Radical Cleric Tells Morsi: Kill the 'Thugs' Or We'll Do It

A controversial Egyptian preacher and Islamist writer has urged President Mohammed Morsi to kill “thugs” and “criminals” who are burning the country, otherwise people will do it themselves, Al Arabiya reported.

“I am saying this publicly and I am inciting the killing of criminals; I say criminals; thugs, thieves, those who are burning the country and those who are killing innocent people,” the preacher, Wagdy Ghoneim, was quoted as having said in a YouTube video.

“If the police or the prosecution will not restore justice, we will restore justice...God willing,” he added, according to Al Arabiya.

Ghoneim said Morsi should “use his powers” and be tough on “outlaws” that are burning state institutions and inflicting harm upon the people.

“Your kindness will not work with these thugs Mr. president,” he said.

Ghoneim is reportedly banned from several Western countries, including the United States and the UK, for activities deemed to foment hatred or encourage and support violence.

Some of his previously controversial statements include gloating over the Hurricane Sandy disaster in the United States last October, and the death of Coptic Pope Shenouda III.

Ghoneim described the hurricane as revenge from Allah for the “Innocence of Muslims” film made that sparked waves of violent protests across the Muslim world in September.

"Some people wonder about the hurricane in America and its causes," Ghoneim wrote on Twitter. "In my opinion, this is revenge by the Lord [Allah] for [harming] his beloved Mustafa [another name for the Prophet Muhammad]...," he added, alluding to the film.

In March of 2012, reported Al Arabiya, Ghoneim said Egyptians should be happy for the death of Pope Shenouda III, whom he described as anti-Muslim.

His latest statements against “thugs” and “criminals” came as thousands of liberal forces have demonstrated across Egypt against Morsi, calling for a new constitution that answers the demands of all Egyptians.

At least 50 people have been killed in riots that broke out last week during the two year anniversary of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Many of the casualties were in the city of Suez, where the military was sent to quell the riots.

The situation worsened when a court sentenced to death 21 soccer fans who were found guilty of causing the riot in a stadium in Port Said last year, in which 74 people were killed.

Morsi declared a state of emergency on Sunday and placed three cities under curfew because of rioting – Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya.

Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi warned on Tuesday that Egypt could be facing collapse because of the riots.

"The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning themanagement of the country could lead to a collapse of the state and threaten future generations," Al-Sisi said in a speech to army cadets that was also quoted on the Egyptian military spokesman's Facebook page. Sisi said the country's economic, political and social challenges signify “a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state.”

Source

Jihadist Threat: Just Website Bluster? ‘Earth-Shattering’ Payback for Mali

The latest terrorist warning of “earth-shattering” attacks on the West shows Islamic extremists are still focused on the United States and Europe, but many analysts doubt that they have the capacity to follow through on their threats.

Threats posted over the weekend on the Ansar al-Mujahedeen Network website called for attacks on the United States and other countries helping France put down a terrorist uprising in the North African nation of Mali. The site began as a bulletin board for jihadists, said Andrew Lebovich, a Senegal-based U.S. analyst who focuses on extremist groups in the Sahel and Maghreb regions of North Africa.

The weekend warning predicted “strong, serious, alarming, earth-shattering, shocking and terrifying” attacks on the West.

Mr. Lebovich said the site is mostly a clearinghouse for extremist materials of all kinds — including translations of official statements by al Qaeda and independent postings such as the latest threats.

“It’s a kind of jihadist crowd-sourcing,” he said.

AQIM, like most al Qaeda affiliates, at some level aspires to attack the West,” said a U.S. intelligence official who was authorized to speak only on the condition of anonymity. “This doesn’t mean it necessarily has ready plots, but, at a minimum, the aspiration makes it a threat.”Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the terrorist network’s North African affiliate, and other extremist groups have vowed to avenge the French-led intervention in Mali, which is aiding the government in recapturing the vast desert north of the country from Islamic extremists.

Analysts generally seem skeptical about the terrorists’ ability to attack Western countries on their own soil.

“I have not seen any evidence that AQIM has a capability to strike outside the region,” Mr. Lebovich said. “It is in my view much more likely that we will see attacks [against Western interests] in the Sahel or the Maghreb, rather than in Europe or the United States,” he added.

In January, extremist fighters loyal to the one-eyed desert bandit, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, seized dozens of Western workers — including Britons, Americans, Japanese, French and Danes — at a natural gas plant in Eastern Algeria, near to the border with lawless post-revolutionary Libya.

Read more here.

Israel Strikes at Syria-Lebanon Border, Sources Say

Israeli forces attacked a convoy on the Syrian-Lebanese border on Wednesday, sources told Reuters, after Israelis warned their Lebanese enemy Hezbollah against using chaos in Syria to acquire anti-aircraft missiles or chemical weapons.

"The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon," said one Western diplomat, adding that the consignment seemed unlikely to have included chemical weapons.

A source among rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad said an air strike around dawn (0430 GMT) blasted a convoy on a mountain track about 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of where the main Damascus-Beirut highway crosses the border. Its load probably included high-tech anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles

."It attacked trucks carrying sophisticated weapons from the regime to Hezbollah," the source said, adding that it took place inside Syria, though the border is poorly defined in the area.

A security official in the region also placed the attack on the Syrian side. A Lebanese security official denied any strike in Lebanon. It was not clear whether special forces took part.

The Israeli government declined comment on the issue.

Such a strike would fit its existing policy of pre-emptive covert and overt action to curb Iranian-backed Hezbollah and does not necessarily indicate a major escalation of the war in Syria. It does, however, indicate how the erosion of Assad's family rule after 42 years is seen by Israel as posing a threat.

Some analysts suggested Hezbollah was moving its own arms caches from stores in Syria, fearing rebels would overrun them.

Though Israel this week echoed concerns in the United States about Syrian chemical weapons, officials say a more immediate worry is that the civil war could see weapons that are capable of denting its massive superiority in airpower and tanks from reaching Hezbollah; the group fought Israel in 2006 and remains a more pressing threat than its Syrian and Iranian sponsors.

Wednesday's strike could have been a rapid response to an opportunity. But a stream of Israeli comment on Syria in recent days was a reminder of a standing policy of pre-emptive strikes and may have been intended to limit surprise in world capitals.

The head of the Israeli air force said only hours before the strike that his corps, which has an array of the latest jet bombers, attack helicopters and unmanned drones at its disposal, was involved in a covert "campaign between wars".

Read more here.

Egypt's Army Chief Warns of 'State Collapse' Amid Crisis

BBC News reports: “Egypt's armed forces chief has warned the current political crisis ‘could lead to a collapse of the state’.

General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, in comments posted on the military's Facebook page, said such a collapse could ‘threaten future generations’.

He made his statement following a large military deployment in three cities along the Suez Canal where a state of emergency has been declared.

More than 50 people have died in days of protests and violence.

Overnight, thousands of people in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez - where some of the worst unrest has been - ignored a night-time curfew to take to the streets.

Gen Sisi's lengthy statement appears to be a veiled threat to protesters and opposition forces as well as an appeal for calm and an attempt to reassure Egyptians about the role of the military, the BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says.

‘The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning the management of the country could lead to a collapse of the state and threaten future generations,’ Gen Sisi, who is also Egypt's defence minister, said.

He said the economic, political and social challenges facing Egypt represented ‘a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state’…”

Source

Netanyahu Stresses: Only U.S. Attack Can Halt Iranian Nuclear Program

Israel National News reports: “In a plea to Israel's closest ally, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stressed that an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities could cause ‘significant damage’ but only a US attack could halt their operations.

According to Maariv, Netanyahu told a visiting delegation from the American Jewish Committee that only US military action could completely halt Iran's nuclear program, which Israel and much of the world believes is a guise for building a weapons capability, AFP reported.

And he also hinted that any US military activity ought to be carried out before Tehran finishes the process of enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, the paper said.

‘The sanctions are only likely to stop Iran if there is a credible (military) threat over their head... and in order for it to be a credible threat, you need to mean it, meaning that if the sanctions don't work -- and they haven't until now -- you will use it,’ he said.

Referring to a military strike, Netanyahu described it as ‘a defined and specific mission that the United States is capable of carrying out perfectly whereas we are capable of causing (only) significant damage.’

He also stressed the need to halt Iran's ongoing enrichment efforts…”

Source

Obama Secretly Pledges To Divide Jerusalem

TEL AVIV – Now that he has secured his second term, President Barack Obama has already secretly pledged to the Palestinians he will press Israel into a new round of so-called land-for-peace negotiations, a top Palestinian Authority negotiator told WND.

The negotiator said top members of the Obama administration told the Palestinians the U.S. president will renew talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state in the so-called 1967 borders – meaning in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and, notably, eastern Jerusalem.

 

The negotiator further revealed when it comes to dividing Jerusalem, Obama wants to rehash what is known as the Clinton parameters.

That formula, pushed by Bill Clinton during the Camp David talks in 2000, called for Jewish areas of Jerusalem to remain Israeli while the Palestinians will get sovereignty over neighborhoods that are largely Arab.

WND previously reported how Palestinians are building illegally in Jewish-owned areas of Jerusalem, changing facts on the ground and resulting in Arab majorities on certain neighborhoods.
This is not the first time the Palestinians are claiming Obama will push for new talks during a second term

Read more at here.

Nigeria: Radical Islamists Splinter Into More Violent Group

As if the threat from Boko Haram, the Islamist group that has been killing Christians in Nigeria, wasn’t enough, there’s a new, more radical, threat from a splinter group, analysts are reporting.

The new group is called Ansaru, the Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, which means Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa.

 

Heritage Foundation Africa analyst Morgan Roach confirms the threat is major.
“Ansaru released a video last spring announcing its creation and is listed on the U.K. Terror List,” Roach said. “One of Ansaru’s suspected leaders is Khalid al-Barnawy. He is a designated terrorist in the US.”

World Threats founder and terrorism analyst Ryan Mauro says both groups are trouble.
“The two Nigerian jihadist groups are vicious. They aren’t the Muslim Brotherhood-type Islamists that put a ton of effort into showing they are friendly towards Christians,” Mauro said.

To see what Christians in northern Nigeria are facing with two major jihadist groups, Mauro says look at other jihadist regimes.
“If you want to predict how Boko Haram and Ansaru will treat Christians, look at how al-Qaida treats them in Iraq and Egypt,” Mauro said.

Roach said that the new group’s operational status definitely means danger for Christians and others.
“While this offshoot has been around less than a year, it’s fair to say that they pose a threat to not only the Christian community but to northern Nigeria as a whole. While Ansaru has attempted to differentiate itself from Boko Haram by denouncing the killing of non-Muslims, evidence suggests otherwise,” Roach said.

“Furthermore, Ansaru maintains that it will attack any group that attacks Islam or Muslims. This includes the Nigerian government and its security forces and [it] has already backed this up with action,” Roach said.

Analysts suggest Ansaru’s only interest is in attacking foreigners and “non-Muslim Nigerians.” However, Strategy World military think tank, publishers of Strategy Page, warns Ansaru may be picking targets outside Nigeria, too.

“Ansaru appears to be … more interested (than Boko Haram) in working closely with Islamic terror groups operating in the new terrorist sanctuary of northern Mali,” the Strategy Page report said.

Boko Haram, meanwhile, seems to have its focus on Nigeria.
The group’s aim, Roach said, is to turn Nigeria into a Muslim nation.
Boko Haram, she said, wants to overthrow the Christian state and replace it with an Islamic government that rules by Shariah law.”

“Attacks against Christians undermine the authority of President Goodluck Jonathan (a Christian) and exploit the government’s lack of will or ability to protect Nigerian citizens,” Roach said.
But Boko Haram’s reach has been described as “limited,” and other groups, such as Ansaru, are stepping in.
In November, Ansaru killed a British hostage and an Italian hostage. In December, the group kidnapped a French engineer.

Military and terrorism analyst Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal , a project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies , says Boko Haram could use Ansaru’s active operations to its strategic advantage.
“Ansaru says Boko Haram is too moderate, but Boko Haram can actually use Ansaru as a cover,” Roggio said. “Any operation carried out by Ansaru gives Boko Haram cover, and it deflects attention away from Boko Haram.”

Roggio says even though there are philosophical differences, the two groups will likely work together and be able to avoid outside attention at the same time.
“They’ll cooperate in attacks, but even if they do, most Western intelligence agencies won’t notice. To them, Ansaru will just be another group,” Roggio said.

Roggio’s assessment of cooperation is verified by Strategy Page, which says the two groups are jointly fighting Nigerian security
“The battle against Islamic terrorists grinds on, with the Boko Haram and Ansaru terrorists attacking troops and police even while they are being sought and attacked,” the Strategy Page report says.

Read more at WND News

Iran Sentences American Pastor Saeed Abedini to 8 Years in Prison

Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, an American imprisoned in Iran on charges of evangelizing, was sentenced this morning to eight years in prison.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice, Abedini was verbally sentenced in Tehran by Judge Pir-Abassi, known as the “hanging judge,” to eight years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches. He will serve the time in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, known as one of the most brutal.

The evidence, the ACLJ reports, was based on Abedini’s activities primarily during the early 2000s, when house churches were not considered a threat in Iran.

“This is a real travesty – a mockery of justice,”  Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the ACLJ, who represents Pastor Saeed’s wife and children living in the U.S., said in a statement. “From the very beginning, Iranian authorities have lied about all aspects of this case, even releasing rumors of his expected release. Iran has not only abused its own laws, it has trampled on the fundamentals of human rights. We call on the citizens of the world to rise up in protest. We call on governments around the world to stand and defend Pastor Saeed.”

Although the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said in a statement Sunday the administration is "deeply disappointed that Saeed Abedini has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge related to his religious beliefs.
"We condemn Iran's continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion and we call on the Iranian authorities to release Mr. Abedini."

Meehan added that the State Department remains in close contact with Abedini.
The State Department also called for Abedini's release.
"Mr. Abedini's attorney had only one day (January 21) to present his defense, so we remain deeply concerned about the fairness and transparency of Mr. Abedini's trial," spokesman Darby Holladay said in a statement.

Iran's state news agency reported last Monday that Abedini, who was born in Iran but now lives in Idaho, would soon be free. But the report, which came on the first day of Abedini's trial, was seen by Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, as just another cruel manipulation.

“This is all a lie by the Iranian media," Naghmeh Abedini said. "This has been a repeated promise by the Iranian regime since Saeed was first thrown in prison on Sept. 26, 2012. We have presented bail. After the judge told Saeed’s lawyer that bail was back on the table, the family in Tehran ran around in circles today to make sure Saeed was let out on bail. But again the bail officer rejected bail."

She said her husband's attorney in Iran,  Nasser Sarbazi, cautioned her that the report, first carried by the state-controlled ISNA news agency and picked up by The Associated Press, did not mean her husband was closer to freedom.
The 34-year-old father of two denied evangelizing in Iran and claims he had only returned to his native land to help establish an orphanage. Authorities pulled him off a bus last August and threw him into the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran.

The exact crimes he is accused of only became public on Monday, when the prosecutor outlined charges that Abedini undermined the Iranian government by creating a network of Christian house churches and that he was attempting to sway Iranian youth away from Islam.
"This trial apparently is focused on 13 years ago, when Pastor Saeed converted from Islam to Christianity,” Sekulow said in a statement to FoxNews.com last week.

According to the ACLJ, upon hearing the news of her husband's sentence, Naghmeh Abedini said: “The promise of his release was a lie. We should not trust the empty words or promises put out by the Iranian government. These false hopes amount to psychological torture. You don’t want to trust them, but they build a glimmer hope before the crushing blow. With today’s development I am devastated for my husband and my family. We must now pursue every effort, turn every rock, and not stop until Saeed is safely on American soil.”


Read more: FOX News

Egyptian President Declares State of Emergency

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared a month-long state of emergency in three cities along the Suez Canal where dozens of people have been killed over the past four days in protests that his allies say are designed to overthrow him.

Seven people were shot dead and hundreds were injured in Port Said on Sunday during the funerals of 33 people killed there when locals angered by a court decision went on the rampage as anti-government protests spread around the country.

A total of 49 people have been killed since Thursday and Mr. Morsi’s opponents, who accuse his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the revolution that ousted long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, have called for more demonstrations on Monday.

“Down, down Mr. Morsi, down down the regime that killed and tortured us!” people in Port Said chanted as the coffins of those killed on Saturday were carried through the streets.
Mr. Morsi, who was elected in June, is trying to fix a beleaguered economy and cool tempers before a parliamentary poll in the next few months which is supposed to cement Egypt’s transition to democracy.

Repeated eruptions of violence have weighed heavily on the Egyptian pound.
In a televised address, he said a nightly curfew would be introduced in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, starting Monday.
Several hundred people protested in Ismailia, Suez and Port Said after the announcement, in which Mr. Morsi also called for a dialogue with top politicians. Activists in the three cities vowed to defy the curfew in protest at the decision.

“The protection of the nation is the responsibility of everyone. We will confront any threat to its security with force and firmness within the remit of the law,” he said, offering condolences to families of the victims.

Read more, here.

Mali: Gao Recaptured

Residents of Mali's northern town of Gao, captured from sharia-observing rebels by French and Malian troops, danced in the streets to drums and music on Sunday as the French-led offensive also drove the rebels from Timbuktu.

The weekend gains made at Gao and Timbuktu by the French and Malian troops capped a two-week whirlwind intervention by France in its former Sahel colony, which has driven al-Qaeda-allied militant fighters northwards into the desert and mountains.

In Gao, the largest town in the north where the insurgents had banned music and smoking, cut off the hands of thieves and ordered women to wear veils, thousands cheered the liberating troops with shouts of "Mali, Mali, France, France".
[Source: Reuters]