In recent weeks Israel has announced the arrest of two groups of homegrown, i.e. self-organized, self-recruited jihadi terrorists. These are young men who found their own way to radical Islamic activism, and then use the Internet to reach out to their international brethren.
In the first case, a report from the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Malam) describes how Taher Abu Skut and Omar bin Salama Abu Skut, both Bedouin from the town of Rahat in southern Israel, were active in the real world as members of the Islamic Movement, and also active online, where they succeeded in being inducted into the ranks of al-Qa`ida. Taher in particular was active on al-Hesbah, among other prominent jihadi sites, using the name Abu Mus'ab, and is said to have acted under the instructions of an individual using the name Izzat al-Islam, as well as other al-Qa`iada operatives. Taher and Omar were tasked with real-world tasks such as identifying targets for future terrorist operations and identifying routes to be used by mujahedin to infiltrate Israel to carry out those operations.
Meanwhile, on the Internet, Taher was tasked by an individual using the name Abu Abd al-Rahman - described as the advertising director on Al-Qa`ida's forums - with doing such things as designing graphics, producing communiqués, making propaganda videos, and moving files from al-Hesbah out to other jihadi forums. Meanwhile Omar collected a substantial amount of information on his hard disk drives related the global jihad and the techniques of terrorism.
Omar and Taher will be in jail for quite awhile.
The report on the second case from the ITIC is short on details regarding which sites this bunch of guys were active on, though we are told that one of the six guys, Muhammad Nijm, a Hebrew University chemistry major from Nazareth, turned to al-Qa`ida operatives online for help with his plan to shoot down President Bush's helicopter. In the real world this group held meetings in the relative security of the al-Aqsa mosque.
Subsequent to these arrests an Israeli security cabinet meeting was held to discuss the matter and be briefed by the intelligence services. In his infinite wisdom
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert directed the intelligence officials to continue their efforts in gathering information and thwarting the threats, through cooperation with other countries seeking to battle terrorism.
Thanks Chief, will do... Posted on 24 July 2008 @ 20:48
