Posted on 01/31/2005 10:01:36 AM PST by dennisw
An explosive New York Sun article reprinted at the Counterterrorism blog. As you can see, I was consulted on this story, and I will be posting more about it momentarily:
A radical Islamic Web site systematically tracks Christians on PalTalk.com, an Internet chat service on which a New Jersey man received a death threat two months before he and his family were murdered. The password protected Arabic Web site, at the address www.barsomyat.com, features pictures and information about Christians who have been particularly active in debating Muslims on PalTalk.One page from barsomyat.com features a group of photographs of a Syrian Christian, "Joseph," who now lives in Canada. Barsomyat.com's users have posted personal information about Joseph, including his brother's parole status, and make clear that they are actively trying to track down his current address.
Subscribers also post explicit warnings to Joseph. One comment states, "Know, oh Christian, that you are not far from us and you are under our watchful eyes!" Another user remarks, "Laugh, oh Chrisitan, and soon you will see a big hit."
Ahmed Paul, an Egyptian Christian and a theology student in America, said he believes Joseph was targeted because he frequently engaged in debates with Muslims on PalTalk. The Internet chat service attracts up to 3 million users a month, and subjects range from movies to music to religion to adult topics -- and some Arabic-speaking users of PalTalk have reported that contentious debates between Christians and Muslims are common in certain chat rooms.
Hossam Armanious, a Coptic Christian from Jersey City, N.J., who was found murdered earlier this month, frequently debated with Muslims on PalTalk. Two months before Armanious's murder, authorities said he received a death threat from a Muslim PalTalk user: "You'd better stop this bull ... or we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you." On January 14, Armanious and his family -- including two daughters, ages 15 and 8 -- were found killed in their Jersey City home, bound and gagged with their throats slashed.
Authorities have not determined whehter Islamic extremists are to blame for the Armanious family's murder, nor is there any apparent link between the murder and barsomyat.com's tracking of Christians on PalTalk. However, many barsomyat.com users expressed jubilation at the deaths.
One user posted a photograph of Hossam Armanious and wrote, "This is a picture of the filthy dog, curser of Muhammad, and a photo of his filthy wife, curser of Muhammad. They got what they deserved for their actions in America."
In all, about 40 different discussion threads on barsomyat.com berate the Christians of PalTalk, and there are at least seven collections of photographs of PalTalk Christians. The barsomyat.com discussion threads seem to focus on Arabic-speaking Christians rather than those who speak English.
Barsomyat.com features not only photographs of the targeted Christians, but also attempts to track down their addresses. A post about a Christian man whose computer was apparently hacked to obtain his photograph includes the man's PalTalk name, his real name, and the city where he resides in Lebanon.
Another barsomyat.com entry outlines the relations (both blood and marital) between four Christians who are apparently PalTalk users, posts photographs of them, and then states, "We have postponed publishing this information because there is a lot more to be revealed when the time is right."
Even barsomyat.com's banner displays its hatred of Christians. The banner displays a crucifix crossed out by a violent red "X," and the main heading reads in Arabic, "Christians: Revealing the Truth Behind Our Belief."
Judging by the posts, almost all of barsomyat.com's users are Middle Eastern, and they are predominantly Egyptian. Mr. Paul said that's significant because the extremists on barsomyat.com live in societies where people simply do not challenge Islam and would never dream of insulting Prophet Muhammad.
Mr. Paul, who is an Islamic convert to Christianity, said when Islamic radicals from such societies participate in Internet debates with Christians who live in societies that promote free speech, they are often shocked by the Christians' arguments and view their debating opponents as blasphemers. And in the eyes of Islamic extremists, blasphemers are worhty of death.
Author Robert Spencer, who has been following the Armanious case for his Web site Jihad Watch, described barsomyat.com as "extremely important" after it was shown to him.
"I have never seen anything like this before," Mr. Spencer said. "It's chilling to see photographs of people who probably have no idea that they're on the Web site. Hamas's Web site would post self-congratulatory accounts of their attacks on civilians, but barsomyat.com's users are telegraphiing their intended victims in advance."
Mr. Spencer added that barsomyat.com is a "prime example" of how some Islamic extremists can utilize technology to attempt to bring Islamic religious law to the West.
"We saw in the Theo van Gogh murders that some Muslims will take these kinds of matters into their own hands," Mr. Spencer said. "The Internet makes it easier for them to do so by disseminating this kind of information. You could imagine 15 years ago how hard it would be for people to get this much information on people who they believe should be killed."
Barsomyat.com is registered to Viza-Web Inc., a Web hosting company based in Woodbury, Minn.
We need to begin getting ready if these scum are tracking us. My rifle is good to go, and concealed carry of handguns here is a step away (I hope it comes soon, though), so I'm ready to defend myself with deadly force if need be.
Bears repeating! More importantly, we MUST keep this story alive and the pressure on the MSM!
Orthodox Ping!
I think you're right. Like their goal to be the world's dominate (or only) religion...Christians are letting the cat out of the bag.
It appears to me that they are saying that Christians are revealing to the world that the core belief of the Muslim religion is death to all infidels.
The "moderates" would have us believe that their's is a religion of toleration and peace which, of course, is a lie.
these guys need to meet up with the wrath of some 1337 h4x0rz.
That'll take some of the starch out of these screwheads.
AFAIK, Paltalk is the most secure chat servers in the world. That sounds strange!
We KNOW there are sleepers here at FR.
The private e-mail I received from the "proud Jewish Muslim" proves it.
And since I know you have lived in as a dhimmie in Islamic lands...do you think Muslims would find pics of our favorite movie actresses offensive?
Like the lovely Ms. Loren, for example...would a pic of her (like below) upset their delicate sensibilities...
This kind of stuff is gonna keep happening until it becomes passe to kill, mame, and torture in the name of religious freedom in this country and when muslims "not prone" to such behavior get so fed up that they demand that "radical" muslims get their arses kicked and some forms of serious punishment for it takes place.
I think you are correct...actually, I thought everyone but the President (God bless him) knew about the death to infidel stuff (and I think the President knows but isn't letting on).
I think I will buy more ammunition. I hope it does not come down to that, but best to be prepared. I think it is possible the people in New Jersey may not have thought it would happen to them either.
yes, but if they bait you, act friendly, send you pics, then ask for pics, they can trick you into thinking they are friendly.
That is possible!
When the Koranimal admin of an Islamic forum spammed my email (I use a new hotmail account for every forum I sign up on).. half of it was p0rn, so you can guess what they spend the day on their computers doing.
The rest was death threats and viruses.
PS, check your mail in a sec.
At this point, FReepers have a choice:
They can either stay off the muzzie threads so they won't be tracked or they can throw the challenges to our First Amendment rights back in the faces of this vermin.
I have already warned several people that these threads are only for those with the ability and the inclination to protect themselves.
I chose my course a long time ago.
Islam is a cult of the devil. Mohammed was a pedophile and a murderer. May he sleep in pig crap forever.
To Christians:
Stay armed, stay ready! The war is coming to a neighborhood near you!
Wow, not only a sleeper but a moron sleeper. You don't mix "jew" and "muslim". You are either one or the other (or something else!) but there are no jewish muslims. or muslim jews. sheesh.
There is an interesting paradox in what these muslims are saying: "How do you know it was muslims who do it" and "don't infer it was muslims" at the same time they say how glad they are that the Armanious family were killed-- by muslims.
This is exactly what we heard after 9/11--"how do you know it was muslims flying the planes" mixed with "America deserved it because of it's foreign policy toward the islamic world".
Ok guys. Pick one. You can't have it both ways.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.