Posts

YouTube Won’t Pull Sermons of Radical Imam Connected to UK Terror

/0 Comments/in , /by

One of the three Islamic terrorists who committed this weekend’s attacks at London Bridge was reportedly inspired to jihad by watching YouTube videos of Michigan-based Imam Ahmad Musa Jibril.

While the video-sharing titan is known to take an aggressive posture when it comes to banning, suspending, and demonetizing conservative content, YouTube is giving a free pass to a hate preacher who calls for Muslims to join terrorist organizations.

Not only is his own YouTube channel still accessible, Jibril’s sermons have been shared by countless fan pages and have accumulated millions of views.

Moreover, in a U.K. TV documentary called “The Jihadis Next Door,” which was released last year, an acquaintance of one of the future London Bridge terrorists claimed he was radicalized by watching Jibril’s sermons.

The “former friend” elaborated, per The Sun (U.K.):

“He used to listen to a lot of Musa Jibril. I have heard some of this stuff and it’s very radical. I am surprised this stuff is still on YouTube and is easily accessible. I phoned the anti-terror hotline. I spoke to the gentleman. I told him about our conversation and why I think he was radicalised.”

Google, which owns YouTube, told Conservative Review they reviewed Jibril’s sermons and found that they do not violate YouTube’s guidelines on extremist or hateful content:

Our thoughts are with the victims of this shocking attack, and with the families of those caught up in it. We take our role in combatting the spread of extremist material very seriously. YouTube has clear policies prohibiting terrorist recruitment and content intending to incite violence, and we act quickly to remove flagged videos violating these policies. We also terminate accounts run by terrorist organisations or those that repeatedly violate our policies. We’re committed to working in partnership with the government, NGOs and industry colleagues to tackle these complex problems and to see what more we can do to ensure that we’re part of the solution.

In 2005, federal prosecutors said Jibril “encouraged his students to spread Islam by the sword, to wage a holy war” and “to hate and kill non-Muslims.”

A fundamentalist preacher, Jibril’s sermons do not explicitly call for militant action. But similar to deceased al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki, Jibril’s Islamist ideology provides a gateway to a justification of violence through religious doctrine. Like al-Awlaki, Jibril attempts to propagandize Westerners about the supposed evils of their system of order, pushing potential recruits toward a radical Islamic doctrine that calls for murder and violence.

In a comprehensive report on the Dearborn, Mich.-based imam, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization found that many of his followers went on to join al-Qaida and the Islamic State terror group.

Although born in the United States, Jibril spent much of his childhood in Saudi Arabia, where he studied Islamic theology. In the late ‘90s, he and his father created the website AlSalafyoon.com, which served as a platform for militant jihadi sermons. Additionally, the imam has run into trouble with the law several times. In 2005, Jibril and his father were convicted on 42 counts of fraud.

YouTube is far from the only social media venue to host Ahmad Musa Jibril’s content. A Facebook fan page for the radical imam has almost a quarter-million followers, and there are several Twitter accounts dedicated to Jibril’s sermons.

Editor’s note: The article and headline have been updated for additional information on Jibril’s ideology and to reflect the statement from Google. (For more from the author of “YouTube Won’t Pull Sermons of Radical Imam Connected to UK Terror” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

London Attacker Featured in Documentary About Britain’s ‘Jihadis Next Door’

/0 Comments/in , /by

One of the three terrorists behind Saturday’s deadly attack in London reportedly featured in a 2016 documentary about Islamist extremists in the United Kingdom.

Channel 4 documentary “The Jihadis Next Door” follows a group of radicals as they preach for an Islamist revolution in the U.K. The jihadis hold rallies in central London where they vow to make sure the Islamic State flag “will one day fly high over 10 Downing Street,” the prime minister’s residence.

A 27-year-old man known as “Abz” has been identified as one of the terrorists behind the attack in London. He can be seen publicly praying to an Islamist flag in broad daylight in the documentary, according to The Sun.

Police failed to act on at least two reports of Abz’s extremist views. A former friend told BBC that he contacted police about comments the suspect made about previous attacks.

“We spoke about a particular attack that happened and like most radicals he had a justification for anything and everything and that day I 
realized I needed to contact the authorities,” the unnamed former friend told BBC. “I did my bit. I know a lot of other people did their bit, but the authorities did not do their bit.” (Read more from “London Attacker Featured in Documentary About Britain’s ‘Jihadis Next Door'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Terror Has Hit London Again. Why US Courts Should Let Government Do Its Job.

/0 Comments/in , /by

A new terror strike in London has renewed the world’s focus on transnational Islamist terrorism, rekindling the old debate over how best to fight it.

The debate is understandable, but it comes far too late. It has been nearly 16 years since the 9/11 attacks, and ongoing terrorist activity has fit a predictable pattern—as has the U.S. response.

The time for retrospection has long passed. Now is the time for action.

With the Islamic State, or ISIS, now losing territory in Iraq and Syria, the terrorist group is looking to shore up its image by looking outward and striking targets abroad.

ISIS is desperate to show it is still relevant. Recently, it claimed responsibility for an attack on a resort in the Philippines even though local officials say the incident was a botched robbery.

Security officials around the world expect ISIS and al-Qaeda to try any means possible to execute or inspire attacks anywhere they can. London is the latest target to be hit, not two weeks since the May 22 suicide bombing in Manchester.

[Editor’s note: British authorities said three suspects were shot to death after driving a van into a crowd on London Bridge, then getting out and stabbing people with long knives, killing seven and wounding or injuring more than 45.]

After decades of battling this threat, what we know is that the best way to stop terrorist attacks is to find the terrorists and stop them before they attack.

That’s not always possible. While such efforts are constantly underway, it’s common sense to take reasonable precautions where possible to put additional hurdles in the terrorists’ path.

That’s what President Donald Trump’s travel order was about. It was a lawful measure issued to help mitigate an emerging threat—the outflow of foreign fighters out of conflict zones in the Middle East.

But the lower federal courts blocked it.

It’s only understandable that Trump, after these latest attacks, would tweet his frustration over the judicial interference into this national security matter.

There is an argument to be made that opposition to these measures tells us more about the state of partisan politics in America than about the executive order’s legal and policy merits.

Regardless, in dangerous times when lawful tools are available to the government—and government is meant to protect us—the courts ought to let government do its job. (For more from the author of “Terror Has Hit London Again. Why US Courts Should Let Government Do Its Job.” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

London Attack Shows Challenge of Stopping Terrorism in Age of ISIS

/0 Comments/in , /by

At least four people were killed, including a police officer and the suspected assailant, and 40 others wounded in a terrorist attack Wednesday in London.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the suspected attacker, whose name she did not release, as a British-born man “inspired by Islamist ideology” whom the country’s domestic intelligence agency had investigated for connections to extremism.

The man drove a large vehicle into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, which leads to the United Kingdom’s Parliament, authorities said.

After the vehicle crashed, the man got out and approached Parliament, where he fatally stabbed a police officer as he tried to enter the building. Police then fatally shot the attacker, authorities said.

The Islamic State, the terrorist group also known as ISIS, on Thursday claimed responsibility for the attack.

Heritage Foundation terrorism expert Robin Simcox told The Daily Signal that “anyone who has looked at this [security] issue will tell you that even with the best intelligence, this was going to happen at some point.”

Some of those wounded or injured were teenage schoolchildren from France, The New York Times and other media reported.

Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism. Parliament chambers and offices were placed on lockdown for more than two hours. Both the House of Commons and House of Lords will sit Thursday at their normal times.

The attack, which unfolded around 2:40 p.m. local time, came on the anniversary of suicide bombings in Brussels—claimed by ISIS—that killed 32 people, along with three bombers.

“This is the day we have planned for but we hoped would never happen,” Mark Rowley, the acting deputy commissioner with London’s Metropolitan Police Service, said at a news conference. “Sadly, it’s now a reality.”

President Donald Trump spoke with May to express his condolences over the attack.

Before Wednesday, Britain had not suffered a major terrorist attack since the rise of ISIS, unlike the U.S., France, Belgium, and Germany. But the United Kingdom long has been an attractive target for terrorists.

British intelligence services, considered some of the best in the world, have foiled planned attacks before they happened.

Long before the most recent threats, Britain maintained a comprehensive, preventive approach to counterterrorism, beginning its efforts shortly after the 2005 bombings by Islamist terrorists of London’s public transport network. That attack is commonly known as 7/7 for the month and day it occurred.

“The U.K had escaped the attacks of France and Germany—not because the U.K. is not a target but because it has a world-class intelligence service and collection capacity and the agencies work very well together,” Simcox said.

“Britain has an extremely well-integrated intelligence system,” Simcox continued. “But anyone who has looked at this issue will tell you that even with the best intelligence, this was going to happen at some point. The U.K. is a very high-value target for ISIS. It has had a host of plots thwarted in recent years, and eventually one would get through.”

In 2015, authorities made 35 percent more terrorism-related arrests in the United Kingdom than in 2010. About 800 individuals from Britain have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight in the conflicts there. Among them was Mohammed Emwazi, a British Arab known as Jihadi John who notoriously beheaded multiple Americans and Britons before he was killed in a U.S. airstrike in November 2015.

Counterterrorism experts say the mode of the Wednesday’s attack—car-ramming and stabbing—are ISIS’ staples and relatively easy to carry out and difficult to stop.

“It’s impossible to stop in a free society because these are very simple attacks,” said Rashad Ali, a U.K.-based resident senior fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, in an interview with The Daily Signal. “Anyone can drive a car into anything and anyone can find a large knife. It would be completely in line with the kind of attacks we have seen over recent years.”

Indeed, in a December 2016 terrorist attack in Berlin, Germany, an attacker—who pledged allegiance to ISIS—drove a truck into a Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others.

In Nice, France, last July, that same tactic was used when a Tunisian resident of France drove a cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and injuring 434.

ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack as well.

“We don’t know for sure if [the London attack] is ISIS,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in an interview with The Daily Signal. “But looking at the ISIS sphere, a lot of the reasons why this stuff works is the attacks that are a little more low grade are harder to protect against than grandiose plots that occurred in the decade following 9/11.”

Gartenstein-Ross and other experts say these types of attacks are becoming more difficult to stop because domestic extremists are able to use encrypted technology to communicate with terrorist groups overseas.

The New York Times recently reported that as ISIS has lost territory in Iraq and Syria, its members are increasingly conceiving and guiding domestic attacks through virtual communications.

“ISIS has operatives where their role is to basically do online what physical recruiters used to do,” Gartenstein-Ross said. “They identify domestic operatives, move them forward to the point where they are ready to carry out attacks, help them prepare propaganda in advance, and even help them do technical things if necessary.”

Experts say these methods make the jobs of already overburdened law enforcement agencies that much harder.

“Law enforcement is the least of the problems,” Gartenstein-Ross said. “They are doing everything they can to stop these plots.”

Ali seconded this view.

“You can’t take away from this [London attack] that counterterrorism measures aren’t working,” Ali said. “That isn’t true. They are working because the large-scale attacks are being thwarted. Now isn’t the time for recriminations of groups and knee-jerk reactions. We need to heal before we decide how to respond to this.” (For more from the author of “London Attack Shows Challenge of Stopping Terrorism in Age of ISIS” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Mayor of London: Islamic Jihadists are Porn-Obsessed W*****s

/2 Comments/in , /by

By Rose Troup Buchanan. Boris Johnson has said that Islamic jihadists are “literally w*****s” who turn to extremism when “they are rejected by women”.

The London Mayor claimed, in an interview for The Sun, that the individuals who travel to Syria and Iraq to fight for Isis, also known as the Islamic State, needed to be demystified after he was handed an MI5 probe revealing the ‘typical’ profile of many of the young men.

Mr Johnson, 50, said: “If you look at all the psychological profiling about bombers, they typically will look at porn. They are literally w*****s. Severe onanists.” . . .

His remarks come following a highly publicised trip to northern Iraq to meet Peshmerga fighters. (Read more about what the mayor of London said HERE)

__________________________________________________

Saudi Imam Who Raped and Tortured Daughter to Death Released for Blood Money

By Albawaba News. A Saudi religious scholar who raped his five-year-old daughter and tortured her to death has been ordered to pay “blood money” to the mother following a short term in jail, members of female rights group, Women to Drive, said on Saturday.

A statement released by the group said the man’s daughter, Lama, was admitted to hospital on 25 December 2011 having sustained multiple injuries including a crushed skull, a broken arm and ribs and extensive bruising and burns.

According to the victim’s mother, hospital staff told her that her “child’s rectum had been torn open and the abuser had attempted to burn it closed”.

Lama died in October 2012.

Despite the brutality of the crime, the activists say a judge has ruled: “Blood money and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lama’s death suffices as punishment.” (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Gold Price Stumbles to 6-Month Low After Fed Stimulus Trim

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Zeenews.com

Photo Credit: Zeenews.com

London: Gold slid more than 1 percent on Thursday to its lowest since late June after the U.S. Federal Reserve took its first step away from the ultra-loose monetary policy that had helped drive bullion prices to record highs in recent years.

The Fed said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy was finally strong enough for it to start scaling back its massive bond-buying scheme, winding down the era of easy money that saw gold rally to USD 1,920.30 an ounce in 2011.

Spot gold was down 1.2 percent at USD 1,203.85 an ounce at 1000 GMT, having earlier touched a low of USD 1,200.25. U.S. gold futures for February delivery were down USD 32.00 an ounce at USD 1,203.00.

That move came despite the Fed blunting its taper with a continued dovish message on interest rates – that tapering was not tightening.

“This is another sign of increasing normalisation for the world economy,” Macquarie analyst Matthew Turner said. “Gold’s insurance function is less desirable in that environment.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Preacher Arrested for Calling Homosexuality a Sin (+video)

/5 Comments/in , /by

An American evangelist said he was arrested and interrogated about his Christian faith after he was caught on a London sidewalk preaching that homosexuality is a sin.

Tony Miano, a retired deputy sheriff and former chaplain with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., was charged with “using homophobic speech that could cause people anxiety, distress, alarm or insult.”

Miano had been preaching on a London street corner during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships with a ministry group called Sports Fan Outreach International.

He was preaching about immoral living – and cited homosexuality as an example of lifestyle choices that are contrary to biblical teaching.

“I never used any gay slurs,” he said. “You would never hear me using slang or discriminatory language against homosexuals or any other group. That would be contrary to my faith.”

See video here:

[police arrive at the 25:40 mark]

Read more from this story HERE.

NSA Targeted Russian Premier at London G20 Summit

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

American spies based in the UK intercepted the top-secret communications of the then Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, during his visit to Britain for the G20 summit in London, leaked documents reveal.

The details of the intercept were set out in a briefing prepared by the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s biggest surveillance and eavesdropping organisation, and shared with high-ranking officials from Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The document, leaked by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and seen by the Guardian, shows the agency believed it might have discovered “a change in the way Russian leadership signals have been normally transmitted”.

The disclosure underlines the importance of the US spy hub at RAF Menwith Hill in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, where hundreds of NSA analysts are based, working alongside liaison officers from GCHQ…

It has often been described as the biggest surveillance and interception facility in the world, and has 33 distinct white “radomes” that house satellite dishes. A US base in all but name, it has British intelligence analysts seconded to work alongside NSA colleagues, though it is unclear how the two agencies obtain and share intelligence – and under whose legal authority they are working under.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Islamists Protest French Military Intervention in Mali, Call for Shariah, Jihad in Europe and World

/3 Comments/in , /by

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posted unbelievable video Sunday of Islamists rallying in England a little over one week ago to protest the French intervention in Mali.

The chants of the Islamists, though, appear to target the West in its entirety. Far from objecting to French foreign policy, the speakers repeatedly threaten that an Islamic caliphate will begin in Africa and the Middle East, but will eventually spread to “the whole world.”

“We will not stop as Muslims until the whole world is governed by Islam,” one man says evenly and calmly.

The video begins with a bearded individual leading chants, saying things like “Shariah for Mali! Jihad for Mali!” and “Allah Akbar!”

Watch shocking video:

Read more from this story HERE.

“Grindr,” GPS-based gay hook-up app crashed in London due to massive influx of gay Olympic athletes trying to use service

/0 Comments/in /by

If you were one of London’s estimated 350,000 Grindr users trying to log into the GPS-based gay dating App last week, you may have encountered some difficulty, due, according to some, to the influx of Olympic athletes trying to use the service.

In a July 19th post on the Grindr blog, App founder Joel Simkhai issued an apology to users who had experienced “service disruptions,” and explains, “when we discovered that [Grindr wasn’t working], we immediately set to work fixing the screw-up. The service disruption was a challenging thing to address, but our tech team worked around the clock to solve the problems and to whip Grindr back into shape.”

Simkhai doesn’t address the cause of the disruptions, but London tabloid “The People,” attributes it to the influx of Olympic Athletes in London. The publication reports:

A gay dating website crashed within minutes of the first Olympic athletes arriving in London — due to the volume of demand, say experts… Technicians believe the arrival of Olympic teams on Monday sparked a flood of new customers — and loss of the service in East London.

One Londoner told The People, “It happened almost as soon as the teams got here. Either loads of athletes were logging on to meet fellow Olympians or were looking to bag a local.”

Read more from the Huffington Post HERE (although we don’t recommend it).

Publisher’s note: GrindR subsequently denied that the influx of Olympians caused the collapse of its app, but provided no specific reason for the system’s collapse.