CST Blog

Terror against Jews

1 February 2010

There is a long and tragic history of terrorists attacking Jewish communities in various parts of the world, many of which are documented in this 2003 report from CST. Looking at the news in the past few days, the problem of anti-Jewish terror is not going away.

In Egypt, between 20 and 25 people have been arrested for plotting to bomb the tomb of  Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira, a revered 19th century Moroccan rabbi who died in Egypt in 1879 on his way to the Holy Land. Hundreds of pilgrims, mostly from Israel, visit the tomb every year and the bombing was allegedly being planned to coincide with the latest visit, which took place in January. According to press reports:

The suspects, some of whom were arrested several weeks ago, are also accused of planning to blow up American ships in the Suez Canal and carry out terror attacks in Egypt. They are also accused of planning to cripple major banks in Cairo and Alexandria.  

Various reports indicate that the suspects were caught with a large weapons cache, including warheads for Qassam rockets manufactured by Hamas. Egyptian security forces say they set up training camps where they practiced using explosives.

Egyptian prosecutors have begun investigating the suspects.

Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that the alleged terror cell is based on the ideology of Sayyid Qutb, considered the spiritual father of the radical Islamic movements that fought secular rule.

In a separate story, Hamas have responded to the mysterious death of one of their senior operatives in Dubai by considering attacking Israeli targets outside Israel. As the CST report on anti-Jewish terrorism shows, terrorists often do not distinguish between Israeli targets and Jewish ones, and Hamas of course has a long history of suicide bombings against civilians. According to one report of the comments by Mahmoud Zahar, one of Hamas's most senior figures in Gaza:

He stressed that the organization was fully capable of carrying out such attacks, but had so far not chosen to do so.

Hamas has always insisted that its only quarrel is with Israel, and its fight is limited within those borders. If it is true that Hamas has established the capacity to carry out terrorist attacks in other countries, then that profoundly changes the nature of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Meanwhile, here in Britain a video has been found in Manchester - although probably filmed in Pakistan - which shows young children playing with real guns while an adult says:

We will kill the Jews - we will kill the Jews.

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