IDF says thwarted rare maritime terror attack off Gaza
Navy says it identified and fired on an armed squad equipped with wetsuits and diving gear; Hamas says four Palestinians killed.
By Anshel Pfeffer and News Agencies Latest update 06:54 07.06.10
And .... the killing goes on ..
An Israeli Zodiac boat approaches an Israel Navy warship, May 31, 2010 Photo by: AP
The Israeli Navy opened fire on an armed Palestinians wearing diving suits and apparently on their way to attack Israel targets, the IDF said on Monday morning.
An army source told Haaretz that at about 4:30 A.M., naval commandos identified and fired on a boat carrying five armed Palestinians heading north from waters off the Nuseirath refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Gaza sources reported that four Palestinians were killed in what appears to have been a rare attempt at a seaborne attack on Israel. Hamas later confirmed the deaths and said a fifth Palestinian was missing.
Four bodies were retrieved and taken to a hospital in central Gaza, said Moawiya Hassanain, a Palestinian health official. Two of the dead had suffered multiple gunshots to the head, Hassanain said.
The IDF said there were no Israeli casualties.
An unnamed military official told Army Radio that the operation had been a success for the Navy's elite commando unit, Shayetet 13, which has come under international scrutiny since killing nine pro-Palestinian activists in a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla a week ago.
"This will be a shot in the arm for the commandos after the hard week they have been through," the official said.
Two weeks ago, IDF troops near the Gaza border escaped unharmed after a bomb planted by Palestinian militants exploded close to the border fence.
That bombing came a day after two mortar shells fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza struck near the city of Ashkelon, without any casualties or damages reported.
In January a number of barrels packed with explosives were washed ashore in Israel after apparently being launched from Gaza. The Gaza-based militant group Islamic Jihad later claimed responsibility for launching the 'bomb barrels', none of which exploded.
Two NJ men arrested at JFK bound for terror group Reuters
People are seen in the new JetBlue Airways Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport during …
By Chris Michaud Chris Michaud – Sun Jun 6, 12:53 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two New Jersey men were arrested late on Saturday at a New York airport trying to catch flights for meetings with militant groups in Somalia with the intent to kill people, authorities said on Sunday.
Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, were arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport as they tried to board separate flights to Egypt on their way to Somalia, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey said.
They were charged with conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism by waging "violent jihad" through Al Shabaab, a youth movement tied to al Qaeda.
Federal officials said there was no active plot and the pair, who had been under surveillance since October 2006 following a tip from an acquaintance, did not pose an immediate threat.
Alessa and Almonte are slated to appear on Monday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey.
The arrests were first reported by The Newark Star-Ledger, which said federal and local law enforcement officials had searched the homes of both men and removed papers, a computer and other materials.
According to the complaint filed by the U.S. attorney, an undercover New York Police Department (NYPD) Intelligence Division officer recorded several meetings with the suspects starting in 2009 in which they expressed intent to kill people abroad, and possibly in the United States.
"We'll start (killing) here, if I can't do it over there," Alessa allegedly said last November, using an Arabic word for killing, court papers said.
"I wanna, like, be the world's worst-known terrorist," he allegedly said, according to the complaint.
Alessa told his family he was going to Egypt to attend school, the complaint said.
The pair discussed preparations including saving funds, getting in physical condition -- more strength meant the ability to kill more non-Muslims -- acquiring military gear and apparel and engaging in paintball, before buying tickets to Cairo on March 20 with a July 11 return date, it said.
On January 31, Almonte said in a recorded conversation that he was born and raised in the United States. "I just want the troops to come home safely," to which Alessa adds "In body bags, in a caskets ... sliced up in 1,000 pieces."
In late April, Almonte noted U.S. troops would be in Somalia soon, which was good because it would not be fun to kill only Africans, according to the complaint.
The suspects were "committed individuals with operational intent," said FBI Special Agent Michael Ward, citing their "planned travel overseas to link with a foreign terrorist organization."
They had traveled to Jordan three years ago, but Almonte told the undercover officer on February 3 they were upset after being denied the opportunity to be recruited as "mujahideen fighters."
The case was jointly pursued by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, the NYPD and the FBI, which assisted in the arrests at the airport.
If convicted. the suspects face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The arrests followed a failed attempt to explode a car bomb in New York's Times Square last month and an incident on Christmas Day in which a 23-year-old Nigerian tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner by setting off explosives hidden in his underwear.
Meshal: Israel is the main obstacle to Mideast peace
In an interview with Charlie Rose, Hamas leader says that Israel, U.S. are responsible for standstill in talks to release Gilad Shalit.
By Natasha Mozgovaya Latest update 09:45 29.05.10
Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal spoke out on Friday against American support of Israel and said that the Hamas was not against the United States but rather against its bias in favor of Israel, and stated Israel as the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Khaled Meshal
"We don’t have a problem whatsoever with the United States, nor with the American interests," Meshal told U.S. broadcast journalist and acclaimed interviewer Charlie Rose. "America is a great state; it is a superpower and its right to keep its interests, but its interests shouldn’t be at the expense of others and the people of the region."
"Israel is the obstacle in the face of peace in the region and the United States of America, morally and politically, has to deal with this reality and not put pressure on the Palestinian or the Arab side," Meshal argued.
Meshal also criticized the U.S. for not holding direct talks with the Hamas and questioned whether U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell could succeed in his mission to bring peace to the region without the Hamas.
"I think that the United States of America should have direct dialogue with Hamas without mediators, because the United States is a major state, and it shouldn't fear Israel, and it should have dialogue with all concerned parties in the region," Meshal said. "Why does he [George Mitchell] believe that he will succeed in the Palestinian issue without dialogue with Hamas?"
"Why did the American administration accept the Israeli election regardless of the results, it accepted [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, it accepted extremists like [Foreign minister Avigdor] Lieberman, to be the head of the diplomacy, and did not accept Hamas," he added and called this a "double standard."
Hamas was elected into power in the Gaza strip in 2007. The Palestinian secular Fatah movement, headed by Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, did not accept the religious party's rulein Gaza. The U.S. and the European Union both consider the Hamas a terrorist organization and do not directly talk to its leaders.
Meshal told Rose that he condemned any violence against citizens all over the world, and added that he did not support terrorist attacks, promising that once the occupation of Arab land around the world ceased and Israel withdraw back to the 1967 borders, so would the attacks.
"There is an outrage in the Arab world and the Muslim world about the Israeli crimes and the Israeli occupation, and about the American biased politics in favor of Israel and the American and European policies against the interests of the Arabs and in favor of Israel, "Meshal said.
"The overall feeling in the Muslim world is that the Americans are supporting Israel," he added. "If we are to really stop such operations [terrorist attacks] we have to have a just solution for the cause of Palestine and to stop the occupation in Iraq and in Afghanistan."
The Hamas leader urged the U.S. to provide his militant movement with technologically advance missiles "so we can use them very accurately against military targets and not civilians," and denied that Hamas hides its rockets amongst civilians.
When asked regarding abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive by the Hamas since 2006, Meshal shifted the blame for the standstill in the talks for his release onto "Netanyahu and his smaller government," and the U.S.
"Unfortunately, the American administration had a negative influence in delaying the exchange agreement because it requested Netanyahu not to have the agreement in order not to make Hamas stronger and weaken Mahmoud Abbas,' he said, quoting Noam Shalit, Gilad's father.
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