Jewish Voice for Peace: Fatal Jerusalem Terrorist Attack "Grim," But Gaza

Friday's terrorist attack at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem provided yet another example of how apologists avoid acknowledging the reality of Palestinian violence.

Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television's first headline made it seem like three Palestinians were shot dead for no particular reason. "At least three Palestinians killed in shooting in Jerusalem's Old City," the network posted on Twitter.

The three were killed after they shot and killed two police officers and wounded a third in an unprovoked attack.

In the United States, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which claims to want a safe and secure state for both Israelis and Palestinians, reacted to the terrorist attack by sharing a Facebook post posting a video about the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip. "The news today of armed Palestinians killed by Israeli occupying police near Al Aqsa mosque is grim, sad and frightening but won't include the backdrop of Gaza in the dark, its undrinkable water, children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder... each day becoming more unlivable," JVP wrote.

This apparent rationalization of a terrorist attack that killed two Israeli police officers by Israeli Arabs who opened fire after prayer on the Temple Mount is not a surprising move by Jewish Voice for Peace.

A Palestinian activist at a JVP conference earlier this year urged the audience to become "freedom fighters" by utilizing "guerilla disobedience" because activism against the occupation was not enough.

At another panel on Zionism, JVP argued that Israel is an apartheid state ignoring equal rights and opportunities of Israeli Arabs, while also pushing the notion that Zionism should not exist. Zionism was a movement aimed at the reestablishment of a Jewish state.

JVP championed the case of convicted terrorist Rasmieh Odeh, who was responsible for a 1969 grocery store bombing that killed two Israeli students. JVP invited Odeh to speak at its conference in April, just after she pleaded guilty to naturalization fraud and agreed to be deported. Odeh claims her Israeli terrorism conviction resulted from weeks of torture. Though she has no evidence to support this, JVP embraces it as truth.

For a group supposedly inspired by their faith to work for justice and equality for both Israelis and Palestinians, Jewish Voice for Peace is disturbingly quiet about condemning terrorist violence targeting Israelis.

Apologists Gear Up for Rasmieh Odeh's Last Hurrah

Palestinian terrorist Rasmieh Odeh likely will be deported shortly after a federal judge formally sentences her next month for naturalization fraud. Her supporters are planning one final bash in her honor featuring radical political activist Angela Davis.

A promotion for the Aug. 12 event in Chicago notes it costs $5 – $6.17 with service fees – and promises "a night of music, poetry, and struggle."

Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner

Odeh pleaded guilty in April, admitting that she failed to disclose her arrest, conviction and 10 years spent in an Israeli prison after being convicted in connection to two 1969 Jerusalem bombings. One bombing targeted a grocery store, killing college students Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner.

Her plea agreement with federal prosecutors calls for no additional jail time, but it includes a stipulation stripping Odeh of her American citizenship and says "she will not be allowed to remain in the United States" and can never return.

Her supporter blindly accept Odeh's claim that her Israeli conviction resulted from weeks of vicious torture, even though the only evidence to support this claim is Odeh's word. A Red Cross monitor declared her Israeli trial fair, and her father was in contact with U.S. diplomats at the time and reported no such abuse.

Further, her sworn plea agreement included language that renders the torture claims moot:

"At the time she made the false statements, [Odeh] knew the statements were false," the plea agreement says. She "also admits that all of these false statements were material ... She made the false statements intentionally and not as a result of any mistake, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or any other psychological issue or condition or for any innocent reason, and not withstanding any other statement or testimony Defendant Odeh may have made at any other time regarding those answers."

Nevertheless, Odeh stood by her story days later, calling the government's case "a phony immigration charge" and blasting "the racist nature of the justice system in this country."

Her followers appear to have no second thoughts about whether their hero is an honest person, let alone an unrepentant killer. While it's one last hurrah for Odeh, the Aug. 12 event offers yet another example proving that, for Israel haters, facts really aren't important.

Islamic Radicalization in the Military Surfaces Again

In November 2009, U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan opened fire on fellow soldiers at a Fort Hood, Texas processing facility, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others. An ensuing investigation determined Hasan had exhibited outward signs of his Islamist radicalization to fellow Army officers. Even though his superiors were aware, officials did nothing to counter Hasan's radicalization nor his position in the Army.

In July 2011, another U.S. Army soldier, Naser Jason Abdo, was arrested by the FBI near Fort Hood with bomb making materials and a firearm. He planned to bomb his fellow soldiers at a nearby restaurant and shoot any survivors trying to escape to safety. Abdo was convicted for attempting use of a weapon of mass destruction and sentenced to life imprisonment. Abdo told his mother the reason for his actions was religion.

There have been other cases of Islamic radicals in uniform, to include here. The latest case appeared Saturday, with the arrest of U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Ikaika Kang in Hawaii on federal terrorism charges. An FBI affidavit describes Kang's radicalization process beginning as early as 2011. Kang publicly expressed his radical Islamic intentions, to include his support for ISIS and his desire to commit violence against fellow soldiers. The Army, in response, merely temporarily revoked Kang's security clearance in 2012 but reinstated it in 2013 after Kang "complied with military requirements stemming from the investigation."

By early 2016, the affidavit says, "it appeared that Kang was becoming radicalized" and the Army referred the matter to the FBI that August. From December 2016 to March 2017, the Army provided "negative counseling" to Kang, apparently in an attempt to counter his radicalization that included his pro-ISIS statements to his fellow service members. Among them, if deployed to Iraq he would not shoot at ISIS fighters, that U.S. military personnel were terrorists and the 9/11 attacks were an inside job by the U.S. government.

The Kang case demonstrates the longstanding military practice of genuflection before the altar of political correctness remains. Lethal lessons from Fort Hood have not been learned. Outside the military, the government's Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program founded under the prior administration sought to downplay radical Islamic terrorism and up-focus "right-wing" extremism, even when facts and statistics failed that narrative. The current administration has begun the effort to turn that CVE process in the better direction, but that process is not easy.

Palestinian Group Hosts Terrorist Fundraising Event in Germany

The Democratic Committee of Palestine hosted an event in Berlin Saturday to raise money for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group, according to the Berlin daily Tagesspiegl and reported by the Jerusalem Post.

The event reportedly took place in the building that also hosts Neues Deutschland's publishing house – a socialist newspaper.

A recent NGO Monitor report outlines how several European governments fund organizations with PFLP links. The PFLP is a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization designated by the EU and other Western states. These NGOs often justify attacks against Israeli civilians and maintain ties to known terrorists.

According to the NGO Monitor report, PFLP operatives founded some of the listed organizations directly, while other groups include staff members who were convicted of terrorism-related charges by Israeli courts. These so-called human rights organizations are at the forefront for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, while prominent individuals within some of the NGOs are known to promote violence and anti-Semitism.

Berlin Mayor Michael Müller faced criticism for not blocking the PFLP fundraiser. Müller also faced backlash for allowing Hizballah sympathizers and members to participate in an annual al-Quds Day march in Berlin last month.

There are roughly 250 active Hizballah operatives in Berlin and a total of 950 Hizballah members throughout Germany, according to a 2014 Berlin intelligence report summarized by the Jerusalem Post. Though the number of Hizballah supporters in Germany is believed to be far higher.

While the European Union, including Germany, designated Hizballah's military wing as a terrorist entity, Germany allows Hizballah's political wing to operate freely.

Recent developments suggest that political and fundraising groups affiliated with Palestinian terrorist organizations are tolerated in Germany as well.

Students for Justice in Palestine Normalizes Hatred

Photo: NYU SJP / Facebook

Three terrorists are shot and killed after fatally stabbing a police officer. A student activist group echoes social media accounts calling their deaths an "execution."

This warped reaction can only involve Israel and those bent on its destruction.

In this case, three Palestinians attacked and killed Israeli border police officer Hadas Malka outside Jerusalem's Damascus Gate before being killed by other officers nearby. Student's for Justice in Palestine (SJP) expressed its displeasure by sharing a Facebook post that states, "Three Palestinian teens were executed this evening by Zionist occupation forces at the Damascus Gate in occupied Jerusalem..."

ISIS claimed responsibility for Malka's murder. Hamas praised the attack, the Jerusalem Post reported, "but disputed Islamic State's claim, stating that the perpetrators were affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine."

Terrorist organizations therefore are competing for credit in killing a 23-year-old woman. SJP could have condemned her death, or it could have stayed silent. Instead, it turned the attack into an opportunity to accuse Israel of wrongdoing.

Such twisted logic is entirely consistent for SJP.

Its University of Chicago chapter hosted convicted felon Rasmieh Odeh in May. Odeh spent 10 years in an Israeli prison after being convicted for her role in a 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing that killed two students.

SJP's New York University chapter managed to turn the controversial police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile into an attack on Israel exactly one year ago: "We must remember that many US police departments train with the #IsraeliDefenseForces," the group wrote on it Facebook page. "The same forces behind the genocide of black people in America are behind the genocide of Palestinians."

The Fordham University dean of students faced backlash after banning an SJP chapter on his campus because he said it was hard to accept a group whose entire focus was delegitimizing one country only, Israel.

SJP consistently spews anti-Semitic sentiments as well as hatred for the state of Israel. As such, it is quite skilled at making noise and getting attention, but less successful in accomplishing any of its goals.

Study: European Muslims Perpetrate Disproportionate Number of Anti-Semitic Attacks

A disproportionate number of perpetrators of anti-Semitic violence in Western Europe are "individuals of Muslim background," a rigorous new study shows.

Johannes Due Enstad authored the study, "Antisemitic Violence in Europe, 2005-2015," jointly published this month by the Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities and Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo. The report systematically compares anti-Semitic violence in various countries, relying on incident data compiled from police reports and a 2012 survey on anti-Semitism carried out by the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

The study examines seven countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany. Among respondents within these four countries, victims of anti-Semitic violence and threats "most often perceived the perpetrator(s) to be 'someone with a Muslim extremist view'." France experiences the highest level of violent anti-Semitic incidents in the broader sample.

From "Antisemitic Violence in Europe, 2005-2015", p 17

"It is also worth noting that in France, Sweden and the UK (but not in Germany) the perpetrator was perceived to be left-wing more often than right-wing," the study's author finds.

As opposed to the Western European experience, right-wing extremists exclusively perpetrate reported incidents of violent anti-Semitism in Russia, despite hosting Europe's biggest Muslim population and a relatively large Jewish constituency. These stark differences suggest that it is important to differentiate between particular Muslim communities and radicalization processes across Europe.

"Country of origin appears to play a major role, as does the level of religiosity—the more religious people are, the more anti-Semitic they are likely to be," the study concludes.

The study also shows that while there is a marked increase in anti-Semitic violence associated with major episodes in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not all surges in Middle East tensions lead to more attacks against Jews in Europe. Though events in the Middle East may offer opportunities for potential violent offenders to lash out, the study's author argues that "anti-Semitic attitudes and violence propensity are likely necessary conditions to trigger such attacks."

With Muslim perpetrators conducting the bulk of anti-Semitic violence across Western Europe, it is no surprise that the report also finds that Muslims in the region maintain significantly higher levels of anti-Semitic attitudes compared to the general population. This finding has been corroborated by several recent studies focusing on anti-Semitism among Europe's Muslim communities.

For example, the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy (ISGAP) published a study in 2015 showing that Muslims have been responsible for a "disproportionate" number of anti-Semitic attacks and incidents in Europe over the last 15 years.

That study examined several surveys related to European Muslim attitudes conducted since 2006 and compares results from various European countries, with an emphasis on the United Kingdom and France. Most of those surveys focused on respondents' views toward Jewish stereotypes, asking subjects whether they agree with statements such as, "the Jews have too much power in politics" and "the Jews have too much power in the media." In each country under study, the number of Muslims agreeing with those anti-Semitic statements far exceeded that of non-Muslims.

Though the ISGAP report acknowledged that surveys comparing Muslim and non-Muslim beliefs are subject to criticism, "the sum of available studies to date provides strong evidence that the level of anti-Semitism is indeed particularly high among Muslims."

Hizballah-linked Paraguayan is Charged in Miami in a Drug Conspiracy

A Paraguayan man with ties to Hizballah pleaded not guilty in Miami federal court on Monday, after being charged with conspiring to distribute massive amounts of cocaine to the United States, the Miami Herald reports.

Paraguay's authorities arrested Ali Issa Chamas in August at an international airport for attempting to smuggle 39 kilos of cocaine. Chamas was extradited to Miami in June and now awaits trial.

But Chamas' indictment failed to reference his intimate relationship to Hizballah associates and operatives.

Chamas is of Lebanese origin and lived in Paraguay over the last decade. In addition to Brazil and Argentina, Paraguay is part of the Tri-Border Area (TBA), a region that enables Hizballah to cultivate a major base of operations. With a large Muslim population featuring significant numbers of Hizballah sympathizers, the terrorist organization uses this area for recruitment, arms smuggling and drug trafficking, and logistics planning for terrorist operations.

The State Department has stated that the TBA remains "an important regional nexus of arms, narcotics, pirated goods, human smuggling, counterfeiting, and money laundering – all potential funding sources for terrorist organizations."

Hizballah also relies on legitimate businesses and front organizations in the region, diversifying its terrorist financing profile to generate a significant portion of its revenues from its Latin American operations.

With Venezuelan government help, the terrorist group continues to expand its presence and consolidate support in other Latin American countries. The Treasury Department revealed that Venezuela's Vice President Tareck El Aissami maintains intimate ties to Hizballah and helped coordinate narcotics shipments to drug cartels operating on the U.S. border, including Mexico's infamous Los Zetas. In 2011, Virginia prosecutors said that a Lebanese man helped the Mexican Los Zetas drug cartel smuggle of more than 100 tons of Colombian cocaine. The U.S. Treasury Department claimed that Hizballah benefitted financially from the criminal network.

Muslim Brotherhood Affiliate Claims Responsibility for Cairo Attack

The Muslim Brotherhood-linked Hasm Movement claimed responsibility for a deadly terrorist attack targeting Egyptian security forces in Cairo on Sunday.

Its operatives detonated an "anti-vehicle explosive device" under a road "at the Maadi Autostrada south of Cairo... which led to the destruction of the military vehicle and the killing of two officers and the wounding of three other soldiers who still fighting death," said a Hasm Movement statement released shortly after the attack and translated by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT).

Intelligence collected by Egypt's interior ministry suggests that the Muslim Brotherhood is establishing "terrorist entities," including the Hasm Movement and others, to carry out attacks in an attempt to conceal the Brotherhood's responsibility.

In May, Najah Ibrahim, a former leader of the terrorist organization Gamma'a Islamiya, revealed these terrorist offshoots consist of Muslim Brotherhood youth seeking to escalate violence against the Egyptian regime. Ibrahim told al-Hayat news that some Brotherhood leaders encouraged the terrorist groups to commit violence, according to an IPT translation.

Part of the terrorist group's justification for Sunday's attack alluded to Egypt's controversial and impending transfer of two small islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia.

"The continuation of the criminal coup [Egyptian] regime in selling the homeland, giving up its land and capabilities ... obliges us to undertake more resistance activity to tear them off the chest of this helpless people," the statement said.

Muslim Brotherhood figures continue to engage in violence incitement and encouraging others to conduct terrorist attacks.

In April, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, 'Izz Al-Din Dwedar, called for an "intifada" targeting Egyptian embassies around the world, in a Facebook post translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

In protest of death sentences handed to members of the Brotherhood in Egypt, Dwedar suggested for violent action on May 3.

Egyptians abroad should "protest [outside] Egyptian embassies and lay siege to them, and steadily escalate [their actions], up to and including raiding the embassies in some countries, disrupting their work and occupying them if possible, in order to raises awareness to our cause," Dwedar wrote.

Former Obama DHS Adviser Tweets Support for Qatar

A former Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) member with Muslim Brotherhood sympathies expressed support for Qatar this week, as the Gulf State finds itself increasingly isolated for its terror support.

Even the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on Qatar to halt its terror support, but Mohamed Elibiary retweeted several statements supporting the Gulf emirate. "Qatar is a land of civilization, peace, success, love, vision, respect, cooperation and challenge: international report (UN)," said one post Elibiary reposted.

Another retweet shows Gazans rallying in support of Qatar five days after Saudi Arabia and its allies announced a blockade.

"People should not be surprised that many in West support Qatar & rightly see the coordinated KSA-UAE-Trump blockade as unjust. #QatarCrisis," Elibiary said in a June 11 Facebook post. In May, Elibiary insinuated that Egypt's Coptic Christians had it coming when ISIS attacked them.

"Reading ISIS's latest mag 'otherizing' Egypt's Copts. Subhanallah how what goes around comes around. Coptic ldrs did same to MB Egyptians," Elibiary tweeted on May 7.

Elibiary served on the DHS advisory council until early 2014. He whipped up a firestorm with tweets suggesting that the restoration of the Caliphate was inevitable after ISIS began its rampage across Iraq and Syria.

"Y'all in the #NatSec ubber hawks camp misread 9/11 & should reassess ur belligerence. #CSP #IPT #Blaze," Elibiary tweeted.

He also drew criticism in 2013 for describing America as an "Islamic country" with an "Islamically compliant constitution."

Elibiary has praised the late Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb, whose ideas have undergirded the modern jihadist movement – especially Qutb's call for violent jihad and for the purification of Islam from the forces of unbelief.

Researcher Patrick Poole reported in 2011 that Elibiary accessed confidential information from a Texas state database and shopped it to journalists in hopes of harming then Gov. Rick Perry. Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, confronted then Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano at a 2012 congressional hearing about Elibiary's actions. Napolitano deflected Gohmert's criticism suggesting he only cared because Elibiary was Muslim.

Most Bavarian Muslim Refugees Hold Anti-Semitic Beliefs, Study Shows

More than half of Muslim refugees in the German state of Bavaria hold anti-Semitic sentiments, according to a new study by the Hanns Seidel Foundation and reported by the Jerusalem Post.

Their poll of 800 asylum seekers found that Muslim refugees exhibited "clear tendencies of an anti-Semitic attitude pattern."

Respondents were asked whether "Jews have too much influence in the world." 52 percent of Syrians, 53 percent of Iraqis, and 60 percent of Afghans agreed with the assertion, while only 5.4 percent of Eritreans surveyed believed in this anti-Semitic worldview. Eritrea is a Christian-majority country.

Among the overall German population, 20 percent agreed with the anti-Semitic statement.

The investigators conclude that religion is "the decisive factor that explains anti-Semitic opinions." In addition, education in the refugees' homelands facilitates "antisemitism in all age groups and educational background of Muslim asylum seekers."

"We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab antisemitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples as well as a different societal and legal understanding," concludes a 2015 German intelligence report concerning migrant integration. "German security agencies... will not be in the position to solve these imported security problems and thereby the arising reactions from the Germany's population."

The Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy (ISGAP) published a study in 2015 showing that Muslims are responsible for a "disproportionate" number of anti-Semitic attacks and incidents in Europe over the last 15 years.

That study examined several surveys related to European Muslim attitudes conducted since 2006 and compares results from various European countries, with an emphasis on the United Kingdom and France. Most of those surveys focused on respondents' views toward Jewish stereotypes, asking subjects whether they agree with statements such as, "the Jews have too much power in politics" and "the Jews have too much power in the media." In each country under study, the number of Muslims agreeing with those anti-Semitic statements far exceeded that of non-Muslims.

For example, a 2014 French study showed that 25 percent of the general public agreed with the statement "Jews have too much power in the economy and the financial world," compared with 67 percent of the Muslim population.

Though the ISGAP report acknowledged that surveys comparing Muslim and non-Muslim beliefs are subject to criticism, "the sum of available studies to date provides strong evidence that the level of anti-Semitism is indeed particularly high among Muslims."

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