Bin Laden Praises Middle East Uprisings in Posthumous Message

 

VOA News  May 19, 2011

Photo: AP

This image from video provided by the SITE Intelligence Group shows the image displayed during a posthumous audio message from slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden released by the terrorist group's media arm, as-Sahab, May 18, 2011

Al-Qaida has released an audio recording in which its slain leader, Osama bin Laden, praises the protest movements that have swept across the Middle East.

In the 12-minute message posted on Islamist websites, bin Laden purportedly singles out the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, predicting the "winds of change" will spread across the entire Muslim world.

He makes no specific reference to Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, where pro-democracy supporters have had less success in toppling the government.

In the audio recording Wednesday, bin Laden urges protesters to seize the opportunity to bring down "tyrants."  He accuses Arab rulers of making themselves into idols and using the media to maintain power.

The al-Qaida offers advice in spreading the revolutions, urging Muslim youth to consult the more experienced to achieve their goal.

Bin Laden was killed May 2 in a U.S. military raid in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

Earlier this week, media reports quoted an analyst and former associate of bin Laden as saying that al-Qaida has chosen an Egyptian special forces officer, Saif al-Adel, as its interim leader.

But a senior U.S. intelligence official, who did not want to be named, dismissed the reports in an interview Thursday with VOA.  The official said there is no information indicating that a successor to bin Laden has been named.


http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Al-Qaida-Releases-Posthumous-bin-Laden-Audio-122220799.html

Emir Dokku Abu Usman about bin Laden, the Caucasus Emirate and casualties among the Mujahideen

 

Publication time: 17 May 2011, 01:58

The KC managed to pose some questions to the Caucasus Emirate Emir Dokku Abu Usman. Responding to them, he commented on recent developments in the Caucasus and the world.

***

 

KC: The beginning of this spring has been marked by casualties among the Mujahideen of the Caucasus Emirate. The leading commanders of the Emirate - Emir Supyan, Emir Hassan, Emir Abdullah and others - martyred (Insha'Allah). These are tangible casualties. Can we say that the Mujahideen are weakened?

 

Dokka Abu Usman: The casualties we incurred have not weakened us and will not weaken us in the future, Insha'Allah. War is impossible without casualties. Since 1999, we have lost many of our emirs and leaders, but the Jihad did not stop, but vice versa, it expanded and strengthened. Generations of the Mujahideen replace each other. New young men take place of the deceased. More and more young men want to join the Mujahideen, but unfortunately we can not accept all the newcomers.

Another thing is that due to casualties, we have to correct our plans, to change tactics on the fields. However, that does not mean that a relative calm, for example, in Ingushetia, testifies about the weakening of the positions of the Mujahideen.

 

At one place, the activity of the Mujahideen could be reduced for tactical reasons, and in other place, they could be intensified. There could be a calm in Nalchik, but a major sabotage attack could be carried out in Vladivostok. We consider the Caucasus Emirate and Russia as a single theater of war.

We are not in a hurry. The path has been chosen, we know our tasks, and we will not turn back, Insha'Allah, from this path. Today, the battlefield is not just Chechnya and the Caucasus Emirate, but also the whole Russia. The situation is visible to everybody who has eyes. The Jihad is spreading, steadily and inevitably, everywhere.

I've already mentioned that all those artificial borders, administrative divisions, which the Taghut drew, mean nothing to us. The days when we wanted to secede and dreamed of building a small Chechen Kuwait in the Caucasus are over. Now, when you tell the young Mujahedeen about these stories, they are surprised and want to understand how those plans related to the Koran and the Sunnah.

Alhamdulillah! I sometimes think that Allah has called these young people to the Jihad, so that we, the older generation, could not stray from the right path. Now we know that we should not be divided, and must unite with our brothers in faith. We must reconquer Astrakhan, Idel-Ural, Siberia ´- these are indigenous Muslim lands. And then, God's willing, we shall deal with Moscow ulus (district - KC).

 

KC: As you know, the US said that they had been able to kill bin Laden. There was a statement on behalf of al-Qaida posted on the Internet, which confirmed the martyrdom of their Emir. What is your assessment of what happened? The US says that the death of bin Laden will positively (for the West) affect the overall situation in the world.

Dokka Abu Usman: If the death of Sheikh Osama bin Laden is confirmed, then we will only say the words from the Holy Koran - "We all belong to Allah and to Him shall be our return".

We ask Allah that He accepts the martyrdom of Sheikh bin Laden, because that man abandoned his wealth and peaceful worldly life for the sake of protecting Islam. And that is a great goal, and the reward for it is great.

 

With regard to the question of whether bin Laden's death will affect the situation in the world, I think that the infidels do not believe themselves that their life became easier. According to all signs, it is clear that the world is in such situation that the death of the leaders of the Jihad cannot stop the process of the revival of Islam.

That development will go forward, regardless of the fact if the United States, Russia or the UN want it or not.

 

We all see that the world has changed very much.

 

For the first time in decades, the awakening of the Islamic Ummah from hibernation has become so clear and widespread. The Mujahideen and true scholars operate more than ever simultaneously in different regions of the globe, supporting each other and realizing the common goal. Ordinary Muslims take to the streets and express their support for the Mujahideen, demanding to restore the Sharia.

And in response, the infidels are frightening the public with al-Qaeda that allegedly became more active in the Caucasus, the Philippines, Yemen and Somalia.

KC: In this regard, we would like to hear your opinion about so-called "Arab revolutions". Some experts say that these revolutions were initiated by Western countries.

 

Dokka Abu Usman: For the West, these developments were as much a surprise as for the Arab regimes. It is obvious. And it is all nonsense that America planned here, and the CIA acted there...

Allah, praise to Him, shook those regimes by His Will and Wisdom, humiliated those Taghuts who were in power for many years and humiliated the religion, and humiliated the Muslims.

And it is another problem that Western countries are trying to use the wave of "Arab revolutions". And they manage to do it, although not everywhere.

 

At present, it is not all clear, and it is not clear how the events will unfold further.

Everybody sees today how America and other Western countries betray their allies, puppets, who faithfully served them for many years. Subhan'Allah, these dictators sought greatness from the infidels, while all the glory belongs to Allah and his Messenger (pbuh). Now the masters rejected them and left them to be devoured by the crowd.

The time has come for collapse of dictatorial regimes, which the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) warned about, and it is obvious.

 

Even if the infidels manage put in power new puppets, I'm sure that there will be no longer former control over these countries now. A completely new situation emerges before our eyes, Allah opens up new opportunities for the Muslims.

Another problem is how this opportunity will be used by the Muslims. Because Allah does not change the condition of the people unless they change it themselves.

At present, there is a state of confusion in Libya. Although, according to incoming information, groups of Mujahideen are operating there. There is a hope that they will be able to lead the Muslims.

 

There is no sufficient information about the situation in Egypt and Tunisia. We hope for the best, but at present, a certain calm is felt there, and, unfortunately, news reaches us that some well-known Jamaats are again going to play the game of "Democratic Islam".

Events in Syria, as it seems, just start to unfold. There is unrest in Algeria, Morocco and Jordan.

Perhaps, the most interesting events, of all Arab countries, can be expected in Yemen, where the positions of the Mujahideen are most promising and from where a serious military movement could start.

 

The only thing I can say for certain is that if there are no armed force of Muslims, no Jihad and no fighting, nobody would allow us to establish the Sharia of Allah. If it were possible, it would have been done already by our Prophet (pbuh).

KC: May Allah reward you in goodness for the interview and your comments.

 

Kavkaz Center

 

 

 

http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/05/17/14313.shtml

 

Are We Facing an Iranian Missile Crisis? The Dereliction of our Media

May 18, 2011 - 2:06 pm - by Ron Radosh

 

Those of us who remember the tension in 1962 as President John F. Kennedy decided how to respond to the presence of Soviet missiles in Communist Cuba, with the overwhelming threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union a real possibility, had a sense of déjà vu as we read the story in Die Welt (the German newspaper) yesterday about the new possibility of a Venezuelan missile crisis looming on the horizon.

Writing at the Fox News website, Reza Kahili notes that Die Welt’s report:

Confirms that the bilateral agreement signed in October [between Venezuela and Iran] was for a missile installation to be built inside Venezuela. Quoting diplomatic sources, Die Welt reports that, at present, the area earmarked for the missile base is the Paraguaná Peninsula, located 120 kilometers from the Colombian border. A group of engineers from Khatam Al-Anbia, the construction arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, covertly traveled to this area on the orders of Amir Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force.

Even more shocking is the following:

Die Welt writes that the Iranian delegation had been ordered to focus on the plan for building the necessary foundations for air strikes. The planning and building of command stations, control bases, residential buildings, security towers, bunkers and dugouts, warheads, rocket fuel and other cloaking constructs has been assigned to other members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of Engineers. The IRGC engineers will also be interfacing with their Venezuelan counterparts in fabricating missile depots that are said to go as deep as 20 meters in the ground.

The Iranian-Venezuelan deal evidently also includes housing of Hezbollah cells and Quds forces in the new facilities, ready to expand their activity in Latin American in conjunction with drug cartels in the region, including those causing so much trouble now in Mexico. As Kahili puts it so well:

The radicals ruling Iran are emboldened by the confusion of the Obama administration in confronting Iran’s nuclear program. The Iranian regime feels that America has exhausted all of its options with is negotiation and sanctions approach and therefore no longer poses a serious threat to Iran’s nuclear drive.

Indeed, the administration’s continuing willingness to put a negotiation track ahead of anything else, and to not do anything of real substance to stop Iran’s nuclear ambition reaching fruition, even to argue that the U.S. and the West can get along with a nuclear Iran — as we did with the Soviet Union — further emboldens the mullahs to continue on their chosen path.

Now, not only does this agreement mean that Iran is a threat to our national security, but that its ally in our own hemisphere is as well. Hugo Chavez can appear to many to be an inconsequential laughing stock, a Castro-like figure living in a dream world of 1960s revolutionary rhetoric — but his alliance with the mullahs, and the existence of uranium in Venezuela that Iran desperately needs, gives him the ability to be much more of a local nuisance.

So one must wonder what response the Obama administration is preparing. To date, little coverage of this planned missile placement in Venezuela has appeared in the mainstream press. Is our country going to wait until the missiles are in place and the infrastructure is created in Venezuela for Chavez to provide the place for terrorist cells to lie in waiting until they are called into action?

Will President Obama proceed to make it clear — as John F. Kennedy did when he confronted the Soviets — that the placement of Iranian missiles in Venezuela is something the United States is not going to allow, and that such placement will be considered a hostile act that could make the likelihood of a major war more than likely? Or will President Obama make one of his “outreach” speeches in which he seeks to understand the motivation and outlook of Hugo Chavez, and tell the tin-pot tyrant that he has now read the leftist books he handed Obama a few years ago, and then urge him to engage in constructive negotiations that will persuade Chavez to not plant the missiles on Venezuelan soil?

Should Obama adopt the latter stance, he will quickly find that Hugo Chavez would find any call to withdraw the agreement his regime has signed with Iran an affront to the “Bolivarian socialist revolution” he has proclaimed. Chavez would only be inflamed to further escalate the dangerous situation.

Clearly, the time for the United States to make known its firm opposition to Iranian missiles in Venezuela is now, not a few years hence when they are already operational. But first, our country must be informed that Iran and Venezuela have such plans in mind. That means all our news outlets must join Die Welt in reports of their own.

http://pajamasmedia.com/ronradosh/2011/05/18/are-we-facing-an-iranian-missile-crisis-the-dereliction-of-our-media/?singlepage=true

Obama to announce major plan for economic development of Middle East Thursday

Published: 05/18/2011

 

By Neil Munro

Archive | Email Neil Munro

 

 

 

President Barack Obama tours the Pyramids and Sphinx with Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass (left), Senior Advisor David Axelrod and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (right), June 3, 2009. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

 

President Barack Obama is set to announce a government-directed plan for economic development in the Middle East that emphasizes the role of Western multinational organizations, but that also sidelines the role of companies, ignores the new democracy in Iraq and downplays regional cultural, tribal and religious practices.

“We’re going out of a decade of great tension and division, and now, having wound-down the Iraq war and having taken out Osama bin Laden, we’re turning the page to a positive future for the United State in the region,” said a senior administration official during a 25-minute press briefing on Wednesday that did not include any mention of Islam, the tribal cultures of the region, democracy in Iraq, or the word “company.”
The plan, which Obama will include in his Thursday speech on Middle East policy at the Department of State, calls for at least $2 billion in debt-relief and loan guarantees to be delivered to Egypt, Tunisia and other countries via non-profits, funding agencies and universities.

Obama’s economic agenda for the region will have four pillars, said the officials. Non-profits, think-tanks and universities will help provide better “economic management,” international aid will boost countries’ financial stability, international agencies can help foster “a strong private sector,” and trade-negotiators can help establish regional trading zones, said the officials. “We will galvanize support from the international community… [and] the multinational organizations will have a huge role to play here,” said one White House official.



However, previous aid has had modest effects. Since 1950, the United States provided almost $4 billion to the U.N. relief agency that has fed and housed the Arabs who fled from Israel in 1948, according to an August 2010 report by the Congressional Research Service. Those Arabs have yet to be integrated into Syria, Lebanon, Egypt or Jordan.
Following the signing of the Oslo agreement between Israel and Palestinian groups in 1993, the U.S. has supplied over $3.5 billion in aid to Palestinian groups, the CRS report said. But this month, the Arab government on the West Bank of the Jordan river  announced a power-sharing deal with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Hamas affiliate, which has repeatedly cited religious reasons for its efforts to destroy Israel, and which has repeatedly ignited battles with Israeli defense forces. Hamas currently controls the Gaza Strip.
From 1971 to 2001, the U.S. also donated $25 billion to Egypt, $2.4 billion to Jordan, $470 million to Lebanon and $703 million to Palestinian groups, according to a June 2010 CRS report.
The three administration officials who gave the briefing repeatedly stressed the impact of economics in Egypt and Tunisia, but did not mention the widespread calls for rule by Islamic parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. “The political movements for non-violent change are rooted, in part, in a lack of [economic] opportunity in the region,” said one official.

In practice, non-economic cultural factors are central to the region’s economic difficulties. For example, Egypt’s dictatorial rulers deregulated the state-controlled economy, so jump-starting the economy by 2004. The country’s economy grew by an average of 7 percent in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and by an average of 5 percent in 2010 and 2011. “Growth in Egypt has picked up steadily since 2004… making it one of the Middle East’s fastest-growing economies,” according to a 2008 report by the International Monetary Fund.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/18/obama-to-announce-major-plan-for-economic-development-of-middle-east-thursday/#ixzz1MoadiGzl

British businessman facing jail for Prophet Mohammed insult

A British businessman is facing jail for insulting the Prophet Mohammed after getting into an argument in a shop in Dubai.

Insulting Islam is a serious offence in the United Arab Emirates and can attract a fine

and a sentence of up to a year in prison Photo: GETTY

 

By Richard Spencer, Dubai  18 May 2011

The man, named in court papers as Andrew Graham, 40, is said to have told Hassan Habib, a Pakistani computer salesman, that the Prophet was a "terrorist".

Insulting Islam is a serious offence in the United Arab Emirates, as in other Gulf countries, and can attract a fine and a sentence of up to a year in prison.

Mr Graham pleaded not guilty at a hearing in Dubai Courts on Tuesday, admitting he had an argument with Mr Habib but denying he had attacked the Prophet or muslims.

Mr Habib, 21, told The Daily Telegraph Mr Graham had seemed to be trying to pick a fight when he came into the store where he sells Dell laptops, Emax in Mall of the Emirates.

"He insulted first my country, then Muslims, and then the Prophet," he said.

"It was not the first time - he has had arguments in other outlet stores, according to my friends. But they are Indians and with me he increased the argument."

The court was told Mr Graham had got into an argument with Mr Habib about the Taliban. When Mr Habib insisted that muslims were peace-loving, Mr Graham allegedly said: "All Muslims are mad and your Prophet Mohammad was a bad man. Your Prophet Mohammad was a terrorist." Mr Graham, who had to be told to change after arriving at court wearing shorts, said: "I spoke with him about the problems between the Pakistani government and the Taliban.

"From what he said I understood that the salesman was a supporter of the Taliban. I told him he was crazy because they were terrorists and they kill people and bomb each other. I didn't say anything bad about Muslims or the Prophet." Mr Graham was remanded on bail until the next hearing on June 9, when a verdict will be handed down. He is believed to work in Qatar but to be staying near the Mall of the Emirates, as Mr Habib said he had seen him jogging nearby in the days before the incident.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/dubai/8521253/British-businessman-facing-jail-for-Prophet-Mohammed-insult.html

New Study Finds Shariah Law Involved in Court Cases in 23 States

Washington, DC, May 17, 2011 - The Center for Security Policy today released an in-depth study-- Shariah Law and American State Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases. The study evaluates 50 appellate court cases from 23 states that involve conflicts between Shariah (Islamic law) and American state law. The analysis finds that Shariah has been applied or formally recognized in state court decisions, in conflict with the Constitution and state public policy.

Some commentators have tried to minimize this problem, claiming, as an editorial in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times put it that, “…There is scant evidence that American judges are resolving cases on the basis of shariah.” To the contrary, our study identified 50 significant cases just from the small sample of appellate court published cases.

Others have asserted with certainty that state court judges will always reject any foreign law, including Shariah law, when it conflicts with the Constitution or state public policy. The Center’s analysis, however, found 15 trial court cases, and 12 appellate court cases, where Shariah was found to be applicable in these particular cases.

The facts are the facts: some judges are making decisions deferring to Shariah law even when those decisions conflict with constitutional protections.

On the releasing the study, the Center for Security Policy’s President, Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., observed:

"These cases are the stories of Muslim American families, mostly Muslim women and children, who were asking American courts to preserve their rights to equal protection and due process. These families came to America for freedom from the discriminatory and cruel laws of Shariah. When our courts then apply Shariah law in the lives of these families, and deny them equal protection, they are betraying the principles on which America was founded."

Key Findings:

At the trial court level, 22 decisions were found that refused to apply Shariah; 15 were found to have utilized or recognized Shariah; 9 were indeterminate; and in 4 cases Shariah was not applicable to the decision at this level, but was applicable at the appellate level. At the appellate Court level: 23 decisions were found that refused to apply Shariah; 12 were found to have utilized or recognized Shariah; 8 were indeterminate; and in 7 cases Shariah was not applicable to the decision, but had been applicable at the trial court level. The 50 cases were classified into seven distinct “Categories” of dispute: 21 cases dealt with “Shariah Marriage Law”; 17 cases involved “Child Custody”; 5 dealt with “Shariah Contract Law”; 3 dealt with general “Shariah Doctrine”; 2 were concerned with “Shariah Property Law”; 1 dealt with “Due Process/Equal Protection” and 1 dealt with the combined “Shariah Marriage Law/Child Custody.” The 50 cases were based in 23 different states: 6 cases were found in New Jersey; 5 in California; 4 each in Florida, Massachusetts and Washington; 3 each in Maryland, Texas and Virginia; 2 each in Louisiana and Nebraska; and 1 each in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio and South Carolina.

Shariah Law and American State Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases includes summaries of a sample of twenty cases, as well as the full published texts for all fifty cases.

Mr. Gaffney added:

“This study represents a timely contribution to the debate developing around the country: To what extent is the Islamic politico-military-legal doctrine of Shariah being insinuated into the United States? The analysis complements and powerfully reinforces the warnings contained in the Center’s bestselling 2010 “Team B II” Report, Shariah: The Threat to America. It confirms that Shariah’s adherents are making a concerted effort to bring their anti-constitutional code to this country.

“Together with follow-on analyses now in preparation, we hope to equip those who share the Center’s commitment to the Constitution of the United States, to the liberties it guarantees and to the democratic government it mandates to thwart those like the Muslim Brotherhood who would supplant freedom with Shariah law. Clearly, we must work to keep America Shariah-free, or risk inexorably losing the country we love.”

Hamas Riding a ‘New Wind’ from Egypt

Hamas' growing support from the new Egypt has the terror group feeling reinvigorated.

 

May 14, 2011 - 12:00 am - by Sami al-Abasi

Hamas is hailing the “new wind” blowing from its Egyptian neighbors, one that is strengthening the position of the terrorist group in the international arena. With bold words and actions, Hamas is celebrating the end of its international isolation and new Egyptian involvement. Says Hamas political head Khaled Meshaal, in an article for Egyptian daily Al-Ahram:

Egypt is dealing in a “new wind” with Hamas, because its responsibility now is different after the revolution. … We are looking to Egypt now, hoping that Egypt is prepared to face the Zionist danger at the strategic level.

The “new wind” is evident in Egypt’s diplomatic strategy. After brokering the reconciliation between the two major Palestinian parties, Fatah and Hamas, Egypt has encouraged the United States to support the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.

The Egyptian government and Hamas are also raising diplomatic ties to a whole new level. From reporting in the English-language edition of Egypt’s most popular paper:

The Gaza government’s minister of foreign affairs and planning, Mohamed Awad, has said that the Egyptian government is looking into soon reopening its office of representation in the Strip.

There are rumors of Hamas doing the same in Egypt.

Hamas has been active on the diplomatic scene as well. The group has received over $30 million for reconstructing Gaza, pledged to continue kidnapping Israeli soldiers, and has given Israel a one-year ultimatum to accept a Palestinian state on its terms. It has also refused to ever recognize or negotiate with Israel, and has “the right to resistance” — a euphemism for terror.

It also denounced the American assassination of Osama bin Laden. Meshaal told French news agency France 24:

Concerning bin Laden everyone knows Hamas has differences from al-Qaeda … especially (its) operations targeting civilians, but all this doesn’t give the U.S. the right to kill as they please without any regard for the law and to assassinate Arabs and Muslims, blaming everything on them and accusing them of terrorism.

As Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi put it, Egypt wants to “open a new page with all countries in the world,” Hamas’ Gaza included. Essentially, Egypt is rewarding Hamas for refusing to renounce terror and being unrepentant about its desire to destroy Israel.

The article below quotes Hamas leader Meshaal’s expectations about what this new relationship will mean:

Al-Ahram — Meshaal: Egypt is Dealing with Hamas in a New Wind

The president of the political bureau of the Hamas Movement, Khaled Meshaal, expressed that the breakthrough that occurred in the subject of Palestinian reconciliation was the overriding of the sensitivity of the previous Egyptian leadership and the Fatah movement.
That was indicated by the remarks of Hamas on the texts of the Egyptian paper. When this sensitivity was overcome and they listened to the remarks of the movement and reached common understandings, that achieved the reconciliation.

In his meeting with a number of Egyptian editors and journalists, Meshaal said that Egypt is dealing in a new wind with Hamas because its responsibility now is different after the revolution. He hopes to see this spirit in the negotiations with Israel, the subject of the Rafah crossing, and also in its management of enforcing the reconciliation agreement. He added that in the recovery of Egypt, we are observing its influence on us as Palestinians.

Concerning the role of the previous director of Egyptian intelligence Omar Suleiman in the reconciliation, Meshaal explained that Suleiman was the one who was protecting the subject of reconciliation and he represents the Egyptian leadership. He pointed out that the Hamas movement agreed with some of the things in the previous Egyptian accord, but differed on others. He said: “We are looking to Egypt now, hoping that Egypt is prepared to face the Zionist danger at the strategic level. Tactically, it is the right of Egypt to take its time to restore its well-being and build up its economy and development, so that it lives with natural condition to be able to develop political tools.

Meshaal asserted that the Arab effort was present in the reconciliation and its caring, indicating in the same context that Syria has a role, as well as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Jordan. The Arabs collectively have had a role in the Palestinian reconciliation at different stages, in addition to Egypt, of course, which is the base and has given the biggest effort.

Meshaal stressed the need to open the Rafah crossing, the rebuilding of Gaza, protecting the Palestinian reconciliation, in addition to the tactical course which he talked about before. Today, Egypt and the support of the Arab nation can protect and provide a safety net for the Palestinian people. This is because Egypt is the mother of the Arabs, and she is the leader and pioneer. She is free and has democracy and the ability to play a pivotal role.

Sami al-Abasi is a researcher at a D.C. intelligence think tank specializing in jihadi publications and translations. He believes that moderate Muslims need to support American counterterrorism efforts, and is committed to making that happen.