This Week's Terrorist Attacks/Stories - 20:23 > USA-2, Mali, Germany, Syria, J&K-2, Turkey

Islamic terrorist suspect's sister killed by police in Florida

By SNEJANA FARBEROV FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

1 June 2020

The sister of a recently arrested Florida terrorism suspect was shot and killed by police on Friday after being caught on video charging officers while armed with a butcher knife outside a government building. 

Temple Terrace Police Chief Kenneth Albano said during a news conference that the officer-involved shooting occurred at the City Hall building.

Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, 21, arrived at City Hall at around 1pm and asked for an officer's help, officials said. When a uniformed officer went outside and approached the woman, she charged at him with a knife. 

Surveillance video captured the moment Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, 21, allegedly tried to ambush a police officer outside the Temple Terrace, Florida, City Hall on Friday. video 0.04

Police say Al-Azhari asked for a police officer's help. When he approached her sitting on a bench, she pulled out a large butcher knife and charged him. 

The deadly confrontation took place just days after Heba's brother, Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, 23, was arrested on federal charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS. 

According to the US Department of Justice, Muhammed admired Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen and allegedly told an informant he wanted to die like him after killing dozens of people.  

Heba's older brother, Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, a 23-year-old US citizen, 4last week was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support or resources to ISIS

A uniformed officer comes up to the woman wearing traditional Muslim garb and a face mask. Moments later, she jumps to her feet brandishing a long knife in her hands and lunges at the cop, who draws back.

The woman pursues him, making thrusting and slashing motions with the knife, as if trying to stab the officer. 

The 30-second video released by the police department ends with another officer pointing his gun at someone.  

Multiple cops responded to the scene and fired at Al-Azhari, though Albano wouldn't say how many. The officer who was attacked sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Al-Azhari later died of her injuries at a hospital.

'It's a very traumatic thing for an officer to pull his weapon and much less take a life,' Albano said at the press conference. According to the chief, the officer repeatedly and loudly told Al-Azhari to drop the knife. 

The chief did not say how many officers were involved, how many fired their weapons or how many times the woman was shot. The officer who was attacked did fire his weapon, Albano said. 

An Al-Azhari family spokesperson told Spectrum Bay News 9 Heba was upset over her brother's arrest.  

A federal criminal complaint released by the US Department of Justice charged Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, a US citizen, with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The charge carries a potential 20-year prison term.

A public defender listed in court records for Al-Azhari said the government's charges in the case unfairly attempt to portray him as a terrorist.

His sister's attempted murder of a police officer is not going to help with that line of defence.

'The allegations misunderstand both the law and the evidence,' said the public defender, Samuel Landes, in an emailed statement. 'I'm thankful that in this country everyone enjoys a presumption of innocence, and I look forward to Mr. Al-Azhari's day in court before a jury of his peers.'

An FBI affidavit says Al-Azhari was recorded as expressing admiration for Omar Mateen, the mass shooter who carried out a massacre at the Orlando Pulse nightclub in 2016 before being killed by police, and even drove there to scope out the location. 

In a conversation with a confidential informant, the FBI says, Al-Azhari said 'that's how I want to die, to be honest.'

The informant then asked how many people Al-Azhari wanted to kill.

Al-Azhari allegedly scouted multiple locations in the Tampa Bay area to attack

'I don't want to take four or five, no. I want to take at least 50,' Al-Azhari replied on the recording, according to the affidavit. 'You know like, brother Omar Mateen in Orlando did. He took 49 with him.'

The affidavit also details how Al-Azhari negotiated with an undercover FBI employee to purchase a variety of guns and silencers, including an AK-47-style rifle. He was arrested Sunday after taking possession of weapons allegedly to be used in an attack.

'We are grateful for the hard work and swift action by our law enforcement partners and concerned citizens during this investigation,' said US Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez, whose district includes Tampa. 'Their coordination and cooperation in this matter allowed us to interrupt a serious threat, without harm to anyone.'

According to the 62-page FBI affidavit, Al-Azhari scouted a number of targets in the Tampa Bay region, including multiple beaches, Honeymoon Island State Park and even the Tampa FBI field office. 

He also allegedly rehearsed what he would say when carrying out an attack, some of which was intercepted by electronic surveillance on May 16.

'Know America. Today is your emergency. Today we kill from you guys like you killed from us,' he is overheard saying, according to the affidavit. 'This is a revenge for Muslims.'

Court-ordered searches of Al-Azhari's iPhone also revealed numerous videos and extremist statements advocating jihad attributed to the Islamic State group. Another video, the FBI says, shows Al-Azhari in a facemask and pointing a gun at presumably someone on the floor.

'Hey you, get on the floor. Get on the floor now. Don't you move, don't you move, I'm telling you, I will kill you,' he says on the video.

Then, Al-Azhari looks into the camera and says: 'God willing, the exalted. This is revenge for my brothers Al Muwahideen [the monotheists] in Guantanamo in general, and for my brother [redacted] in particular. ...this is a revenge for all my Muslim brothers in Iraq and al-Sham [Syria] and everywhere.' 

He then points the gun at what is presumed to be someone on the floor and says: 'those who were killed by the hands of those filthy crusaders.'

Al-Azhari had previously been convicted in Saudi Arabia in 2015 of terror-related crimes, including attempting to travel to Syria to participate in jihad and join a terrorist group along with two others, including his own father. 

He served three years in prison in Saudi Arabia and then was deported back to the US, according to the FBI. He lived in California and since 2019 in the Tampa area.

A key to the case was an eBay transaction in which Al-Hazhari purchased weapons parts for $375 from someone in Texas. 

The package was halted by the US Postal Service and eBay flagged the purchase. The seller then provided FBI agents with details about the deal and the Postal Service seized the package. According to the affidavit, FBI has been aware of Al-Azhari since at least May 2019.

On May 1, Al-Azhari was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm after allegedly making threats to harm his colleagues at Home Depot. 

Prior to his arrest of the state charge, FBI agents interviewed some of his co-workers at the home improvement store, who expressed concern about statements that the suspect had made concerning Islam, guns and violence.

A supervisor told agents that when speaking about the September 11 attacks, Al-Azhari had said that he believed that Americans got what they deserved that day, according to the affidavit.

The same supervisors also allegedly overheard Al-Azhari speaking to other co-workers about jihad, saying that it involved 'defending Islam.'

Another colleague at the Home Depot had reported Al-Azhari to corporate security, claiming that he tried to convince his co-workers to convert to Islam, and that he 'spoke negatively and passionately about the United States and homosexuality.'

Al-Azhari was arrested on Sunday and was being held in the Pinellas County jail at the request of federal agents.  

Temple Terrace, Fla

French forces kill leader of al-Qaida in North Africa

By Danielle Haynes

June 5 (UPI) -- French forces killed Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of al-Qaida in North Africa, France's Ministry of Defense said Friday.

Defense Minister Florence Parly said French armed forces killed Droukdel and "several of his close collaborators" during an operation Wednesday in Mali.

In addition to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, she said Droukdel led Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, a Sahel-based group that swore allegiance to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Parly announced that French forces also captured Mohamed el Mrabat, a leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara on May 19.

"I congratulate and thank all those who have enabled and carried out these daring operations," Parly said.

3 self-proclaimed members of the far-right 'boogaloo' movement were arrested on domestic terrorism charges for trying to spark violence during protests

Rosie Perper and Sonam Sheth Jun 3, 2020, 7:07 PM

A member of the far-right militia, Boogaloo Bois, walks next to protestors demonstrating outside Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department Metro Division 2 just outside of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 29, 2020. LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images

Three self-proclaimed members of the far-right "boogaloo" movement were held on domestic terrorism charges after federal prosecutors accused them of trying to spark violence during police brutality protests in Las Vegas.

The "boogaloo" movement was defined in the charging document as "a term used by extremists to signify coming civil war and/or fall of civilization." The three men previously served in the US Navy, Army, and Air Force, according to the filing.

Each defendant was charged with conspiracy to damage and destroy by using fire and explosives, and possession of an unregistered firearm.

According to the filing, the men in late May discussed "causing an incident to incite chaos and possibly a riot" in response to George Floyd's death.

There is more on this story at Business Insider.

‘His aim was to kill Muslims’: German law enforcers say they’ve prevented a Christchurch-style attack at home

FILE PHOTO © Reuters / Thilo Schmuelgen

German police have arrested a suspected right-wing extremist who was planning an attack on a mosque that would attract global media notoriety, much like last year’s deadly shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The 21-year-old man from Hildesheim, a town in northern Germany, was arrested on Saturday, the prosecutor’s office said. The law enforcers made their move against the wannabe terrorist after he revealed his plot “in an anonymous internet chat.” 

The suspect had “for some time been considering the idea of committing an attack in which he wanted to kill numerous people in order to attract worldwide media attention,” the prosecutor said.

The man was aiming to carry out an atrocity similar to that perpetrated in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019. In that attack, a gunman shot 51 people dead after targeting two mosques.

“His aim was to kill Muslims,” the prosecutors pointed out.

Unspecified weapons allegedly intended to be used in the attack, as well as digital files of right-wing extremist content, were discovered at the home of the suspect. He now faces charges of threatening to commit criminal offences and financing terrorism through the purchase of arms.

National media reported that Hildesheim District Court initially rejected the application for the arrest warrant and the man was detained only after the General Prosecutor’s Office directed the judge in the nearby town of Luneburg to do so. 

Germany has been rocked by several extreme right-wing attacks over the past year, and there has also been a grim toll of stabbings and rammings by radicalized Muslims.

In February, a far-right gunman opened fire on customers at a shisha bar in Hanau, near Frankfurt, killing nine. In October, two people died when a synagogue in Halle, outside Leipzig, was targeted, and a right-wing sympathizer was charged with the murder of pro-immigration politician Walter Lubcke last summer.

Syrian Army Repels Terrorist Attack in Idlib,

30 Militants Killed, Wounded 

MIDDLE EAST, Sputnik
08.06.2020

The town of Ariha in the southern countryside of Syria's Idlib province

Ceasefire violations have often been reported in Idlib province, where on 5 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a new ceasefire.

The Syrian Army has thwarted an attempt by terrorists to capture Tanjara in southern Idlib, the Russian Defence Ministry's centre for Syrian reconciliation said on Monday, adding that at least 30 militants were killed and wounded.

"On 8 June, militants from the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group attempted to seize the settlement of Tanjara in the southern part of the Idlib de-escalation zone", Rear Adm. Alexander Shcherbitskiy, the head of the centre for Syrian reconciliation said.

The militants broke through the defences and wedged into the battle formations of the Syrian army for 600 meters. However, the return fire of the aviation and artillery allowed to repel the attack, and the government forces regained positions on the front line of defence, he noted.

"The terrorists lost more than 30 people killed and wounded. Three pickups with heavy machine guns were destroyed", Shcherbitsky said.

Over the past day, the group's militants also shelled settlements in Idlib and Aleppo provinces five times, he said.

Numerous attacks have recently been conducted by militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group (formerly known as Al-Nusra Front*) in the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Latakia, the Russian military said earlier.

JMB terrorist arrested in West Bengal

Gourab Neto
8 Jun 2020

Kolkata: The Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police nabbed another Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorist identified as Sheikh Rezaul alias Kiron From Dankuni on Monday morning. He will be produced at the Bankshall Court on Tuesday seeking police remand. 

On May 29 morning STF had arrested a JMB member identified as Abdul Karim alias Boro Karim. He was the key person to set up and look after the Dhuliyan module of JMB and was also close to JMB Chief Salauddin. 

Sources informed that after interrogating him, STF officials came to know about Rezaul is active in South Bengal. On the basis of the information, STF officials started gathering inputs and finally on Monday early morning came to know about Rezaul's hideout Dankuni bus stand. Later a team nabbed him from there and brought to STF police station.

STF officials claimed that Reazaul was wanted in a case which was registered during 2018. He is a key person of the terror outfit. Rezaul reportedly used to keep in touch with the senior JMB leaders and arrange meeting between the leaders and other members of the terror outfit. While doing so he came close to Salauddin who is still absconding. It is suspected that Rezaul may have been recruiting youths from Dankuni and other areas to set up a new module of JMB.

Ten Pakistanis among 93 terrorists killed in 2020

By Manu Pubby, ET

NEW DELHI:

Reversing setbacks in Kashmir, security forces have killed 93 terrorists in a string of successful operations this year as they scaled up joint operations and the army stepped up its anti-infiltration grid along the Line of Control (LoC).

In a span of 24 hours, two joint operations were carried out in Shopian that resulted in nine terrorists being killed, without any casualty suffered by security forces. 

Official data reveals that out of the 93 terrorists killed this year, 35 belonged to the Hizbul Mujahidin, indicating that it is currently the most active group in Kashmir. Ten Pakistani terrorists have been eliminated this year, with the rest being local recruits.

Officials said there is clear intelligence that a large number of Pakistani terrorists are present in the valley, but these terrorists have been avoiding any exposure to security forces to avoid international glare.

303 YPG/PKK terrorists killed during counterterrorism operations in past 3 months

BY DAILY SABAH WITH AA

ISTANBUL WAR ON TERROR JUN 08, 2020

Turkey's security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern parts

of the country against the YPG/PKK terrorists. (DHA)

At least 303 PKK/YPG terrorists were killed and 177 arrested between March 1 and May 31, as the Turkish security forces dealt a major blow to the terrorist group, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).

Out of the 177 suspects, 81 high-ranking terrorists have been put under arrest.

The first operation that netted high-ranking members took place on March 9, when two PKK terrorists, both of whom have been a member of the PKK for over 20 years, were captured in eastern Turkey's Van.

The two terrorists were later identified as the bodyguards of the PKK heads, Murat Karayılan and Cemil Bayık. In their testimonies, they confessed that the PKK was in a panic mode thanks to Turkey's ongoing counterterrorism operations.

Turkish security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey where the PKK has attempted to establish a strong presence.

The forces have adopted "ending terrorism at its root" and "attack rather than defense" strategies for its operations across the country.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and European Union, has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) also carries out cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases where they carry out attacks on Turkey. The operations intensified in July 2018 and gradually became routine.

The operation in Van was followed by a subsequent operation in northern Iraq on March 10 where five PKK terrorists were killed.

High-ranking PKK terrorists targeted

On March 11, another high-ranking terrorist, who was on the Red Category of the Interior Ministry's Most Wanted list, surrendered to the security forces. After surrendering, thanks to the convincing activities of the security forces, Duygu Karayel, codenamed "Siya Munzur," was taken into custody in southeastern Turkey's Mardin.

The Interior Ministry's most wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red indicating the greatest threat to Turkey's national security, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.

There has also been a surge in the number of terrorists laying down arms and surrendering to Turkish security forces following these series of successful domestic and cross-border anti-terror operations. About 90 terrorists have so far surrendered to the forces since the beginning of this year

During another operation on March 9, Halide Tarı, codenamed "Ayten Amed," who was a part of the so-called top decision making organ of the women's branch of the PKK, was killed in northern Iraq.

It was confirmed after her killing that Tarı, who was wanted on charges of disrupting the unity and the territorial integrity of the state, has been a member of the terrorist group since the 1990s and was coordinating terrorist groups different branches in northern Iraq's Qandil mountains.

Another terrorist Nazife Bilen, who was also a part of the terrorist group's top decision making organ, was killed on March 30 in a joint operation by the Turkish intelligence and security forces. Later, the security forces reported that Bilen was the highest-ranking woman terrorist that has been killed so far.

On the last two days of April, seven terrorists, four of whom were in the Gray Category of the Most Wanted list, have been killed in the Kağızman district of eastern Turkey's Kars, one of the most critical points in the fight against terrorism.

On April 10, Mahmut Okay, another terrorist in the Orange Category and the so-called leader of PKK eastern Erzurum region was captured in the Varto district of eastern Turkey's Muş.

The PKK youth branch's so-called leader of the southeastern Cizre district, Resul Özdemir, codenamed "Zibo," on the other hand, was brought to Turkey from Sweden on April 22 thanks to coordinated efforts by the two countries' intelligence services. After returning to the country, Özdemir was arrested.

Month of May full of operations

The security forces also had a fast start in May by targeting the terrorist elements since the very beginning of the month. On May 1, one of the suspected perpetrators of the 2011 Ankara terrorist attack that killed five civilians, was captured and arrested in southeastern Turkey's Diyarbakır.

On May 6, five terrorists were killed in the Doğubeyazıt district of the eastern province of Ağrı. One of the killed terrorists was identified as Özer İnce, codenamed "Piro Serhat," who was in the gray category of the Most Wanted list, while another was the so-called leader for the Ağrı Mountain region, Nevzat Pirbudak.

These terrorists were also found to be the perpetrators of a terrorist attack in Doğubeyazıt on March 2 that killed two civilians.

In the Ovacık district of southeastern Tunceli province, three terrorists were killed on May 7, one of whom was identified as Mehmet Fatih Demir, codenamed "Mahsum," who was in the Gray Category of the Most Wanted list. He was one of the perpetrators of a terrorist attack that killed a gendarme commander in 2016.

At the end of the month, on May 30, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced that five terrorists have been killed in the southeastern province of Siirt, including the so-called leader for the Harekol Mountain region. "Harekol headquarters of the terrorist group has collapsed," the minister said.

In a similar statement on May 31, Soylu confirmed that three more terrorists were killed in the southeastern province of Bitlis, one of whom was the perpetrator of a terrorist attack that killed two gendarmerie commanders last year.

Some 122,054 operations, including 116,650 in rural areas, targeted PKK terrorists in 2019 alone and have successfully detained and killed top PKK figures.

According to the Interior Ministry, there were 835 to 1,995 PKK terrorists in January 2017, while the number dropped to between 1,100 and 1,200 by January 2018, 755 to 876 in January 2019 and under 500 in January 2020, equating to an 83% drop over four years and the lowest figures in three decades.

More importantly, while around 5,558 terrorists joined the PKK in 2014, this number fell to 130 in 2019 and to just 13 in the first five months of 2020, a whopping 70% drop year-on-year.

PKK continues to attack civilians

During this process, while the security forces were targeting the terrorists, the PKK continued its attacks not only toward the Turkish military but also on civilians.

In PKK attacks, nine security officers and 12 civilians have been killed while 13 security officers and a civilian have been injured.

One of the biggest terrorist attacks on civilians took place on May 14.

Workers of Vefa Social Support Group, which was formed to assist people during the pandemic, were attacked while returning from a quarantined neighborhood in Van's Özalp district. Two members of the group were killed in the attack.

According to a statement from the Van Municipality following the attack, the group was in the neighborhood to distribute aid. After their work was done in the region, they were attacked by terrorists using long-barrel weapons.

Vefa Social Support Groups were initially formed to respond to the needs of people older than 65 whose mobility has been restricted as part of coronavirus measures. Public workers, such as police, gendarmerie, security forces and personnel of Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), not only meet the needs of senior citizens but also provides protective equipment including masks, cologne, hand soap and disinfectants. The groups have been formed under the supervision of the district municipalities all over the country, and a call center has been established for people to obtain the group's services.

This Week's Terrorist Attacks/Stories - 20:22 > USA, India, Russia, Turkey, Kenya

America Burning, Again

It's like 1962 all over again. America is burning. The cause, another cop kills another Blackman who did not appear to be resisting. However, there is a segment of time missing from the various videos from the time they cuffed a calm George Floyd, to when he was face down on the ground with 3 officers kneeling on him, complaining that he could not breathe. By the time medics got there, Floyd was dead.

Predictably, all hell breaks loose over the next few nights as first, Minneapolis breaks into rioting, then, over the next few nights it spreads across the USA like wildfire. 

Who, in America, let Satan out of the box?

There are plenty of candidates!

Trump blames Antifa, the Democrats blame Trump, or far-right lunatics, CNN blames Russia (of course, they blame Russia for everything, it saves having to investigate), right-wingers blame George Soros; it goes on and on. There is no shortage of people to blame, and it may be that all are to blame (except Russia). 

The anger is well deserved as police in America are taught to diffuse a situation with ruthless violence. And there is no question that there is a certain amount of racism in many police forces. What is quite disturbing is that this has been known for decades and nothing has been done to address it. 

Protesting is legal and, apparently necessary. But, it seems protesting has done little to improve the police's exuberant violence against blacks. Is that why the protest turned violent? Or, is there a more political reason behind it? Nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems anymore. It only takes a few people to change a protest into a riot.

Rioting, destruction, fires, looting are not forms of protest; they are anarchy! They must be crushed or they will destroy the whole country. That crushing could sow the seeds of hatred for everyone making it difficult, if not impossible, to ever improve society or ever return to some semblance of normal.

Black leaders must calm the storm or the storm-troopers will. Don't play into the hands of those who want autocracy in America and the world. 

Government leaders in Washington, the state-houses, and city halls must apologize for the evils they have committed over many years and commit to training police forces in how to diffuse difficult situations without necessarily using brutal choke-holds and other physical acts of terror. 

George Floyd and Officer Derek Chauvin who has been charged with 3rd degree murder.

Police arrest 3 terrorist associates in Kashmir

    ..

From one family, it would appear

Srinagar, May 31 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir Police along with security forces have arrested three terrorist associates of proscribed terror outfit LeT from Sopore in North Kashmir and recovered arms and ammunition from their possession.

According to a police statement Sopore Police along with 22 Rashtriya Rifles unit of the army and CRPF 179 Battalion have arrested three terrorist associates in a joint operation at Shangergund area of Sopore.

They have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, Mudasir Ahmad Mir and Athar Shamas Mir, all residents of Sopore.

Police said incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession.

An FIR has been filed and further investigation has been initiated by the police.

Two Militants Neutralized During Anti-Terror Operation

In Russia's Ingushetia

Fahad Shabbir, UrduPoint  30th May 2020 

Two militants have been neutralized during an anti-terror operation in the town of Sunzha in Russia's Ingushetia,

the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said on Saturday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th May, 2020) Two militants have been neutralized during an anti-terror operation in the town of Sunzha in Russia's Ingushetia, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) said on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the security authorities received information that a group of armed bandits was in one of the household outbuildings on the outskirts of Sunzha.

"The area adjacent to the outbuilding was cordoned off. The bandits who were in the building were asked to lay down their arms and surrender to the authorities. In response, they opened fire at law enforcement officers, and during the shootout, two bandits were neutralized," the NAC said in a statement.

The committee also said that the identities of the two militants were established. They intended to carry out several terrorist acts in Ingushetia, the NAC added.

Ingushetia, RU

Police detain pro-Kurdish HDP chairs in

terror probe in southeastern Turkey

May 30 2020 05:28 Gmt+3

Turkish police detained two provincial co-chairs from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as part of a terror investigation in the southeastern province of Batman, A Haber news reported on Saturday.

Yes, there really is a province and city named Batman in Turkey. And you thought Turks had no sense of humour!

Ömer Kulpu and Fatma Ablay were detained following a raid of the regional HDP headquarters as part of an investigation launched by the Batman Chief Public Prosecutor’s office, it said.    

Police cited banners of the jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, visible from outside the HDP building, as the reason for the raid, pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency reported.

Police also found a large number of photographs belonging to PKK members, in addition to banners, banned publications and digital material, the Batman Governor’s Office said. 

The PKK is an armed group that has been at war in Turkey for Kurdish self-rule for over 30 years.

The Turkish government has long accused the HDP of sympathising and acting in the interest of the PKK. Forty mayors who were elected from the HDP in the March 2019 local election in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority regions have been replaced by government-appointed officials and over a dozen arrested on terrorism-related charges.

Two minors, terror suspect killed in Kwale, Kenya, police raid

By CYRUS OMBATI | Standard  May 30th 2020 

COAST

Two children aged six and three who police claimed were being used as human shield were killed in an anti-terrorism raid in Kwale County.

A terror suspect who was on the run was also killed in the Friday night raid that also left at least four others with serious injuries, including the suspect’s pregnant wife.

The suspected Al-Shabaab militant identified as Mohamed Mapenzi, alias Spanya, was killed in his house in Kibundani by an elite police team that has been trailing him.

Police said Mapenzi threw a grenade at the officers, seriously injuring one. It was then that the officers opened fire killing him together with the two children. The suspect’s wife who was said to be pregnant was also injured and was taken to Msambweni hospital.

According to police, another suspect who was wanted led them to Mapenzi’s house. Police said Saidi Chitswa, alias Ninja, who is also believed to be an Al-Shabaab recruiter, was arrested earlier on following reports he was planning an attack at an unnamed police station. It was after an interrogation that he led police to Mapenzi’s house.

Police said a grenade and assorted jungle uniforms were recovered from the house.

According to Coast head of Directorate of Criminal Investigations Washington Njiru, two other suspects were arrested during the operation. He said the injured officer is in stable condition.

Such incidents have been on the rise in Kwale where most returnees from Somalia are believed to be residing. The Friday night incident comes days after two other suspects were killed in Likoni and Kwale in a similar raid.

The suspect in Kwale, who was identified as Suleiman Ali Kodza, was gunned down a day after he escaped a police dragnet in Mombasa.

Kodza, alias Pembe, who police had termed as the Al-Shabaab ringleader in Diani, was shot and killed in Ngerenya in a dramatic raid.

Police said they are dismantling an active cell in the area and that Kodza is believed to be in the same group with  Mapenzi and were planning to carry out an attack at a police station to steal firearms.

Police linked Kodza to the killing of two officers who were guarding St Paul's ACK Church in Ukunda in September 2017.

More personnel have been deployed to the area to address the menace.

This Week's Terrorist Attacks / Stories - 20/20 > US-4, Afghanistan-2, Spain, Cuba, Vatican, Iran, France, Israel

Will truth prevail in Islamization #PCMadness in America,
just this once?

College forced to apologize after trying to CENSOR professor
over ‘offensive’ questions about ‘Islamic terrorism’

A public college in Arizona has been forced to backtrack on plans to censor a professor’s quiz content on ‘Islamic terrorism’ which had “offended” students, after a legal warning was sent by an academic freedom organization.

The uproar began when Professor Nicholas Damask, who chairs the political science department at Scottsdale Community College (SCC) and teaches a module called ‘Islamic Terrorism’, included questions on a quiz about how terrorism is justified by some in the Islamic faith – and about where in Islamic doctrine and law they take these justifications from.

The quiz prompted a complaint from one student, who felt the questions were “in distaste of Islam” and who was unconvinced by Damask’s explanation that they were relevant “to the study of the religious justifications of terrorists.” Other offended students soon aired their own complaints online.

The college immediately sided with the students, with President Chris Haines declaring in an Instagram post that the questions were “inappropriate” and not reflective of the “inclusive nature” of the institution. Haines even promised that Damask “will be apologizing” to offended individuals, and said the questions would be “permanently removed” from future quizzes.

This is what I call #PCMadness.

The knee-jerk reaction to censor “insensitivities” in political content didn’t go exactly as planned, however, and Damask did not apologize. Instead, the college was sent a legal warning by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), cautioning that its actions were “flatly inconsistent” with its First Amendment obligations.

Damask was also warned that “a leader in the Islamic faith” would need to vet his course content in future to ensure that it was “appropriate,” FIRE program officer Katlyn Patton said in the letter, adding that he came away from phone calls with college higher-ups "feeling that his job security was in jeopardy.”

Censoring Damask, removing his content and forcing him into an apology would have “an impermissible chilling effect on faculty expression and teaching,” the organization said, noting that the principle of free speech “does not exist to protect only non-controversial expression.”

FIRE's letter warned that SCC not only violated the First Amendment but also Arizona state law, which protects the faculty against compelled public expression of “a particular view.”

The fact that students “may experience discomfort” in the course of their studies “should have no bearing on a professor’s right” to select relevant materials as they see fit, Patton wrote.

Hiding the truth so sensitive people aren't offended is another form of #PCMadness.

FIRE's later (letter) had the desired effect and SCC interim Chancellor Steven Gonzales issued an apology on Monday for its “uneven” handling of the matter, and for a “lack of full consideration” of Damask's rights. Gonzales also promised an “immediate independent investigation” into its handling of the incident and the creation of a new “Committee on Academic Freedom.”

The happy ending for Damask is in stark contrast to the outcomes for many other professors who have had their academic freedom curtailed to spare the feelings of offended students and over-reactive college administrations in recent years.

Last year, a professor was fired by the University of Louisville for expressing the view that young children may not be old enough to be sure they are transgender, while in 2015 a University of Illinois professor got the sack for posting angry anti-Israel tweets during the summer assault in Gaza.

2 infants among 13 killed by gunmen in attack
on MSF-backed hospital in Kabul

12 May, 2020

A brutal raid on a hospital in western Kabul, where Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operates a maternity ward, has left 13 people dead, including two infants. The attackers were killed after an hours-long standoff.

Gunmen stormed the 100-bed hospital located in the Dasht-e-Barchi area of the Afghan capital on Tuesday morning. At least two powerful explosions were heard at the scene, followed by gunfire, local media reported. The attack reportedly started with a suicide bomber setting off an explosion at the entrance to the compound, with men wearing military uniforms then storming in shooting guns and throwing grenades.

Afghan security forces were deployed to the scene, with the tense confrontation ending hours later with all gunmen killed. The raid left 13 people dead at the hospital, including two newborn babies, the ministry reported in the aftermath. Fifteen people have been injured and were taken to other hospitals for treatment.

The identities of the four attackers were not immediately disclosed. The Taliban militant group has denied any involvement in the attack on the hospital, leading to speculation that Islamic State must be behind it.

SAYHOON NEWS

@NewsSayhoon

Sounds of couple of explosions heard in Dashte Barchi area of Kabul this morning around 10:00 am, Sources. A suicide bomber has also entered into a hospital of Doctors Sans Frontier in the Thanke-thail area of Dashte Barchi % has started back to back firing.#Sayhoon

IS has claimed credit for several high-profile attacks in Afghanistan recent months, including one targeting a Sikh temple in March. The Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood is home to many Hazaras, members of a predominantly Shia ethnic minority. IS, a Sunni fundamentalist group, often targets Shiites.

The attackers were reportedly trying to get inside a guest house where foreigner personnel of the hospital stay.

MSF has been providing support to the government-run Dasht-e-Barchi hospital to operate a maternal care ward. The organization says it’s the only place in the poor neighborhood, with a population of over one million, capable of dealing with emergency and complicated deliveries.

God bless an protect MSF. 

"Turn the Infidels' Joy Into Funerals" – Recent Terror Arrests Reinforce Jihadists' Ongoing Menace

Note: Some links may be in Dutch

by Abigail R. Esman
Special to IPT News

Coronavirus isn't the only threat Europe is now facing. On Friday, police in Spain arrested a Moroccan man on suspicion he was planning a terrorist attack in Barcelona. According to local police, the suspect has links to the Islamic State, but became even further radicalized after the lockdowns began in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the second Islamist terrorist apprehended by Spanish police in two weeks.

This latest arrest also comes only days after extremists in the Netherlands threatened to assassinate popular Moroccan-Dutch DJ Morad El Ouakili over his radio program, "Ramadan Late Night." El Ouakili's crime: playing music, which extremist Muslims consider haram, or forbidden, during the holy month of Ramadan.

Such threats and plots are precisely what authorities for the Netherlands' two intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies, the Algemene Inlichting- en Veiligheids Dienst (AIVD) and the National Coordinator Terrorismebestrijding en Veiligheid (NCTV), warn of in recently-released reports on the terror threat in 2019.

Both reports note the ongoing dangers ISIS and al-Qaida continue to pose to Western targets, and the threats the spread of their ideologies present to Western enlightenment values such as free speech and appreciation of the arts.

Jihadist terrorism remains the greatest menace to Western security even in the face of rising far right and white supremacist movements, both the AIVD and NCTV determined. While the number of Islamist attacks in Europe has continued to decrease significantly from its record 2017 high, this has largely been thanks to the sharp work of investigators and counterterrorism agents, who interrupted numerous plots throughout 2019. But the threat of extremism continues, observes the AIVD, including from those whose behaviors "may not be criminal, but remain at odds with our democratic order and ideals, and threaten to undermine them."

The NCTV report similarly notes that Salafists, whose numbers are increasing in Europe through heavy recruitment efforts online as well as in mosques and even schools, "spread an anti-democratic and intolerant ideology and attempt to force their views in compelling and intimidating ways on Muslims who adhere to a less strict interpretation of Islam – thereby also limiting other Muslims in their enjoyment and practice of democratic freedoms." Many of these Salafists were born and raised in the West, part of the second generation of Muslim immigrants, both the AIVD and NCTV report.

"They practically dominate the market on internet and social media," the NCTV contends. Indeed, adds the AIVD, "although radical Salafists form an absolute minority, they have a disproportionately large influence within the Islamic communities of the Netherlands." This is true as well in other countries such as Belgium and Germany.

Yet combatting the influence of Salafist groups, the agency says, is difficult. In part, according to the AVID, this is because "the extremist character of their message isn't always immediately clear." Rather, Salafist recruiters work gradually, slowly convincing their followers to reject more moderate Islamic beliefs and to divorce themselves from the society of "infidels" in which they live.

Of particular concern in this regard are the Islamic schools, many of which are financed by foreign governments, the AIVD says. The education children receive there gives them "a black-and-white vision of Islam and an antidemocratic perspective that estranges them from [Western] culture. In the long term, this can stress social cohesion, thereby undercutting democratic order."

Over the past few years, hundreds of these Western Salafist youth traveled to the Islamic State in the hopes of building a society in keeping with their extremist ideologies. Now as many return home, intelligence agencies globally struggle to combat their influence on others. For the most part, returnees have been imprisoned, but their sentences tend to be relatively brief, and not without their own dangers. In March, 2019, for instance, a man serving time in France on charges that include "condoning terrorism" attacked prison guards with knives. A similar attack took place January in the UK. Both cases, as well as another 2018 prison attack in France, have been designated as terrorism.

Further, some former ISIS sympathizers – even those who did not travel to the former caliphate – have staged attacks after their release from prison. In January, for instance, British authorities released Sudesh Amman, who had been jailed in 2018 for distributing terrorist propaganda. On Feb. 2, Amman went on a rampage with a stolen machete, killing two people on the streets of South London before being fatally shot by police.

Others may not engage in violence themselves, the NCTV says, but instead take an active role mentoring others and forming international networks with fellow returnees they met in the Islamic State.

With the death of the late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who killed himself during a raid by U.S. forces last October, those networks may soon turn their attention away from Western targets in general, focusing more on Israel and the Jews. Abu Ibraham al-Hashimi al Quraishi, who replaced al-Baghdadi as ISIS leader, has expressed specific interest in attacks on Israel and on Jews worldwide. Quraishi, also known as Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, is described in the Guardian as "one of the most influential ideologues among the now depleted ranks of ISIS."

In a 37-minute statement that circulated on social media, the new ISIS leader directed his followers to "incite their brothers everywhere to attack the Jews and slaughter them, inside Palestine and outside Palestine, and kill them wherever they can find them."

Not that this means non-Jews are safe. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Al Quraishi also instructed his followers to "double the activity and increase the strikes. Write down the targets, draw up plans and booby-trap the roads, lay down IEDs, and spread out snipers and kill with silencers. Turn the infidels' joy into funerals, and lie in wait for them everywhere..."

It seems the man just arrested in Barcelona heard that message. And the counterterrorism experts of the Netherlands are sending a warning to the rest of us: others are listening – and plotting – too.

Abigail R. Esman is a freelance writer based in New York and the Netherlands. She is the author of Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West (Praeger, 2010). Her next book, Rage: Narcissism, Patriarchy, and the Culture of Terrorism, will be published by Potomac Books in October, 2020. Follow her at @radicalstates.

Truck bomb in Afghanistan kills 5 civilians

By Clyde Hughes

A group of Taliban militants are seen in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on June 17, 2018.

File Photo by Muhammad Sadiq/EPA-EFE

May 14 (UPI) -- Five civilians were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday by a truck bomb in front of the defense ministry building in the eastern Paktia province city of Gardiz, officials said.

The explosives, on a pickup truck, were detonated in front of a gate just after dawn, said Afghan army spokesman Aimal Mohmand. He added that five security officers were among 19 injured by the blast. Another report put the number of injured at 30.

Afghanistan's defense ministry said a suicide bomber was shot when he set off the bomb.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, in response to a government decision to order security forces to switch from an active defensive posture to offensive mode. Afghan forces had moved into the offensive phase to counter attacks by the militant group.


The explosion was the Taliban's first major car bombing in an urban area since it signed a peace deal with U.S. negotiators in February.

State Department adds Cuba to counterterrorism blacklist

Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela were also recertified on the terrorism blacklist, the State Department said.

By Darryl Coote

The State Department Wednesday blacklisted Cuba over its refusal to extradite members of the National Liberation Army to Colombia after the organization took responsibility for the January 2019 bombing of the Santander General Police School in Bogota. File Photo by Mauricio Duenas Castaneda/EPA-EFE

May 13 (UPI) -- The Trump administration said Wednesday it has added Cuba to the list of countries that do not cooperate with the United States' counterterrorism efforts.

In a statement, the State Department announced it had notified Congress Tuesday of Cuba's recertification under the Arms Export Control Act for "not cooperating fully" with the U.S. efforts last year. It was Cuba's first time being added to the list since 2015.

The State Department explained the move was in response to Cuba's refusal to extradite members of the National Liberation Army known as ELN living in Havana to Colombia after the group claimed responsibility for the January 2019 bombing of a Bogota police academy that killed 22 people and injured more than 60 others.

"As the United States maintains an enduring security partnership with Colombia and shares with Colombia the important counterterrorism objective of combating organizations like the ELN, Cuba's refusal to productively engage with the Colombian government demonstrates that it is not cooperating with the U.S. work to support Colombia's efforts to secure a just and lasting peace, security and opportunity for its people," the State Department said.

Ten leaders of the group had traveled to Havana to conduct peace talks with the government in 2017 and have remained there since.

The State Department added Havana also harbors several U.S. fugitives wanted on charges of political violence, some who have been sought for decades including Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, who was convicted with killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.

Chesimard, a member of the Black Liberation Amry, has been sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since she escaped from a New Jersey (prison?) while serving a life sentence for murder.

Carlos F. de Cossio, the Cuban Foreign Ministry's general director for U.S. affairs, rejected the listing and claimed Cuba has been a victim of U.S. terrorism.

"There is a long history of terrorist acts committed by the U.S. government vs. Cuba and complicity of U.S. authorities with individuals and organizations that have organized, financed and executed such actions from U.S. territory," he tweeted.

The listing comes in the wake of a shooting at the Cuba Embassy in Washington, D.C. A suspect has been taken into custody, but Havana has balked at the silence from the Trump administration over the incident.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez held a press conference to denounce "the complicit silence" of the U.S. government on the attack, stating the shooting could have been avoided if the United States had shared with it information it had on the matter.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez rejected Cuba's inclusion on the "spurious" list while failing to condemn the shooting. "It conceals its own history of state terrorism vs. Cuba & impunity of violence groups in the U.S.," he tweeted.

The State Department also said Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela were recertified on the list, which prohibits them the sale or license for export of defense articles and services.

Pakistani doctor on a H-1B visa planning to carry out ‘lone wolf’ terror attacks in US, indicted

By Jean Patrick Grumberg - on May 16, 2020
JIHAD IN AMERICA

28-year-old Pakistani doctor on H-1B visa has been indicted by a federal grand jury on pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terror group and expressing his desire to carry out “lone wolf” terror attacks in the US.

According to the indictment, Muhammad Masood, a licensed medical doctor from Pakistan, was formerly employed as a research coordinator at a reputed medical clinic (Mayo Clinic) in Rochester, Minnesota.

The indictment against Masood was announced on Friday by US Attorney Erica MacDonald. Masood was initially charged by criminal complaint and has been in custody since his March 19 arrest at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Between January and March this year, he made several statements to others, including pledging his allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and its leader, and expressing his desire to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS. Masood also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States, the court papers said.

On February 21 this year, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria.
On March 16 this year, Masood’s travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He made a new plan to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he believed would assist him with travel via cargo ship to deliver him to ISIS territory.
On March 19, Masood travelled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California.
Upon arrival at the MSP, Masood checked in for his flight and was subsequently arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Masood is in custody at the Sherburne County Jail, Fox News reported on Friday.

According to the allegations in the complaint, Masood, a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was working in a medical clinic in Rochester under an H-1B visa.

“Italy Sentences Somali Man to Over 8 Years for
Plotting Terrorist Act in Vatican” 

May 12, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

ROME (Sputnik) – A court in the southern Italian city of Bari on Tuesday sentenced a 22-year-old Somali man to 104 months in prison for plotting a terrorist attack in the Vatican, national media have reported.

Mohsin Ibrahim Omar, also known as Yusuf, was convicted on international terrorism charges.

The man was arrested in Bari in December 2018 on suspicion of conducting terrorist activities. According to investigators, he was trained in an Islamist school in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

In the past, the convict had links to Somali’s Al-Shabab extremist group that is affiliated with the Al-Qaeda* terror group. Al-Shabab is known, among other things, for kidnapping Silvia Romano, an Italian aid worker, in Kenya in November 2018. She was released last week.

Omar plotted to detonate a bomb at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City during a Christmas mass that traditionally draws plenty of believers. The Italian intelligence agency believes that the man was in contact with a Somali cell of the Daesh* terror group….

Iran: Queen Esther and Mordechai tomb desecrated
in arson attack

BY BTNEWS · MAY 17, 2020

The tomb of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, the most important Jewish site in Iran which houses the remains of the biblical figures, has been set ablaze this weekend in the Hamdan Province.

‘Disturbing reports from Iran that the tomb of Esther and Mordechai, a holy Jewish site, was set afire overnight,’ ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted.

‘We hope that the authorities bring the perpetrators of this antisemitic act to justice and commit to protecting the holy sites of all religious minorities in Iran,’ he added.

The attack was confirmed by Iran’s official IRNA news agency, which initially said that the site was “largely unharmed,” but then removed the report from its webpage.

The agency also said the arsonist had been identified after being spotted by security cameras.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the attack and Iran’s response to it, saying that Muslims protected Jewish holy sites for ages “but all that has changed under the Ayatollahs and the terrorist movements they have spawned.”

Rwandan genocide suspect arrested in France

By Danielle Haynes

An undated picture provided by Interpol shows Felicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted suspects in the Rwandan genocide. File Photo courtesy of Interpol/EPA-EFE

May 16 (UPI) -- French authorities arrested suspected Rwandan war criminal Félicien Kabuga on Saturday after decades on the run, The Hague announced.

The prosecutor for the international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, said Kabuga was arrested in Asnières-sur-Seine, a northern suburb of Paris, living under a false name.

The U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda indicted him in 1997 on several counts of genocide in relation to the slaughter of ethnic Tutsi in 1994. The genocide left an estimated 500,000 to 1 million people dead, about 70 percent of Rwanda's Tutsi population.

"The arrest of Félicien Kabuga today is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even 26 years after their crimes," prosecutor Serge Brammertz said.

"Our first thoughts must be with the victims and survivors of the Rwandan genocide. Advocating on their behalf is an immense professional honor for my entire office."

He said Kabuga is expected to be transferred to The Hague to stand trial.

Jewish terrorist convicted in 2015 Duma attack

The arson attack on the Palestinian Dawabshe family home killed 18-month-old Ali and his parents, Sa’ad and Riham

It's important to notice that an Israeli has been found guilty in Israel of a horrific terrorist attack on Palestinians. Palestinians who commit acts of terror on Israelis are not tried in Palestinian courts, but are made heroes and are paid for the horrors.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB   MAY 18, 2020 
The Jerusalem Post

Amiram Ben Uliel, the suspect in the Duma arson murder in July 2015 where three members of the Dawabshe family
were killed, arrives to hear his verdict at the court on May 18, 2020 (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

The Lod District Court on Monday convicted Amiram Ben-Uliel in the 2015 Jewish terror arson murders of three Palestinians in Duma.

The arson attack on the Palestinian Dawabshe family home killed 18-month-old Ali and his parents, Sa’ad and Riham, and destabilized Israeli-Arab relations throughout the region.

In addition, judges Ruth Lorch, Tsvi Dotan and Dvora Atar convicted Ben-Uliel of two separate counts of attempted murder and two separate counts of arson, but acquitted Ben-Uliel of membership in a terror group.

Despite that acquittal, the court also declared that Ben-Uliel had murdered the Palestinians for ideological reasons – something that could lead to a harsher sentence or to preventing lenient treatment at some later date.

Asher Ohayon, the lead lawyer for Ben-Uliel, vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court, saying the court had wrongfully accepted confessions given post-torture.

The court said that even though it disqualified confessions Ben-Uliel gave when the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) used enhanced interrogation on him, his confessions 36 hours later were given freely and compellingly.

Furthermore, the court said it was convinced by Ben-Uliel’s voluntary physical reconstruction of the crime at the scene of the murders.

In addition, the court cited Ben-Uliel’s refusal to testify in his own defense.

The court wrote that, “The defendant described the scene of the crime in extreme detail in his confessions… which was later clarified to be meticulously accurate… the defendant carried out a reconstruction with great accuracy and which was close to identical to his confessions – something which rebuts the claims” that he was guessing or tipped off in the moment by the Shin Bet investigators.

Ohayon responded to a question from The Jerusalem Post about the fact that the Supreme Court has been very accepting of enhanced interrogation confessions during the last three years, saying there was no parallel.

He also said Ben-Uliel had been “tortured far worse than any Palestinian.”

The Dawabshe family responded to the decision saying it is important for justice to be done so “no one else’s lives will be ruined” and destroyed like the three murdered Dawabshes.

Supporters for Ben-Uliel yelled at the court, “How can you convict an innocent person?” and had to be silenced by security guards.

The sentencing arguments hearing was set for June 9 and it is expected that the actual sentencing will occur later in the summer or the early fall.

For months after the murder, the Shin Bet performed a massive manhunt and investigation, but turned up empty-handed.

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen has told the Post that he has fundamentally altered the entire approach toward Jewish terrorism against Palestinians, taking a much harder stance and investing far more resources.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon made frequent statements about the severity of the incident, and assured regional partners in the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Egypt and globally of their commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice.

When the Shin Bet finally apprehended Ben-Uliel, then 21, the alleged murderer of the Dawabshes, as well as a minor who was accused of conspiring with him regarding the murders, the situation was viewed as so desperate that they used torture/enhanced interrogation to get the defendants to confess.

This ushered in a whole new side and saga to the case, because suddenly, enhanced interrogation, administrative detention and other extreme measures were being used not only against Palestinians, as in the past, but also against Jews.

Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich and activist Itamar Ben-Gvir have accused the Shin Bet and the prosecution of massive overreaction and injustice in the treatment of Ben-Uliel and the minor.

Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh and other Arab activists have demanded that harsh justice be meted out to Ben-Uliel, if Israel is to avoid accusations that it cracks down harder on Palestinian terrorism than on Jewish terrorism.

Saudi pilot who went on gun rampage at Florida naval base
linked to ‘Al-Qaeda operative’

18 May, 2020

Main: A general view of the Pensacola Naval Air Station following a shooting on December 6, 2019 © AFP / Josh Brusted; Inserts: The mugshot of Mohammed Alshamrani © Twitter / FBI Jacksonville; The flag used by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula © AFP / Said Khatib

The FBI has found evidence linking the perpetrator of the December 2019 Pensacola naval airbase shooting, a trainee pilot of the Royal Saudi Air Force, to a suspected operative of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

The gun attack at the Naval Air Station Pensacola left three victims dead and eight others injured. The gunman, Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was killed by responding police forces. The incident was a major embarrassment for both nations involved.

Attorney General William Barr announced on Monday that FBI investigators discovered evidence of "significant ties" to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula after finally unlocking Alshamrani’s iPhone.

No thanks to Apple

Barr said FBI technicians cracked into the shooter's phone despite Apple declining to help, even after a direct plea from President Donald Trump.

FBI Director Christopher Wray added the connection between the shooter and Al-Qaeda is "more than just inspired" as evidence shows he was "sharing plans and tactics with" the terrorist group, as well as "coordinating" with them.

The airman had been taking part in a three-year aviation training program for the Royal Saudi Air Force, for which he had signed up in August 2017. The 21-year-old was motivated by Islamist ideology when he unleashed violence at the Florida base, US officials said.

Prior to the shooting, he posted quotes from former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on social media, and criticized US wars. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an influential branch of the international terrorist network, claimed credit for the attack, but US officials did not previously confirm the link.

The Jihad Attacks on Churches in Illinois

That You Heard Nothing About

BY ROBERT SPENCER APR 18, 2020
PJMedia

Osama E. El Hannouny, a 25-year-old man who lives in the Chicago suburb of Palos Hills, Illinois, has made his prejudices very clear, saying that he doesn’t like Christians. More than once he has acted on that dislike at churches in his area. But as his attacks don’t fit the mainstream media narrative, this article is likely to be the only place where you’ll hear about them.

Last Tuesday, when he should have been staying at home and making TikTok videos like other people his age, El Hannouny ventured out into the coronavirus-ridden wilds, heading for Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Palos Hills. Once he got there, he looked into the church through the doors, and saw that there were people inside (doesn’t anyone honor the coronavirus quarantine in Cook County?). Seeing his chance for jihad, El Hannouny immediately began piling leaves around the church’s gas main and air conditioning unit, making numerous trips back and forth to do so. Once he was satisfied that he had sufficient kindling, El Hannouny, according to the charges against him, set fire to the leaves.

As it happened, no one was hurt: firefighters quickly arrived on the scene and put out the fire before it did any significant damage. El Hannouny, however, continued his jihad, this time against the police who arrested him. According to Patch, “while El Hannouny was being processed, police said he started spitting at officers, reports said. El Hannouny also wrote a religious slur on the wall of his cell, according to the report. El Hannouny allegedly scratched, bit and spit at police when they tried to stop him.”

The officers who arrested him may have recognized El-Hannouny. It was only six months ago, November 17, 2019, that he showed up at two other churches in Palos Hills. With a laudable eye for ecumenical sensitivities, that time he chose the city’s First Baptist Church and the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. At both, he confined his activities to the parking lot, slashing the tires of a total of nineteen cars.

When he was arrested and asked why he had done such a thing, El Hannouny replied with unusual directness: “I don’t like Christians.” According to WBBM, he admitted to the 19 tire-slashings and was “charged with 14 counts of criminal damage to property.” El Hannouny was then “released on a personal recognize [sic] bond and electronic monitoring.” In January, authorities added on hate crime charges.

The hate crime charges didn’t deter El Hannouny from hating. For the new incident over at Sacred Heart Church, according to Patch, El Hannouny “appeared Wednesday before a Cook County judge on charges of arson, hate crimes, criminal damage to property, battery to a police officer and violation of bail bond.”

That’s all very well, and it looks as if a good case can be made against El Hannouny on all these charges, but there still remains a larger question: Why, exactly, does El Hannouny dislike Christians? Does it have anything to do with the Qur’an’s teaching that “they have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is Christ, the son of Mary” (5:17, 5:72), an assertion that directly contradicts the core Christian belief in the divinity of Christ? Could El Hannouny’s dislike for Christians be linked in any way to the Qur’an’s statement that those who say “Christ is the Son of Allah” are under Allah’s curse (9:30)? Might his tire-slashing and attempted arson have something to do with the Qur’an’s command to Muslims to wage war against and subjugate Christians as inferiors under the hegemony of Islamic law (9:29)?

In today’s political climate, such questions cannot be asked. And yet their pertinence goes far beyond the case of Osama E. El Hannouny. If his self-professed hatred of Christians is indeed based on Islamic teachings, did he learn that hatred at his local mosque? If that mosque is indeed teaching that Muslims should hold the people whom the Qur’an terms “the most vile of created beings” (98:6) in utter contempt, and wage jihad against them, isn’t it possibly that more Muslims besides just young Osama could be influenced to act upon these teachings? And if so, wouldn’t it be prudent for local law enforcement officials to be aware of and prepared for that possibility?

It is much more likely, however, that the local police have never been to El Hannouny’s mosque except for “outreach,” in order to assure the Muslim community of their good will. The possibility that the assurances could ever or should ever flow in the other direction is never considered, even for a moment.

Palos Hills, Ill