Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas said to execute leader of Gaza’s powerful Doghmush clan; Doghmushes declare vendetta

2024-03-15

See also here.

[IsraelTimes] Clan leader reportedly killed in family’s compound, allegedly for stealing humanitarian aid for resale and suspected ties to Israel

Hamas
Hamas

...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
reportedly killed the leader of the powerful Doghmush clan

Goodness! It’s been quite a while since we’ve heard from the Doghmushes, and now they’ve gone and got themselves killed, probably due to a perceived threat to Hamas…

in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
City, because the group allegedly had been stealing humanitarian aid and was suspected of having contact with Israel.

Under the circumstances, I imagine that anyone who can muster enough of a threat is doing the same. That’s how low trust/high clannishness (Me-and-my-brother-against-my-cousin) societies work.

Unconfirmed reports on Arab media said that the clan leader, who was not named, was "executed" in the family compound along with two others.

Earlier this week, a Hamas-linked website warned Paleostinian individuals and groups against cooperating with Israel to provide security for aid convoys amid the spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza as war rages between Israel and Hamas.

“Do not dare to protect your robberies against the rampaging Hamas minions, lest we fall upon you like wolves on the fold. Inshallah, Allah will curse all your mustaches for even thinking of self-protection against the most-beloved of the King of Lies.”

Those who did would be treated as collaborators and handled with an iron fist, the Hamas al-Majd security website said, quoting a security official in Paleostinian terror forces.

A less picturesque way to describe it, but conseiderably more succinct.

The warning came in response to reports that Israel was considering arming some Paleostinian individuals or clans in Gaza to provide security protection for aid convoys entering the enclave as part of wider planning for humanitarian supplies after the fighting ends.

Doghmush is a large, armed clan that has clashed with Hamas in the past and has a history of engaging in organized crime as well as arms trading. It leads the Army of Islam terror group and is allied with al-Qaeda.

A matter of faith or merely an alliance of convenience?

It kidnapped and held British journalist Alan Johnston from March to July 2007, and was also reportedly involved in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.

The Doghmush clan is based in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City and in Sabra in western Gaza, the Ynet website reported.

Despite the recent reports of cooperation with Israel, clans have put out a statement saying they still support Hamas, Ynet said.

Whether true or not beyond the moment, it was clearly necessary.

On Wednesday, Hamas said in a statement that it welcomed the clans’ announcement and praised them for refusing to cooperate with Israel, Ynet said.

Gaza has a number of large traditional family clans affiliated with political factions including Hamas and Fatah, the rival group that dominates the Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank.

Some of the larger clans in Gaza City and elsewhere are believed to be well-armed but they have a long history of clashing over rival interests and there has been no indication that they would consider working with Israel.

Israel has not yet provided a clear plan for a postwar scenario in Gaza and has repeatedly rejected a proposal favored by the US and much of the international community to restore the Paleostinian Authority’s rule over the enclave.

In seeking an alternative to both the PA and the Hamas terror regime, which it has vowed to eradicate, Israel has been floating the possibility of Gazook clans running the Strip’s civilian affairs, while the IDF would retain security control. Some experts are dubious about the feasibility of Israel’s proposal; a similar attempt was made decades ago, unsuccessfully. But experts’ skepticism is mainly due to the diminished clout that clans now hold in contemporary Gazook society, and the inevitable influence that established Paleostinian political movements would exert over them.

Israel has also reportedly considered arming Gaza civilians in order to secure aid convoys.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says that at least 31,184 Paleostinians have been killed since October 7, and some 72,899 have been injured. The terror group’s figures are unverified, however, and don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, of whom Israel has said it killed some 13,000 inside Gaza and an additional 1,000 inside Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre.

Doghmush clan says it considers all Hamas members legitimate targets after leader assassinated

Interesting times for Hamas…

[IsraelTimes] The Doghmosh Family — a major clan in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
— has issued a statement declaring that all Hamas
Hamas

...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
members are legitimate targets after its leader was assassinated by members of the terror group along with ten other relatives allegedly for stealing humanitarian aid

and being in contact with Israel.

The statement pledges retribution against all responsible and warns Hamas fighters not to test the clan’s patience.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Worse Than Hamas? Gaza's Other Terror Groups

2014-08-16

[IsraelTimes] After four weeks of a punishing Israel air and ground campaign that left nearly 2,000 dead (an estimated 1,000 of them gunnies, according to Israel) and much of Gazoo in ruins, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has lived to see another day.

For Israel, that might not be the worst thing. That's because for all of Hamas's violent extremism, it also governs a territory, maintains a social service wing and controls smaller, more Lion of Islam factions. Through mediators, Hamas and Israel have reached agreements in 2011 and 2012, and are negotiating another one right now in Cairo.

But many of Hamas's fellow jihadi organizations in Gazoo don't have the same interests. For most, their sole goal is to fight — not just against Israel, but to spread Islamist rule across the whole world. That's why, in the thick of the conflict on July 28, outgoing US Defense Intelligence Agency head Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said ousting Hamas could bring on "something like ISIS," the radical Islamist group now conquering swaths of Iraq and Syria.

"If Hamas were destroyed and gone, we would probably end up with something much worse," Flynn said, according to Rooters. "The region would end up with something much worse."

Who are these groups? Here's a quick rundown of the other major organizations in Gazoo that seek Israel's destruction.

Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
— Sometimes known in Israel simply as Jihad, this is the second-biggest terrorist group in Gazoo after Hamas. Founded in 1979 as a break-away from the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad resembles Hamas in many ways. It's a Paleostinian national movement, it receives funding from Iran and has a small social service wing that includes schools, hospitals and family mediation services, according to the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
. It is also party to the negotiations taking place in Cairo.

A 2011 Rooters article estimated the Islamic Jihad's militia, the Al-Quds Brigade, at 8,000 fighters, compared to tens of thousands of Hamas fighters. Islamic Jihad executed a number of terror attacks during the second intifada a decade ago, including the 2001 abduction and murder of two 14-year-old boys in Gush Etzion. It has frequently fired rockets at Israel from Gazoo, including during the three rounds of conflict between Israel and Hamas in recent years.

Popular Resistance Committees — The Popular Resistance Committees, or PRC, is a break-away from the Paleostinian Fatah Party, which governs the Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank. The PRC was founded in 2000 and opposes Fatah's grinding of the peace processor with Israel. Unlike many groups operating in Gazoo, the PRC is not Islamist. In 2012, Yediot Aharonot estimated that it was the third-strongest militia in Gazoo and that it receives much of its funding from the Lebanese bully boy group Hezbollah, which is also backed by Iran.

The PRC also executed terror attacks during the second intifada. In 2006, it collaborated with Hamas on the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier.

Jihadi groups — There are a number of jihadi groups reported to be active in Gazoo and allied with, or supportive of, the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda agenda of reestablishing an international Islamic caliphate. Among them, the Army of Islam, which participated in the Shalit kidnapping and kidnapped BBC news hound Alan Johnston in 2007.

Another group, Tawhid wal'Jihad, has shot a number of rockets at Israel and is most famous for the 2011 kidnapping and murder of Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian activist with International Solidarity Movement. Another, Jund Ansar Allah, attempted to attack Israel on horseback in 2009 and declared Gazoo an Islamic emirate later that year, leading to a shootout with Hamas forces.

Link

Europe

Lampedusa boat tragedy: Migrants 'raped and tortured'

2013-11-09

[BBC.CO.UK] People traffickers tortured and raped African migrants whose boat later sank off Lampedusa with the loss of more than 360 lives, Italian police say.

The police have tossed in the calaboose
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
a Somali man on Lampedusa accused of committing crimes with the armed gang.

Most of the victims on 3 October were Eritreans
...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age...
and Somalis. Their fishing boat capsized near Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island off North Africa.

The migrants each paid thousands of dollars to the gang, police said.

The gang moves people across the Sahara to Libya, where they are tossed in the clink
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
in a camp until they pay at least $3,000 (£1,866), police said.

The migrants have told the police that torture and rape goes on at the camp, the BBC's Alan Johnston reports from Rome.

Once the migrants make their payment, they are handed on to another organization which - in return for more money - arranges a boat journey to Europe.

Motives unclear
The alleged captain of the Lampedusa boat, a Tunisian man named Khaled Bensalam, is being held in Sicily.

The 24-year-old Somali suspect was arrested after arriving on Lampedusa on 25 October with a group of migrants.

As he entered a migrant reception centre, he was attacked by some survivors of the disaster, police said. There were 155 survivors of the tragedy.

The migrants said they recognised him as one of the leaders of the group that had arranged their long and disastrous journey. He is now facing charges relating to kidnapping, sexual violence and people smuggling.

It is not yet clear why the suspect made the journey to Italia and put himself at risk of being identified by migrants that he allegedly mistreated. But the police say he might have been fleeing tensions within his people-smuggling network.

Another theory is that he may have sought to consolidate links with criminal partners in Italia. Or he might have simply decided that he too wanted to make a new life in Europe, our correspondent says.

Italian media say the Somali man's arrest followed investigations by Sicilian police and anti-Mafia police based in Rome. He is now being questioned in Sicily.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Gaza's Global Jihadis

2012-06-23

[Jerusalem Post] Jihadi groups are said to be operating in the Strip without any consideration for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,'s interest.

In 2006, Abu Abd Al-Rahman, a top al-Qaeda operative based in Afghanistan, received a letter.

One of the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones...
's closest associates and known by a slew of aliases, Rahman -- who was killed in a drone strike in Pakistain in 2011 -- was at the time a renowned Islamic religious authority in global jihad circles.

He often received letters from global jihad followers stationed across the globe, but this letter was different; It came from the Gazoo Strip.

Sent by the Army of Islam, at the time a fairly obscure terrorist group, the letter included a number of questions pertaining to Islamic religious law.

Over the years, the Army of Islam has turned into a formidable force in Gazoo. It assisted Hamas in kidnapping Gilad Schalit and later was behind the abduction of BBC news hound Alan Johnston. Designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department, its members have been targets of Israeli assassinations over the years.

The first question in the letter was whether the group could receive money from Paleostinian organizations to fund its terror activities. One example it gave was the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, which wanted to give the Army of Islam money to carry out attacks against Israel. The problem, the letter noted, was that Islamic Jihad was heavily funded by Iran, perceived as an "infidel" Shi'ite state by the global jihad Salafis.

The second question was whether the Army of Islam could invest in the stock market to finance its terrorist activities. Finally, the letter asked whether the organization could kill drug smugglers, steal their drugs and money and use it to finance terrorist activities.

The letter was discovered last year in the home in Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
, Pakistain where United States Navy SEALs found and killed bin Laden. It was one of nearly 20 documents that were declassified and published recently by the US military's Combating Terrorism Center.

For the Mossad and Military Intelligence, the discovery of the letter in the intelligence treasure trove reinforced what it had already known: al- Qaeda and global jihad do not pose a virtual and imaginary threat but are real and have cells operating along Israel's borders.

The attack on Monday along the Egyptian border, which killed construction worker Said Phashpashe, is believed to have been the work of another global jihad organization called Tawhid wal- Jihad, a shadowy group in Gazoo that was behind the kidnapping of an Italian activist in Gazoo last year. Hamas clashed with the group, stormed the home where the worker was being held and secured his release.

The group's involvement in the attack on Monday might be one of the reasons why Hamas decided this week to break its longstanding abstention from rocket attacks. Before this week, the last time Hamas fired was in April 2011 in the round of violence that erupted following a Hamas anti-tank missile attack against a school bus, which killed an Israeli teenager.

But now, global jihad groups are operating freely and without consideration for Hamas's interests.

The attack on Monday, for example, could have been carried out without Hamas's knowledge or approval. As a result, it is possible that Hamas felt its status was being undermined and therefore decided to renew its rocket fire and show who the real terror leader is in the Gazoo Strip.

Another possibility is that Hamas feels bolstered by the potential Moslem Brüderbund takeover in Egypt with a possible win in the presidential elections.

As a result, it feels like it can be less restrained when it comes to attacking Israel than it has been in recent years.

Ultimately though, the IDF does not believe that Hamas is really interested in a major escalation, the scale and scope of which could lead to another Operation Cast Lead. With the school year ending this week and summer vacation about to begin, Israel is also looking to avoid a larger conflict.

For that reason, the IDF's response has been relatively moderate with nearly 10 air strikes but none that really targeted manned Hamas positions.

In the past, Hamas has not hesitated to use force against the Salafi groups in Gazoo. One memorable incident was in August 2009 when Hamas forces raided the Ibn Taymmiyah mosque in Rafah.

During the festivities, 24 Paleostinians were killed and more than 130 were maimed. Several hundred more were enjugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
by Hamas.

"The presence of these organizations in the Gazoo Strip is not new," a senior IDF intelligence officer said this week. "We have been tracking them for years."

The lawlessness in the Sinai Peninsula, though, the officer noted, has created new opportunities for these organizations, some of them ranked as more radical than Hamas.

The ability to move between Sinai and Gazoo -- two places where the rule of law is not prominent -- has provided these groups not only with the means (weapons, explosives and money) but also with new operatives who can travel to Sinai to take up arms against Israel.

But while Sinai creates opportunities for these groups, for Israel it currently appears to be an almost unsolvable problem. The IDF, which admits to having limited intelligence on what happens there, is also voicing concern over the growing involvement of the local Beduin population in attacks against Israel, something expected to increase as the border fence is completed and the smuggling industry, which Sinai relies on, is hit hard.

The main problem for Israel is that unlike Gazoo -- where it feels it can operate freely against terror infrastructure -- the same cannot be said about Sinai where a single Israeli incursion or air strike would be viewed as a violation of Egyptian illusory sovereignty and likely lead to the immediate annulment of the peace treaty.

For that reason, the message coming out of Jerusalem this week was that the Egyptian government and whoever leads it as president needs to take immediate action to restore control over Sinai and remove the threat from Israel's borders. The message has yet to include an "or else" threat but if the attacks continue, the pressure will be on Israel to begin taking action to stop them.

Link

Europe

Silvio Berlusconi resigns as PM

2011-11-12

Silvio Berlusconi has resigned as prime minister of Italy, after dominating the country's politics for 17 years.

President Giorgio Napolitano accepted his offer and is likely to appoint technocrat Mario Monti his successor.

Mr Berlusconi lost his majority amid an acute debt crisis that threatens the eurozone. He promised to go once MPs had approved new austerity measures.

Crowds celebrated outside the presidential palace, shouting "buffoon" as he entered.

The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says Mr Berlusconi's last journey as prime minister was an undignified one.

Police struggled to control a large, hostile crowd which booed and jeered as his convoy swept by, and after his resignation he left by a side exit to avoid the protesters.

He said he felt "embittered" after hearing the insults.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Gaza police up stakes for arrests in activist murder

2011-04-18

[Ma'an] Chief of police in the Gazoo Strip Abu Ubayda Al-Jarrah announced Sunday a reward to any security officer who helped locate the killers of an Italian solidarity activist found dead two days earlier.

"All security officers who help reveal and arrest the killers ... will be rewarded," Abu Ubayda said in a statement, the day after President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
declared that those behind the murder would be charged with treason.

The statement was made despite the arrest and questioning of four men currently being interrogated over the murder of Italian news hound and activist Vittorio Arrigoni, who was found hanged early Friday morning.

Arrigoni had been kidnapped and his kidnappers posted a ransom video online Thursday, identifying themselves as a Salafist group. They said the activist would be executed unless Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, officials in Gazoo freed a number of Salafists from prison within 30 hours. Twelve hours ahead of the deadline, the activist was found hanged.

On Sunday evening, Hamas foreign affairs and planning minister Mohammed Awad told news hounds that Arrigoni's body would be moved to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Monday after a funeral in Gazoo.

"We're waiting for his friends and relatives to arrive in Gazoo. Some are already here but there are others we are waiting for, and then there will be a state funeral," Awad said.

"We expect afterward that his body will be taken to the Rafah crossing and then on to Cairo, according to the wishes of his family."

Earlier in the week, Gazoo Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
had said that the murder "does not reflect the values, morals, or the religion of the Paleostinian people. This is an unprecedented case that won't be repeated," and called for a criminal investigation into the matter.

In the video, the kidnappers said they were part of a previously unknown Salafi group Sarayat As-Sahabi Al-Humam Muhammad bin Mohammedana (the Brigade of the Gallant Companion of the Prophet Mohammed bin Mohammedana). Larger Salafist groups have said they had nothing to do with the abduction or murder, which was harshly condemned.

There are five major Salafist groups in Gazoo, all of which espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the early days of the faith.

Their religious observances and refusal to abide by various ceasefires have set them on a path of confrontation with Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.

Though small in numbers, the groups have had a disproportionate impact.

By launching hundreds of crude rockets from the coastal enclave into Israel, they have attracted the wrath of both Israel and Hamas.

The recent history of bad blood between Hamas and the Salafists picked up in 2007, when a Salafist group called the Army of Islam (Jaish Al-Islam) grabbed credit for the kidnapping of BBC news hound Alan Johnston.

Hamas severed ties with the group and helped free Johnston after four months in captivity.

Tensions boiled over in August 2009, when Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Partisans of God) announced the creation of an Islamist "emirate" in Gazoo, during a sermon at a mosque in the southern city of Rafah.

That prompted a furious response from Hamas, whose forces stormed the mosque, prompting festivities which left 24 people dead.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Pro-Hamas Italian Kidnapped By Salafists In Gaza

2011-04-14

A radical Islamic group in the Gaza Strip has kidnapped an Italian activist.

Italian consular officials in the Palestinian territory say Vittorio Arrigoni was taken on Thursday morning. In a video posted on YouTube, Mr Arrigoni appears blindfolded with what looks like thick black tape. He seems to have been beaten.

Mr Arrigoni is the first foreigner kidnapped in Gaza since BBC journalist Alan Johnston was snatched in 2007.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison says the group that is thought to have taken Mr Arrigoni is part of a movement sometimes called Salafism.

Salafists have often been in conflict with Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs Gaza, and they consider Hamas too moderate.

In the video, the kidnappers demand that Hamas release a number of Salafist prisoners. Mr Arrigoni is a pro-Palestinian activist who has been in Gaza for several years campaigning against Israel's ongoing blockade of the territory.

Hamas has been credited with eliminating the threat of kidnapping in Gaza up to now.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Signs that Hamas is losing control over Gaza

2010-03-07

Messages are flying between Hamas commanders deployed throughout the Middle East, expressing concern that local leaders are losing control over Gaza.

Shin Bet Internal Memo: Well done, everyone! Don't forget to thank your people out in the field, especially the various colours of princes and princesses.

Ahmed Ja'bri, head of the terror group's Izz a-din al-Kassam armed division, recently sent an urgent missive to Hamas politburo leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus, complaining about the organization's "deteriorating" authority in Gaza. According to a report published Saturday in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, the letter noted that "several worrisome explosions recently occurred in Gaza, security anarchy is extensive, and al-Kassam men are being killed."

Isn't it rather unusual for such intra-organization communications to be leaked? I wonder who did so, and why?
*Whispered* "Tov m'od, Uri!"

The letter was apparently not the first sent by Ja'bri, warning Mashaal that the situation in Gaza has become increasingly tense. Global jihadists have been posing a growing challenge to Hamas's authority in the area, he informed his superiors. The latest message followed a spate of attacks targeting the offices of senior Hamas commanders, including the Gaza prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. It was not clear who was behind the assassination attempts.

"This is the second letter sounding the alarm, the first having been sent in November," he reminded. "I want to stress once again that the situation in Gaza is worsening," the text of the letter read. "We began to lose control of the internal situation after you asked us to transfer control to the government and not to interfere, in order to allow it to direct the affairs of Gaza," he complained.

"A number of government officials have complained about operations in which we eliminated some Fatah operatives, something that was necessary to secure peace internally. Izz a-Din al-Kassam may have made a few stupid errors, such as killing agents from the Palestinian Authority security force, and these resulted from personal motives -- but the security of the [Hamas] movement was always vastly more important than an occasional death," he added.

Hamas has been struggling in recent months with a growing challenge to its authority from mushrooming Islamist groups linked to the international al-Qaeda terrorist organization. According to IDF military intelligence sources, global jihad (al-Qaeda) operatives were active in Gaza for several years; an IDF soldier was killed in an attack perpetrated in January 2009 by global jihadists near southern Gaza. Global jihadists also clashed with Hamas terrorists last July over control over a mosque in the area of the Rafiah, the only border crossing that does not lead into Israel, but rather into Egypt and the rest of the world. IDF military officials warned in 2008 that al-Qaeda terrorists were among the hundreds who had infiltrated Gaza after Hamas operatives blew up the security barrier on the Egyptian-Gaza border in January 2008.

One of the three Hamas-linked terrorist groups involved in the June 2006 kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was the Army of Islam, a group that has ties to the Doghmush clan, and that is considered a branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza. The group was also responsible for the March 2007 kidnapping of Alan Johnston, the Gaza City bureau chief for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It was nearly four months before Johnston was freed; Shalit is still being held hostage -- his condition and whereabouts remain unknown.

Last month another British journalist was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists -- freelancer Paul Martin was arrested at a Gaza courthouse for allegedly supporting a terrorist facing charges of collaborating with Israel. Martin, who has written for the BBC and the Times of London, among others, is still being held by the terrorist group, which has not announced formal charges against him, but has said he will be held until at least March 15. Hamas, which seized control of the region following a milita war with Fatah in June 2007, claims Martin "committed offenses that harmed the security of the country" but has not detailed what those offenses are. Since Gaza is not a sovereign country, and Hamas does not respect the Geneva Convention or any other international law, negotiations for Martin's release will rest largely on the skill of his defense lawyer alone, Sharhabil Zayim.

The professional designation of lawyer seems a bit odd in a territory where the law does not rule.

Link

Great White North

Case wraps up for jihadi propagandist in Quebec

2009-06-11

A judge has rejected a motion attempting to have terrorism-related charges dismissed against a Quebec man who argued they infringed on his rights to freedom of speech. Judge Claude Leblond issued the ruling Wednesday in the case of Said Namouh, who is charged with creating and distributing jihad propoganda. Namouh's lawyer, Rene Duval, said he will appeal the decision.

The Moroccan native is facing four terrorism-related charges - conspiracy to detonate an explosive device, participating in a terrorist act, facilitating an act and committing extortion for a terrorist group. Both the Crown and the defence began pleading their final arguments on Wednesday. The Crown contends Namouh is a member of the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), an organization involved in propaganda and jihad recruitment and which is described as a media tool for al-Qaida.

Namouh was initially arrested in September 2007 for his alleged role in plotting terror attacks in Germany and Austria because of their military role in Afghanistan. RCMP computer-crimes detectives later found evidence on Namouh's computer of dozens of videos and other propaganda materials and thousands of pages of transcripts from chat and forum discussions revealing he was an active member on jihad forums and message boards. Namouh is alleged to have spent countless hours creating, distributing and re-distributing numerous propaganda videos that included images of deaths of western soldiers and of suicide bombings.

In his closing arguments, Crown prosecutor Dominique Dudemaine described the videos as Namouh's "bread and butter." The videos the Crown alleges were produced by Namouh include the kidnapping video of BBC journalist Alan Johnston in Gaza by a group known as the Army of Islam, a group affiliated with GIMF.

Namouh, 36, did not take the stand in his own defence and Duval presented no arguments other than the constitutional challenge. Duval insisted there was no conspiracy, calling the discussions between Namouh and his Austrian counterpart, Mohammed Mahmoud, unilateral conversations. "Mere expression of interest does not amount to conspiracy," Duval said. "You need to have an agreement between two people." Mahmoud, described as a leader of the GIMF, was sentenced in March 2008 in Austria.

Duval also lambasted the Crown's star witness, controversial U.S. counterterrorism expert Rita Katz, suggesting she was biased and racist toward Arabs. He also said she simply collected information off the Internet without the background to properly evaluate it. Katz testified for days and submitted a lengthy report about Namouh's online activity under the name "Ashraf." Dudemaine defended Katz as a credible expert witness whose findings were backed up by a second expert.

He also asked Leblond to consider whether the GIMF is a terrorist group and whether publishing al-Qaida propaganda or violent jihad propaganda is a crime in Canada. "The judge may decide the guilt or not of Said Namouh without answering those questions and I think it's a good occasion for the court to send a message whether it is permitted in Canada," Dudemaine said.

Link

Great White North

Canadian terror law challenged in court

2009-04-08

Said Namouh's computer held all sorts of videos, of American soldiers being blown up, the executions of "infidels" and a how-to guide on suicide attacks. But are these "jihadi" videos, and hundreds of online conversations drawn from the basement computer of the Moroccan native the underpinnings of terrorism, or were they simply the goings-on of a man practising his right to free expression? It's a central question to a case unfolding in a Montreal courtroom that is challenging the constitutionality of Canada's terror laws.

"This whole business of promoting and advocating jihad is the heart of the case," said Namouh's lawyer, René Duval, outside the courtroom yesterday. "They believe my client has advocated criminal acts through jihad by putting things on the Internet."

Duval contends that the terror laws, pushed through Parliament following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, contravene the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and religion. "They have the potential to catch both speech that is acceptable and that which is not," Duval said.

Namouh faces charges of conspiracy as well as participating in and facilitating the activities of a terrorist group, and extortion on behalf of a terrorist group. The Crown says Namouh, 36, was a key member of the Global Islamic Media Front, considered a major propaganda arm of such terrorist groups as Al Qaeda. It's alleged Namouh edited, subtitled and disseminated many of the videos himself.

A resident of Maskinongé, about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal, Namouh was arrested on Sept. 13, 2007, for his alleged role in plotting terror attacks in Germany and Austria over their military role in Afghanistan.

Yesterday's court proceedings revolved heavily around whether actions targeted by the legislation are forms of expression protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because they don't involve violence. Judge Claude Leblond asked Duval if speech that encourages people to be martyrs or jihadists "is speech that supports and does not undermine freedom of expression?"

"It's a genre of speech that is better controlled in the market of ideas than by legislation," Duval replied. Earlier, Duval told the judge, "when we criminalize propaganda, we criminalize a form of speech."

Crown prosecutor Dominique Dudemaine, however, said the basic concept of jihad, which can be interpreted as "struggle," is not what the legislation is aimed at. It's the "incitement to blow something up." Dudemaine referred to judgments that have upheld Canada's terror laws, including last fall's conviction of Momin Khawaja, the first person charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Khawaja was found guilty of financing and facilitating terrorism and was sentenced last month to 10 1/2 years in prison. On balance, Dudemaine said, "the legislation is valid because it doesn't infringe on any rights."

Among the many videos the Crown attributes to Namouh is one of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, kidnapped in Gaza in 2007 by the Army of Islam, a group affiliated with GIMF. (Johnston has been since freed.)

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Great White North

'Ashraf' was eager jihadist, Canadian court told

2009-02-18

A Quebec man dedicated his life to spreading propaganda for al-Qaeda and other jihadists, according to a controversial expert testifying at the man's trial. Rita Katz, the director of the Search for International Terrorist Entities, or SITE Intelligence Group, said Saïd Namouh was one of the most eager, fervent and trusted participants in an online cell dedicated to promoting al-Qaeda and other Islamic terror groups.

Mr. Namouh has been charged with four terror-related offences for allegedly acting as a propaganda wing for terrorists and Iraqi insurgents and for an alleged plot to set off a bomb in Vienna. He has admitted to taking part in hundreds of pro-jihad discussions on the Internet under the name Ashraf in 2007, but Ms. Katz testified the chatter was more than idle.

Ashraf was one of 73 members of the Khidemat forum, an online workshop for the Global Islamic Media Front. The front "is the oldest and most prominent of the virtual propaganda groups supporting the international jihad," Ms. Katz wrote in report presented in court yesterday. "It served as the official media outlet for terrorist organizations," she added in testimony.

Writing as Ashraf from his home in central Quebec, Mr. Namouh submitted 1,075 postings to the site about a year. Ms. Katz said he was responsible for distributing hundreds of videos of terrorist propaganda through direct copies and Internet links. The productions included instructions for making a suicide bomber's vest, a kidnapping video of BBC journalist Alan Johnston and a threat directed at Germany and Austria warning them of terrorist attacks if they failed to withdraw from Afghanistan. "He even commented on the excellent international media uproar that video created," Ms. Katz said.

Ashraf also got into the occasional spat with other group members for their lack of zeal. "Ashraf ... played a prominent role within the Global Islamic Media Front, and was trusted and respected by other members," Ms. Katz wrote.

Ms. Katz, who entered the courtroom by a back door under heavy security, has spent more than a decade tailing jihadists online. Fluent in Arabic, she was born in Iraq, raised in Israel, and started a private intelligence agency in the U.S. in 2002. She won admiration in some intelligence circles for quickly delivering threat analysis and al-Qaeda video to law enforcement, governments and media. Critics have accused her of being an alarmist who gives jihad wannabes an oversized platform.

Ms. Katz wore a disguise including a wig and a fake nose on 60 Minutes to promote her book, Terrorist Hunter, in 2003. She was sued over allegations she made on the program that a U.S. chicken farm was being used to launder terrorist money.

She faced another setback in 2004 when she spent months helping the U.S. Department of Justice prepare a case against an Idaho computer scientist accused of giving material support to terrorists. A jury acquitted him. In 2007, the White House leaked a video of Osama Bin Laden, which Ms. Katz's firm had clandestinely obtained and passed along. She complained the leak destroyed SITE's capacity to infiltrate al-Qaeda online.

Ms. Katz is the final Crown witness in the case against Mr. Namouh. His defence lawyer has not said if Mr. Namouh will testify.

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Great White North

Canadian terror trial opens with propaganda videos

2009-02-03

The alleged computer handiwork of a Quebec man accused of disseminating terrorist propaganda and playing a part in an overseas bomb plot was put on display at the opening of his terrorism trial Monday. Said Namouh, 36, is facing four terrorism-related charges including conspiracy, participating in a terrorist act, facilitating such an act and committing extortion for a terrorist group.

The Crown contends that Namouh is a member of the Global Islamic Media Front, an organization involved in propaganda and jihad recruitment and described as a media tool for al-Qaida. They say Namouh put the final touches on some instructional and propaganda videos broadcast on the Internet.

An RCMP investigator itemizing hundreds of files found on Namouh's computer played three of the videos found on the hard drive. Mike Sforza, an RCMP computer-crimes specialist, played two instructional videos put together by Namouh detailing how to transfer files to a website and a how-to video using a Global Islamic Media Front program to encrypt messages. The program is called "Mujahedeen Secrets." The officer also displayed a video purportedly created by Namouh detailing the capture of three American soldiers in Iraq entitled "The Romans and Apostates Hell in Mesopotamia."

Crown prosecutor Dominique Dudemaine told court he will present a wide range of audio, video and chat transcripts from jihadist forums. There will also be records of money transfers Namouh allegedly received from a suspect in Austria and an inventory of Namouh's computer. Authorities claim the Moroccan native had ties to the Global Islamic Media Front, which was plotting terror attacks in Germany and Austria.

The Crown also alleges Namouh is responsible for publishing propaganda videos following the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston in Gaza in March 2007 by a group known as the Army of Islam.

Dudemaine says his team will have to prove that both groups are terrorist organizations as neither appears on Canada's list of terrorist organizations -- but even so, there is a link between both groups and al-Qaida. "All of this constitutes terrorist activities to create propaganda and recruitment for the benefit of al-Qaida," Dudemaine said.

Namouh is accused of conspiring with an Austrian man, Mohammed Mahmoud, described as a leader of the Global Islamic Media Front. The initial charge against Namouh was to have conspired in 2007 "for the purpose of delivering, placing, discharging or detonating an explosive in a place outside Canada" with Mahmoud. The terrorism charges were subsequently added.

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