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Steven Emerson, Executive Director	December 29, 2010
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Jordan Bans Teaching about Holocaust by IPT News • Dec 24, 2010 at 2:53 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2446/jordan-bans-teaching-about-holocaust Be the first of your friends to like this. Jordan authorities banned a text book on the Holocaust from a Jordanian private school, while Jordanian deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Dr. Khalid Karaki ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry that will "examine and write a report about the implications of the incident." Ynetnews, the English language site of Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot, reported that the "sensational affair" had been uncovered by local newspaper Al-Dustour and had stirred anger in the largely Palestinian kingdom. Jordan's Education Ministry issued an official statement stating that it "prohibits the inclusion of additional study materials, unless they have received an official approval. The ministry will look into other schools that have used similar materials, and has instructed the school to stop using the textbook." The statement also warned that it will take additional measures against schools that do not comply with the ban on teaching the Holocaust. Related Topics: IPT News Indianapolis Grandmother Embraces Jihad by IPT News • Dec 28, 2010 at 7:52 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2457/indianapolis-grandmother-embraces-jihad Be the first of your friends to like this. An Indianapolis woman is under investigation for suspected terror ties, Fox News reported Tuesday. Kathie Smith, a 46-year-old grandmother, married Salahudin Ibn Ja'far last year. The 28-year-old Ja'far is believed to be a German radical who reportedly boasts of his childhood friendships with known and suspected terrorists. Smith has praised al-Qaida terrorist mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki and "celebrated the deaths of U.S. soldiers – who she called 'terrorists' – at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and applauded another user's posting of a rendering of the two planes hitting the World Trade Center towers" on 9/11, Fox News reported. The report cited online postings uncovered by the Jawa Report website. U.S. security officials say Smith (who now calls herself "Zubaida") frequently flies back and forth between the United States and Germany – most recently two weeks ago. Officials are investigating a video in which Smith and her husband are pictured hugging and holding weapons. Those images are mixed in with photographs of German Taliban Mujahideen (German nationals who have set up their own splinter group inside the Taliban) and an Awlaki sermon cover. Ja'far has written in support of "noble leaders" including Awlaki, Osama bin Laden, and the 9/11 hijackers and maintained online forums hosting Awlaki's sermons. He claims to have trained in jihadist camps, and is a Facebook friend of Inspire, al Qaida's English-language magazine. On Facebook, Smith says she "likes" Awlaki. Smith belongs to a Facebook group called Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, referring to a terrorist offshoot in North Africa and is Facebook friends with the Somali terror group al-Shabaab. "These so-called 'jihadists' you have mentioned are actually personal friends of my husband from childhood. In the video he was expressing his love and gratitude to his friends, who have died fighting for freedom. Just like any other American or European citizen who displays pictures of soldiers who have died on their videos," Smith told Fox News. "It is just that your government has deemed these noble men as 'terrorists' because they are no longer on the same side." Related Topics: IPT News Awlaki Link in UK Plot by IPT News • Dec 28, 2010 at 2:45 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2456/awlaki-link-in-uk-plot Be the first of your friends to like this. The nine men suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom during the holiday season downloaded videos of American-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and had read the terrorist group's English-language magazine, British media reports say. The men were arrested Dec. 20 and face charges of conspiring to cause explosions in a terrorist attack. The London Stock Exchange, the U.S. Embassy, the London Eye and Big Ben were among their prospective targets. But the suspects also had information on two rabbis, a priest and a Church of Scientology office. Police searching their homes found at least two copies of Inspire magazine and a magistrate judge was told Monday that the men were inspired by Awlaki. In its first few issues, the magazine has tried to connect with Western readers, encouraging them to wage small-scale attacks which "bleed the enemy to death." Police and British intelligence had been watching the men for months, the Guardian reported. That may explain some of the detailed information provided in their hearing Monday, including a summary of their travels scouting potential targets. At Big Ben, "a mobile phone had appeared to be raised and pointed towards the clock tower," the Telegraph reported. They are being held without bail and are due back in court January 14. Related Topics: Anwar al-Awlaki | IPT News LA City Council's "Islamophobia" Resolution Challenged by IPT News • Dec 27, 2010 at 4:35 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2455/la-city-council-islamophobia-resolution-challenged Be the first of your friends to like this. Violence motivated by bigotry is unacceptable regardless of the target. While crime statistics show blacks and Jews are among the most frequent victims, the Los Angeles city council recently singled out acts targeting Muslims for a special condemnation in the form of a resolution. In the New York Daily News Sunday, Joe Hicks and David Lehrer challenge the move as misleading political rhetoric. Statistics from the local human relations commission show there were 131 crimes based on religion in Los Angeles County during 2009. Of those, 88 percent targeted Jews, 8 percent targeted Christians. Muslims were the victims in 3 percent of the cases reported. That mirrors national hate crime data issued annually by the FBI. Passing the resolution gives a false impression that "America's Muslims are under attack nationally and that here in Los Angeles acts of hate are out of control," Hicks and Lehrer write. "This might serve the advocates' agenda, but it ill-serves the interests of the people of Los Angeles." Lehrer is a former Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League and Hicks served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. The two work with Community Advocates, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that focuses on race relations. In their column, they describe the campaign to elevate "Islamophobia" as a cause, pushed by political advocacy groups like the Muslim Public Affairs Council that routinely seek to undermine law enforcement counter-terrorism efforts. The City Council bought into that campaign, Hicks and Lehrer write, and "simply took information provided by an advocacy group, one that's hardly unbiased, and uncritically spat out a resolution opposing "Islamophobia" and "random acts of violence against Muslim-Americans." Read the full column here. Related Topics: IPT News Turkish Group Promises Flotilla Encore by IPT News • Dec 27, 2010 at 2:45 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2451/turkish-group-promises-flotilla-encore The organization behind the deadly encounter between Turkish activists and Israeli soldiers on the Mediterranean Sea on May 31st has announced plans for a second flotilla that will depart for Gaza on the same ship on the same day next year. "The fate of the Mavi Marmara will be determined by its owners' conscience," said Ümit Sönmez, production branch coordinator of the Turkish group IHH at a rally held Sunday in Istanbul. "We will organize another trip to Gaza on May 31, the same date the raid happened this year, with a larger crew to draw interest to the embargo one more time." As many as 50 ships will accompany the Mavi Marmara on the next flotilla to Gaza, Sönmez said. Thousands of people from approximately 50 countries attended the celebration at Istanbul's Sarayburnu port. The crowd waved Palestinian, Turkish and Hamas flags, chanting "Down with Israel" and "Allah is great." Among those who delivered speeches at the ceremony include IHH President Bülent Yildirim, Free Gaza Movement Legal Advisor Audrey Bomse, Viva Palestina leader Muhammad Sawalha and Mazen Kahel from the London-based European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza. "Israel says, 'Stay away from us, and leave us alone.' We ask it to stay away from Palestine so that we can stay away from it. As long as Israel continues its blockade of Gaza, we will set sail to Gaza with new ships," Yildirim told the audience. The blockade of Gaza, meant to weaken the Hamas government and stop it from arming, has beendramatically relaxed. Yildirim, who openly supports Hamas, prepared the Turkish IHH operatives on the Mavi Marmara to engage the Israeli soldiers violently. The incident, which left nine Turkish activists dead, triggeredtensions between the two countries that remain unresolved. Yildirim's organization IHH has assisted al-Qaida and supported jihadi operations in Bosnia and Afghanistan in the 1990s. The U.S. government has verified that IHH has ties to Hamas, and the State Department has considered designating the Turkish NGO as a terrorist organization. The Free Gaza Movement (FGM) and the London-based European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) organized the May Freedom Flotilla, along with IHH and groups based in Greece andSweden. FGM, ECESG and IHH will again lead Freedom Flotilla II in May, 2011, along with groups from countries including the UK, Spain, Greece, Sweden, Italy, Canada, the United States, and others. Related Topics: IPT News Nine Charged in British Pre-Christmas Plot by IPT News • Dec 27, 2010 at 1:49 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2450/nine-charged-in-british-pre-christmas-plot British authorities are charging nine men arrested on December 20th with preparing to carry out a "Mumbai-style" terror attack against targets in London. The BBC reports that potential targets included the London Stock Exchange, the U.S. Embassy, and "religious and political figures." "I have today advised the police that nine men should be charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and with engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism with the intention of either committing acts of terrorism, or assisting another to commit such acts," said Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Counter Terrorism Division. The men are being charged under Britain's Terrorism Act 2006 for engaging in preparations for attacks between October 1 and December 20. They are alleged to have scouted potential targets, downloaded and researched terrorism-related materials and tested explosives. Five of the defendants face a third charge of possessing documents and records containing information likely to be of use to terrorists. The plotters, mainly of Pakistani origin but also including some Bangladeshis, lived throughout the United Kingdom. Gurukanth Desai, Omar Sharif Latif, and Abdul Malik Miah were arrested in the Welsh capital of Cardif, while Nazam Hussain, Usman Khan, Mohibur Rahman, and Abul Bosher Mohammed Shahjahan came from the English town Stoke-on-Trent. Two other suspects, Mohammed Moksudur Rahman Chowdhury and Shah Mohammed Lutfar Rahman, were from London. "Last week's raids are said to have come after several months of surveillance and monitoring by police and MI5 officers," the Guardian reported. The operation was the most high-profile anti-terror raid in Britain since April 2009, when 12 men were detained across northern England, but were later released without charge. It also follows allegations that Sweden's first suicide bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab Abdaly, was radicalized while living and studying in the British town of Luton. Related Topics: IPT News UCLA Law Professor Smears Shariah Critics by IPT News • Dec 27, 2010 at 1:24 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2449/ucla-law-professor-smears-shariah-critics The flyer posted on the UCLA campus advertised that Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl would lead "an informal discussion about Shariah and its role and impact in the West." Instead, students were treated to "a meandering, repetitive lecture that had little or nothing to do with the stated premise," wroteCinnamon Stilwell and Eric Golub of Campus Watch. Much of Abou El Fadl's November 3 talk consisted of outlandish falsehoods about writers who have criticized radical Islam, including Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson and Robert Spencer. To illustrate how lucrative "Islam bashing" and "Shariah bashing" have supposedly become, Abou El Fadl claimed that Spencer made $4 million last year and received $10,000 per speech. To make $4 million at $10,000 per speech would require that Spencer give more than 400 speeches per year – more than one a day. "I have never made $4 million a year, or anything close to it," Spencer said in response. "I have never charged $10,000 for a talk, or anything close to it. Khaled Abou El Fadl is lying outright." Abou El Fadl, who teaches Islamic jurisprudence at the UCLA School of Law, also quoted Spencer as stating that Islam lacks "an interpretative tradition." Spencer responded: "I never said that. I said they don't have an interpretative tradition that mitigates the literal force of the Qu'ranic verses inciting to violence. Obviously, they have an interpretative tradition; I discuss it at length in several books." Abou El Fadl also claimed that Steven Emerson, executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, is regularly invited to "the very influential Ethics and Public Policy Institute," a think tank based in Qatar. "Emerson is a regular" at these events, sponsored by the Qatari royal family, Abou El Fadl claimed. "He brags about it constantly –he rubs elbows with the ambassadors, with the royals. The irony is…he gets to tell these people 'you're terrorists, you're animals, you're disgusting' and he'll be invited again and welcomed again and celebrated again." Emerson countered that 1) he is not a member of the Ethics and Public Policy Institute; 2) he had never been to Qatar; and 3) he has never conferred with Qatari royalty. In a separate column, Pipes also said Abou El Fadl distorted his views, including a claim that he wants to see a violent clash between moderate and extremist Muslims. "For the record," Pipes responds, "We hope that moderate Muslims will challenge Islamists in the realm of ideas, not by starting a religious war or engaging in violence." "Abou El Fadl simply made up a story to suit his narrative," Stilwell and Golub wrote. "One wonders if El Fadl teaches his law students that lying about one's political opponents is acceptable professional behavior." Related Topics: IPT News TSA Alert on Thermoses by IPT News • Dec 24, 2010 at 3:21 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2447/tsa-alert-on-thermoses Be the first of your friends to like this. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the TSA will be taking a closer look at thermoses during holiday travel. While the alert suggested a general threat, the TSA is taking the measure in light of concerns that insulated beverage containers could contain explosives for use in terror attacks. The TSA has already banned liquids, according to the 3-1-1 rule, so the ban is intended to target empty thermoses. "Passengers traveling with insulated beverage containers can expect to see additional screening of these items using procedures currently in place, including X-ray screening, physical inspection and the use of explosives trace detection technology," the alert said. "This measure is designed to be sustainable. TSA will continuously review this measure to ensure the highest levels of security." "As always, the safety and security of the American people is our highest priority and we ask the public to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity to their local authorities," the alert stated. Related Topics: IPT News Terror Alert in Mumbai by IPT News • Dec 24, 2010 at 2:48 pm http://www.investigativeproject.org/2445/terror-alert-in-mumbai Be the first of your friends to like this. India police are scouring Mumbai for four Lashkar-e Tayyiba [LeT] terrorists, suspected of infiltrating the country to carry out attacks during the holidays, as India's financial capital remains on high alert. The alert is the second in four months and follows a devastating LeT attack on Mumbai in November 2008. "We are getting information in bits and pieces," Deven Bharti, who heads the Mumbai police's crime branch, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times on Friday. "We are trying to work on it." They also released a picture of a suspect named Walid Jinnah, and set up checkpoints and an increased police presence throughout the city. Roads were closed on Friday in and around the luxury Taj Mahal Palace hotel, one of the primary targets of the 2008 attacks, and armed police were patrolling at high-profile sites, including consulates. "The four men are planning violent attacks that are going to cause destruction," said Joint police commissioner Himanshu Roy in a news conference in Mumbai on Thursday evening. "The four have recently arrived in Mumbai. We believe the threat is serious." Related Topics: IPT News
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