A History of Muslim Terrorism against Jews in the USA 5/21/09

by Daniel Pipes, www.DanielPipes.org

 

The arrest of four would-be jihadis in May before they could attack two synagogues in New York City brings to mind a long list of terrorist assaults in the United States by Muslims on Jews. These began in 1977 and have continued regularly since, as suggested by the following list of major incidents (ignoring lesser ones that did damage only to property, such a series of attacks on Chicago-area synagogues):

·       March 1977: Hanafi Muslims seized three buildings in Washington, including the headquarters of B'nai B'rith, and held hostages for 39 hours, leading to one death and one severe injury.

·       November 1990: El Sayyid Nosair assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahane in a New York hotel.

·       February 1993: Ramzi Yusuf, the mastermind of the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, which claimed 7 lives and injured more than a thousand people,, declared the towers not a civilian target but a military one, by virtue of the fact that it might house a "Zionist official."

·       June 1993: "Boom! Broken windows. Jews in the street," is how one of the plotters described the carnage that would ensue from a planned "day of terror" with simultaneous bombings of the United Nations complex, the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, and other New York landmarks..

·       March 1994: Rashid Baz, a Palestinian immigrant, opened fire on a van carrying Orthodox Jewish boys across the Brooklyn Bridge, killing 16-year-old Ari Halberstam.

·       July 1997: 'Ali Hasan Abu Kamal, a 69-year-old Palestinian, shot seven tourists atop the Empire State building, killing one and severely wounding another; in his suicide note, he accused the United States of using Israel as "an instrument" against the Palestinians.

·       July 1997: Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Maizar's near-explosion of a pipe bomb in the New York City subway system.

·       July 2002: Hesham Mohamed Ali Hadayet's attack on the El Al counter at Los Angeles International Airport, killing two

·       September 2005: Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh plot against two Los Angeles-area synagogues, disrupted due to a dropped mobile phone.

·       May 2009: Four arrested in attempt to blow up two New York City synagogues.

Terror Plot Targeted Two New York Synagogues:

JAIL HOUSE JIHAD

 

Alert New York police activity has successfully thwarted a terror attack which targeted two synagogues in the Bronx in New York City and an attempt to shoot down military planes at a nearby National Guard base in Newburgh, NY.

     The four arrested men all live in Newburgh (about 60 miles) from New York City. They were arrested at 9 p.m. on May 20 after planting "bombs" outside the Riverside Temple and the Riversdale Jewish Center.

     Their "bombs" however were fake because of the assistance of an informant who worked in co-operation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]. The FBI has been involved in monitoring the plan since June 2008 after a tip off from a federal informant. The four men arrested are all Moslem and at least three are US citizens. They are James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen.

     New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement: "This latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism."

US Rep. Peter T. King (R-Long Island) said in a WPIX-TV interview: "It would have been a horrible, damaging tragedy. There's a real threat from homegrown terrorists and also from jailhouse converts."

 

EDITOR’S NOTE:  It is interesting to note that 3 of the 4 terrorists converted to Islam while in prison. Instead of being “reformed,” these men came out of prison highly radicalized and dangerous. This is Jail House Jihad. It is frustrating that the U.S. prison systems are so accommodating to Islam. Meanwhile, many Messianic inmates are not even allowed to assemble on Shabbat.

 

(By Ron Ross, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio, May 21, 2009)

 

"When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for YHWH your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 20:1).

 

Sources for the articles above and next page: Bridges for Peace International Headquarters, P.O. Box 1093, Jerusalem, ISRAEL

 

76 Senators Send Mid-East Message to Obama

 

US: ‘No’ To Bush’s PromisesIf US President Barack Obama was considering getting tough with Israel, he had a sharp reminder this week that his hands could be tied. A letter signed by more than three-quarters of the 100 US senators was delivered to the president on May 19, reminding him that Congress expects Israel's interests to come first in any move towards peace in the Middle East.

     "As we work closely with our democratic ally, Israel, we must take into account the risks it will face in any peace agreement," said a letter to the president signed by 76 of 100 senators. "Without a doubt, our two governments will agree on some issues and disagree on others, but the United States' friendship with Israel requires that we work closely together as we recommit ourselves to our historic role of a trusted friend and active mediator," they wrote.

     "We must also continue to insist on the absolute Palestinian commitment to ending terrorist violence and to building the institutions necessary for a viable Palestinian state living side-by-side, in peace with the Jewish state of Israel," continued the letter, whose lead signatories were Democratic senators Christopher Dodd and Arlen Spector, along with Republican senators Johnny Isakson and John Thune.

     They also urged Obama to "promote far greater involvement and participation by the Arab states both in moving toward normal ties with Israel and in encouraging moderate Palestinian elements." Some will see the letter as further evidence of the power of the pro-Israel lobby in Congress. Others will take it as an indication that the lobby is almost redundant, considering the massive support that Israel enjoys on the Hill.

 

(World Jewish Congress, May 20, 2009)

 

Prayer Focus

Pray the Lord's blessing on those who bless Israel.

 

Scripture

"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).

 

 

 

US Rejects Bush's Promise; by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Arutz-7, June 7th

 
Maaleh Adumim, Betar Illit, Ariel and Gush Etzion are on the chopping block. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she refuses to honor an American promise that Israel retain large population centers.

Former President George W. Bush, in a letter to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2004, wrote, "In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion.”

Secretary Clinton’s blunt dismissal of the “informal” promise places more than 100,000 residents of Maaleh Adumim, Ariel, Betar Illit and Gush Etzion on the list for future expulsions to make way for a Palestinian Authority state. The State Department previously had dodged taking a stand on whether the Obama administration would honor the promise.

"There is no memorialization of any informal and oral agreements. If they did occur, which of course people say they did, they did not become part of the official position of the United States government," Clinton said at a news conference with the Turkish Foreign Minister.

She repeated a claim that the Roadmap requires Israel to surrender all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, although the document only calls for the future borders of Israel and a new PA state to be negotiated. (In other words, she lied.)

President Bush wrote his letter after Sharon proposed the “Disengagement" plan to expel nearly 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif and parts of northern Samaria and turn the Gaza communities over to the PA, which was taken over by Hamas in the area following implementation of the plan.

The letter also states, “I remain committed to my June 24, 2002 vision of two states living side by side in peace and security as the key to peace, and to the road map as the route to get there…. Under the road map, Palestinians must undertake an immediate cessation of armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere, and all official Palestinian institutions must end incitement against Israel….”

THE CHRISTIAN EXODUS FROM IRAQ

Source: Koinonia House Inc., P.O. Box D, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816, www.khouse.org

 

The body of a Christian boy was discovered in May 2009 in a village outside Mosul, his body riddled with bullets. Five-year-old Tony Adwar Shawell was kidnapped on May 5 and was later executed by a group that had demanded $50,000 for his ransom. Just a week earlier, on April 27th, three Christians were shot to death in their homes in Kirkuk. These are just some of the latest attacks against Christians in Iraq, where some of the oldest Christian communities on earth are disappearing in response to lawlessness and religiously motivated violence.

According to the last Iraqi census, there were about 1.4 million Christians in Iraq in 1987. Today, the US State Dept estimates that number has dropped to around 550,000, and the German Catholic relief organization Kirche in Not suggests that the number is even lower, perhaps 400,000. In a country of about 28 million, that's quite a small minority. Despite (or because of) their small numbers, the peaceful Assyrian Christian community has been energetically targeted for attack in the wake of the relative anarchy since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Richard Hrair Dekmejian, a USC professor who was born in Syria and studies the Middle East, blames Islamic fundamentalism for much of the violence. "These are pre-Muslim communities in Iraq, and they're being uprooted en masse," he said.

Christians did not have full rights under Saddam Hussein, but there was relative stability in the country. And while Christians were not able to take jobs in the military or security fields or high levels of government, they were often well educated and became doctors or engineers or civil servants and made up a significant portion of Iraq's middle class.

With the rise of violence directed at them, hundreds of thousands of Iraq's Christians have fled to other countries and usually aren't worried about going back. Many have relocated to Syria or Jordan where they wait in refugee camps. Others have emigrated to the United States or South America.

The rise in Islamic conservatism in Iraq has fueled the Christian exodus. "I hope to leave for any other place in the world," said Sheeran Surkon, a 27-year-old Iraqi woman. In 2004, Surkon escaped from Iraq to Syria after her life was threatened, her father disappeared, and somebody blew up her beauty shop. She has no interest in returning to Iraq. "How can I live there as a woman?" she asked.

Islamic fundamentalism is not the only motivation for attacking Christians. Greed is also a problem. Christians are considered wealthy, or are often believed to have wealthy relatives in other countries, and are regularly kidnapped for ransoms. Families have complained that when they pay the ransom money to the kidnappers, they are seen by US officials as supporting terrorists.

Even the liberal publication The Huffington Post has printed an article on the shameful treatment of the Middle East's Christians, saying, "No community today is so targeted by violent thugs for no reason other than sheer bigotry as are the Christians of Iraq. They have had their churches bombed and their priests kidnapped and murdered and yet they persevere with dignity and passive resistance. The Christian community in Iraq does not take to armed conflict and violence against the criminals who want to drive them out..."

Christians are not only leaving Iraq, however. Across the Middle East, believers are leaving historically Christian areas to escape persecution and violence. In fact, the success of Christian education contributes greatly to their ability to get out. According to CNN: "For generations, church-run schools in the Holy Land have turned out Christians who are well-educated, prosperous, and fluent in Western languages. A 2005 study in Bethlehem, where the Christian percentage of the population has fallen from 80 to 20 percent, concluded that Christians' middle-class status and higher education were the most important contributors to their emigration."

Some observers note that Arab Christians have had influence on the social, political and economic affairs of the Middle East, despite their minority status. If they leave, peace and stability might just leave with them.

While thousands of atrocities have been committed against Iraq's Christians, the death of little five-year-old Tony Adwar Shawell is particularly tragic; it demonstrates the level of the horror and depravity being faced in Iraq.

Jonathan Racho, the International Christian Concern regional manager for Africa and the Middle East, said, "This latest unconscionable act indicates the deteriorating situation for Christian minorities in Iraq. It is also a clear sign of the danger that all Iraqi Christians face in Iraq. We call upon the Iraqi and the United States government to put an end to the systematic extermination of Christians from Iraq."

IT IS THE SOLDIER

by Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, US Marines

 

"It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer,
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."

 

Israeli Arabs are Holocaust-Deniers, Hate Their Country

A survey conducted by Haifa University has revealed that the pull of Israel's Arab citizens into the arms of the nation's enemies may be far more advanced than many previously thought.

During a presentation of the survey results on Monday, Professor Sami Samocha said that only 41 percent of local Arab respondents recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish democratic state. By comparison, in 1995 only 7 percent of Israeli Arabs said the Jewish state had no right to exist.

The steep rise in the number of Israelis Arabs who want to see the fall of the Jewish state may have something to do with the rampant Holocaust denial among their community. Over 40 percent of those polled said they do not believe the Nazi Holocaust ever took place, and that it is a fabricated justification for the establishment of Israel.

Ironically, while the world tries to paint Israeli Jews as racists, the Haifa University survey showed that 47 percent of Israeli Arabs object to having a Jew as a neighbor. Only 27.2 percent of local Arabs felt that way just five years ago.

Source: © 5769 JEWISH News

 

Report: Israel is Among the Healthiest Countries

by Yehudah Lev Kay, Arutz Sheva, 5/25/09

Israel remains in the top tier of healthiest countries in the world to live in, according to the 2009 World Health Organization Statistics. Life expectancy in Israel reached 81 years in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That was only 2 years short of Japan's 83 and put Israel among the top 14 countries in the world, longevity-wise.

Israel was highly ranked in almost all other health categories in the WHO report. Israel’s health rankings were consistently higher than the average in European countries and much higher than the average in the Middle East country group, to which Israel belongs geographically (the WHO lists Israel in the European group, however).

In addition, the report said that in Israel 100 percent of people have access to improved drinking water sources, higher than the European average of 97 percent. Israel also has an average of 37 doctors per 10,000 people, which is higher than the European average of 32.

According to the report, Israel has low incidences of infectious diseases across the board, while also having a population which has consistently high rates of immunization. In Israel, 121 people per 100,000 die from cardiovascular disease – in Europe the average is 332.

Israel lagged behind, however, on hospital beds per person. In the Jewish state there are 60 beds per 10,000 people, but in Europe the average is 63. In addition, Israel spent eight percent of its Gross Domestic Product on health, but the European average is 8.4 percent.

 

Pres. Obama to Dump DOMA

On May 26, the California Supreme Court decided that the voters of California have the right to amend their state constitution (as is provided for in their constitution). In November 2008, the voters of California voted in a constitutional amendment stating that marriage is between one man and one woman. The California Supreme Court decided that this amendment is constitutional. Halleluyah!

     During his presidential campaign, Obama told Pastor Rick Warren, “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.” However, now that he is president, he seems to have changed his tune. He wants to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed in 1996, saying this is an issue for the individual states to decide. However, he also opposed individual states such as California from passing constitutional amendments defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

     In an “Open Letter to Gay Americans,” Obama stated, “I believe we should get rid of that statute (DOMA) altogether. Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples…” Source: FocusAction.org

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