous failed attacks in the West Bank. The information was disclosed to the PA, which arrested three of the cell members. The other two were detained by the IDF and the Shin Bet.

Israeli officials claimed Sunday that the PA released the three suspects, whom Israel claims are members of the Palestinian security organizations, on September 26. The three, Ynet was told, admitted to the plot before they were released.

This means they are still carrying guns and receiving paychecks funded by Israel.

This is interesting:

The latest in the string of foreign press reports regarding the September 6 strike in Syria claims Israel had a mole inside a Syrian nuclear facility.

ABC News reported Saturday that, “Israeli officials believed that a target their forces bombed inside Syria last month was a nuclear facility, because they had detailed photographs taken by a possible spy inside the complex.”

The report quotes an unnamed senior U.S. official saying Israel noticed the Syrian nuclear facility this summer, leading the Mossad “to either co-opt one of the facility's workers or to insert a spy posing as an employee. As a result, the Israelis obtained many detailed pictures of the facility from the ground.”

The official described the photographs as showing a large “cylindrical structure with very thick walls all well-reinforced.” He said it was located far from civilization, near a lone pumping station that was to supply the cooling tower for the nuclear reactor. He added that the facility was of North Korean design.

"Listen well, children, because someday these lessons will have great life consequences" takes on new meaning at Pakistani madrassas (funded by Western tax dollars):

A mother who tried to stop her son from carrying out a suicide bomb attack triggered an explosion in the family's home in southern Afghanistan that killed the would-be bomber, his mother and three siblings, police said Monday.

The would-be bomber had been studying at a madrassa, or religious school, in Pakistan, and when he returned home over the weekend announced that he planned to carry out a suicide attack, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said.

It isn't clear that the suicide bomber was inspired in school. Perhaps he got the idea from watching the 2002 movie Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.

Good news for the arrested terrorists: there is no evidence of "blood on their hands" so it is only a matter of time before they are released as a "goodwill gesture."

Bad news for Israel: if Olmert is successful in giving up the West Bank to Abbas, West Bank missiles a few miles from Ben Gurion airport will be common. The majority of Israelis will then be within range of short-range missiles:

IDF troops operating in the West Bank town of Nablus on Tuesday arrested two Palestinians terror suspects, Army Radio reported. The Palestinians were in possession of mortars and large amounts of ammunition.

This story has now come full circle:

Israel Army Radio said Wednesday that Syria has confirmed that the target of an Israel Air Force raid last month was a nuclear facility.

Israeli diplomats at a UN disarmament committee quoted an unnamed Syrian delegate as having told the panel that "The IDF attacked a nuclear facility and not an agricultural building for soils research, as had been stated thus far."

Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs Miriam Ziv attended the meeting.

Syria later denied that its representatives to the UN had confirmed an Israei strike on a nuclear facility, adding that such facilities do not exist in Syria, the state-run news agency SANA said, quoting a foreign ministry source.

There is now a European Intifada occurring, with new skirmishes breaking out in Amsterdam. What is almost never reported is that it is common for police to be too scared to enter Muslim-majority areas because of habitual attacks. Of course, European natives are fleeing these areas which have been liberated from European sovereignty. As they expand, the Muslim takeover of Europe will be much quicker than current demographic trends indicate:

Moroccan-Dutch youths rioted in Amsterdam overnight Tuesday.

A group of dozens of youths in the Slotervaart neighbourhood in western Amsterdam set cars on fire, damaged several other cars and threw stones through the windows of a police station.

The riots followed the death of 22-year old Dutch-born Bilal Bajaka, of Moroccan descent.

On Sunday, Bajaka entered the police station of Slotervaart, stabbing two police officers with a knife. Although having sustained serious injuries, one of the officers, a policewoman, shot and killed her alleged attacker on the spot. The two police officers were later brought to the hospital where their condition was described as "serious but stable."

The police and Amsterdam municipality officials announced at a press conference Monday that a national investigation had been launched into the incident. The police also added that Bajaka had a criminal record.

From the age of 13 up to his death on Sunday, the police said, Bajaka had been involved in several major criminal incidents, including armed robberies and a series of violent incidents. He was allegedly part of a criminal gang.

In addition, police said he was personally acquainted with Mohammed Bouyeri, the convicted killer of the late film director Theo van Gogh, as well as with other Moroccan-Dutch terrorist suspects.

Moroccan-Dutch residents of Slotervaart complained to reporters they were "sick and tired" of continuous "negative news reports" about fellow Moroccan-Dutch, adding they felt increasingly stigmatized.

Several television reporters who came to report on the fatal incident at the police station were threatened by Moroccan-Dutch youths.

Does anyone notice a connection between Dutch rioting and Dutch jihad TV?

Here's a bad-news in Iraq story to cheer about:

As Violence Falls in Iraq, Cemetery Workers Feel the Pinch

At what’s believed to be the world’s largest cemetery, where Shiite Muslims aspire to be buried and millions already have been, business isn’t good.

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that’s cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

Few people have a better sense of the death rate in Iraq.

"I always think of the increasing and decreasing of the dead," said Sameer Shaaban, 23, one of more than 100 workers who specialize in ceremonially washing the corpses. "People want more and more money, and I am one of them, but most of the workers in this field don’t talk frankly, because they wish for more coffins, to earn more and more."

Dhurgham Majed al Malik, 48, whose family has arranged burial services for generations, said that this spring, private cars and taxis with caskets lashed to their roofs arrived at a rate of 6,500 a month. Now it’s 4,000 or less, he said.

The chief driver of terrorism is ideology, which is why a key priority of Fatah upon taking power was to channel every propaganda outlet to jihad recruitment. Surveys show a majority of Palestinian children are willing to become suicide bombers.

It's starting in the Netherlands as well:

Radical Muslims have taken control of the Dutch Muslim Broadcaster (NMO). At least three of the public broadcaster’s eight directors are extremely controversial, according to TV programme Nova.

Until recently, the Netherlands had two Islamic public broadcasters: the moderate NMO and the orthodox Dutch Islamic Broadcasting Organisation (NIO). Media watchdog Commissariaat voor de Media demanded that the two would merge so that the Islamic faith would have a single representative body in the public system. But according to Nova, this resulted in NIO staging a coup of NMO.

NMO has 2.5 transmission hours on TV each week. Following the alleged coup NMO now consists of eight directors, all of them representing orthodox currents. The representatives of the liberal Alevitic and Ahmadiyya currents, who chiefly ran NMO until recently, have been kicked out, as they themselves stated in Nova.

One of the members of the new board of directors is Yahia Bouyafa, who "is believed to have close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood," as Nova reported. Another is Abdelmajid Kayroun, chairman of the Al Farouq mosque in Utrecht "whose imam was deported from the Netherlands in 2001 for espionage for the Libyan secret service". Also among the eight directors is Mohammed Nanhekhan, a member of the "radical movement World Islamic Mission".

Little Green Footballs notes the "see no evil" approach of the Dutch authorities, which is, of course, much easier than nipping the problem in the bud:

The Commissionership for the Media says it has "no indications" that anything is wrong. It will only instigate an inquiry if the Justice Ministry or the secret service AIVD requests it, as a spokesperson stated.

Bill Clinton praised Dubai as an enlightened Arab nation, "a critical ally in the war on terror," and a "good ally to America."

Many puff pieces have been published on Dubai, such as this one from CBS News:

"A Success Story In The Middle East," "an island of stability," "modern, efficient and tolerant," ruled by someone who "loves the United States and its people."

I wonder if today's news will change their minds:

In a last-minute decision, Dubai has refused to grant entry visas to an Israeli delegation of 25 firms that were planning to take part in next week's World Congress of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations.

While viewing the signing ceremony for the Oslo Accords, I commented that only someone who truly hates Palestinians could conceive of placing them under a terrorist regime:

Nabil Gheit, the mayor of Ras Hamis, a Palestinian neighborhood on the eastern fringe of Jerusalem, says he can't think of a worse fate than being handed over to the Palestinian Authority. "If there was a referendum here, no one would vote to join the Palestinian Authority," Gheit said. "We will not accept it. There would be another intifada [uprising] to defend ourselves from the PA."

Good luck with that one. Clearly, Mayor Gheit is not a reader of IRIS, because he missed this story: Palestinians Shoot 15 Human Shields.

Many Palestinians dislike the idea of their neighborhoods, which are generally more prosperous than other parts of the West Bank, being absorbed into the chaotic Palestinian territories.

Gheit, 53, with two posters of "the martyr Saddam Hussein" hanging over his cash register, can hardly be called an admirer of the Jewish state. He says he'd be happy to one day live in a properly independent Palestinian state, but not one that looks anything like the corruption-racked and violence-prone areas that are split between the warring Hamas and Fatah factions. "At least in Israel, there's law," he says.