DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

Who Was Ahmad Yassin?
    Ahmad Yassin was founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, and its military wing, Izz al-Dinn al-Qassam, which is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis in terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings, since the 1990s.
    An Israeli court convicted Yassin in 1989 of ordering Hamas members to kidnap and kill two Israeli soldiers.
    Yassin opposed the previously signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and maintained that eliminating Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state in Palestine was a religious duty.
    In his public message to the Muslim world on the occasion of Eid al-Adha (February 19, 2002), Yassin clearly justified the jihad against the U.S. in Muslim and Arab countries on the basis of Islamic law.
    Jihad against America is a positive commandment in every respect and is the realization of "the right of self-defense" against "the Crusaders' war" and the terrorist war waged by the U.S. against the nation of Islam in Afghanistan and against the Islamic jihad movements in the world.
    Yassin encouraged Muslims to perform jihad and to prepare for an extended battle against the U.S., promising that the current century, the twenty-first, is the "Islamic century, the century of liberation, victory, and the fulfillment of potential."
    From "New Radical Islamic Thinking Justifying the Genocide of Infidels" - Jonathan D. Halevi (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

    See also Yassin Personally Authorized Woman Bomber (Daily Alert, 16 Jan 04)
    Reem Salah al-Rayashi, 21, approached Hamas several times with the request to be a suicide bomber. "She practically begged," an Arab affairs reporter told Israel TV Channel 2.
    The Hamas leadership repeatedly spurned her requests, until Sheikh Yassin himself intervened.
    Yassin personally gave his blessing for al-Rayashi to be used as a bomber, and issued a decree (a few hours after the suicide bombing at the Erez crossing in Gaza on January 14, 2004, in which four Israelis were killed) that "Jihad was the duty of men and women."  (Jerusalem Post)

Report: Al-Qaeda Has Black Market Nuclear Bombs (Sydney Morning Herald)
    Pakistani journalist Hamad Mir, bin Laden's biographer, said bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, claimed al-Qaeda has bought ready-made nuclear bombs on the black market.
    "Dr. Ayman al-Zawahri said 'Mr Mir., if you have $30 million, go to the black market in central Asia, contact any disgruntled Soviet scientist, and a lot of...smart briefcase bombs are available,'" Mir said.
    "They have contacted us, we sent our people to Moscow, to Tashkent, to other central Asian states, and they negotiated, and we purchased some suitcase bombs."

Eyewitness: The Policewoman Who Found the Palestinian Boy with the Bomb - Sari Makover-Blikov (Maariv-Hebrew, 19 Mar 04)
    Military police Pvt. Moran Bukent, 19, performs security checks at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus.
    "Many Palestinian children work as porters at the checkpoint to earn money," she says.
    "When Abdallah Quran reached my station, I thought his backpack seemed awfully heavy for such a small kid."
    "When we dumped out the contents of the backpack on the table, I saw a cardboard box with three white electric wires. I put everything on the ground and called the commander, then moved everyone away from the area."
    "When they blew up the bomb there was a huge blast that left a large hole in the ground and spread nuts and bolts and ball bearings everywhere. It destroyed the checkpoint."

Media Contact Information

Back Issues

News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Observations:

Why Israel Targeted Ahmad Yassin (Israel Foreign Ministry)

• Hamas constitutes a primary element in the fabric of global terrorism, and has developed extensive ties with other terrorist groups around the world.
• Yassin took advantage of his spiritual influence to indoctrinate his followers to commit hundreds of barbaric murders. The ruthless attacks he inspired and personally approved include:
  • The June 1, 2001, suicide bombing of a discotheque near Tel Aviv's Dolphinarium, killing 21 young people and wounding 120.
  • The March 27, 2002, suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya. 30 people were killed and 140 injured in the midst of their Passover holiday "Seder" dinner.
  • The June 18, 2002, suicide bombing of a bus carrying students on their way to school in Jerusalem, killing 19 and injuring 74.
• Yassin was a chilling example of a leader who cynically manipulated his followers and distorted lofty religious principles in order to recruit Palestinians, including children and women, to kill themselves in order to murder hundreds of Israeli civilians.
• The operation against Yassin was not an act of vengeance. It was part of the ongoing Israeli effort to confront terrorism and its sources. The brutal Hamas terrorist campaign is aimed at killing as many Israelis as possible, in the pursuit of the ultimate Hamas goal of bringing about Israel's destruction.
• Whoever is involved in the planning, orchestration, execution or leadership of terrorism must understand that Israel will not sit idly by and wait for the next suicide bomber to appear on the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. The government of Israel - like any other government - bears a fundamental responsibility to protect the lives of its citizens from the threat of terrorism.
• While continuing its counter-terrorist operations, Israel will, at the same time, persevere in its efforts to arrive at a political solution based upon the implementation of the Roadmap. Peace can only be achieved once the Palestinian leadership confronts the terrorists in its midst, and renounces the use of violence as a tool to resolve political disagreements.
• Israel has offered the Palestinians hope of achieving their aspirations, and has extended its hand in peace. Yet, it has received only an onslaught of terrorism in return. Today, Israel faces an ever-increasing terrorist threat, and in the face of this threat, Israel will continue to defend itself.

    See also IDF to Continue Targeting Hamas Leadership - Arieh O'Sullivan
"Sheik Ahmad Yassin was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians," said OC Ground Forces Services Maj.-Gen. Yiftach Rontal. "As long as no one on the Palestinian side will fight terror, it is the IDF which will continue to fight, hitting everyone involved in terror, including its leaders," he said.
    IDF Spokesperson Ruth Yaron said, "We have to safeguard the lives of our babies, our children, and our civilians. Terrorists will try kill whenever they can, so we have to try and stop it whenever we can," Yaron said. "Yassin not only led Hamas ideologically and spiritually, but he also personally gave authorization for some of the suicide bombings and other attacks," a senior IDF military intelligence officer said Monday. (Jerusalem Post)