World Threats

Hamas officials are now making it clear that the terrorist group plans to stay out of any war between Israel and Iran. One unnamed official even said that the group hopes that Israel stops Iran’s nuclear ambitions. When it comes down to it, even Hamas knows that Israel isn’t its greatest threat.

A member of Hamas’ political bureau in Gaza City, Salah Bardawil, said that Hamas would not necessarily attack Israel in response to a strike on Iran. “If there is a war between two powers, Hamas will not be a part of such a war,” he said. He emphasized to the Guardian that Hamas and Iran are from two different branches of Islam and admitted that Iran cut funding to the group two years ago.

The alliance between Iran and Hamas was thought to be nearly ironclad, but the conflict in Syria has changed things. Hamas originally tried to stay neutral as the revolution in Syria escalated, but it eventually broke away from the regime. Iran is fully-backing the secularist Assad regime and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood fully-back the opposition.

Iran stopped giving Hamas about $23 million per month, says one expert in Gaza. The terrorist group’s financial woes and poor management are making it lose support among Palestinians. Hamas increased taxes on products brought into Gaza from Israel and the West Bank. Some merchants refused to pay the tax and protested by keeping their 22 trucks at the border for three weeks.

The conflict between Sunni and Shiite Islamists has made the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a sideshow, as I explained in FrontPage Magazine in January. Turkey sees the writing on the wall and is warning that the region faces a “new Cold War.”

Click here to read the rest of my RadicalIslam.org post.

Osama Bin Laden (right) had more than a few good reasons to pick Yemen as the best opportunity to create an Islamic state.

Yemeni President Saleh was swept away in the Arab Spring, though the rest of his regime remains intact. The power vacuum that already existed under his rule has grown larger and Iranian proxies, Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood are all pouncing on the opportunity at hand.

Yemen is the one country where Al-Qaeda is clearly advancing. It has taken over Abyan Province, where it has instituted strict sharia law, going so far as to publicly lash four people 80 times for consuming alcohol. Apparently, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula decided to ignore Bin Laden’s advice to wait three years before moving forward.

Al-Qaeda recently declared Shabwa Province to be part of its Islamic Emirate and has 300 operatives in the town of Azzan alone. It is looking to grab the city of Mukallah in the province of Hadramaut. Its ranks have been reinforced with up to 800 operatives from Somalia, where the group’s affiliate, al-Shabaab, has been taking a shellacking.

At the same time, Iran is again sending arms to its Shiite Houthi allies in the north, including the advanced explosively-formed penetrators (EFPs) that the regime has sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. A “relatively small but steady stream of automatic rifles, grenade launchers, bomb-making material and several million dollars n cash” are flowing to the Houthis. The Iranians are also courting members of Herak, which seeks secession for the south.

Click here to read the rest of my post for RadicalIslam.org

ABC News has broken the story that Russia has deployed an “anti-terror squad” from its marines to Syria. Their only conceivable purpose is to train, oversee and perhaps directly participate in Bashar Assad’s bloodbath. Meanwhile, the rebels are asking for help from anywhere. And, amazingly, for some, that includes Israel.

The Russian intervention on the side of Bashar Assad isn’t surprising. Russia and Syria have a long-standing strategic alliance. Russia accounted for about 80% of Syria’s imports over the past five years and it has a major naval base there. Russia also secretly rushed to the aid of Saddam Hussein right before his toppling. Two former Soviet generals arrived in Iraq and were awarded with medals. It’s been reported that Russian Spetsnaz units were also in Iraq, leading to suspicions that they helped wipe away Russian fingerprints on illicit activity and ridthe country of weapons of mass destruction.

The Russian unit’s presence in Syria means two positive things: The Assad regime believes that the assistance it’s receiving from Iran is inadequate and it fears for its future even though the military has taken back the areas of Homs and Idlib seized by the rebels.

While Assad enjoys foreign support from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, the rebels are desperately crying out for their own support—even if that means reaching out to Israel.

Click here to read the rest of my Family Security Matters article.

Editor’s Note: Right now, the authorities believe this was the work of a single gunman, likely with a neo-Nazi ideology. An anonymous writer who reads this site submitted the following post to offer a few reasons as to why an Iranian role should be looked at.

The horrific March 19 attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, where the killer rode a motorcycle and specifically chased after Jewish kids, was seen immediately as the work of a Muslim extremist, individual or group. The attack has been linked to another attack on French paratroopers whose unit served in Afghanistan. These paratroopers have a North African background, causing some to suspect that the culprits were neo-Nazis (or something similar) that are both anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim.

Former chief of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, Danny Yatom said that if these were terrorist attacks, Iran or Hezbollah are the most likely suspects. As ABC News reports, Yaton said that “assailants prefer Jewish civilian targets because they are easier to hit than Israeli ones.”

There are some other things to note:

1. Deceit (Taqiyya).
It wouldn’t be a far fetched idea to fathom that Hezbollah, which began its “career” as a deceitful group, in masking its terror-attacks (in the 1980s) under different names, such as Islamic jihad, and has a history of almost never admitting to its crimes. Moreover, Hezbollah (like Palestinian-Arab Hamas) who routinely use civilian Arab population as pawns to tarnish Israel’s name (Experts say that Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields was actually inspired by Hezbollah), might even have murdered the Arab paratroopers, thus catching two birds at once. Killing “anti-Islamic” so-called “colonial” French soldiers, and blurring any clear exposure, by throwing in a suspicion of a “far-right” element, as a ploy.

2. Motorcycle attacks
The common Motorcycle theme, as in Iranian/Hezbollah attack in Bangkok on February, in trying to send a “message” reply to a January motorcycle attack on a nuclear scientist, which the Islamic Republic blamed on Israel.

3. Global Jewish targets
In 2008, Hezbollah renewed its jihad on ‘Global Jewish targets‘ It also comes around the 20th anniversary of Iran/Hezbollah attack on Israeli embassy in Argentina. Add to it the February warning by Iran/Hezbollah to attack global Jewish targets, you get a whole Iranian Hezbollah monstrous attack, in a “complex” cloak, trying to hide under an anti-Jewish “non-Islamic” mask.

Anti-Jewish blind hatred: Hezbollah has been more open about admitting its Islamofascistic anti-Jewish hatred. In 2002, Nasrallah said “if they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” So is the “apes and pigs” dehumanization, so rapid in its al-Manar hate-media, banned in US/European countries.

In conclusion, an Iranian/Hezbollah hand might be behind these attacks. They may have directly carried them out or teamed up with local extremists as cover. And remember, it wasn’t that long ago that it was reported that Iran and Al-Qaeda had teamed up to carry out “spectacular” terrorism in the West and they thought Europe was the most likely target.

Another Iranian-sponsored terror plot was stopped on Wednesday, March 14. The authorities in Azerbaijan arrested 22 people (yes, 22!) involved in an Iranian Revolutionary Guards plot to attack the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Baku. Azerbaijan was previously targeted by Iran in February and in 2008.

The Washington Post reports:

Automatic assault rifles, grenades, ammunition, explosives were seized during the group’s arrest, officials said.

Planned targets included diplomatic missions, the offices of a Jewish organization, the local headquarters of international oil giant BP and an American-themed fast food restaurant.

Just one day prior to these arrests, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister was in Iran to cool tensions after Azerbaijan concluded an arms deal with Israel. Immediately after the meeting, the Defense Minister publicly promised that his country’s land would “[not] be used against Iran under any conditions.”

On March 6, the Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh was mysteriously shot to death. It is reasonable to assume that Iran was involved based on the pattern of its latest activities and its previous targeting of Saudi ambassadors.

How many more of these is it going to take for the world to realize that we are in the middle of an Iranian terror offensive?

Let’s recap:

In October, the U.S. stopped the Iranians from killing the Saudi ambassador in Washington D.C. by blowing up a restaurant he was eating at. The cell also discussed attacking the Saudi and Israeli embassies in D.C. and Buenos Aires.

In November, a wave of Iranian-backed attacks in Bahrain, with the Saudi embassy being one target, was stopped.

In January, a plot probably aimed at Israeli tourists in Thailand was stopped.

On February 13, the wife of an Israeli diplomat is injured in a bombing in India and an attack on an Israeli diplomat in Georgia is stopped at the last moment.

On February 14, an Iranian throws grenades in Thailand after an accidental explosion occurs in the home of his terror cell that was to attack the Israeli embassy.

In mid-February, reports were published about a joint Iranian-Al-Qaeda “spectacular” terrorist operation against the West, possibly in Europe.

On February 21, Azerbaijan busted a terror cell that included a member of the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force that was going to attack foreigners.

On March 6, the Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh is assassinated.

On March 14, a wave of plots in Azerbaijan is foiled.

What’s next?

The United Arab Emirates is creating a roadblock to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose victories in North Africa and the Middle East in the “Arab Spring” movement so far have been nearly unhindered, according to a report from Ryan Mauro in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The clash began when the UAE government revoked the residency permits of dozens of Syrians who were protesting the regime governing their home country.

Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood cleric, is an opponent of the Syrian regime and harshly condemned the UAE action.

The chief of the Dubai police force, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, then tweeted that he would issue an international arrest warrant for Qaradawi, who lives in Qatar.

Tamim then followed his comment with action. He accused Brotherhood members of escalating attacks on his country through social media and said that “anyone advocating its [the Muslim Brotherhood] case is considered a foreign agent.”

His police arrested an activist who leads a religious organization, Saleh al-Dhufairi, who is reportedly “believed to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan responded that if an arrest warrant was issued against Qaradawi, “not only the Muslim Brotherhood will act, but the entire Muslim world will act against the Emirates.”

Kuwaiti-based officials for the Muslim Brotherhood echoed his threats.

Click here for my WorldNetDaily article.

Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has been identified as the alleged shooter in a spree that killed 16 Afghans.

Apparently, there are several articles circulating that may be him.

These show a Staff Sergeant named Robert Bales on deployment in Afghanistan in

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Rick Santorum scored two more surprise victories last night with wins in Alabama and Mississippi. Polls leading up to the vote projected victories for Mitt Romney and/or Newt Gingrich, with reports earlier in the day indicating that exit polls showed Romney taking Mississippi. Santorum won both states at the end of a night, which will heighten speculation about a brokered Republican convention in August.

The RealClearPolitics poll average had Gingrich barely ahead of Romney in Alabama by only 0.2%, and the last poll in Mississippi had him leading by 2%. One poll found Romney ahead in Alabama by 2%. One poll earlier in March had Romney winning Mississippi by 8%. None showed Santorum winning.

Yet, he won Alabama with 34.6%, about 5 points ahead of Gingrich (29.3%) and Romney (28.9%). Ron Paul only received 5% of the vote. Santorum won Mississippi with 32.9%, about 1.5 points ahead of Gingrich (31.3%). Romney came in third with 30.3% and Paul in fourth with 4.4%.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

Opponents of a tough policy towards Iran are fond of mentioning Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s multiple fatwas against the possession of nuclear weapons. It is argued that Khamenei would not lie in an official religious ruling and wreck his credibility as an Islamic leader. As logical as that viewpoint sounds, it is wishful thinking.

It is true that Khamenei has declared the possession and use of nukes to be forbidden by Islam on multiple occasions. In 2009, he said that the ban is “because of our ideology.” In 2010, he said it is because “our religious beliefs and principles prohibit such weapons as they are the symbol of destruction of generations.” Most recently in February, he said Iran would “never pursue nuclear weapons” because it is a “grave sin.”

This sounds unequivocal and everlasting but these declarations come with caveats and are subject to change based on circumstances.

One of the reasons Khamenei said his regime is not interested in nukes is because his country can face down its enemies without them. It isn’t hard to envision Khamenei one day declaring that the possession of nuclear weapons is no longer a “grave sin” because they are needed in order to defend the country and religion. Whereas before the weapons were a “symbol of destruction of generations,” Iran’s possession of them would symbolize the saving of generations, he could argue.

After all, Khamenei’s regime has worked on technology with no possible civilian application, such as nuclear “triggers” and warheads. The IAEA report from November even disclosed that Iran has made preparations for an underground nuclear test. If Khamenei’s fatwa was unconditional, his regime would not be working on nuclear weapons capabilities in any way.

Click here to read the rest of my analysis for the Institute on Religion and Democracy.

In what could be called a new version of “Romney-CAIR,” Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Maryland campaign chairman, former Republican Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, is an endorser of the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“I’m glad that you have established such a strong voice in the community and that you are working to maintain a strong sense of cultural and economic identity,” Ehrlich is quoted on CAIR’s website as saying in December 2005.

Under the headline “What They Say About CAIR,” dated March 2010, there are lists of comments from religious, law enforcement and election officials. Ehrlich’s comment is included there.

The Justice Department named CAIR an “unindicted co-conspirator in 2007 in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, a charity discovered to be a front for the Hamas terrorist group. On July 1, 2009, District Court Judge Jorge Solis ruled that there was “ample evidence to establish the association” of CAIR to Hamas to justify the label.

A federal court filing states, “From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists” and “the conspirators agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists.”

Apparently, Ehrlich has not requested that CAIR delete his endorsement.

Although Ehrlich’s statement was made before CAIR was labeled as an “unindicted co-conspirator,” experts on Islamic extremism say that is not a valid excuse.

Steven Emerson, executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, told WND that CAIR had a history of extremism from its founding in 1994 to 2005 when Ehrlich spoke in support of the group.

Click here to read the rest of my WorldNetDaily story.

The Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group, has taken a step forward in its legal fight to get delisted as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided with the MEK, giving the State Department until March 26 to complete its review of the designation and present justification for its continuance. If the MEK is vindicated, then the Iranian regime will tremble and many Iranians will celebrate and get to work trying to free their country.

The MEK was first delisted in the United Kingdom in June 2009 after going to court. Earlier, the European Union Court of First Instance ruled that the evidence justifying the MEK’s label as a terrorist group is “manifestly insufficient.” In 2009, after a protracted legal battle, the European Union was forced by court order to delist the MEK, finding the allegations against it to be baseless.

The U.S. still lists the MEK as a terrorist group, a designation it has held since 1997 when the Clinton Administration sought to extend an olive branch to the Iranian regime and its new president, Mohammad Khatami. On July 16, 2009 the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuitordered the State Department to review this designation and concluded that the MEK’s rights were violated because it was not shown the confidential evidence against it and given an opportunity to respond. The State Department reacted by indefinitely “reviewing” while the MEK had to sit and wait.

Meanwhile, over 3,000 MEK members in Iraq at Camp Ashraf were isolated, attacked, intimidated and subjected to other forms of mistreatment. The Iraqi government is deporting them all by May and they have nowhere to go because of this designation.

Click here to read the rest of my FSM column.

The Islamist pressure campaign against major law enforcement agencies is bearing fruit. They have put the NYPD on the defensive, thanks to some help from deceitfularticles in the New York Times. And now, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has even agreed to speak at a fundraiser for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group that the FBI has officially cut ties with over its links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism broke the story that McCarthy met with officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), where he promised that the Chicago Police Department would not use the surveillance tactics that CAIR has lashed out at the NYPD for using. Outrageously, McCarthy even agreed to speak at a fundraiser for CAIR’s branch in Chicago. The event will honor Kifah Mustapha, an imam whose bid to become the Illinois State Police’s first Muslim chaplain was torpedoed when his links to Hamas came to light.

CAIR was labeled by the federal government as an “unindicted co-conspirator”  in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, a charity found to be a Hamas front used for fundraising. In 2007, the said that, “From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists” and “the conspirators agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists.”

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

Senator John McCain (R-A.Z.) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) don’t get it.

The two traveled to Egypt recently to discuss the prosecution of American NGO workers. And they left thanking and complimenting the Muslim Brotherhood for (supposedly) helping secure their release and opposing the law used to prosecute them.

Graham used to be a critic of the Brotherhood, as the Wall Street Journal report on their remarks points out. Now, after meeting with the Brotherhood, he says:

“After talking with the Muslim Brotherhood, I was struck by their commitment to change the law because they believe it’s unfair.”

“I was very apprehensive when I heard the [Egyptian] election results. But after visiting and talking with the Muslim Brotherhood I am hopeful that…we can have a relationship with Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood is a strong political voice.”

McCain likewise said, “We are encouraged by the constructive role played over the past week by the Muslim Brotherhood and its political party, the Freedom and Justice Party. Their statement of February 20 was important in helping to resolve the recent crisis.”

At this point, you’re probably expecting me to list reasons why the Brotherhood is an extremist, terrorism-supporting group. But, there’s a whole other reason to ridicule the opinions of Graham and McCain.

The Muslim Brotherhood supported the prosecution of the American NGOs!

The Brotherhood accuses them of plotting to “destroy Egypt and ruin its society.” The Brotherhood even encouraged the Egyptian government to stand up to U.S. pressure over the matter. The Islamist group is furious at McCain for thanking them.

Ignorance about Islamism is a bi-partisan problem.

Editor’s Note: Last Thursday, Eygpt lifted the travel ban of seven American Non-Govermental Organization (NGO) workers that had been prevented from leaving the country since December. Nine other workers had left earlier. A total “bail” of  close to five million dollars was paid, $300,000 for each worker. The workers will be expected to return to Egypt to stand trial unless Eygpt decides to drop all charges against them.

The workers were charged with operating without a license and using illegal foreign funds to foment unrest.  However, Prosecutor Khaled Suleiman told Reuters news service that the individuals and their organizations are accused of espionage and being in contact with the CIA as well as providing reports on Egypt to the U.S. State Department.

Fearing arrest, the workers sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy. The travel ban had created an acute crisis in U.S.-Egyptian relations and had put in jeopary the $1.3 billion annual aid the U.S. provides to Egypt.

Click here to read the rest of my RadicalIslam.org blog.

Earlier this year, the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project concluded that Iran could have the fuel for a single nuclear bomb by September. That is a frighteningly short time away but luckily, Iran would still have to construct the bomb and fit it onto a missile. The question is: Where is Israel’s red-line?

The think-tank determined that Iran could make enough 20% enriched uranium for a bomb by June. From there, it would take only “two and one half months” to make the fuel for a 15-kiloton weapon, roughly the power of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

This assessment is realistic. Top nuclear expert David Albright says that it would only take about 6 months to turn 20% enriched uranium into bomb-grade fuel if 500 to 1,000 centrifuges are used. In November, the IAEA reported that 412 centrifuges were installed at Fordow. It is presumed that Iran is adding more centrifuges as you read this. This supports the AEI study.

There are many more centrifuges at the Natanz site, but the Fordow site is of special concern. The site is clearly designed for nuclear weapons production, not a domestic energy program, and is buried deep in the mountains. There is a significant worry that Israeli munitions can’t destroy it. The IAEA recently reported that Iran has increased its stockpile of 20%-enriched uranium by nearly half, with over one-third of this increase coming from the Fordow site.

So, does Israel absolutely have to strike by September? Not necessarily, though Israel might reasonably decide it’s too dangerous to wait any longer.

Click here to read the rest of my RadicalIslam.org blog.

Republicans in 10 states went to the polls yesterday to choose their party’s nominee but all eyes were on Ohio, where Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum alternated as the top candidate in the polls. Hours after the polls in the state closed, Romney was declared the winner in Ohio by only one percent. Romney significantly grew his delegate total and some analysts argue that it is virtually impossible for Santorum to win the 1,144 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination without a brokered convention.

Mitt Romney won Ohio with 38% of the vote to Rick Santorum’s 37%. Newt Gingrich came in 15% and Ron Paul came in 9%. Unfortunately for Santorum, he may be unable to win up to 18 of the state’s 63 delegates because of mistakes in campaign filings.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.