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Website Documenting Islamic Hate Faces Death Threats
Dec 26th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Bob Unruh
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Radicals send photo of headless body: 'We will kill you. Like this'

Editor's Note: The following contains references to graphic violence and images:

A recent e-mail to a website launched after the 9/11 terror attacks to document the instances of Islamic violence said simply: "We will kill you. Like this ... "

The message included a photograph of a man who had been beheaded, his body resting chest down on grass and his lifeless head placed in the middle of his own back. Another photograph showed a bloody knife.

But the operator of The Religion of Peace website says those types of threats don't bother him much.

"I don't think anyone who is serious about killing me is going to announce it in advance," the operator, who uses the pseudonym Glen Reinsford, told WND. "Still, one more reason to stay anonymous."

Reinsford's website intends to demonstrate extreme violence is an integral part of fundamental Islam, not merely a means by which only radicals try to achieve "out-of-the-mainstream goals."

Its list of "offerings" from the "Religion of Peace" for a single day this week: In Iraq, a bomb was placed near an ancient Christian church and two were killed; three innocents were cut down by a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan, and in Baghdad Sunni bombers murdered five Shia pilgrims.

It also keeps readers updated on other statistics. For the week of Dec. 12-18, there were 42 jihad attacks, 182 people killed and 362 people critically injured. For the month of November, there were 139 attacks in 14 different nations involving five religions, with 529 fatalities and 1,075 critically injured.

The list is divided by years. Its many stark descriptions include a report from Nov. 24 in Afghanistan: "Four children are blown to bits when Islamic fundamentalists set off a roadside bomb next to a family vehicle."

Reinsford explained in his "About" page, his alarm came about because of the integration of Islam and violence, typified by the 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 innocent bystanders.

"In fact, some Muslims actually celebrated the attacks, and not just overseas, but even in the offices of the U.S. State Department," he wrote. "There were a few passionless, self-serving denunciations, to be sure, but Muslims save their real outrage for times when a Western leader makes a public statement against veils and headscarves, or someone draws a Muhammad cartoon.

"By and large, most could hardly care less about the thousands of people who lose their lives in the name of this religion each year. It was not for three years, in fact, that there was even a fatwa issued against these attacks. To this day, major Muslim-American groups are reluctant to denounce Osama Bin Laden by name," he said.

Islam, he noted, has been called a "religion of peace" by many, including President George W. Bush, who said, "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam … Islam is peace."

But Reinsford believes Islam inspires not only "an enormous amount of violence, but an astonishing level of indifference and self-centeredness as well."

"We watched in the months following 9/11, as Muslim-American groups began to act as hindrances in the war on terror and the efforts of Americans to defend themselves. We saw them ignore nearly every act of daily Islamic terror and instead publicize obscure issues and personal slights against Muslims and 'insults to Islam' that are absolutely trivial by comparison.

"Finally, we came to realize that this extraordinary arrogance and self-absorption on the part of the Muslim community, along with an inability to empathize with people who are not like them or engage in the sort of self-critique that leads to moral progress is in no way incidental to the religion.

"There is something deeply, deeply wrong with Islam," Reinsford wrote.

He said the site originally was begun "in the naïve hope" that Muslims just didn't realize the extent of the violence done in the name of Islam.

"Perhaps," he wrote, "if they understood, then they might be motivated to turn the critical eye inward and resolve those far more important issues that leave so many lives in agony and force the consumption of so many billions of dollars in security resources."

However, "we never once heard" from a Muslim condemning the violence.

So the mission was refined to "present the truth about Islam and how it is so tragically different from other religions, including its incompatibility with secularism and Western liberal values," he said.

"The ridiculous level of violence committed in the name of this religion is staggering, despite the many billions of dollars that are spent each year to prevent attacks," he said. "Muslim apologists are constantly telling Westerners that the solution to the violence is greater understanding and tolerance for Islam. But isn't it the killers and their supporters who need lessons in tolerance and understanding … not their victims?"

The website notes the horrific toll from Islamic attacks, with more victims each year than there were in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition.

"Islamic terrorists murder more people every day than the Ku Klux Klan has in the last 50 years."

In the e-mail interview, Reinsford told WND his is a one-man operation that costs several thousands dollars a year to keep online. The website came about to make a point about the extent of violence; not necessarily a reaction to the terrorism "but rather to the apathy on the part of Muslims."

"While I would say that most Muslims probably don't agree with Islamic terror, the things that do seem to genuinely upset them instead (such as cartoons and hijab bans) seem relatively trivial to me. Early on I realized that there is something about Islam that really skews priorities."

His work essentially is to simply list the incidents of violence.

"The data for the list of attacks is compiled daily from Internet news sources. I try to stick with the more reliable reports – and I do strive for accuracy, although I'm sure the list is far from perfect," he told WND.

"For one thing, there is an awful lot that is missed, usually because it isn't reported. The genocide in Darfur is probably the best example. I don't have very many victims listed even though there have been plenty."

"Those committing the violence do so explicitly in the name of Islam, which Westerners should find alarming given the rising assertiveness on the part of a growing Muslim minority within our own borders," he said.

The sword and whip mentality in Islam also causes him concern.

"How can we expect Islam to be of benefit to the West when it can't even produce countries that attract Muslims?" he wondered.

His website notes attacks have been documented in Iraq, India, Sudan, Algeria, Afghanistan, New York, Pakistan, Israel, Russia, Chechnya, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nigeria, England, Thailand, Spain, Egypt, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Pennsylvania, Denmark, Germany, Denmark, Canada and a long list of additional nations totaling more than 60.

Significant Quantities of Oil Discovered in Center of Israel
Dec 26th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

An everlasting hope of finding significant amounts of oil in Israel may have been realized with the announcement Thursday that “significant quantities” of oil were found in a well in the area of Rosh HaAyin, a city located east of Tel Aviv on the western edge of Samaria.

The Givat Olam (Hebrew for “Hill of the World”) Exploration Limited Partnership informed the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange of the discovery, but added, “At this stage it is not possible to estimate the significance of these findings." The company’s stock more than doubled on the stock market, according to Globes.

The firm said the oil was found late Wednesday night and that “more than 60 percent gas was measured in the drill mud.” The commercial potential of the oil field will not be known until tests and calculations on production and processing can be completed.

Israel, Arab Countries Plan for War With Iran
Dec 26th, 2009
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Intelligence officials from Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the U.S. held a meeting last week to discuss specific responses to Iranian retaliatory attacks during a potential war with Tehran, WND has learned. 

A senior Egyptian intelligence official told WND the main talks, which took place in Amman, revolved around the possibility of Iranian-directed Palestinian and Islamic attacks against Israel, Egypt and Jordan during a possible future war with Iran. 

The official said scenarios discussed revolved only around Iranian retaliatory attacks and did not take into account how any future war with Iran would be initiated or the timing of such a war. 

The official said the concern was that Iran would use proxies such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip to attack both Egypt and Israel, while Hezbollah in Lebanon would launch missiles at Israeli population centers, including Tel Aviv. 

Also, there is fear militants inside Jordan allied with the Muslim Brotherhood could attack Jordanian interests. 

Hamas in Gaza is said to have rockets capable of reaching just outside Tel Aviv, while Hezbollah possesses Iranian-supplied missiles and rockets that can reach most Israeli population centers. 

Egypt granted Israel permission several months ago to conduct naval exercises off Egyptian coastal waters. The military drills clearly were aimed at Iran. 

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, are influenced by Sunni Islam. The Arab countries are threatened by the growing influence of Iran, dominated by Shiite Islam. 

In September, Saudi Arabia denied it offered the Israel Air Force permission to fly over its territory to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. 

The Arab country was responding to a report in London's Sunday Express claiming the Saudis had agreed to turn a blind eye and not interfere should Israel and the U.S. attack Iranian nuclear facilities through Saudi air space. The Saudi government called the Express report baseless. 

Just before the Express report, WND quoted an Egyptian intelligence official stating Saudi Arabia is cooperating with Israel on the Iranian nuclear issue. 

The official said Saudi Arabia is passing intelligence information to Israel related to Iran. He affirmed a report from the Arab media, strongly denied by the Israeli government, that Saudi Arabia has granted Israel overflight permission during any attack against Iran's nuclear facilities. 

The official previously told WND that Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, has been involved in an intense, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort urging the U.S. and other Western countries to do everything necessary to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. Such weapons would threaten Saudi Arabia's position of influence in the Middle East. 

The Egyptian official said his country believes it is not likely Obama will grant Israel permission to attack Iran. 

He previously spoke about the efforts of other Arab countries to oppose an Iranian nuclear umbrella but did not comment on Egypt's own position on the matter. 

Hamas Positioning Itself to Take Over West Bank When Israel Withdraws
Dec 26th, 2009
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

The Hamas terrorist organization is working to establish a military wing in the strategic West Bank, according to Jordanian intelligence officials speaking to WND. 

The Obama administration has backed a Palestinian Authority-led state in the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month announced a 10-month freeze of Jewish construction in the territory in an attempt to jumpstart talks aimed at creating a West Bank PA state, a move that would first see an Israeli retreat from the area. 

Following Israel's evacuation of the Gaza Strip in 2005, Hamas seized the coastal territory, forcibly expelling the U.S.-trained security forces of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Now, Jordanian intelligence officials say, Hamas is attempting to set the stage for an eventual West Bank takeover. 

The officials disclosed that the PA in recent months discovered millions of dollars in cash with Hamas militants in key Fatah controlled cities, such as Ramallah and Nablus. Upon interrogation, the Hamas members admitted the funds were to be used to aid in the establishment of a military wing in the West Bank, the security officials said. 

PA security officials previously told WND a recent Fatah investigation discovered Hamas attempted with some success to establish a military wing in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a longtime Fatah stronghold, although the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terror group also has a presence there. 

Hamas gunmen in Jenin were thought to be numbered in the dozens, but the PA found out Hamas purchased more than 600 high-powered assault rifles and distributed them to fighters in the city, the security officials said. The officials said Fatah raids confiscated about 100 rifles, but they believe 500 more were handed out by Hamas in Jenin. 

Fatah's investigation also found that some members of its declared military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, were recruited by Hamas in Jenin with higher paychecks, security officials said. 

That issue is significant since Hamas' infiltration of Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip was thought to have been the Achilles heel that led to the terror group's takeover in 2007 of the entire Gaza Strip. 

A PA security official claimed to WND yesterday that his organization does not know of any significant infiltration by Hamas in Fatah's West Bank security forces, many of whom have received new training by the U.S. 

Since the late 1990s, the U.S. has run training bases for PA militias. The U.S. also has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid and weapons to build up the PA militias. 

The past two years, the U.S. stepped up its efforts at training the PA, running more advanced courses guided by Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator to the Palestinian territories, who in 2007 initiated an advanced program for Palestinian police that trains 500 to 600 cadets at a time at the American bases. 

The U.S. currently operates training bases for the PA police and other militias, such as Force 17 and the Preventative Security Services in the West Bank city of Jericho, and the Jordanian village of Giftlik. 

Still, Israeli security officials here say they are concerned Abbas' Fatah organization in the West Bank is infiltrated by Hamas just as it was in Gaza in 2007. 

Hamas' infiltration of Fatah in Gaza was so extensive, according to top Palestinian intelligence sources, it included the chiefs of several prominent Fatah security forces, including Yussef Issa, director of the Preventative Security Services, the main Fatah police force. Issa regularly coordinated security with the U.S. and Israel. 

Israeli security officials said despite recent U.S. training, they were also concerned Abbas is not strong enough in the West Bank to impose law and order without the help of the Israeli army. According to the officials, Fatah's intelligence apparatus routinely hands the Israel Defense Forces lists of Hamas militants that threaten Fatah rule, requesting that Israel make arrests. 

Hamas leaders previously warned they would take over the West Bank if Israel pulls out of the territory. 

At a Gaza rally in 2007, Hamas' leader in Gaza, Mahmoud al-Zahar, said, "Israel thinks Fatah in the West Bank is there to serve it, but we will take over the West Bank the way we took over Gaza." 

Nizar Rayyan, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, stated Hamas will soon control Abbas' office in the West Bank. 

"In the autumn, Hamas supporters will be praying in the Muqata compound in Ramallah (the site of Abbas' presidential office)," he said. "We are now praying at the presidential compound in Gaza, just as we said we would. Abbas' regime will fall like a leaf come autumn." 

The West Bank borders major Israeli cities and is within rocket-firing range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport. 

Military strategists long have estimated Israel must maintain the West Bank to defend itself from any ground invasion. Terrorist groups have warned if Israel withdraws, they will launch rockets from the West Bank into Israeli cities. 

Many villages in the West Bank, which Israelis commonly refer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Torah: 

The book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He later was buried in Hebron. 

The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel, meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In the dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory. 

And in Exodus, the tabernacle rested in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.

Anti - Semitism Czar's First Target is Israel
Dec 26th, 2009
Daily NewsWND -Aaron Klein
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

Obama envoy hails group accused of working against Jewish state

JERUSALEM – In her first major interview since becoming President Obama's newly appointed anti-Semitism czar last month, Hannah Rosenthal yesterday blasted the Israeli government for its criticism of a lobby group accused of anti-Israel activity.

Rosenthal characterized as "most unfortunate" a decision by Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, to not attend the annual dinner in September of J Street, a lobby group that is mostly led by left-leaning Israelis and that receives funds from Arab and Muslim Americans.

In an interview yesterday from Jerusalem with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Rosenthal said Oren "would have learned a lot" if he had participated in J Street's conference.

Rosenthal was in Israel as the Obama administration's envoy to the Foreign Ministry's Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism.

"I came away realizing what a generational divide there is and I don't know how it is in Israel. Young people want to be part of the discussion, they feel they have fresh ideas and they feel that we have to end the stalemate," she said, speaking of the J Street dinner.

Rosenthal stated it was important that new and different voices need be heard regarding Israel in the American Jewish community.

"It is not 1939," she said. "We have the state of Israel. We have laws in countries that are holding people accountable."

Regarding a recent U.N. report accusing Israel of war crimes during the Jewish state's defensive war in Gaza last year, Rosenthal told Haaretz, "it is not anti-Semitic to look at a certain policy of Israel and say – I disagree with it. Half of the population in Israel isn't anti-Semitic by not agreeing with policies."

That U.N. report has been blasted as one-sided and as relying largely on Hamas information and Palestinian witnesses.

Continued Rosenthal: "I do believe that some of the criticism against Israel is anti-Semitism but not all of it is. And I think that healthy democracies – and Israel is one – ha[ve] to do self reflection and the world looks at the light unto the nations and says I agree to this policy or I don't agree – that is not anti-Semitism."

Rosenthal serves on the board of J Street, which states on its website it seeks to "promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically."

J Street supports talks with Hamas, a terrorist group whose charter seeks the destruction of Israel. The group opposes sanctions against Iran and is harshly critical of Israeli offensive anti-terror military actions.

Reacting to Rosenthal's remarks yesterday, Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic commented, "the Obama administration official charged with monitoring worldwide anti-Semitism makes her first target... the Israeli ambassador to the United States? I'll be taking bets now on how long Hannah Rosenthal lasts in the job."

The Israeli government, meanwhile, has been distancing itself from J Street. When its ambassador, Oren, refused to attend the annual J Street dinner, Israeli embassy spokesman Yoni Peled told the Jerusalem Post his government has some "concern over certain [J Street] policies that could impair Israel's interests."

The Powerline blog previously documented how far-leftist Israelis are influential in the J Street leadership, including former Knesset Speaker Avrum Burg, who generated controversy when he stated, "To define the state of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end."

Another key J Street member, Mideast expert Henry Siegman, has compared Israel to apartheid South Africa.