In the news - muslims......

[Shammu]

Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan border area
Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:42pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan's remote Afghan border area and begun to focus attacks on the Pakistani government and military, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

But the Pentagon chief said al Qaeda's activities in Pakistan have not yet affected Afghanistan, where U.S. and coalition forces have faced increased Taliban violence in the past two years.

"There is no question that some of the areas in the frontier area have become areas where Al Qaeda has re-established itself," Gates said. "But so far, we haven't seen any significant consequence of that in Afghanistan itself.

"Al Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people," he told reporters.

Gates said the Pentagon was looking for ways to improve the Pakistani army's counter-insurgency capabilities by providing training and equipment. The United States provides hundreds of millions of dollars in security-related aid to Pakistan annually.

Attacks on the Pakistan government and military have increased in recent weeks. A suicide bomber killed 10 Pakistani military recruits in the northwestern town of Kohat on Monday.

More than 400 people have been killed in suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan in recent months, most in the North West Frontier Province.

Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan border area

[Shammu]

Saudi police nab militants as pilgrims complete haj
Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:18pm EST

By Jonathan Wright

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi security forces arrested suspected al Qaeda militants planning attacks during the haj pilgrimage, a Saudi-owned television said on Friday as Muslim pilgrims performed the last rituals in Mecca.

Dubai-based Al Arabiya television quoted an unnamed security official as saying the suspects aimed to cause "security confusion" during the annual pilgrimage, in which more than 2 million Muslims were taking part.

The suspects were arrested in various cities in the kingdom days before the start of the pilgrimage on Monday, the official was quoted as telling the station. The report did not say how many were being held.

One of the world's biggest displays of mass religious devotion, the haj has been marred in previous years by fires, hotel collapses, clashes between police and protesters and deadly stampedes caused by overcrowding.

But as pilgrims drew to the end of their five-day mission on Friday amid strict police controls to avoid crowding, no incidents had been reported this year.

A security source told Reuters attacks had not been planned in the holy city of Mecca or in other haj sites.

Pilgrims held a mass farewell visit to the Kaaba, an ancient stone shrine which all Muslims face during their daily prayers.

Most of the pilgrims earlier performed their third stoning of walls representing the devil and left the Mina area for nearby Mecca. Those unable to leave by sunset were staying a third night in the area.

The ritual passed without incident at the Jamarat, an accident spot during earlier pilgrimages, with its three stone "pillars" now converted into long elliptical walls which can handle a much higher turnover of pilgrims.

Since some 362 people were killed in January 2006 in a crush at the Jamarat -- the worst haj accident in 16 years -- Saudi authorities have completed more than half of a massive infrastructure project which will cost more than $1 billion.

Pilgrims can now throw stones on three levels and a fourth is under construction.

WARY OF ATTACKS

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and home to Islam's holiest sites, has been wary of any militant actions. Al Qaeda-linked militants launched a campaign to destabilize the U.S.-allied monarchy in 2003, and Saudi militants opposed to the royal family seized control of Mecca's Grand Mosque in 1979.

On Friday, police imposed a strict one-way system to curb crowding and insisted that people leave their bags outside.

When pilgrims had thrown their seven pebbles, many shouting: "In the name of God, God is great", police urged them not to linger on the other side. But the traffic was diminishing as the evening approached and the chances of an accident looked slight.

The influx had peaked in the afternoon when many pilgrims carried out the ritual, emulating the Prophet Mohammad, who threw his stones at that time.

Pilgrims said they were delighted with the arrangements, and to have completed their religious obligations with relative ease. Every Muslim who has the means should complete the haj at least once.

"I feel very comforted, like a new person, and I hope that God will accept my pilgrimage," said Mahdy Abdel Halim, an Egyptian-born engineer from Connecticut doing haj with three family members.

"I feel spiritually at peace and everything went perfectly," said Abdel Karim al-Atawi, a Saudi soldier from the northern town of Tabouk.

Mohamed Serajeddin, an Indian engineer living in the eastern Saudi city of Dammam, said no other country could organize such an event, because of the Saudis' experience in crowd control.

He said he was at haj with his mother and father but he had to throw stones for them because they had weak knees and could not face the long walk from the tented encampment.

This year more than 1.6 million pilgrims came from abroad. Adding pilgrims from inside the country, the total was well over 2 million, maybe as many as 3 million.

Saudi police nab militants as pilgrims complete haj
~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll believe it when charges are pressed. To many times it's thrown on a back burner and forgotten, and they are let loose.

[Shammu]

Muslims further inter-faith dialogue

By Guy Dinmore in Rome

Published: December 21 2007 22:10 | Last updated: December 21 2007 22:10

More than 130 Muslim scholars and religious leaders will issue a Christmas message of thanks and greetings to the Christian world this weekend as part of a growing movement to strengthen mainstream Islam against violent extremism and to promote inter-faith dialogue.

The message, hailed as unique and historic by theologians on both sides, follows a letter by the same group to Pope Benedict XVI, accepting his invitation to the Vatican and proposing outlines of an agenda focusing on theological, social and moral issues.

Stressing the sanctity of every individual life and calling for healing and peace in a suffering world, the 138 signatories ask for repentance before God and forgiveness between communities.

“Mainstream Islam has regained its voice once again,” said Aref Ali Nayed, one of the signatories and co-ordinators. “Some minority voices, because of their extreme and violent nature, managed to capture media attention. This has resulted in a very skewed and distorted picture of Islam.”

He said individual Muslim thinkers had greeted their Christian counterparts at Christmas throughout history. “However, this is the first time a large group of Muslim scholars from across the schools greet their Christian neighbours,” he added.

The Muslim world’s internal struggle was highlighted this month when Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two, accused King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia of insulting Islam by becoming the first custodian of its two holiest sites to meet the Pope. Some Islamist websites say it is forbidden for Muslims to send a Christmas greeting to a Christian.

The Christmas letter, to be published on Sunday, thanks the prominent Christians who responded positively to the group’s first letter – published on October 11 – calling for dialogue with the Christian world. That letter, entitled “A Common Word”, gave warning of those who “relish conflict and destruction”. It said: “The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”

The 138 include senior figures from across the Muslim world. The grand muftis of Egypt, Russia, Bosnia and Kosovo, two ayatollahs from Iran, and European and US scholars have signed. The October appeal for dialogue was welcomed by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other leading Christian figures, culminating in a letter bearing 300 signatures and published in the New York Times on November 18.

Miroslav Volf, a Yale University theologian involved in this letter, welcomed the Christmas message, saying it was important that the historic initiative of the Muslim intellectuals “contains every affirmation of sanctity of every single human life”.

The Pope replied to “A Common Word” in late November, expressing “deep appreciation” and inviting representatives of the 138 to the Vatican.

He has expressed regret since his speech in 2006 in which he deeply offended Muslims by quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor saying the Prophet Mohammed brought “things only evil and inhuman”, such as “his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached”.

However, the time he took in answering the October message, and the framework he offered for dialogue – with an emphasis on social rather than theological issues – raised concerns.

Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan, chairman of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, diplomatically addressed those concerns in his recent reply.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the pope’s council for inter-religious dialogue, told the Financial Times last night that events were moving positively and that a preparatory meeting would take place in the spring. But it was too early to talk of an agenda.

Prof Nayed, who has taught at the Vatican’s Gregorian University, says he has “lamented the negativity being fed into the Pope’s perspective on Islam by some of his closest advisers. This negativity is very dangerous and leads the Vatican to make some truly dangerous mistakes”.

Muslims further inter-faith dialogue

[Shammu]

The Islamic Jihad

Following the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas' lead, this ferocious militant group desires nothing more than to 'eliminate the Zionist entity,' as its a-political nature frees it from adhering to any ceasefire achieved between other militant groups and Israel

Ynetnews
Published: 12.22.07, 17:15
Israel News

The Islamic Jihad, or as it is officially called The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, is a radical Muslim terror organization operating in the Middle East.

The organization's main goal is the elimination of Israel, which it calls "the Zionist entity", through Jihad – a holy war, and the establishment of an Islamic state "from sea to sea."

The Islamic Jihad's charter further calls for "Jihad against the Jewish existence in Palestine," and states that "the Jihad is the obligation of every Muslim and must be carried out immediately, regardless of the formation of an Islamic state." The holy war, continues the charter, is a vital step in rehabilitating the Islamic nation and will lead the nation back to its fundamental, original, Islamic values.

The Islamic Jihad is a significantly smaller organization than Hamas. Like Hamas, the Jihad's principles derive from those of the Muslim Brotherhood, but unlike it, it has no civil branch, nor does it work to benefit the Palestinian people; its main focus is on guerrilla warfare and terror activities.

The Jihad operates mainly in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but has also carried out attacks in Jordan and Lebanon

Funding and infrastructure

The Islamic Jihad has large cells in various Arab nations. Financed almost exclusively by Iran, the organization's leadership is located in Syria. Iran is said to funnel several million dollars a year to the Jihad, with nearly all funds going directly to terror activities, and some towards the organization's bureaucracy, maintaining offices, salaries, weapon purchases and aiding its members' families.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad was founded by Fathi Shaqaqi and Abd al-Aziz Awda in the 1970s, as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

In the early 1980s the two returned to Gaza and began recruiting men and funds, mostly through mosques and other religious establishments. The Jihad's Palestinian cell, known as the al-Quds Brigades, is said to have several hundred operatives, located mostly in Gaza.

Terrorism and militant activity

Soon after establishing itself in the Palestinian territories, the Jihad began training its men in guerrilla warfare, later becoming a driving force in the eruption of the First Intifada, in 1987. In 1988, after a series of terror attack on Israeli citizens and IDF forces, Israel outlawed the Islamic Jihad, subsequently exiling  Shaqaqi to Lebanon.

Many of the Jihad's local leaders fled Israel, settling in Syria and Lebanon, where they tightened their ties with Iran and Syria and formed tactical bonds with other radical terror groups such as Hizbullah.

The PLO's (Palestine Liberation Organization) recognition of Israel's right to exist in 1988 and the subsequent signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, were seen by the Jihad as acts of treason, prompting the organization to escalate its attacks on Israel.

Dozens of suicide bombings swept through the country, as Jihad "ubgone19s" (martyrs) targeted Israeli buses, restaurants and public venues. In one of the Jihad's most infamous attacks in 1995, two suicide bombers targeted a group of soldiers at a northern bus depot; the first bomber killing soldiers and the second slaying the emergency services' personnel who rushed to the scene. Twenty-two Israelis lost their lives that morning.

On October 1995 Fathi Shaqaqi was assassinated in Malta by two bikers who shot him at pointblank range. The international intelligence community has always maintained the Mossad was responsible for the hit, but Israel never claimed it for its own.

Shaqaqi's place in Jihad's leadership was taken by one of his deputies, Dr. Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, who still heads the organization from his hiding place in Damascus. Abdullah makes no secret of Iran's involvement in Islamic Jihad activities: "The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is another fruit of the Ayatollah Khomeini's fructuous tree," he said during a 2002 visit to Tehran.

On March 1996, the Jihad managed to smuggle a suicide bomber through Gaza's Karni crossing, which is used mainly for industrial shippings, into Israel. He later blew himself up in Tel Aviv, during a Purim (Jewish Halloween) holiday parade, killing 13 and injuring 125.

When the Second Intifada erupted in 2000, Jihad once again escalated its terror activities, going as far as joining forces with Hamas, for the first time in both groups' history, in an attempt to carry out even bigger, more ferocious attacks on Israel.

The Jihad made terror history at that time, allowing women into its ranks and training them, alongside its men, to carry out attacks. The Jihad soon flaunted the novelty: On October 4 2003, a female suicide bomber targeted the Maxim Restaurant in Haifa, killing 21 Israelis.

The Jihad went on to claim hundreds of attacks on Israel, carrying out some 422 bombings, shootings and stabbings, in which 134 Israelis were killed and approximately 880 were injured.

The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, was going through some major political changes: In late 2004 Yasser Arafat died. In early 2005, Mahmoud Abbas was named Palestinian president and the following summer saw Israel unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip. In January 2006, the PA held its first general elections in which Hamas achieved a landslide victory, winning 76 of the Palestinian parliament's 132 seats.

Hamas-Fatah infighting began shortly after, escalating over the course of a year to the point of a near-civil war. In mid 2007 Hamas forces took control of the Gaza Strip, forcing Palestinian leadership, including Abbas, to flee to the West Bank city of Ramallah, effectively splitting the PA into two political entities.

Throughout the political turmoil The Islamic Jihad continued its attacks on Israel: Stealthily aided by Hamas – which chose not to be directly involved at the time – Jihad operatives escalated the barrage of Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel's southwest.

The Jihad's Qassam and mortars are short-range rockets, allowing the organization to target mostly Sderot, the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council and the Gaza vicinity communities. Jihad forces have also tried using self-produced mid-range rockets called "Quds 101," "Quds 102," and "Quds 103" aimed at Ashkelon.

Being of a-political nature, the Islamic Jihad is not obligated by any hudna or ceasefire – temporary of permanent – brokered between Hamas and Israel.

The Islamic Jihad is defined as a terror group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel.

The Islamic Jihad

[Shammu]

Islamic Jihad Refuses Ceasefire

(IsraelNN.com) Islamic Jihad spokesmen said Saturday night that their group would not agree to a ceasefire even if Hamas did.  The group said it would continue to fire rockets at Israeli communities.

Spokesmen blamed Israel for Islamic Jihad’s refusal to stop attacks.  Islamic Jihad stopped attacks in the past, they said, but Israel continued counter-terrorism activities.

Islamic Jihad Refuses Ceasefire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prominent figures within Jihad:

Fathi Shaqaqi: Co-founder of the Islamic Jihad, killed in Malta in 1995.

Dr. Ramadan Abdullah Shallah: Current leader of the Jihad, who took over after Shaqaqi's death, currently living in Syria.

Dr. Sami Al-Arian: The North American leader of the Islamic Jihad, responsible for raising funds for the organization's terror activities. He was arrested in 2003 and later indicted by the US attorney general for 50 counts of operating a racketeering enterprise and supporting terror acts. He pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to help members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in nonviolent activities and sentenced to 57 months in prison. He stands to be deported from the US upon completion of his sentence.

Abdullah al-Shami: The Gaza leader of Islamic Jihad.

Mohammed el-Hindi: One of the organization's senior leaders in Gaza, considered a radical hardliner.

Mahmoud Tawalbe: Leader of the Jihad's military forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.; killed by IDF forces during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

Sheikh Mohammed Khalil: A senior Jihad operative, killed in an IAF airstrike in Gaza in 2005.

Bashir Dabash: Head of the military arm of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, killed by IDF forces in 2004.

Louie Saadi: Head of the military arm of the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank; was one of the IDF's most wanted operatives in the West Bank. Killed by IDF forces in 2005.

Issa Battat: Head of Islamic Jihad military wing in Bethlehem; arrested by IDF forces in 2003.

Mohammed Dadouh: Senior Jihad commander in Gaza, killed by IDF forces in 2006.

[Shammu]

Pakistan bombing kills at least 50

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Dec 21, 6:43 PM ET

SHERPAO, Pakistan - Pakistani police raided an Islamic school and arrested seven students Friday, hours after a suicide bomber killed at least 50 people inside a mosque packed with holiday worshippers at the home of the former interior minister.

Suspicion for the blast, which left bloody clothing, shoes and pieces of flesh scattered across the house of worship, focused on the pro-Taliban or al-Qaida militants active near the Afghan border, where the attack occurred.

It was the second suicide attack in eight months apparently targeting Aftab Khan Sherpao, who as interior minister was deeply involved in Pakistan's efforts to combat the Taliban and drive out al-Qaida.

Sherpao was praying in the mosque's front row at the time of the attack, but he escaped injury.

"Yes, I'm fine," Sherpao told the Associated Press in a brief telephone interview. One of his sons was wounded, and witnesses said the dead included police officers guarding Sherpao.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the blast and directed security and intelligence agencies to track down the masterminds, the state Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

After the bombing, dozens of police and intelligence agents raided an Islamic school in the nearby village of Turangzai and arrested seven students, some of them Afghans, two police officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The officials declined to say whether the raid was connected to the attack.

The blast deepened the sense of uncertainty in Pakistan ahead of Jan. 8 parliamentary elections, which Sherpao, as head of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Sherpao, is contesting.

The bombing turned a prayer service crowded with hundreds of people celebrating the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha into a scene of carnage at the mosque inside Sherpao's residential compound in Sherpao, a village 25 miles, northeast of the city of Peshawar.

The bomber was in a row of worshippers when he detonated the explosive, provincial police chief Sharif Virk said.

"There was blood and body parts everywhere. There was panic everywhere. People were running. Some people were injured in the chaos," said Iqbal Hussain, a police officer in charge of security at the mosque.

District Mayor Farman Ali Khan said between 50 and 55 people were killed, and authorities were collecting information on their identities. Local police chief Feroz Shah said over 100 were wounded.

The hospital in Peshawar was wracked with chaos as the wounded arrived in pickup trucks, ambulance sirens wailed and the injured screamed for help. The bomb contained between 13 and 17 pounds of explosives and was filled with nails and ball bearings to maximize casualties, according to the head of the bomb unit at the scene.

A bulldozer was brought in to help volunteers dig graves for the dead next to the mosque.

Minhaj Khan was digging a grave for the dismembered body of Shah Jee, a 28-year-old father of two from the village.

"He was a poor laborer. Now who will look after his family?" he asked. "It is nothing but extreme cruelty to kill people on such a holy day for Muslims."

Hussain, the police officer, said everyone entering was forced to pass through a body scanner and was searched with metal and explosive detectors. "We don't know how the bomber got in," he said.

Hamid Nawaz, the current interior minister, insisted there was no security lapse.

"All possible care had been taken, there was no lapse as such ... but such an incident can happen at such a gathering," Nawaz told Aaj TV.

After the blast, Sherpao's house was protected by about a dozen police and paramilitary troops.

As interior minister, Sherpao oversaw one of Pakistan's civilian spy agencies, police and paramilitary forces involved in operations against militants along the Afghan border.

He was a longtime supporter of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party before defecting and joining the government after the last parliamentary elections in 2002. He left office last month as a caretaker government took over ahead of the January elections.

Top figures in the government have been repeatedly targeted. In April, Sherpao was slightly wounded by a suicide bomber, and Musharraf himself narrowly escaped assassination in two bombings a few days apart in December 2003.

Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have extended their influence over tracts of Pakistan's volatile northwest in the past two years and in recent months have launched numerous suicide attacks, usually targeting security forces and their families.

The army says the most recent attacks could be retaliation for a military operation against militants in the Swat valley, where it claims to have killed about 300 militants since last month.

The violence came as Pakistan struggled to emerge from months of political turmoil.

Musharraf recently declared emergency rule for six weeks — a move he said was necessary to combat rising Islamic extremism, but was widely seen as a ploy to prolong his own presidency. Thousands of his opponents were rounded up and Supreme Court justices fired.

On Friday, police re-arrested prominent opposition lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, according to his son, Ali Aitzaz. Aitzaz Ahsan, who had been at the forefront of a lawyers' protest movement, was released Thursday for three days for the holy day, but was detained again after just one day.

Pakistan bombing kills at least 50

[Shammu]

What a nice way to spend a muslim holy day, being blown up....

Seriously, you never hear about this going on when a group of Christians are together to worship. All attacks come from obvious non-believers. Even if we put the most conservative and most liberal Christians in a room to worship, Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, everyone, I would think the event would go off without major problems. At the very least, we know we could all go worship without someone blowing each other up.

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

We are living in wild and senseless times, and it is apparent that things are getting worse by the day. I, for one, think that CHRIST will Rapture HIS CHURCH soon. The CHURCH WHICH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST was not formed for wrath, rather for rescue. These do appear to be at least a preview of the end days of this age of Grace. This world is going to be a horrible place.

I was just thinking this is all the more reason to give thanks daily that we belong to CHRIST. This world is NOT our home.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour Forever!

[Soldier4Christ]

Fox Guarding the Wolf House     

Fox News has long been considered a beacon to those that distrust televised liberal media, meaning every channel other than Fox. One of the indicators of the station’s right-leaning bent is that it has, for the most part, gotten the ‘War on Terrorism’ correct. However, with the undue influence of a Saudi Prince related to militant causes and with this month’s acquisition of Beliefnet, a religious resource website that proudly promotes radical Islam, signs show that the war coverage may soon be taking a turn for the worse.

In September of 2005, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal purchased 5.46 per cent of Class B voting shares in News Corp, the company that owns Fox News and a number of other media and entertainment entities. This had replaced the three per cent stake in Class A non-voting shares bin Talal had previously held through his investment corporation, Kingdom Holding Company (KHC).

With his newfound voting rights, bin Talal stated his intention of supporting Rupert Murdoch, the principal owner of News Corp, helping Murdoch to stay in power and avoid hostile takeover by other interested investors. Some have said that this was like making a deal with the devil, as Murdoch has been left vulnerable to the whims of an individual that has been involved in despicable causes.

In April of 2002, bin Talal had donated $27 million during a Saudi telethon that was raising money for the families of suicide bombers. As well, he had given $500,000 to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to be used towards the distribution and propagation of a set of Islamist books for American libraries. The set included Jamal Badawi’s Gender Equity in Islam, which sanctions the beating of women by their husbands, and a version of the Quran, Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s The Meaning of THE HOLY QURAN, which has been banned by the Los Angeles school system.

Utilizing his position of power within Fox News (today, he is the second largest shareholder), bin Talal has worked to influence programming at the station. An infamous example of this was reported in a December 2005 article found in WorldNetDaily, stating:

    During the violent street protests in France one month ago, the prince said, Fox News ran a banner at the bottom of the screen that said “Muslim riots.”

    “I picked up the phone and called Murdoch ... [and told him] these are not Muslim riots, these are riots out of poverty,” al-Walid said.

    “Within 30 minutes, the title was changed from Muslim riots to civil riots.”

This incident was precisely the type of scenario that then-Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani tried to avoid, when after the 9/11 attacks, he rejected a $10 million check from bin Talal for the renovation of New York, that was attached to statements made by the Prince critical of the United States’ relationship to Israel. The question now is how many more incidents, such as the one concerning the French Muslim riots, have occured without the notice of the American public? And how far has bin Talal’s influence been able to reach?

The answer to the latter question may very well be in News Corp’s December 4th acquisition of Beliefnet, an internet-based religious information source.

Beliefnet came on the scene, first as a website in February of 2000 and then as a corporation in May of 2000, acting as basically a clearinghouse for religious thought. On the website, each of the world’s major religions were (are) given their own sections. This didn’t seem to be a problem, as favoritism towards one religion over another was nonexistant. However, within the Islam section, extremists began to gain a foothold.

On December 5, 2000, Beliefnet published an exclusive article written by the National Communications Director of the CAIR, Ibrahim Hooper, entitled ‘Why the Fury?’ a.k.a. ‘Why the Rage?’ [The article is still up on Beliefnet.] CAIR was created in June of 1994 as part of the Hamas terror network. Since then, the group has had a number of its officials charged with terrorist activity. Hooper, himself, has refused to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.

On February 8, 2001, Beliefnet, at the top of the homepage of its Islam section, refered to former Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, as a “tyrant” and published an article calling Prime Minister Sharon a “war criminal.” The article, ‘Ariel Sharon: The War Criminal Takes Over,’ like Hooper’s, is still up on Beliefnet.

On October 13, 2001, Beliefnet prominently placed on its website a piece, what it called a “rallying cry,” by then-Vice President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Ingrid Mattson, entitled ‘American Muslims, It’s Time for Us to Lead.’ ISNA, an umbrella group for radical mosques and Islamic centers throughout the United States and Canada, was recently named an “Unindicted Co-conspirator” by the U.S. government in connection to the raising of millions of dollars for Hamas. [As was CAIR.]

On November 5, 2002, Beliefnet (Beliefnet Books) introduced to its audience a compilation of essays, entitled Taking Back Islam, that comprised of pieces authored by a number of Islamists, such as: Mattson; MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati; CAIR National Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar; and Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), who was barred from entry into the United States, in September of 2004, for having suspected ties to terrorists.

Today, Beliefnet’s Islam section is entirely controlled by, and the content of it is entirely consumed by, radical Muslims.

The editor of Beliefnet-Islam is Dilshad Ali. Besides being affiliated with Beliefnet, Ali is also a correspondent for Islam Online, a site that issues religious rulings (Fatwas) in support of Palestinian suicide bombings, terrorist attacks against American troops, and the death penalty for homosexuals, including the throwing of homosexuals from tall buildings (“Death Falls”).

Indeed, as Fox Entertainment Group’s well recognized logo was pasted to Beliefnet, the face of Siraj Wahhaj adorned the site as an “Islamic Inspiration.” Wahhaj, a Brooklyn imam, was named as an “Unindicted Co-Conspirator” to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and served as a witness for the spiritual leader of the attack, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, during Abdel-Rahman’s trial.

Diagonal to Wahhaj’s face was (and currently is) the face of Hesham Hassaballa, a co-founder and former Executive Board member of CAIR-Chicago (CAIR-Illinois) and former writer for CAIR's (dissolved) Independent Writer's Syndicate (IWS). Hassaballa, on his blog, G-d, Faith, and a Pen, has promoted such Hamas-related charities as Islamic Relief and KindHearts.

In addition to the two people just mentioned, on the same page could (can) be seen a fairly large image of Shahed Amanullah, the Director of Beliefnet’s blog, Hungry for Ramadan. Aside from the blog, Amanullah is an advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), an Islamist political lobby group that has, in the past, defended Hezbollah and has called for Israel's destruction. Beliefnet refers to him as an “award-winning Muslim journalist.”

In announcing the deal between his group and News Corp, Beliefnet’s Editor-in-Chief Steve Waldman praised News Corp, saying that the company has enormous reach and that “its proficiency in the areas of video, social networking and media in general is unsurpassed.” Likewise, Fox executive, Dan Fawcett, lauded Beliefnet, stating: “Beliefnet has garnered respect for its commitment to quality, editorial strength and unbiased approach to faith and spirituality from a broad range of consumers, religious and political leaders, journalists and advertisers.”

But is the “respect” that the Fox exec is speaking of truly derived from the places mentioned or could it be that it is coming from somewhere or someone else? And given all of the above, is it possible that his initials are ABT?

Fox News has a niche in our society. Its greatness is that – just as the station advertises – it has brought “fairness” and “balance” to a left-leaning TV news media and information gathering culture. It would, without a doubt, be a terrible day if that balance, in the near future, should somehow tip towards the enemy.

[Shammu]

Anger over plan to broadcast Muslim call to prayer on loudspeaker in Oxford
Last updated at 12:46pm on 24th December 2007

Muslim plans to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a city centre mosque have been attacked by local residents who say it would turn the area into a "Muslim ghetto".

Dozens of people packed out a council meeting to express their concerns over the plans for a two-minute long call to prayer to be issued three times a day, saying that it could drown out the traditional sound of church bells.

But a spokesman for the Central Mosque said that Muslim's also have the right to summon worshippers.

Dr Mark Huckster, who lives in Stanton Road and works at East Oxford hospice Helen House, told the Oxford Mail: "The proposal to issue a prayer call is very un-neighbourly, especially in a crowded urban space such as Oxford.

"I have lived in the Middle East and a prayer call has a very different feel to church bells and I personally found the noise extremely unpleasant, rather disturbing and very alien to the western mindset."

He added: "If an evangelical Christian preacher proposed issuing sermons three times a day at full volume there would be an outcry.

"There could be a sense of ghettoisation of East Oxford. Cowley Road would have a Muslim flavour and could become a Muslim ghetto which is contrary to what we want in a multicultural society."

Dr Huckster was among six residents speaking in opposition to the plans, revealed in the Oxford Mail in November.

Allan Chapman, who lives in East Oxford, said: "We are concerned with civil liberties and civil peace and the right to be able to live in our own space.

"I do not want preaching at. It is not the tradition of this country or the tradition I subscribe to.

"I find this totally, utterly unacceptable and I plan to do whatever I can to stop it."

David Hutcheson, of East Avenue, said: "I'm very happy for people to practice their own religion but very unhappy about the thought of having a loudspeaker broadcasting any messages into my private space."

After the meeting, Sardar Rana, a spokesman for the Central Mosque, said he would be happy to clarify any issues and invited anyone to come to the mosque so he could satisfy their concerns.

He said: "The call is going on in so many places in the UK, and we must get the same right as everybody else.

"When they ring the bells in church, we respect it but that is also a call to prayer.

"We don't want to do anything that will disturb the people or upset the people."

Anger over plan to broadcast Muslim call to prayer on loudspeaker in Oxford

[Shammu]

Well, if I lived next door to a mosque, I would buy some really loud speakers and play "Amazing Grace" every time they have a call to prayer.

The county would have to write new noise ordinances.

[Shammu]

Islamic child: 'We all can be sacrificed'
Hamas kids program features discussion of martyrdom
Posted: December 27, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

A children's program on Hamas television whose main character earlier was "martyred" has continued the theme, with a discussion that includes a child's statement, "we can all be sacrificed for the sake of the homeland."

WND has reported previously on the Hamas' Mickey Mouse lookalike character's "martyrdom."

Al-Aqsa TV, run by the Palestinian Territories ruling party Hamas, had featured a squeaky-voiced Mickey Mouse look-alike named Farfur in the weekly children's program "Tomorrow's Pioneers."

In a show episode, the character was beaten to death, with a teen hostess confirming, "Farfur was martyred while defending his land." She also said he died at the hands of the "killers of children."

As a replacement, Hamas brought forward Nahoul, the bee, who now has continued the discussion of martyrdom.

In a clip captured and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Nahoul responds to a child's request to "convey your holiday greetings on the Feast of the Sacrifice?"

"Who should I convey greetings to, Saraa? Should I convey greetings to my brother, who was martyred in the first Intifada, at the hands of the Zionist Jews? Should I convey greetings to my second brother, who are martyred in the second Intifada? Should I convey greetings to my wounded brother, to my aunt, who was martyred because of the siege, or to her orphans? Who is there for me to greet, Saraa. I won't greet anyone. I am so sad, Saraa," the character said.

"Don't be sad, Nahoul. We can all be sacrificed for the sake of the homeland," Saraa responds. "May Allah help you. All we can say is that we place our trust in Allah against the enemies."

The discussion then continues with comments about the slaughter of a sheep and a calf.

The new character earlier had been highlighted by Palestinian Media Watch, an Israel-based monitor.

PMW reported the character said he wished to "continue the path of Farfur … the path of martyrdom, the path of the jihad warriors … and in his name we shall take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets. …"

Hamas, which won a majority in parliament in January 2006 elections, officially is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

As WND reported in March, an online forum tied to the website of Hamas posted a photo of a little girl in a combat vest and the head band of the terrorist Al-Qassam Brigades.

"Have you seen the new child martyr who will soon shake Israel [to the core]?" says the caption, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute blog.

The message that accompanied the photo on the Shabakat Falastin Lilhiwar online forum says the girl "is part of the Muslim generation which will go down in history [as a generation] … that refused to [accept] humiliation and defeat."

As WND reported, Hamas launched a children's website in 2002, encouraging kids to follow the example of terrorist suicide bombers.

[Shammu]

Online Poll Asking 'Do You Support Al-Qaeda's Attacks in Algeria?'

On December 12, 2007, the day after the double suicide-bombing in Algiers for which Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility, Al-Jazeera TV's website aljazeera.net posted an online poll asking, "Do you support Al-Qaeda's attacks in Algeria?" After three days of voting and 30,010 responses, the results were 54.7% in support and 45.3% opposed. The Algerian press and media were unanimous in denouncing the poll, and Al-Jazeera was widely accused of supporting terrorism.

It should be noted that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb posted a screenshot of the Al-Jazeera poll on its homepage (www.yes-edited-out.org ), with the caption "The Results of the Vote as Shown on Al-Jazeera!"

Following are reactions to the Al-Jazeera poll from the Algerian press:

Director of Algerian National TV: Al-Jazeera Is Now an Official Spokesman for Al-Qaeda

The Algerian press made a rare show of unanimity in angrily denouncing the Al-Jazeera poll. The director-general of Algerian national television, Hamraoui Habib Chawki, addressed the issue during primetime, calling the poll "a grave slip that has made this station [Al-Jazeera] into an official spokesman for Al-Qaeda, terrorism, and crime." The director-general of the national press service APS, Nacer Mehal, made similar remarks in Jeddah during a meeting with the Saudi Minister of Information. In addition, the National Liberation Front (FLN) released a statement saying that the poll was "an implicit show of support for terrorist organizations."

The director of Al-Jazeera's website, Ahmad Al-Sheikh, told the Algerian daily El-Shorouq El-Yawmi that the poll had been posted without his knowledge, called it a grave error, and said that it had been removed from the website. He also accused Al-Qaeda members and other interested parties of having thrown the poll results, saying that no one supported "barbaric acts" like the Algiers bombings.

At the same time, 12 Algerian journalists who work for Al-Jazeera, among them the well-known news presenters Khadija Ben Guena and Fairouz Ziani, demanded that the channel offer an official apology to the Algerian people and punish those responsible for posting the poll.

Algerian Minister of National Solidarity Djamel Ould-Abbes announced that family members of terror victims were planning to file a complaint against Al-Jazeera at the International Criminal Court at the Hague, and he added that he and the Algerian government would support them. In an interview with Le Jour d'Algerie, former Algerian Bar president Ahmed Redha Boudiaf said that he also favored legal action against Al-Jazeera and that he didn't understand why there had been no official response to the poll.

In fact, the possibility of an official response seems to have been ruled out by Communications Minister Abderrachid Boukerzaza, who said at his weekly press conference that the Algerian press had been effective in protesting the poll, and that the issue involved a media outlet (i.e. Al-Jazeera) and not a government and thus there was no need for diplomatic action vis-à-vis Qatar.

El-Moudjahid: Al-Jazeera Resembles the Rwandan Station that Incited to Genocide

On December 21, 2007, El-Moudjahid, the official organ of the FLN party, published an editorial denouncing Al-Jazeera as a terrorism enabler:

"The Qatari Al-Jazeera channel no longer needs an introduction. Thanks to the satellite, it has imposed itself in a radical manner in the audiovisual space through its blaring treatment of Arab and Islamic affairs…

"It was bon ton then [in the early years of Al-Jazeera] to appear on the stages of the channel. Viewers, observers, and politicians, swept up in the Al-Jazeera vortex, did not have the time to ask questions concerning the identity and the credibility of the channel, which ended up establishing itself as the bogeyman of the Arab world…

"By successive slips and glides, the channel has turned into a vent for hatred and extremism, and a kind of predator that instrumentalizes the Palestinian cause, problems in Lebanon, or any drama in the Arab and Muslim world in order to rejoice wherever there is blood…

"Something irreparable was committed this week, in the form of this poll that calls for legitimizing terrorism in Algeria. This is the time to go beyond the reaction of nausea and the feeling of horror and indignation when faced with such [moral] bankruptcy - understandable as they are - in order to clearly apprehend the true motivations and the hidden designs of such an ignominy…

"Al-Jazeera has quite simply left the sphere of the mass media in order to enter wholly into another domain… Al-Jazeera is guilty of apology for terrorism, incitement to crime, and legitimization of subversion. It falls under the relevant UN resolutions and the international conventions on this matter. It flouts the recommendations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States, the accords concluded in the framework of the Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior, and the accords among Arab police forces…

"Therefore, the entire international community needs to make its voice heard, and the Arab and Islamic world in particular, in order to denounce as firmly as possible these megaphones of crime, and to demand reparation.

"Today, Al-Jazeera resembles the dismal 'Thousand Hills Radio' that incited to hatred and murder during the genocide in Rwanda…

"Al-Jazeera today is a fortified island of terrorism, and its capacity for harm is greater than that of those who blindly kill innocent people - since it works to give a kind of legitimacy to vile criminals. Al-Jazeera is guilty of a terrorist attack, not just against the Algerian nation, but also against the international community…"

cont'd next post

[Shammu]

Columnist Hakim Outoudert: Al-Jazeera Decks Itself Out in the Principles of Liberty - But It Has Revealed Its True Nature

On December 22, 2007, Hakim Outoudert wrote in the editorial of the Kabyle regional daily La Depeche de Kabylie:

"The Qatari Al-Jazeera channel has gone far in its support for terrorism… It is more than clear today that this TV channel is nothing but a media in the service of Al-Qaeda and its branches around the world.

"At a time when the principle concern of the countries of the Western and Muslim worlds menaced by bin Laden's organization is to impede the reach of [terrorist] propaganda… a highly influential media has, completely legally, established itself as a fervent supporter of terrorism…

"It must be said that until [it conducted] this scandalous poll, Al-Jazeera was able, through its disingenuous and subliminal style, to pass on its messages of support for Al-Qaeda and terrorism by decking itself out in the principles of liberty of information. [This was] a strategy adopted above all vis-à-vis the West, and the U.S. in particular. It took our country's suffering the blows of Al-Qaeda, by way of its subcontractors in the GSPC, for the channel… to no longer be able to rein in its sympathies for the terrorist organization and to deign to reveal its true nature…"

El-Watan Columnist: To Insult the Algerians, Who Have Been Fighting Terrorism for 15 Years, Is a Crime

In an editorial titled "The Poll of Shame" in the El-Watan daily on December 22, 2007, Mohamed Tahar Messaoudi wrote:

"… It is difficult to believe that an Arab television channel could ask participants [in the poll] if they are for or against innocent civilians being murdered, Algerians killing other Algerians, and civil strife taking root in this North African country.

"One has the impression that Al-Jazeera is seeking… to legitimize a barbaric act that has been forcefully condemned by the entire international community, or to find a justification, political or other, [for] the two suicide attacks that plunged many Algerian families into mourning on the eve of the Feast of the Sacrifice.

"This was not a simple mistake on the part of this channel that has pretensions of playing 'with the big boys'… [Al-Jazeera] has the professional means necessary to avoid falling into pitfalls that risk making it look ridiculous, like this latest poll. Thus one has to believe that this was a deliberate act of provocation by a media that has continuously harmed Algeria, to the point of making itself the spokesman for the terrorists of the GSPC…

"This poll of shame should make the Algerian authorities react at the level of all the international bodies. They need to move heaven and earth so that such an affront will not be repeated. The Algerians have been fighting the throes of terrorism for more than 15 years; the entire world is witness to the sufferings they have endured. To insult them, as Al-Jazeera has just done, is a crime."

Mustapha Hammouche: Al-Jazeera Supports Al-Qaeda in Algeria, and Algerian TV Supports Them in Iraq

In his column in the December 23, 2007 edition of the daily Liberte, Mustapha Hammouche wrote that Al-Jazeera supports terrorism not just in Algeria, but all over the world. He also criticized Algerian national television, which speaks against terrorism in Algeria but refers to it in Iraq as "the resistance":

"…It is not healthy to have a strictly nationalist reaction [to the Al-Jazeera poll], when the question is one of the status of life and death. Al-Jazeera is in favor of the GSPC/Al-Qaeda in Algeria, just like it was for the GIA. It was for the Taliban in Afghanistan, just like it is for Al-Qaeda in Iraq…

"This anti-Algerian act by Al-Jazeera is anti-Algerian because it is pro-Islamist, and thus pro-terrorist… In Algeria, the official media, through the sole TV channel, has largely contributed to the ideology of the crime. Is it not through this channel that they denounced the 'secularist-assimilationists' before they were targeted? Is it not [the official Algerian] ENTV that calls the Al-Qaeda terrorists who blow themselves up in the markets of Baghdad and massacre innocent civilians 'an Iraqi resistance'?

In the December 24, 2007 lead editorial in El-Shorouq El-Yawmi, Rashid Ould Bousiafa argued that the reaction to the poll was overblown: "All of a sudden, all of Algeria's problems and challenges, foreign and domestic, have come to an end, and the only thing left uniting the nation, its political parties, media, and social society organizations, is the Al-Jazeera website's mistake. They all are rising up to confront the danger descending from Al-Jazeera…"

Mohamed Benchicou, editor of the online Le Matin daily, also chimed in, calling the likes of Algerian TV's director-general and the Minister of National Solidarity "crying Barbie dolls" who condemn Al-Jazeera while ignoring the regime's misdeeds. He also claimed that such people are unmoved by the fact that "the victims of the December 11 [bombings] were murdered by a terrorist who was recently freed from prison" under the provisions of the National Reconciliation.

Online Poll Asking 'Do You Support Al-Qaeda's Attacks in Algeria?'

[Shammu]

New bin Laden Internet Message on Iraq Coming Soon

Friday , December 28, 2007

AP
ADVERTISEMENT

NEW YORK —
Terror leader Usama bin Laden will release a new Internet message that focuses on Iraq and an Al Qaeda linked insurgent group, a terrorism monitoring group said Thursday.

The SITE intelligence group said the Al Qaeda leader will discuss Iraq and the group the Islamic State of Iraq, a longtime foe of the Iraqi government and U.S. forces.

SITE, which provides counter-terrorism information to government and private groups, said the announcement of the impending message was posted to Islamic militant Web sites earlier in the day.

The posting said the message — titled `The way to contain conspiracies" — would last 56 minutes. It did not say when it would be released, but such ads usually precede the actual message by one to three days.

The authenticity of the posting couldn't immediately be determined. But SITE said it was signed by As-Sahab, the production branch that releases Al Qaeda messages. The Internet message didn't say if bin Laden's statement would be in a video or just audio form.

The message will mark the sixth public statement by the terror leader this year. Audio or video communiques were sent over the Internet on Sept. 7, Sept. 11, Sept. 20, Oct. 22 and Nov. 29. A video on Sept. 7 was his first in three years and was issued to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Al Qaeda has dramatically stepped up its messages — a pace seen as a sign of its increasing technical sophistication and the relative security felt by its leadership.

The terror group has also been campaigning to reach a broader audience, announcing that its No. 2 figure, Ayman al-Zawahri, would respond to journalists' questions sent over the Internet. The deadline for the queries was Jan. 16.

New bin Laden Internet Message on Iraq Coming Soon