Posted on 10/28/2003 2:51:07 PM PST by anotherview
Oct. 28, 2003
Report: British Muslims planning attacks against Israel
By DOUGLAS DAVIS
Israeli military officials have raised the alarm about young British Muslims who might be using Syria as a platform for planning terrorist attacks, according to the London Times on Monday.
The paper said the Israeli officials have now asked security agencies in Britain to help track down several of the estimated 50 young British Muslims who have "gone missing" after traveling to Syria in recent months.
They also noted that at least three men traveling on British passports are being "sheltered in the Gaza Strip by terrorist groups."
And there are suspicions, the paper reported, that some young British Muslims may have slipped into Iraq to join in attacks against American and British troops.
Israeli concern has been heightened by the involvement of two British suicide bombers in the attack on Mike's Cafe in Tel Aviv on April 30. Three people died and a further 40 were injured in the attack.
An unnamed senior Israeli army officer told the Times that the bombing was not organized by local Palestinians but had been planned abroad.
He said that one of the bombers, Asif Mohammed Hanif, had been in Syria for five months before crossing into Israel and had met leading Hamas figures in Damascus. The second, Omar Khan Sharif, had been "activated" for the mission even before he left Britain.
"We certainly believe there are other British citizens who plan to do the same," the Israeli officer was quoted as saying.
He said the army had been ordered to track down three British passport holders - ostensibly peace activists like Hanif and Sharif - over the past three months.
He declined to say whether any of the three had been found, but noted that, "having a genuine British passport, as these two had, certainly made it easier for them to cross into Israel and move around the country."
Israeli diplomats are also said to have made their concerns known to the Foreign Office here and to have handed over documents printed in Britain by Islamic extremists urging others to become suicide bombers.
The paper quoted a Syrian official as having said there had been an increase in the number of applications from young British men to visit the country over the past year.
All had given addresses of colleges and other institutions where they planned to study, he said, adding that Syrian investigations were continuing into the activities of Hanif and Sharif.
London-based Islamic extremist Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammed, who gave "religious instruction" to the two British suicide bombers, praised their actions: "I knew Sharif very well and I'm very proud of him and any Muslim who will do the same as he did. He died for my sake and the sake of his brothers." The two men, he added, "died on the battlefield and will now go to paradise."
People need to realize that the U.S. is fighting the same enemy that Israel is fighting, and that both countries are in the same war on terrorism.
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