A pro-Palestinian protester, with a fake explosives belt, demonstrating near London's Trafalgar Square. (Photo: Fernando Cavalcanti)
Posted on 05/20/2002 9:58:17 AM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
A pro-Palestinian protester, with a fake explosives belt, demonstrating near London's Trafalgar Square. (Photo: Fernando Cavalcanti)
LONDON - British Jews recently began an organized effort to prepare for a possible outbreak of suicide terrorism, but those involved decided to keep the effort under wraps to avoid causing panic.
On Wednesday Jewish activists and rabbis will meet with the Israeli group Zaka - the Haredi Rescue and Recovery voluntary organization - to discuss Jewish law procedures for evacuating the bodies of terrorist victims. Zaka is preparing a seminar to train volunteers to evacuate and identify victims of terror attacks, based on experience and lessons learned in Israel.
The course begins in June and dozens of volunteers have indicated an interest in registering for it. Experience accumulated in Britain during incidents such as the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 disaster at Lockerbie will be reviewed.
But the Jewish community is not alone in believing it is just a matter of time until a mass suicide attack reaches Britain. British security sources say Scotland Yard and intelligence experts are worried that the suicide terrorist phenomenon could soon arrive in Britain, and local security forces lack the know-how or means to counter such a threat.
This assessment was reinforced several months ago when a senior delegation from Scotland Yard visited Sri Lanka and Israel to study how both countries deal with suicide attacks. The British visitors got an unequivocal message - suicide bombings will increase in the coming years, and not just by radical Islamic groups, but by militant secular organizations seeking to spread terrorism.
Israeli security officials briefed Barbara Wilding, who led the Scotland Yard delegation, on how the suicide tactic has gradually spread in the Middle East. A source knowledgeable about British security forces told Ha'aretz: "The use of suicide bombers has become a ritual that crosses borders and organizations, and is regarded as an efficient response to the intelligence, military, and technological superiority of the security services in the West. In the Middle East, we've seen how the use of this weapon has been developed and improved by Hezbollah in Lebanon, and then copied by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, and lately moved over to secular organizations like Fatah or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Now these organizations recruit men and women alike for these operations."
According to this source "suicide attacks are regarded today in Britain and among other security services in Europe as a general threat, because the concept of martyrdom could also take hold among extreme Christian right-wing organizations, and there are already some signs of this in the United States. The concern is that Europe might be the next target for these types of attack."
Scotland Yard has formed a special committee led by Wilding, the head of security at Scotland Yard, to handle the threat of suicide terrorism. Relying on lessons drawn from the experiences of security services in Israel, the U.S. and Asia, this team is devising preventive procedures.
The Sunday Times reported last week that the task force is studying how to deploy snipers against suicide bombers and has asked the Home Office to design robots like those used in Israel to detect and disarm explosives. But some security experts are saying these efforts are "too little, too late."
Pro-Palestinian activists have received logistic and financial support from left-wing organizations, as well as encouragement from some Labor Party MPs, including George Galloway, who is married to a Palestinian, and Jeremy Corbyn. At a discussion at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies on May 2, Galloway was reported as saying: "The suicide bombers are freedom fighters, not terrorists. I salute all of the fighters and all of the martyrs of Palestine ... Children throwing stones and becoming suicide bombers are heroes ... we must support the PLO and assist them in wiping out the Zionist entity."
Galloway's alleged comments apparently contravene British laws against incitement and promotion of terrorist attacks. Ha'aretz contacted Galloway for a reaction, but he was unavailable by press time.
As reported in Sunday's Ha'aretz, a week ago 20 pro-Palestinian leftists tried to storm the Israeli embassy in London. Embassy guards, reinforced by British police, repulsed these protesters. News of the attack was suppressed from the media for a week - again to avoid alarming Britain's Jewish community.
Additional terrorist attacks on the United States will likely include walk-in suicide bombers...
www.msnbc.com | 05/20/02 | Unknown
Posted on 5/20/02 11:03 AM Pacific by kcvl
May 20 — Additional terrorist attacks against the United States, described as “almost certain” over the weekend by Vice President Dick Cheney, will likely include walk-in suicide bombers like those plaguing Israel and plots orchestrated by enemies other than the al-Qaida network, government officials said Monday.
I wonder how much longer before we as a country realize we are allowing snakes in the grass to invade us. People who do not want to assimilate into their chosen land of immigration should not be allowed to stay. They should stay in their own lands if they don't like it here. I'm sorry to sound so regressive, but this is just going too far.
There should be some sort of loyalty oath that new immigrants take, and if they do one thing to show that they're not loyal, then they have to be deported.
During WWII, people must have been smarter. They were on the watch for any Germans or Japanese who tried to infiltrate the US and England. But today we have to allow our enemies to live here and wage jihad on us.
Well, the only solace I have is that we're all in the same boat, and those who are responsible for endangering this country's safety will have to suffer with the rest of us.
Well, there we go... that's what Europeans should *really* be afraid of. Not so much the peace-loving Muslim immigrants, but Europe's nearly non-existent "right-wing" Christians (are there actually *any* fundamentalist Christians left in Europe?). If my laptop's LCD wasn't so expensive, I just might puke on it right now. Another Euroweenie gem.
What a load of manure! If suicide bombings do start happening in the U.S. it won't be Christians doing it. It will be Muslims.
This is part of the leftist media's ongoing attempt to condemn Christianity at least as much as Islam for the 9/11 attacks. It's getting more and more difficult with Islamic violence escalating, and the eagerly anticipated Christian violent response a no-show. But that doesn't mean the media has given up its favorite storyline just yet.
How we deal with more terrorism here in the States will no doubt raise some interesting questions. For years now, we've had leaders who have advised Israel to just deal with and try to negotiate with very persistent terrorists. If we get to the point where we decide to shut out Muslims, our attempts to be peace dealers in the Middle East will become (more obviously) hypocritical.
I bet most Brits would react to terrorist homocide bombings like the Americans. Including the sprinkling of goofball peaceniks, just like we have.
Pure scaremongering. What Christian right-wing organizations? The 700 Club? Gimme a break!
THAT would be a really truly bad idea. REALLY bad idea. TRULY bad.
Potential suicide bombers here in the US? You betcha. They're already here alright.
Multi-culturalism was 'foisted on the islands' as you put it when the British invited workers from the West Indies to come and do jobs that its own subjects wouldn't do. There is also the impact of having been a colonnial power. Many of the people who settle in the UK have come from former colonies. They speak the language, have family in Britain and feel linked to it.
But like I said, I hate fundamentalism, especially when it is violent or racist. It's just a shame that a minority of violent extremists can affect the treatment and reputation of others within their community.
How socialist of them. No sense informing the public so that they can DEFEND THEMSELVES. Can't do that, because they might realize that the government is unable (or too compromised by political correctness) to protect them.
Wonder how much of this kind of news is being supressed here.
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