The Hamas PR Machine in America

by Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen
inFocus | Fall 2007

On August 8, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the al-Salah Society as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), calling it “one of the largest and best funded Hamas charities.” Treasury revealed that Hamas had used al-Salah, “to finance its terrorist agenda.” The designation was one of many actions taken against Hamas front groups dating back to 1995, when Washington first designated Hamas a terrorist organization. Unfortunately, these actions do little to hinder Hamas activities in America.

The problem is not that Treasury’s actions are insufficient. Rather, U.S. companies continue to knowingly or unwittingly facilitate Hamas Internet and television services. Moreover, professors, media outlets, and even a former U.S. president, help Hamas broadcast its messages throughout America, even as Washington attempts to weaken the terror group following the violent takeover of Gaza.

Whitewashing Hamas in the Classroom

While Hamas represses its own Palestinian people in Gaza and continues to launch rockets into Israel indiscriminately, a legion of U.S. apologists, including Muslim lobby groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), propose that the U.S. recognize the terrorist government, so it may be influenced to modify its agenda. Leading the charge, alongside the Muslim lobby groups, are American academicians.

Boston University professor Augustus Richard Norton and Harvard University Middle Eastern Studies scholar Sara Roy recently co-authored an article for the Christian Science Monitor entitled, “Yes, You Can Work With Hamas,” encouraging Washington to recognize the legitimacy of the terrorist organization. Writer Cinnamon Stillwell notes that Roy, in particular, has “long been invested in forging the idea of a ‘New Hamas’ by attempting to downplay the group’s openly genocidal ambitions and picturing them instead as an enlightened group of do-gooders interested only in social services and education.”

Roy and Norton are not alone. Scores of other professors, including the University of Maryland’s Shibley Telhami; associate professor of political science and international relations at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Virginia Tilley; and Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi, have increasingly sided with Hamas, blaming all Palestinian woes on Israel, despite the fact that an internationally recognized terrorist organization now governs Gaza.

Read All Over

The positions advanced by these academicians are also buttressed by the mainstream press, which has helped Hamas spread its propaganda. On November 1, 2006, for instance, The New York Times ran an opinion piece penned by Ahmed Yousef, an advisor to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Yousef claimed that Israel refused a Hamas-proposed ceasefire with Israel. What the Times failed to note was that Yousef’s call for a hudna was essentially a call to let the guns fall silent in the near term, but did nothing to assure that Hamas’ long-term goal of destroying Israel would be addressed.

On June 20, immediately following the violent takeover of Gaza, both The New York Times and The Washington Post, America’s newspapers of record, ran two different op-eds by Yousef. The Times piece, entitled “What Hamas Wants,” falsely claimed that after the Hamas coup, “the streets of Gaza are now calm,” promising reform and disarmament under Hamas rule. In truth, Hamas has imposed a Taliban-like regime in Gaza that includes the killing of innocents, arbitrary confiscation of property, muzzling the media, and increased links to Iran and al-Qaeda. The Times, however, insisted that running the Hamas opinion piece contributed to a greater understanding of Gaza’s new rulers.

The Washington Post, on the same day, ran a separate op-ed penned by Yousef entitled, “Engage With Hamas.” The piece argued that if Gaza became “a breeding ground for terrorism,” Washington would be to blame, particularly if it did not engage with the new Hamas regime. These publications handed Hamas a propaganda coup.

Predictably, pro-Israel groups were enraged over the two opinion pieces. But the mainstream media was unmoved. On July 10, 2007, The Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed entitled, “Hamas’ Stand,” by Mousa Abu Marzook, a Damascus-based Hamas official heavily involved in Hamas fundraising. Marzook insisted that the terrorist group’s, “militant stance cannot by itself be the disqualifying factor.”

Over the Airwaves

The Hamas PR machine penetrates U.S. airwaves, too. The easiest venue to disseminate its message has been the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television channel. While the channel is not accessible on cable or local satellites, Americans can easily access it on the Internet. The channel has helped Hamas transmit the idea that suicide operations, or “martyrdom,” is approved by the prominent cleric and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, Yousuf al-Qardawi. On July 16, 2007, for example, al-Jazeera featured a program in which Hamas chief Khaled Meshal, sitting alongside Qardawi, thanked the cleric for his “support of martyrdom operations.” Meshal praised Qardawi because he issued, “rulings in support of these operations, and there were times when we were in dire need of these rulings.”

American networks, for their part, have provided a platform for one of Hamas’ most ardent advocates, former President Jimmy Carter. In one interview, Carter told ABC that, “Hamas leaders sent me word that what they want to do is to form, to quote them, a peaceful, united, unity government.” The former president cast no doubt on this proclamation from a known terrorist organization. Indeed, he pleaded with American viewers on CNN to, “Give Hamas a chance.”

Hatred.com

Hamas also relies heavily upon the Internet to disseminate its virulent anti-Israel and anti-American message, which arguably makes their computer keyboards as dangerous as the rockets they fire into Israel. The Internet allows Hamas to raise funds, plan terrorist attacks, maintain international communication, and expand influence and recruitment through advertising and chat rooms.

Hamas operates a number of sites including: paltime.net; alresalah.info; palestiniangallery.com; fm-m.com; felesteen.ps; al-fateh.net; mujamaa.org; islamic-block.net; alkotla.com; palestinianforum.com; aqsatv.ps; and tanfithya.com. Perhaps the most well known Hamas propaganda website is the Lebanon-based “Palestine-info” network of 20 or more websites. Domains include: Palestine-info-urdu.com, palestine-persian.info and palestine-info.net. The operation is run from Beirut by senior Hamas activist Nizar Hussein, with instructions from Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Meshal.

A page entitled “Heroic Stories” on Palestine-info is a good example of the virulent content on this website network. Here, Hamas glorifies female suicide bombers, and includes a religious ruling (fatwa) from Qardawi. Other Palestine-info pages include idealized photos and propaganda of weapons-toting suicide bombers.

The Palestine-info websites include official Hamas news, propaganda, and chat forum outlets in eight languages targeting the Middle East, Western Muslim communities, as well as non-Muslims around the world. In addition to English and Arabic, Palestine-info publishes pages in Farsi, Urdu, Malaysian, and Turkish, as well as Russian (targeting Chechens) and French (for North Africans).

Internet Service Providers

Opinions vary on the exact number of American Internet service providers (ISPs) that facilitate Hamas activities on the web. According to Internet-Haganah.com, an activist website, Hamas purchased 18 websites (roughly 60 percent of its sites) from North American providers. However, an August 2007 report by Dr. Reuven Erlich asserts that Hamas obtained only about seven (roughly 35 percent) of its estimated 20 websites from North American ISPs.

Either way, corporations that sell server space and Internet services to Hamas are aiding and abetting the terrorist network. U.S. companies that support Hamas via the web include Domainbank.com, register.com, Network Solutions LLC, OnlineNIC Inc., GoDaddy.com, eNom Inc., Defender Technologies Group, and Oversee.net. Canadian firms that service Hamas include: Groupe iWeb Technologies Inc., Tucows Inc., and NIC.ps.

Conclusion

The Hamas PR machine exploits the American democratic system to spread hatred and incitement through America’s communications infrastructure, thereby assisting Hamas fundraising and recruitment activities. U.S. journalists, academics, and television networks that implore Washington to engage in dialogue with Hamas are providing this terrorist group with national and international platforms. Although these actions aid and abet our enemies, our Constitution protects them.

However, we can shutter Hamas websites, especially when providers are American, by invoking the Patriot Act, which defines facilitation of terrorist communications services as a terrorist act. Congress can also help by instituting new “Know Your Customer” requirements for all Internet service providers, and specifically network access and domain name register companies.

Some analysts argue that Hamas websites and TV broadcasts must remain operational so that the intelligence community can monitor them. This is a poor strategy. For every day these platforms remain online, hate propaganda continues to poison millions of minds, drawing recruits, and raising funds. And the terrorists go on killing.

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center of Democracy, is a member of the board of the Committee for the Present Danger. Alyssa A. Lappen is a senior fellow at ACD. Both authors are contributing editors to the American Congress For Truth.

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Russia’s Artful Dodger

by Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen
Human Events | Posted: 09/18/2007

Alcoa Inc.’s shares may have fallen 30% since their July 2007 peak, but that only makes the world’s second largest aluminum producer a more tempting takeover target. A few foreign companies have expressed interest, including United Company Rusal (UCR, registered “offshore” in Jersey), now the world’s largest aluminum conglomerate.

Rusal’s owner, a close personal friend of the Russian President, Oleg Deripaska has a net worth that has nearly doubled since 2006, to an estimated at $21 billion. If American law enforcement and securities officials are not already paying close attention to Russia’s wealthiest man, they should.

On September 1, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that Deripaska stands accused by the Stuttgart Prosecutor’s Office of involvement with Russia’s Izmailovo mob in laundering 8 million Euros in Germany and bribing judges — and, most damningly, of contracting the murders of some competitors.

This investigation apparently blocked Deripaska’s attempt to obtain control over the German construction conglomerate, Hochtief. Deripaska, who already holds 9.6 percent of the company, is challenging the decision in court, alleging anti-Russian politics rest behind the decision.

However, the Germans may be rightfully wary Deripaska’s attempted acquisition. Directed by Putin, Russia’s “Fagin,” Deripaska happily plays the Artful Dodger, entrapping and tricking domestic and foreign businessmen and absconding with their assets, all in the name of nationalism.

The U.S. government has denied Deripaska’s entry to the country for more than 10 years. In 2005, after paying $560,000 to former Senator Robert Dole and his law firm, Alston & Bird, Deripaska secured a multiple-entry visa and visited the U.S. several times. His visits ended abruptly in July 2006, when the U.S. government revoked his visa.

Despite Deripaska’s questionable profile, for $500,000 monthly he retains the advice of the risk management and investigative firm Dilligence LLC, whose advisory board is chaired by former CIA and FBI Director Judge William Webster.

Deripaska even has the fifth Baron Rothschild, Nathaniel. In his stable. Rothschild has a $15 million stake in Dilligence, and is also a partner in New York’s $14 billion and growing Atticus Capital hedge fund, which owns 4% of the New York Stock Exchange. Continue reading “Russia’s Artful Dodger” →

Terror Criminal Links Growing

By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, September 13, 2007

Al Qaeda’s sophisticated new media campaign clearly demonstrates that the group does not lack funding. Contrary to popular belief, organizing, maintaining, training, and operating terrorist groups require large and liquid sums. Most terrorist organizations circumvent funding prohibitions by creating “political” and “charitable” wings, a ruse that enables their individual and state supporters to contribute “clean” money to the terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Interviewed by ABC News on September 11, 2007, U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) Stuart Levey, said: “If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia.”

Still, the U.S. government does not designate the Saudis, or other oil producing countries as terrorist entities, although they are the major suppliers of “clean” money that feed of the global proliferation of radical Islam. As the West consumes more oil, the higher the price tends to rise and more petrodollars are available to spread radical Islam.

But “charitable” donations alone do not satisfy the terrorists growing appetite. They also regularly generate funds through “common” transnational crimes. Yet inadequate official recognition of this convergence lets terrorists operate below the radar.

A major funding source for terrorist and criminals is the trade in illegal drugs. In contrast to oil revenues, pricing illegal drug works precisely the opposite. The more heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines are produced, the larger global supply and consumption grow. Increasing supply force prices to drop precipitously, thereby creating even larger markets. In 1981, a gram of heroin cost $1,974 on U.S. streets; in 2003, a gram of heroin cost only $362, according to a National Drug Control Strategy document. [1] By September 2006, a gram of heroin cost only $75 to $95, according to two 2007 criminal indictments, filed by two northeastern Federal Districts. [2]

In late August 2007, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) reported that opium cultivation in Afghanistan had reached a new record. The area under opium cultivation grew 17%, to 193,000 hectares, compared with 165,000 hectares in 2006. Meanwhile, the opium yield grew by more than one third, to 8,200 tons, from 6,100 tons.

The UDOC attributes this amazing increase to the Taliban’s reversal of their 2000 edict banning cultivation, said Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.[3] And Afghanistan now supplies some 95% of the world’s opiate/heroin market, according to Radio Free Europe.[4]

The nexus between transnational criminal organizations and terrorist groups does not end illegal drug trafficking. Their partnerships are complex, linking money, geography, politics, arms, and tactics to create a mutually beneficial relationship. These links yield hundreds of billions, of dollars in revenues worldwide.

On July 14, 2007, Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Police Counterterrorism Criminal Intelligence Bureau, Michael Downing stated that laundered funds now “account for about 10 percent of the total global flow of money–up from about 2 percent in 1998.” In May 2001,[5] the FBI estimated that “the amount of money laundered each year is approximately $2.8 trillion.”

The former International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director, Michel Camdessus, estimated that money laundered worldwide 1999, totaled between 2% and 5% of combined gross domestic product (GDP)—or approximately $1.8 trillion. By April 2006, the IMF’s World Economic Outlook estimate of the world economy was $65.174 trillion. Considering the rise of radical Muslim terrorist groups, and the dramatic increase in “ordinary” crime, as well as major technological advances, it is now estimated that at least $5 trillions are being laundered annually, 70% are thought to be generated from the illegal drug trade.

Even if only a little goes to terrorist groups, “it’s frightening,” Downing said. “Not only that, but you see the convergence of organized crime and terrorism occurring.”

In May 2007, Los Angeles Sheriff Department Lt., John Sullivan, stated: “organized crime groups in Los Angeles County are supporting international terrorists.” But this is not only Los Angeles’ problem.

According to a recent Gallup study, “counterfeiting and piracy costs Americans $250 billion in sales and 750,000 U.S. jobs annually.” [6] These involve counterfeiting of “CDs, DVDs, handbags, medications, cigarettes and even toothpaste.” [7]

Defrauding the U.S. Government of hundreds of billions of dollars and undermining local economies is just what Osama bin laden ordered on Dec. 27, 2001: “It is very important to concentrate on hitting the U.S. economy through all possible means…. Look for the key pillars of the U.S. economy. Strike the key pillars of the enemy again and again, and they will fall as one.”

Incredibly, despite substantial evidence that al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organizations need vast sums to sustain their operational infrastructures and broaden their bases, 9/11 Commission Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton and Commissioner Slade Gorton stated, “Making it harder for terrorists to get money is a necessary, but not sufficient, component of our overall strategy” (emphasis added). The willful blindness behind this attitude may partially explain inadequate power and implementation of existing laws and legal instruments to more efficiently combat terror financing and criminal activities.

Jihad is not committed by the sword alone. While less transparent, economic and financial jihads are far more insidious aspects of the jihadist war to defeat the West, and especially the U.S.

With this in mind, it would seem prudent for law enforcement to take a closer look at the identities and profiles of each and every “ordinary” criminal seized, be it a drug dealers, car thieves, or “white collar” criminals.

Notes:
[1] Table 45, “Avg. Price and Purity of Heroin in the U.S., 1981-2003,” http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/ndcs06_data_supl/ds_drg_rltd_tbls.pdf
[2] www.usdoj.gov/usao/pae/News/Pr/2007/may/monegro.pdf and www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Public-Affairs/press_releases/press07/ThreeBaltimoreDrugDealersSentencedtoLengthyPrisonTerms.html viewed on Aug. 28, 2007
[3] Masood Haider, “UN Reports record production of opium in Afghanistan,” Dawn, Aug. 28, 2007, http://www.dawn.com/2007/08/28/top16.htm, viewed Aug. 28, 2007.
[4] Breffni O’Rourke, “Central Asia/Iran: Massive Afghan Opium Production Hits Neighbors,” Radio Free Europe/Liberty Radio, Aug. 28, 2007, http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/08/f58f6951-ad74-4996-bbb3-50fa2dcd7112.html, viewed Aug. 28, 2007.
[5] “Criminal Justice Resources: Money Laundering,” Michigan State University Libraries – Criminal Justice Resources, www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/moneylau.htm, Source: “Money Laundering”, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin v.70 no.5 (May 2001): p.1-9
[6] “Congress needs to get tough on China trade,” The Oakland Press, August 17, 2007 http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/081707/opi_20070817134.shtml
[7] Troy Anderson, “Drug sales, counterfeiting funding terrorism. Sheriff’s office says it’s intercepted plots, traced money back to extremist groups,” L.A. Daily News, August 20, 2007