How Much Worse It Could Be
Jerusalem
y last week, a Jerusalem
friend asked me if I had
noticed that it had been
nearly two months since
there had been a terrorist bombing in
Israel. With his question, I knew the
next attack was likely imminent.
That's the way it often is in Israel.
The moment people start speaking of
an apparent lull in Palestinian attacks,
it's time to take cover. The next atroci-
ty probably won't be long in coming.
Such has been the torrent of vio-
lence in recent years that Israelis are
reduced to feeling grateful if a month
or two passes without a major terrorist
assault. But if there was a lull until the
March 5 suicide bombing in Haifa, it
was no thanks to Palestinian terror
chieftains. Indeed, their determination
to kill as many Israelis as possible since
they began their terror offensive
against Israel in September 2000 has
never subsided.
Later this month marks exactly two-
B
Robert Sarner is a senior reporter-editor
on Israel's only English-language daily
TV show. Before moving to Israel in
1990, he was a writer and magazine
editor in Paris and Toronto. His e-mail
address is rsarner@netvision.net.il
and-a-half years since the Palestinians
launched their terrorist war of attrition
against Israel. During that time, Israel
has suffered dearly, losing (including
the 15 killed in Haifa) more than 750
men, women and children in countless
attacks that also wounded some 5,000
others. In a tiny, closely knit country
like Israel, such a loss is devastating.
And yet, Israelis should consider
themselves fortunate. Fortunate? In
the face of such unspeakable tragedy,
trauma and sorrow? The mind reels at
what has happened, but think of what
could've happened had Hamas,
Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades, Fatah and others really had
their way. Compared to what these
terrorist groups intended, the casual-
ties, as horrific as they are, are relative-
ly low.
Most people abroad don't realize
that the atrocities that have killed so
many and so shaken the nation pale
next to all the operations planned by
Palestinian terror organizations.
Fortunately, the country's security
services are on the case, heroically foil-
ing many of them. Otherwise, the
Israeli death toll-since 2000 would be
in the thousands. .
The world has little idea of what
Israel is really up against. Not surpris-
ered a huge Hamas bomb fac-
tory in the West Bank con-
taining hundreds of kilograms
of explosives and parts used
for making bombs.
In mid-February, the GSS
announced it had arrested a
Gaza resident who was plan-
Toll Appalling
ning several bombing attacks
ROB ERT
Since the current hostilities
and organizing others by sui-
SARN ER
broke out, 99 Palestinians
cide bombers. His intended
Spe cial
have blown themselves up in
Comm entary targets: Beersheva's Soroka
attacks aimed at slaughtering
Hopsital, a bus of tourists in
Israelis. During the same peri-
Mitzpe Ramon and IDF offi-
od, Israel has captured 86 would-be
cers in the Negev.
suicide bombers. In recent months, it
In early February, the IDF arrested a
has foiled an even higher proportion
Hamas member in Ramallah who
of planned attacks.
took soldiers to a hotel where he had
In February alone, the GSS prevent-
hidden a suitcase containing explosive
ed 57 Palestinian terrorist attacks,
belts. He confessed to planning to
including 22 in which would-be sui-
wear one of them into Jerusalem on a
cide bombers and their dispatchers
suicide mission.
were arrested along with huge
Two days before, the IDF found a 15-
amounts of weapons and explosives.
kilogram explosives belt hidden in a
Last week, Jerusalem police revealed
large mosque in the town of Taibeh. The
that in January they foiled an attempt-
IDF learned of the bomb after arresting
ed mass terror attack on the city's
two Islamic Jihad terrorists at a nearby
main soccer stadium packed with fans.
roadblock. They confessed to hiding it
The terrorist traveled to the capital .
for use later against an Israeli target.
from Bethlehem but was caught by
At the same time, security sources
police acting on intelligence before he
revealed the IDF and the GSS foiled
could carry out the bombing.
several attempted terror attacks planned
Three weeks ago, IDF troops uncov- SARNER on page 35
twin bombings of U.S. embassies in
East Africa in August 1998.
When the president of BMI — a
Muslim — learned of this communi-
cation, he contacted Abdel-Hafiz to
ask for a meeting. On a conference
call in April 1999, an assistant U.S.
attorney dealing with the BMI case,
Mark Flessner, encouraged Abdel-
Hafiz to meet the BMI president and
clandestinely record their discussion,
Abdel-Hafiz refused. Why not? "I
fear for my life." But you have FBI
protection, Flessner pointed out. No,
Abdel-Hafiz scornfully replied, "The
FBI can't protect me. The FBI, I
don't trust them."
Pressed further, Abdel-Hafiz blurt-
ed out another reason, one recalled
by several participants on the call:
• "I do not record another Muslim.
That is against my religion."
(Flessner).
• "A Muslim does not record
another Muslim." (Robert Wright,
FBI agent).
• He "wouldn't have any problems
interviewing or recording somebody who
wasn't a Muslim, but he could
Carmody, testifies that he
asked Abdel-Hafiz to learn
never record another Muslim."
(John Vincent, FBI agent).
more from Al-Arian by
secretly recording a conversa-
Robert Wright informed a
tion with him. Again, Abdel-
supervisor at FBI headquarters
Hafiz refused, saying he
about this conversation and
would make the call but not
was met with indifference:
record it.
"Well, you have to understand
Wright reports another
where he's coming from,
DAN TEL
problem with Abdel-Hafiz:
Bob.". When ABC News
PIP ES
agents at the FBI's
inquired about Abdel-Hafiz's
Spe cial
statement, the FBI bureaucra-
Comm entary Washington field office wrote
of his "contacting subjects of
cy exonerated him by saying
their investigations and not
that the clandestine recording
would have taken place in a mosque.
disclosing these contacts" to the spe-
But this was a falsehood (there was no cial agents running those cases.
mosque involved), which the FBI later
acknowledged and retracted.
Ignored Complaints
The second case concerns Sami Al-
Carmody's repeated complaints about
Arian, a professor at the University of
Abdel-Hafiz went nowhere. Worse,
South Florida recently indicted for his
FBI headquarters promoted Abdel-
alleged role financing and running the
Hafiz in February 2001 by sending
Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist
him to terrorism central — to a sen-
group. Al-Arian had been under crimi-
sitive, important, and. prestigious
nal investigation for years; at one point,
he met Abdel-Hafiz at a conference and posting at the U.S. Embassy in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Which makes
pressed for details about his case.
Abdel-Hafiz's then-colleague, Barry
PIPES on page 35
ing given that the foreign
media largely ignores the
many terrorist plots averted by
the army (IDF), the police
and the General Security
Services (GSS).
The FBI Fumbles
Philadelphia
s an agent of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation,
Gamal Abdel-Hafiz could
have a key role helping
America's premier anti-terrorist force
protect the United States from harm.
But evidence from high-profile ter-
rorism cases suggests that Abdel-
Hafiz, an immigrant Muslim, twice
refused on principle to tape record
his coreligionists, harming the inves-
tigations.
The first case concerns a now-
defunct Secaucus, N.J.-based Islamic
investment bank called BMI Inc.
Founded in 1985, it was financed by
known terrorists and by members of
the bin Laden family. The FBI got a
break in 1999, when a BMI accountant
contacted it and relayed his suspicions
that $2.1 million in BMI funds "may
have been used" to finance Al Qaida's
A
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle
East Forum and author of "Militant Islam
Reaches America" (WW Norton). His
e-mail address is Pipes@MEForum.org
a\g
3/14
2003
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