Jewish web sites on US ‘terror’ list
The US has for the first time broadened its “terrorist” blacklist to the internet, including four web sites in its inventory of “foreign terrorist organisations,” under the category of aliases for conventional groups, a State Department official said.
The list, which is published in the Federal Register, includes newkach.org, kahane.org, kahane.net, kahanetzadak.com as aliases for the Jewish group Kahane Chai or Kach, which is suspected of organising attacks on Palestinians.
“This is the first time to our knowledge that a website has been designated an FTO,” an official said, using the State Department’s acronym for “foreign terrorist organisation,” AFP reported
With the exception of newkach.org, which is currently under construction, the internet sites offer news, commentary and links to other pages of interest to followers of the late radical Israeli-American rabbi Meir Kahane.
Biblical visions
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“So it is just a matter of time before God forbids more blood is spilt. Instead of going after terrorists, their hideouts, their homes, their neighbourhoods, Sharon will have Israel still await that dreadful phone call that no parent should get” kahanetzadak.com web site |
Kahane’s supporters, who want to see the restoration of the biblical state of Israel, are accused of numerous attacks against Arabs as well as of threatening Israeli officials they regard as too soft on Palestinian violence.
Under US law, it is illegal to provide cash or material support to the designated web sites. The people who run them could be denied US visas and US banks must block their funds.
Still, the State Department said it was not yet clear how this would work in practice.
Baruch Goldstein, the Jewish right-winger who killed 29 Palestinians in a February 1994 shooting spree in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, was affiliated with Kach which issued statements in support of the attack, according to State Department’s most recent “Patterns of Global Terrorism” report.
Bitter
One of the web sites, kahanetzadak.com, declares “Kahane was right” and complains that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has too weak when dealing with Palestinians.
“So it is just a matter of time before God forbids more blood is spilt,” it says. “Instead of going after terrorists, their hideouts, their homes, their neighbourhoods, Sharon will have Israel still await that dreadful phone call that no parent should get.”
Though their new designations came into effect last week, all four sites could still be accessed on Friday.