A fair number of the sites we've identified have wound up being hosted by BurstNET (aka Network Operations Center, Inc.) or Everyone's Internet. Both these companies claim to be hosting these sites because the US government is forcing them to do so . We have no way of verifying that claim.
These are the brochure sites of terrorist organizations. Their purpose is to incite, to inflame, to encourage people to either join the organization or to go off and commit some act of violence on their own. The modern terrorist organization doesn't care about publicity. They simply want to kill. I don't think it makes a damn bit of difference to them who, if anyone, claims credit. At this point, the line between a hate crime and a terrorist act becomes blurred. The attack on the El Al counter at LAX is a good example of what I'm talking about . I'm beginning to think that the people we need to write letters to are not the ISPs, but our Representatives and Senators. I don't think the intelligence gathered by watching people access these sites is worth the lives lost when one such visitor goes on a killing spree.
The US law that seems to apply to these sites seems to be interpreted pretty narrowly by Federal law enforcement. They see 'material support or resources' as meaning money -- fundraising activity. I interpret it more generally, and see these sites as a resource, as part of the communications infrastructure of an enemy force, i.e. a legitimate target. It would be worthwhile to see what the intent of the Congress was when they passed the Patriot Act of 2002. I suspect their view was more like mine than not.
Whether these sites remain up because the authorities want them to, or because they are 'too busy' dealing with other matters, the way forward for us seems to be the same: to make a political issue out of it. The constant incitement to commit acts of violence against Jews and Americans must end.
This week we're featuring images and movies from www.qassam.net, in honor of the ISP's attempt to block us from accessing the site. Today's 'episode' is The Road Bomb. It goes like this: first they bury a bomb in a road. Then they retreat to a nearby hillside with a video camera. When an Israel truck drives over the bomb, they blow it to pieces, killing the occupants, and capturing the whole thing on tape. The tape is broadcase on Arab television, and then is uploaded to their webside, so they can share it with the rest of the world. Qassam is the military wing of Hamas. They are the people who killed 5 Americans when they set off a bomb at the cafeteria at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Their website is served up from Houston, Texas. The movie is 1.4MB, and will open in a new window. Click the still image (above) to view the movie. Then say a prayer for the dead...