(September 2000)Terrorism against Jews by Radical Islamic Organizations and Groups

ict.org.il ^ | September 30, 2000 | Dr. Ely Karmon

[miltonim]

September 30, 2000

Terrorism against Jews by Radical Islamic Organizations and Groups

Dr. Ely Karmon

ICT

This article is based on a paper presented at the Conference on Extremism and Anti-Semitism on the Eve of the New Millennium, organized by The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism of Tel Aviv University, ADL and WJC, in New York (9 - 12 January 2000), and will be published by The Stephen Roth Institute.

During the last decade, terrorism by radical Islamist groups has been considered the greatest threat to Jews and Jewish communities worldwide. The most painful example of this threat was the bloody car bomb attack on July 18, 1994 against the Argentine Mutual Aid Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina).[1]

The difficult and intricate peace-process between Israel and the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors has also been accompanied by dreadful suicide bombings and terrorist attacks and has raised the concern that anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic attacks could and would accompany the negotiations in the future.

The appearance on the international scene of “arch-terrorist” Osama bin Laden and his “World Islamic Front against Jews and Crusaders”—not to mention his becoming public enemy No.1 of the Unites States, Israel and the Western world—has enhanced the fear of a wave of anti-American, but also anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish terrorism.

The religious/ideological basis behind the radical Islamic terrorist activity against Jews and Jewish community targets has been widely researched. Some of the main factors:[2]

• The Islamic tradition provides the soil in which Islamist anti-Semitism has taken root. The mentor of Hizballah in Lebanon, Sheik Fadlallah, declared that, “In the vocabulary of the Qur'an, Islamists have much of what they need to awaken the consciousness of Muslims because the Qur'an speaks about the Jews in a negative way, concerning both their historical conduct and future schemes.”[3]

• The loss of land for the Palestinians and the loss of the Islamic holy places in Jerusalem are viewed with a sense of injustice and anger among Muslims.

• Some Islamists attribute almost any misfortune to the secret machinations of the Jews everywhere. In their views the Jews are linked together in a plot, not merely to maintain the state of Israel, but to undermine and eradicate Islam.

• As the Arab-Israeli peace process evolves, the Islamic world is becoming immersed in an arduous debate whether Muslims can or should ever live in peace with Jews. The Islamists argue that any peace with Israel will subject the Muslim world to complete Jewish domination. Even were Israel to permit the creation of a Palestinian state, even were it to make concessions on Jerusalem, it would still exist as a tool of cultural leverage against Islam. Hizballah’s spiritual leader, Sheikh Fadlallah recently declared in an interview to a Palestinian newspaper that “any recognition of the legitimacy of Jewish occupation of any part of Palestine is against Islam. In fact, we have repeatedly said that if the Jews convert to Islam, we would tell them: Leave Palestine. This is because no Muslim can give up property of another without his permission. We do not believe that any Palestinian authority has the right to hand Palestine over to Jews.”[4]

• For the leader of the Iranian Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, and his followers Israel is not only “the Small Satan”—an unnatural creature of Britain and the United States planted on sacred Arab and Muslim soil—but also, in Khomeini’s own words, “the state of the infidel Jews who humiliate Islam, the Qu’ran, the government of Islam and the nation of Islam.”[5]

It is important to bear in mind that the Islamists were not the first, and perhaps not even the cruelest to use anti-Jewish terrorism as a tool in their fight against Israel and what they considered the Zionist-Jewish conspiracy to deprive the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslims of their land and Holy Places.

The Palestinian nationalists from Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) of Ahmed Jibril, The Fatah – Revolutionary Command of Sabri al-Banna (Abu-Nidal) and even the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) of George Habash have all perpetrated murderous attacks against Jewish interests worldwide. These attacks targeted schools, synagogues, restaurants and shops, banks and commercial companies in Paris, Antwerp, Rome, Istanbul and many other places. Perhaps the bloodiest of these incidents was the killing of 22 Jews while they prayed at the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul on September 6, 1986 by Abu Nidal terrorists.[6]

This fact has to be stressed because the radical Palestinian Islamic organizations, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), are no less nationalists than those of Fatah. They put the liberation of Palestine at the top of their strategic goals, before the implementation of the ideal unified Islamic ummah. In fact, they have emerged from the same ideological and activist hotbed as the Fatah leaders—the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood of the 1950s and 1960s.[7]

On the other hand, if ideology were the main factor behind attacks on Jews it is very difficult to explain why, for instance, the Italian extreme right-wing terrorists of the 1960s and 1970s practically never attacked Jewish targets, in spite of their virulent anti-Semitism.

Although ideology is important in the motivation and explanation of terrorist policies on the part of political movements and groups, the political and strategic factors seem to be very important—even decisive—in choosing these policies. By these factors we mean organizational, local, regional or international events and trends that influence the leadership to decide upon the use of terrorism.

Chronologically, it is quite obvious that practically all the anti-Jewish Islamist terrorism appeared after the Gulf War pitted the American coalition against Iraq. What then has changed in the regional and international arena that can explain this sudden upsurge in Islamist terrorism—particularly Shi’ite terrorism backed by Iran?

The Strategic Consequences of the Gulf War

The complete Iraqi defeat in the 1991 Gulf War, and the extensive strategic changes caused by the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the whole communist system, together with the birth of new Muslim republics in Central Asia, have combined to enhance Iran’ position as a regional power. Iranian assertiveness and aggressiveness in the international arena have grown accordingly.

But another important consequence of the Gulf War has been the emergence of the United States as the only remaining superpower, together with its determination to lay the foundations of a New World Order based on democratic and liberal values. One of the first U.S. moves for the implementation of the new order was the sponsorship of the political process in the Middle East at the Madrid Conference in October 1991.

Iran immediately perceived the threat presented by the peace process to its ideological and strategic interests. A peace agreement would entail the recognition of Israel’s legitimacy as a state in the Middle East; the consolidation of the moderate Arab regimes and at the same time the threat to the radical Islamic allied movements, such as Hizballah; the isolation of Iran on the regional level and its defeat on the ideological ground.[8]

Iran immediately convened a conference in Tehran reuniting all the terrorist and radical organizations hostile to any negotiations with Israel, which were ready to continue the struggle under the Iranian leadership. At the closing of the Tehran conference, the regime made the strategic decision to support the “Palestinian Resistance” on the humanitarian, financial, political and military level. The struggle in support of Palestine has thus become one of the few areas where Iran’s ideological/revolutionary goals overlap its national/pragmatic interests.

Shi’a terrorism

The materialization of this support included the stepping-up of weapons supplies to Hizballah, and financial support and training to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in camps in Iran itself or in the Hizballah camps in Lebanon. The climax of this Iranian subversive activity occurred during February-March of 1996, when the suicide terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas and the PIJ practically stopped the political process and brought about the fall of the Peres government.

On the anti-Jewish front, the Iranian attitude has been much more cautious. The Iranian regime is aware of the sensitivity of public opinion in the West, particularly in the United States, to any violent activity against Jews and Jewish communities. Thus it has preferred to strike at these targets through its proxies and in a covert manner:

0. The bombing of the AMIA building was most probably executed by Hizballah operatives, with the support of the Iranian intelligence network;

1. One of the main arenas of the Iranian terrorist activity has been Turkey, and in this framework Iran has supported Turkish Islamist groups in their attacks against Jewish targets, such as the Neve Shalom synagogue, along with leading members of the community, such as Jack Kamhi and the president of the Jewish community in Ankara. There have been continuous threats against Jewish interests in Turkey.[9]

The case of Turkey is demonstrative of the strategic and political rationale behind the Iranian behavior. Turkey has a fiercely secular regime. It is a close ally of the U.S. and the West, and lately is also a strategic ally of Israel. It is also a regional rival of Iran in the Middle East and Central Asia arena. Iran has done everything possible to weaken the secular Turkish regime, which has seen the attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets on its soil as a blow to its stability and perhaps to the political process itself.[10]

Sunni terrorism

It seems that the radical Sunni organizations were less active in their anti-Jewish activity while the extremist Shi’a terror attacks were far more murderous and culminated with the bombing of the AMIA building.

The terrorism of Sunni radical organizations is dominated by what is commonly called the “Afghan Veterans.” Throughout the eighties, Muslim volunteers from Islamic and Arabic countries streamed into Afghanistan to help the Afghani mujahideen in their struggle against the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul and the Soviet occupying forces. During their stay in Afghanistan, the volunteers underwent military training and acquired extensive combat experience in guerrilla warfare. The term “Afghan Veterans” also includes hundreds of Islamic terrorists who came to Afghanistan after the war to train in guerrilla and terrorist warfare, under the sponsorship of the various mujahideen factions (‘Arab-Afghans’). The Afghan Veterans’ heroic participation in the jihad, their extensive combat experience, and their victory over the Soviet superpower, have today turned them into the vanguard of the radical Islamist terrorist organizations.[11]

It should be remembered that the militants of the extremist Sunni group in the United States under the leadership of the Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman were responsible for the assassination of the Jewish extremist Rabbi Meir Kahana in 1990. They also prepared attacks against Jewish targets after the World Trade Center bombing on February 26, 1993.[12] As mentioned, radical Sunni groups perpetrated attacks in Turkey against Jewish targets, albeit with Iranian support and sponsorship.

The Algerian Groupe Islamique Armee (GIA) perpetrated bombing attacks against a synagogue in Lyon, France on 24 December 1994 (which fortunately failed) and a Jewish school, again in Lyon in September 1995 (which injured several people), and sent a letter bomb to the editor of a Jewish paper in December 1996.

It is interesting to note that prior to the wave of bombings staged by GIA in Paris and Lyon in 1995, the organization published a virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist manifesto in Sweden, where it had its headquarters at the time. The manifesto accused the Jews and the Zionists of being responsible for the tragic situation in Algeria. “At the end of this century we witness an utmost growth of the Zionist system of domination called ‘The World’s New Order’. This ‘World’s New Order’ is managed by the State of Israel which uses the international Jewish mafia to dominate the world by dominating U.S.A…. Its invisible armies are made out of secret networks and led by agents, won over their cause by conviction, treachery and corruption…This wish to rule is especially aimed at the Arab-Muslim world around whose ideals and human and material possibilities a new and better civilization for humanity may be built….Today, in Algeria one can openly express unpatriotic and anti-national opinions. Graves are desecrated, the revolution is insulted, people […] parade the most immoral and perverse pro-zionist and Western ideas.”[13]

Recent developments

Compared with the stormy past, the last few years have been relatively quiet with regard to the Islamist anti-Jewish terrorism. To begin with, there has been a shift in the trend of activity of the Islamist organizations and groups. Some of them have arrived at a strategic decision to renounce the armed struggle. These include the Front Islamic du Salut (FIS) in Algeria, the Al Jihad and the Gama’at al Islamyya in Egypt, which called a cease-fire with the blessing of Sheik Abdel Rahman. The Lebanese Hizballah has recently concentrated on guerrilla warfare against Israel in South Lebanon.

This parallels a worldwide trend in the terrorist and guerrilla groups and movements, which have decided to try the path of political negotiation in lieu of armed struggle. This is true for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland, for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. Other groups have flirted with the idea of political, rather than military activism, including the Euskadi ta Azkatasuna (ETA) in the Basque Country in Spain and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Colombia.

Secondly, Iran has seen a major change in its leadership. The new administration of reformist president Khatemi has tried to moderate its foreign policy, mainly in the relations with Europe and the United States. As a consequence, the terrorist activity abroad has been drastically reduced. Instead, the conflict has shifted to the internal Iranian arena, with the assassination of several liberal intellectuals, journalists and writers by the intelligence apparatus and the arrest and trial of 13 innocent Jews, a testimony to the virulence of the enmity between the moderate and the conservative camps.[14]

The “World Islamic Front”

Today the main international terrorist threat is represented by the so-called “World Islamic Front against Jews and Crusaders,” a loose umbrella organization of Islamic radical groups from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Egypt (in fact only a fraction of the al-Jihad organization in Afghanistan) under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. Actually, the backbone of his core organization, al-Qaeda, constitutes Arab and Muslim veterans of the Afghanistan war against the Soviet Union, scattered in their countries of origin or in the Muslim communities worldwide.

The following is quoted from bin Laden’s first known written document:

I feel still the pain of (the loss) Al Quds in my internal organs. That loss is like a burning fire in my intestines….My Muslim Brothers of The World: Your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two Holy Places [Saudi Arabia] are calling upon your help and asking you to take part in fighting against the enemy your enemy and their enemy the Americans and the Israelis.  They are asking you to do whatever you can, with one owns means and ability, to expel the enemy, humiliated and defeated, out of the sanctities of Islam…It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators; The people of Islam awakened and realised that they are the main target for the aggression of the Zionist-Crualliance.[15]

But looking attentively at the documents, fatwas and interviews given by bin Laden, it follows that his strategic goals are, in this order of priorities:

• The elimination of the American presence from Saudi Arabia and the most Holy Places of Islam;

• The end of the Western military activity and economic embargo against the Iraqi people (not that against Saddam Hussein);

• The fight against the infidels in Chechnya (and previously in Bosnia);

• The struggle for the liberation of Palestine and the Muslim holy shrines in Jerusalem from Zionist and Jewish occupation.[16]

It seems that bin Laden has not paid much attention to the Palestinian issue and has in the past even been even criticized for his inactivity in this field. Possibly this is what led terrorists connected to bin Laden’s network to take an interest in attacking Israeli and Jewish targets, in addition to American ones.

In December 1999, an Islamic terrorist organization, comprising Jordanian, Iraqi, Algerian and Palestinian citizens bearing American documents, was uncovered in Jordan. The group, called ‘The Army of Muhammad,’ was headed by Abu Hoshar, who had trained in Afghanistan. The investigation of members of the organization showed that they intended to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli tourists in Amman’s Radison Hotel and against visitors to Moses’ tomb on Mt. Nebo.[17]

Chechen Islamist anti-Semitism
Recently a clear anti-Semitic tendency has emerged among the Chechen Islamist militants and their “Afghani Veterans” allies. This followed a failed attack by Chechen guerrilla and terrorist groups in Dagestan in August 1999 and the defeat by the Russian forces of the Islamist forces which had ruled Chechnya since 1996. Since January 2000, the main Islamist website supporting the propaganda war of the radical Chechens has intensified its anti-Semitic messages. “America’s Jewish Secretary of State, Madeline Albright,” is accused of paying little attention to the plight of the innocent Chechens; The Dunma (sic!) Jews are accused of attempting “to rule Turkey through their lap dog generals;” “Jewish fascists” controlling the Western media “intensify the campaign to tarnish the image of Muslims.” This “modern” anti-Semitism is backed by anti-Semitic and anti-Christian, Quranic verses.[18] The climax of this campaign was attained in March 2000, when the Jews were accused of directly helping the Russian war machine and threatened with retaliation (see the full text in annex).

The reasons for the relatively small number of terrorist attacks by radical Sunni terrorist organizations against Israeli and Jewish targets abroad are mainly strategic. These organizations see as their main goal the toppling of the secular regimes in their own countries and their replacement by Islamic regimes governed by the rule of Islamic law (Shari‘a). The attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets are part of an overall terrorist strategy against their non-Muslim rivals, while they tend to focus their terrorist activity against the United States, considered as Islam’s main enemy.
 
 

Projection for the near future

The negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority enter their most difficult final phase, dealing with such sensitive and intricate issues as the final borders, the fate of the refugees and Jerusalem, while the condition of the peace negotiations remains precarious with Syria. The potential for anti-Jewish terrorism at this time demonstrates the indissoluble bond between the Jewish people in the Diaspora and in Israel.

Hamas, under serious pressure in the Palestinian Authority, has now been expelled from Jordan, leaving the movement’s leadership with virtually no safe asylum. Hamas has already threatened to operate abroad, and more specifically has threatened to attack Jewish targets. However, it is not clear how strong Hamas’ operational infrastructure abroad is, while its past experience in this field is nil.

After the Israeli military forces’ withdrawal from southern Lebanon, particularly if the negotiations with Syria reopen successfully, Hizballah will come under heavy Syrian pressure to cease its activity. One of the major options left to its leaders, if they continue in their present aggressive attitude towards Israel and the peace process, is the tool of international terrorism. They have already hinted at their willingness to choose this option. Unfortunately, Hizballah has long and successful experience in carrying out murderous terrorist attacks worldwide, as well as the necessary operational infrastructure, from Europe to South America and form Australia to Africa. Hizballah thus remains one of the most serious terrorist threats to Jewish lives and interests.

Radical elements in the Iranian regime could join in these efforts, in order to sabotage both the peace process and the efforts of moderation on the part of the Khatemi administration.

Finally, elements of Osama bin Laden’s organization and isolated extremist Islamic groups could stage occasional attacks on Jewish targets, if they thought that this serves their interests of the moment. Such attacks could also serve as a gesture of solidarity, especially in case of incidents and events involving the Holy Muslim places in Jerusalem.

Conclusion
In conclusion, we can estimate that, although there are threats to Jewish communities from those opposed to the peace process, the overall conditions to counter these threats are more positive than in the past. This is due to increased international cooperation against terrorism and the joining of some of the Arab countries in the fight against the Islamic radicals, mainly because of their own interest in minimizing the danger to their regimes.

However, it should be noted that new foci of tension and instability are developing in other parts of the Muslim world: in Pakistan, Caucasus, Central Asia, and more recently in Indonesia. These tensions could endanger the security and well-being of Jewish communities in Russia, the Muslim Central Asian states and Australia.

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Annex I

Special Report on Anti-Semitic Incidents – October 2000
from a report by the Anti-Semitism Monitoring Forum of The Israeli Government.

Due to the dramatic increase in antisemitic activity perpetrated against Jewish communities since Rosh Hashanah 5761 – the beginning of October 2000 – we are attaching a special report attacks and attempted attacks against Jews. This activity was carried out by Muslims, Arabs and extremists from both right and left, occassionally assisted by Arab elements. These elements seek to attack Israel by attacking Jews living elsewhere, while inciting public opinion against the Jews.

The incidents appear in chronological order.

• In late September, (apparently the 29^th), during Friday prayer services at two mosques in Brussels, the muezzins called on the worshippers to take revenge against the Jews in response to events in the Territories.

• In the late evening of 29 September, stones were thrown at the windows of the 'Kehillat Yaakov' synagogue in London.

• On the night of 29 September, stones were thrown at the windows of the ‘Fieldgate Street’ Great Synagogue in London.

• On Saturday, 30 September, an unidentified person attacked a 50-year-old Hassidic Jew in New York. The attacker wounded the Jew with a knife and shouted obscene remarks at him. Among other things, the attacker said he was a Palestinian and asked the Jew why he did not leave. The Jew required hospital treatment.

• On 1 October, outside the synagogue in Aubervilliers, Paris, a car driven by an Arab tried to run over worshippers that were on their way back to the synagogue from the ‘Tashlich’ prayers. No one was injured. Later, several young Arabs gathered in front of the synagogue and began throwing bottles of water at the synagogue wall.

• On 1 October, several Arabs harassed Jews returning from the ‘Tashlich’ prayers to the ‘Oheleycha Yaakov’ synagogue in Paris. The young Arabs began approaching the synagogue and throwing chestnuts at the 600-700 worshippers. The police, who were present with reinforcements, blocked the agitators and arrested some of them.

• On 1 October, a young Arab tried to throw a stone at a synagogue at 8 May Street, in Creteil, a suburb of Paris.

• On 1 October, during the prayer service in Villeurbanne, Lyons, Arabs/Muslims shouted verbal provocations in front of synagogues.

• During the New Year holiday, a skinhead approached the ‘Terling’ synagogue in Antwerp and began cursing the worshippers and making the Nazi salute. The man was removed from the premises by the police.

• During the holiday, several young Arabs approached the same synagogue in Antwerp shouting curses and threats. They were later removed from the premises.

• In early October, drawings of swastikas were seen in several places in the center of Lille, as well as the equation: ‘Anti-Arab = Star of David.’

• On 2 October, the synagogue at 3 Rue Gresset in the 19^th quarter in Paris, received phone threats during the Selichot morning prayer services. A bottle was thrown at the synagogue.

• On 2 October, a religious ruling (fatwa) was issued in Britain calling for a Jihad war against Israel and various Israeli interests. The fatwa appeared over the Internet. On 5 October, it was published that Sheikh Omar Abd Al-Rahman, who is in a U.S. prison, also issued a call for a Jihad war against Jews wherever they are.

• On the night of 2 October, unknown persons threw three Molotov cocktails at the main entrance of the synagogue/community center in Dusseldorf. The bottles hit the door and one of them ignited. A woman passing by jumped over the fence and extinguished the fire.

• On 2 October, an anonymous announcement was received at the fire department in Nice on a bomb planted in a synagogue in Nice.

• On 2 October, an anonymous threat was received at the police station in Malmo, Sweden on an attack intention against a synagogue in the city.

• During the night between 2-3 October, stones were thrown by youths at the synagogue on Clinic Street in Brussels. Several window panes on the synagogue’s first floor were smashed.

• During the night between 2-3 October, unknown persons attacked a Jewish couple in Schwerin in north-east Germany. The woman was seriously injured.

• The Jewish cemetery in Schwaebisch Hall, Germany was desecrated during the night between 2-3 October. Unknown persons smeared red paint and drew swastikas on 11 gravestones.

• Swastikas were drawn on the memorial to the Buchenwald concentration camp during the night of 3 October, the Unification of Germany Day.

• In Halle, Germany, a memorial commemorating a destroyed synagogue, was defaced by six swastikas.

• At 22:30 on 3 October, there was an arson attempt on the synagogue in the Villepine suburb of Paris. 2-3 firebombs were thrown at the front of the synagogue. The doors were severly burnt and the fire started spreading throughout the building. Firemen managed to get the fire under control. There were no casualties.

• On 3 October, an unidentified person phone the offices of the ‘Binyan Olam’ synagogue in Campinas, near San Paolo, Brazil. The caller threatened to kill the policemen stationed at the synagogue entrance, adding that if additional policemen arrived, he would plant a bomb in the synagogue to kill everyone.

• A protest demonstration was held in Saloniki, Greece on 3 October in front of the Jewish community offices.

• In Florence and Venice, anonymous phone calls were received on 3 October denouncing Israel and the Jews.

• During the night between 3-4 October, in Malmo, Sweden, unknown persons burned the purification building in the cemetery, damaged gravestones and set the cemetery office on fire.

• In Italy, the Radical Right also joined the ‘protest festival’ against Israel. In incidents against Jewish merchants, on 4 October, activists from the Forza Nuova movement distributed pamphlets to passersby in the area of the Colisseum in Rome.

• On 4 October, the Jewish cemetery in Potsdam was desecrated. A 15 cm. gallows was drawn over the Star of David that was carved on the entrance sign to the cemetery.

• Dummy letter bombs were thrown at the homes of the heads of the Jewish community in Germany, Speigel and his deputy Friedman. Each envelope contained a clock with electric wires and a letter with the sentence ‘This will soon happen to you, too.’

• On 4 October, a Jewish school in Paris received anti-Semitic phone threats.

• On 5 October, radio 786, an Islamic radio station in Capetown, which identifies with the PAGAD organization, broadcast propaganda and incitement against Israel and the Jews, including calls for liberating Jerusalem from the Zionists.

• On 5 October, a pupil of the ‘Ohr Yossef’ school in the 19^th quarter in Paris was attacked by a group of Arab boys while he was leaving school.

• During the night between 5-6 October, stones were thrown at a synagogue in Kreutzberg, Berlin. Some window panes were smashed.

• During the night between 5-6 October, slogans were written on the ‘Bar Yohai’ and ‘Or Aviv’ synagogues in Marseilles. The slogans said ‘Death to the Jews’ and ‘Jews are murderers.’

• On 6 October, stones were thrown at pupils leaving the Tenouji school in the Saint-Ouen suburb in North Paris.

• On 6 October, three e-mail messages were received at the ‘O Hebreu’ Jewish newspaper editorial offices in San Paolo. The messages included extremely blunt abuse and threats towards the Jews. The writer threatened that on 21 and 28 October, facilities belonging to the Jewish Federation in San Paolo and Rio de Janeiro would be bombed, as well as the consulates in Rio, San Paolo and the embassy in Brasilia. The writer promised to make good his threats by the end of 2000. The writer signed in the name of the Bin Laden organization and Hizballah.

• A similar e-mail message to above was received at the Jewish Museum website in Rio de Janeiro: abuse, comparisons of Jews to Hitler, and a threat to blow up the Jewish Museum in Rio on 16 October.

• On 6 October, the Arab community of Panama published an official announcement of protest and derogatory expressions against Israel and the Jews in response to the events in Israel. According to the wording of the announcement, ‘The Jews are murderers who kill everyone opposing their desire to taover the world.’

• The ‘Ciudad De Libro opinion’ website operating in Latin America, which calls itself the ‘National Socialism City in the Internet,’ published the inciting call: ‘Zionist committers of genocide, get out!’ The website regularly updates surfers on events in Israel, supporting what it calls the ‘Palestinian struggle for independence.’ In the 7 October update, a picture appears of Palestinian youths waving a red flag with a black swastika in the middle. The website uses distinct Arab/Palestinian terminology, such as ‘the Jewish occupation army murdered 47 Palestinians, including 12 infants, who were shot to death.’ The website also updates its readers on Khamenei’s calls for a Jihad against Israel.

• On Saturday, 7 October, members of the Germany-Lebanon Friendship League held a demonstration in the streets of Lessen, Germany. While passing a synagogue, the demonstrators threw stones at the synagogue and smashed several window panes.

• On 7 October, a pro-Palestinian demonstration was held in front of the U.N. building in Geneva. Some 1000 persons participated in the demonstration and calls were heard for mounting a Jihad against Jews.

• On Saturday evening, 7 October, during the evening prayer service, a bottle bomb was thrown into the synagogue in the Aubervilliers suburb in north east Paris. The worshippers extinguished the fire and no damage was done. The building is a Jewish school which is converted into a synagogue during the holidays. In the same neighbourhood, local Arab residents told the synagogue rabbi that Arabs in the neighbourhood were planning to damage the synagogue on the Day of atonement.

• On Saturday evening, 7 October, Molotov cocktails were thrown at a Jewish restaurant next to the 19^th quarter in Paris. Stones also were thrown at the restaurant smashing a window .The restaurant was severely damaged but not burnt. In the same area, several Arabs gathered later on and tried to enter other Jewish restaurants while shouting curses and threats.

• On Saturday evening, 7 October, the ‘La Duchere’ synagogue in one of the suburbs of Lyons, France, was attacked by Arabs who threw stones at the worshippers. The worshippers were rescued from the premises by police vehicles.

• During the second week in October, Arabs/Muslims in Lyons were heard threatening to attack synagogues and Jews during the Day of Atonement. Among other things, they threatened to burn synagogues.

• On 7 October, a window was smashed in the Reform synagogue in Edgware, London.

• On 7 October, objects were thrown at the windows of the ‘Yeshurun’ synagogue in Edgware, London.

• On 7 October, the ‘Elstree and Burehamwood’ synagogue in London was broken into. The ark was smashed and children’s torah scrolls were burnt.

• On the night of 7 October, bottles were thrown at the windows of the synagogue in Upper Berkely Street in London.

• During the night of 7 October, bottles were thrown through the windows of a synagogue in Seymour Place.

• During the night between 7-8 October, slogans were once again written on the ‘Bar Yohai’ synagogue in Marseilles.

• On 8 October, around midnight, guards posted at the ‘Eitz Haim’ synagogue in Marseilles noticed skinheads trying to set the succah next to the synagogue on fire. A skinhead who began insulting and cursing the guards fled the premises towards the main street Michlet where a car was waiting for him and drove off.

• On the night of 8 October, Molotov cocktail was thrown at the ‘Petah Eliahu’ synagogue on Impasse Beauvisage Street in the 8^th quarter in Lyons, a quarter populated mostly by Arabs. A neighbour who lived nearby noticed the fire in the synagogue and alerted the fire department which got the fire under control. No damage was caused and no one was hurt.

• On 8 October, windows were smashed in a synagogue in Leicester.

• On 8 October, windows were smashed in the Progressive synagogue in Birmingham.

• On 8 October, stones were thrown from a car passing near the Kenton United synagogue. The stones were aimed two elderly people and their children who belong to congregation.

• On 8 October, passengers in a van tried to spit at people coming to the ‘Emmanuel College’ synagogue in London.

• A bullet was thrown near the ‘La Victoire’ great synagogue in Paris. The police arrested a Tunisian living in the neighbourhood on suspicion of being connected with the incident.

• A synagogue in the Creil suburb of Paris, was damaged when attacked by Molotov cocktails.

• Molotov cocktails were thrown in Paris 19^th quarter Jewish high school which had been converted into a synagogue .

• The Jewish cemetery in the Trappes quarter in Paris (near Versailles) was desecrated.

• On 8 October a bomb threat was received by the Kinloss synagogue in London.

• On Yom Kippur eve (8 October), a Molotov cocktail was thrown by three Muslim youths into the “Adat Israel synagogue” in the Bronx, New York. The youths were lated arrested.

• In Dagestan, Russia, stones were thrown at a synagogue on 8 October and fliers threatening jews were distributed.

• During Kol-Nidri prayers on Yom Kippur Eve (8 October) 3 Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in Clichy S/Bois, Paris, one of them igniting. The incident caused panic the worshippers shortened the service and dispersed.

• On the night between 8-9 October the windows of the “Beit Shalom” synagogue in Ottawa were smashed. Graffiti reading “Islam Forever” was scrawled over the walls as well.

• On 9 October Muslims demonstrated in Montreal and among other slogans, they called out “Murder the Jews.”

• The spokesman of the Jewish Canadian Congress stated that since 2 October, over five attacks had been perpetrated against synagogues in and around Toronto.

• During the morning hours of 9 October, fire was set to the “Ohev Shalom” Central Reform synagogue of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A new building attached to the synagogue and part of the latter caught fire. Heavy damage was caused.

• During the night between 9-10 October, unknown persons broke into the synagogue on 253 Rue Crimee in the 19^th quarter in Paris and damaged furniture and Torah scrolls.

• During the Day of Atonement (9 October), Arabs threw stones at the worshippers in the ‘Manget’ synagogue in Lyon’s Venicieux district. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.

• In Strasbourg, pedestrians passing the tram station opposite the Central Synagogue cursed worshippers coming to the synagogue on the Day of Atonement.

• At the end of the Day of atonement (9 October), one of the two Bukharian synagogues active in Tashkent was set on fire and razed to the ground. The arson was apparently committed with a Molotov cocktail thrown into the synagogue through an opening made in the wall after an air conditioner had been removed. Five torah scrolls were burnt.

• On the 9 October a large swastika was drawn on the main entrance to the ‘Maimonides’ synagogue in Brussels.

• The Holocaust memorial in the Anderlecht quarter in Brussels was desecrated. Slogans were drawn on the memorial and apparently an attempt was made to damage it.

• The synagogue in the Anderlecht district in Brussels was stoned on the Day on Atonement.

• At the end of the Day of Atonement (9 October, an orthodox Jew was attacked by a group of Arabs in the vicinity of the Clinic Street synagogue in Brussels. He was severely beaten and required hospitalization.

• On the Day of Atonement, 9 October, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the synagogue in the town of Emmen, Netherlands, near the German border. The Emmen community is a small one which has been recently involved in erecting a memorial for Holocaust victims.

• On 9 October, three skinheads broke into the synagogue in the city Oss, Netherlands, and threatened the worshippers.

• In the evening of 9 October, several young Arabs threw stones at the ‘Oheleycha Yaakov’ synagogue in the 19^th quarter in Paris. No damage was done.

• On 9 October, apparently at night, unknown persons smashed the front window of a Jewish library on Landelennstraat Street in Antwerp. The library is located in a quarter populated by Jews.

• On 10 October at 21:30, three Molotov cocktails were thrown into a synagogue in ‘Les Ulis,’ asuburb in the south west of Paris. The ground floor (the synagogue hall) was entirely burnt down. The synagogue’s rabbi was on the premises and succeeded in escaping to the second storey which was not yet in flames. The fire department arrived, rescued the rabbi and extinguished the fire.

• On 10 October in the evening, the chief rabbi of Paris received an anonymous call that the ‘Tournelle’ synagogue in Paris was about to be blown up. The caller later said the threat had been removed but the Jews should watch out.

• On 10 October, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Jewish high school in the 10^th quarter in Paris. No damage was done.

• In the morning of 10 October, when workers arrived at the ‘Beth Jacob’ Jewish school in Mexico City, they found several windows and panes broken. Stones had been thrown during the night. During the Day of atonement, the school was used as a synagogue.

• During the night between 10-11 October, an explosion was heard from the door of a synagogue the Trappes suburb, near Versailles. Flames later rose up from the inside of the synagogue which burnt down completely, including five of the Torah scrolls that were inside. The nearby cemetery was also been desecrated.

• On 11 October, a group of some 10 Arabs armed with baseball bats were walking around near the synagogue on Henri Murger Street in the 19^th quarter in Paris while worshippers were inside the building.

• On 11 October, an ANC demonstration was held in Capetown during which cries of ‘Death to the Jews’ were heard.

• During the night between 11-12 October, two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the synagogue in the Colombes suburb in Paris.

• During the night between 11-12 October, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the ‘Creil’ synagogue in Paris.

• During the night between 11-12 October, several incidents occurred against Jews in the Spanish enclave of Seuta in Morocco. A window and the entrance to the synagogue were smashed and damaged. Abusive slogans against Jews were discovered in the lobby.

• On 12 October, the synagogue in Seynes-Sur-Mer in the French Riviera (near Toulon) was set on fire.

• On 12 October, a threatening phonecall was received at the ‘Copernic’ synagogue in Paris.

• On 12 October, stones were thrown at a bus taking children from the ‘Tenouji’ school in the Savigny S/Orge suburb of Paris.

• On 12 October four young Arabs threw four bootles at a man wearing a skullcap and injured his head. The incident took place in Paris 20^th quarter.

• On 12 October, stones were thrown at night school students who were travelling in a car in Paris. The car windows were smashed.

• In the evening of 12 October in Chicago, unknown persons fired bullets from a passing car at an orthodox rabbi while he was parking his car near his home.

• In another incident in Chicago, on 12 October, three Palestinian youths hit two orthodox Jews with a slingshot. The youths were arrested by the police.

• During the night between 12-3 October, several Molotov cocktails were thrown at the ‘Bondy’ synagogue in Paris. One of the rooms went up in flames and extensive damage was caused.

• During the night between 12-13 October, the door of the ‘La Croix Julien’ synagogue in the 20^th quarter in Paris was torched. That same night, several people were sleeping inside the synagogue.

• During the night between 12-13 October, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a school in the St. Ouen suburb in Paris. Only slight damage was caused.

• The doors of two Jewish homes in Orly in south Paris were set on fire.

• A synagogue was torched in Toulouse.

• On 13 OctoberMolotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in the Strasbourg area.

• On 13 October, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in the Longjumeau suburb , Paris. The bottle did not ignite.

• On 13 October, a bottle bomb was thrown at a synagogue in the Garge- Les-Gonesses suburb in Paris.

• On 13 October, stones and pieces ok broken bottles were thrown at a synagogue in La Courneuve, next to Paris.

• On 13 October, at approximately 15:00, stones were thrown at the Jewish community building/synagogue in Madrid. Four windows were broken.

• On the night of 13 October, there was an explosion and subsequent fire in a synagogue in Syracuse, New York. No one was hurt but much damage was done to the premises.

• During the night between 13-14 October, several incidents occurred in Paris and its suburbs. Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue an Chevilly-La-Rue which is next to Paris. Slight damage was caused. Additional Molotov cocktails were found around the synagogue’s succah.

• In the 18^th quarter, a gang of youths set fire to a vehicle on which anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas were written. Later that night the same gang shattered windows of a shop belonging to a Jew in Paris in the same quarter.

• Stones were thrown at a kosher restaurant in the 9th quarter.

• A group of people tried to torch the door of a synagogue in Noisy-Le-Sec.

• A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Bagnolet. Slight damage was caused.

• During the night between 14-15 October, a bottle bomb was thrown at a synagogue/community center in Canberra, Australia.

• During the night between 14-15 October, windows of the ‘St. John's Wood’ synagogue in Britain were smashed.

• On 15 October, three Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in Pavillon street in Brussels.

• On 16 October, an orthodox Jew in his twenties was stabbed while riding a bus in Stamford Hill in north London. The attacker stabbed the Jew with a hunting knife about 20 times. The victim’s condition is extremely serious but stable. The 27-year old attacker, of Algerian origin, was arrested by the police.

For more on Anti-Semitic attacks, see:

Algerian repeatedly stabs Jew on London bus:
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/10/17/News/News.13877.html

U.S. Jews Wary of Spillover:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001013/ts/mideast_usa_dc_30.html

New aggressions in France against Jewish cult sites (in French):
http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,2320,106457,00.html
 

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Annex II

Latest News From the Front-Line (March 2000)*

This latest war of extermination is being supervised by Jews

The Russian Air Force has continued to launch numerous sorties and air strikes against Mujahideen positions and civilian locations in Chechnya. Mujahideen sources confirm that every aircraft that deploys its weapons is followed almost immediately by other strike aircraft. Russia could not undertake this profligate use of fuel, spare parts and ammunition without the financial and moral support provided to them by Jews and Crucifixers.

Russian Soldiers Sent to Zionist Hospitals in Occupied Palestine.

The forces of the World Zionist Movement have stepped up their support for Russia's war of extermination in Chechnya by providing large-scale medical support to the Russian Military. Mujahideen sources confirm that Russian hospitals can no longer cope with the large number of wounded Russian soldiers; Zionist forces have stepped in to fill the gap by transferring the wounded soldiers to hospitals in occupied Palestine.

The Zionists have provided their Satanic cousins in Russia with ample financial, planning and military support since the start of the genocide in Chechnya. It is ironic that the enemies of Islam are taking wounded Russian soldiers to be treated in hospitals in occupied Muslim lands. Indeed, this cooperation between the Jews and the Russians highlights the similarity of their fascist, Neo-Nazi crimes: both sides have occupied Muslim lands, both have committed atrocities against Muslim populations, and both are engaged in a systematic campaign to exterminate Muslims and the Muslim presence in the Holy Land and the Caucasus respectively.

Throughout these wars of extermination waged in Palestine and the Caucasus, the judge and jury of these crimes have been so-called international organizations, including the United Nations, the European Union, the OSCE and others...by Allah, they deliberately conceal the facts and hide the truth in order to fulfill their role in this global war against Muslims.

Where is the Umma in the face of this challenge?! Why do the Muslims not rush to help their wounded and to support their brothers and sisters around the world in general, and in Chechnya in particular? Do not Muslims see the folly in asking criminals and kuffar for the implementation of justice? Truly, human rights and the new world order are an exclusive luxury enjoyed by the unbelievers. Muslims have no share in this luxury today. They will, however, implement true justice when the Mujahideen crush the forces of unbelief and hypocrisy, Insha-Allah.

THE COMMANDERS OF THE MUJAHIDEEN IN CHECHNYA PLEDGE TO THE JEWS AND THEIR CRONIES IN THE KREMLIN: WAIT AND SEE, A NEW GIFT FROM THE MUJAHIDEEN IS ON ITS WAY!!!
 

*See: http://63.249.218.164/html/chechnyanews/chechnyanewsmar00.html

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Notes:
 

1. The blast killed 86 persons and injured hundreds. See Patterns Of Global Terrorism: 1994, US Department Of State, April 1995.

2. See Esther Webman, Anti-Semitic Motifs in the Ideology of Hizballah and Hamas, The Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism, Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University, 1994. For an account of the development of anti-Semitism in the Arab world, see Bernard Lewis, Semites and Anti-Semites. An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice (New York & London: W. W· Norton & Company, 1986), pp. 11-23, 117-140, 192-261; Rivka Yadlin, An Arrogant Oppressive Spirit. Anti-Zionism as Anti-Judaism in Egypt (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1989); Bernard Lewis, "The Arab World Discovers Anti-Semitism," Commentary, May 1986, pp. 30-35; Yehuda Bauer (ed.) Present-Day Antisemitism (Jerusalem: The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1988).  See also Hamas: The Charter of Allah: The Platform of the Islamic Resistance Movement, http://www.ict.org.il/articles/h_cov.htm); An Open Letter. The Hizballah Program, The Jerusalem Quarterly, No. Forty-Eight, Fall 1988 (the full text is at http://www.ict.org.il/Articles/Hiz_letter.htm).

3. Cited by Martin Kramer, in The Salience of Islamic Antisemitism, a lecture delivered by Prof. Kramer at the Institute of Jewish Affairs in London and published in its "Reports" series (no. 2, October 1995).

4. Ramallah Al-Ayyam, 16 August 1999, FBIS-NES-1999-0821.

5. As stated by Khomeini in a speech given on 19 Feb. 1978 at Najjef, a year before his advent to power. Cited by Amnon Nezer in The Monthly Review, March 1988, pp. 15-38, Israeli Ministry of Defense Publications, Tel-Aviv (in Hebrew).

6. For a chronology of terrorist acts by Palestinian orgaizations see: Ariel Merari and Shlomi Elad, The International Dimension of Palestinian Terrorism (published For The Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies by Jerusalem Post and Westview Press, Boulder, Colo. 1986).

7. Kurz Anat with Nahman Tal, Hamas: Radical Islam in a National Struggle, (Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel-Aviv University, (Memorandum No 48, July 1997), http://www.tau.ac.il:81/jcss/memo48.html; Meir Hatina, Palestinian Radicalism: The Islamic Jihad Movement, (Jeruslem: Grafit 1994, in Hebrew).

8. On Iran’s terrorism policy see Ely Karmon, “Why Tehran Starts and Stops Terrorism?” Middle East Quarterly, December 1998, Vol. V, No. 4.

9. Grenades were thrown at the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul on March 1, 1992 and injured one Jewish passer-by; the car of a prominent Jewish businessman and community activist, Jak Kamhi, was attacked with automatic weapons and a rocket-launcher on January 28, 1993, but he escaped with life; on June 7, 1995 a bomb was placed in the car of YudaYurum, the president of the Jewish community in Ankara, but fortunately he was only slightly injured.

10. See Ely Karmon, “The Demise of Radical Islam in Turkey,” (http://www.ict.org.il/articles/radical-islam-turkey.htm), to be published by the Begin – Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University and the State University of New York Press.

11. For a discussion on this subject, see Yoram Schweitzer, “Middle East Terrorism: The ‘Afghani Alumni’,” in Shlomo Bram & Yiftah Shapir (eds.), Military Balance in the Middle East 1999-2000, Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies (JCSS), (Tel-Aviv: MIT Press 2000) pp.121-133.

12. El Sayyid A. Nosair, an American of Egyptian origin killed Kahana on November 5, 1990. Police found in his home a list of Jewish personalities: Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY), Judges Jack B. Weinstein and Edward Korman of US District Court in Brooklyn; former assistant US attorney Jacques Simmelman, and Howard Adelman, a columnist for the Jewish Press. However he was acquited by the jury. Nosair was condemend for this murder only after he was arrested for the involvement with the Islamist terrorist group under the leadership of Sheikh Abdel Rahman, responsible for the bombing of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, N.Y. in 1993.

    
    The group that bombed the World Trade Center intended, besides waging major terrorist attacks against American targets in New York: to put a large bomb in the NY diamond sector, where many Jews work and live; to attack a Jewish summer camp in the Catskill mountains; to assassinate several prominent Jewish and pro-Israeli personalities (like senator D’Amato) and the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gad Yaakovi.

13. Abdelkader (?) “About the Zionist Campaign against the Islamic Revolution in Algeria: A Statement by GIA (the Algerian Armed Movement)”, Radio Islam No. 3-4, 1994, in Swedish.

14. In 1999 at least five liberal and reformist writers and intellectuals have been assassinated in Iran. Security officers described by the regime as “rogue elements” have been accused of the killings but none has gone yet on trial. One high-level security official died in prison while awaiting trial and the authorities said he committed suicide. The 13 Jews accused of spying for Israel and treason have gone on a mock trial in May 2000. The fact that they have been found guilty and condemned after the victory of the reformist camp at the general elections of March 2000 shows how strong is still the radical terrorist prone camp of the Iranian regime. See New York Times of April 26 and May 4, 2000.

15. Usama bin Ladin, Declaration of War (Expel The Infidels From The Arab  Peninsula),(Azzam Publications, 26 August 1996). See the Declaration at http://www.webstorage.com/~azzam/html/ declaration_of_war.html; The fatwa was published in Al-Quds al-'Arabi on Febuary 23, 1998 and the translated text can be found at http://www.ict.org.il/articles/fatwah.htm.

16. Ely Karmon, Terrorism a la Bin Ladin is not a Peace Process Problem, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Policywatch, No. 347, Oct.1998.

17. AFP, quoting ABC news of 21 January 2000.

18. “Oh you who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians as friends and protectors, they (Jews and Christians) are friends and protectors of each other, whomsoever takes them as friends and protectors is one of them.” [Quran 5:51] Sheikh Al Islam Ibn Taymiya said: “Whosoever takes wala from a Jew is in turn a Jew himself, whomsoever takes wala from a Christian is in turn a Christian himself.” These citations are taken from one of the 18 mirror English and multilingual websites belonging to Chechen Islamist militants http://63.249.218.164/html/chechnyanews

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[miltonim]

Muhammad's Koran-inspired persecution of Christians, Jews and all non-Muslims continues...