Egypt is making strenuous efforts to fight terrorism, arresting a large group of jihadists who aimed to target Jewish pilgrims visiting the tomb of Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira, according to Arutz Sheva:
(IsraelNN.com) Egyptian sources revealed on Sunday that two months ago* its intelligence forces arrested approximately two dozen terrorists who planned to attack Jews visiting the tomb of the revered 19th century Rabbi Yaakov Abhatzeira. They also plotted to strike American ships in the Suez Canal and banks in Cairo and Alexandria.
The terrorists also were in possession of a large quantity of explosives used for Hamas rocket attacks. The cell was attempting to join the “Jihad in Darfur” and had been training at a desert camp near the Mediterranean Coast.
The arrests were first revealed by the Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm, which said the cell was the first “armed jihadist” organization arrested in the country since the 1990s. Last year, Egyptian authorities arrested three other terrorist cells, including a Hizbullah-affiliated group now on trial for planning attacks on tourists and ships.
The terrorists confessed to a plot to attack a large group of Jews who visited the rabbi’s tomb last November (December? - ed) under heavy guard. The pilgrimage had been canceled the year before because of the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist war in Gaza. Rabbi Abhatzeira was a sage in Morocco whose written works include Kabbalistic writings and interpretations on the Book of Psalms and the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.
* the pilgrimage actually took place less than a month ago
Mubarak approves pilgrimage to rabbi's shrine
Jihad in Darfur is an interesting notion. Bear in mind that in Darfur the struggle was between Muslim and Muslim. The DarFuri Muslims [Dar Fur = House of Fur, that is of the Fur tribe] wanted to separate from Sudan which is dominated by Arabic-speaking Muslims, most of them actually of Black African descent. The present govt in Khartoum is also strongly Islamist and denies the right of secession, whether to the non-Muslims in southern Sudan or to the Muslims in Darfur.
ReplyDeleteSo this group in Egypt was eager to join a jihad against fellow Muslims who wanted to secede from Sudan now under Islamist rule. If they are eager to slaughter fellow Muslims, why not Jews?
Eliyahu
ReplyDeleteThere is some confusion about this group. The Jerusalem Post report says that the terrorists were trained in the Sudan, so they left the Jihad in Darfur to come and attack Jews and Americans:
"An official and a lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity, provided details on the case against the group. “They are accused of forming a new Islamic militant group based on the ideas of Sayyid Qutb,” the lawyer said, referring to the leading ideologue of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, who was executed in 1966 and whose ideas provide much of the intellectual basis for groups like Hamas.
The report in Al-Masry Al-Youm said some of the suspects received training in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region."
Bataween, That's interesting about Sudan's role as a state facilitating international terrorism, not only terrorism in its own territory. That's part of Sudan's functioning as a committed Islamist state under Bashir and his friends.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line remains that those who eagerly slaughter their fellow Muslims have no qualms about slaughtering Jews or other kufar.
What is too often overlooked in the current international climate of sympathy for Hamas [the other side of the coin of Judeophobia] is that Hamas has close ties with the Sudanese regime, as they are both Islamist. This means Hamas support for a genocidal, mass murderous regime, a fact, a connection too often overlooked. Is the Guardian aware of Hamas' links to the genocidal Sudanese regime?? [silly question, I know]