Jihad site closed
after WND story

An Arabic-language website that published extremist anti-Western propaganda has been shut down by the Chicago-based Internet company that hosted the site only a day after WorldNetDaily drew attention to it.

The site, called JihadIslami.com, was profiled in a WorldNetDaily story on Sunday. It prominently featured Palestinian flags and images of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and published several stories about a renewed Islamic vow to fight the "Christian enemy."

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JihadIslami.com was being hosted by Hostway but was no longer accessible by yesterday morning.

According to a translation of parts of the site, which was submitted by an Arabic-language interpreter working with WND prior to the shutdown, one page contained a "renewal of vows" for Islamic extremists fighting "the Zionist enemies of America, Europe" and Israel.

Islamic supporters of the Palestinian cause were advised to remember during Ramadan, which ended Sunday, "the new surrounding/siege/encirclement of our people and the severe strikes undertaken by the brave holy-fighters in the month of holy-war," as well as their "sacrifice and generosity, in overthrowing the Zionist enemy in this favored month. ..."

To launch "strikes against the criminal enemy who sits (squats) on the (our) land" would be "acceptable to God," according to the vow.

"We direct strikes on the many enemies. Our friends stab and kill them and return after a strike to the middle of the street. It doesn't surprise us that our enemies number (more than) three: The Zionists, the American and the European, who stop together against our people and against our holy fighters and call them terrorist. ..." said the vow.

"In the midst of this huge plotting/conspiracy," the vow continued, "the (there is the) phenomena of our great brothers, the religious who follow the case of the Palestinians and are at the side of the Palestinians. ..."

Supporters of the vow, according to the interpretation, also seek a number of concessions from the "Zionist" enemy:

All those imprisoned should go free;

"To leave (alone) the demonstrations and the movements of our people, the participation of our Islamic brothers in groups in the ends of the earth in celebrating this day;

"Despite the international terrorism directed against our people and our holy fighters, this (international terrorism) causes our sadness but firms our resolve and the rightness of our organization and the rightness of its strategies, our ability to take our rights and to dislodge our enemies;

"We direct a salute at our Arabic and Islamic people in their slogans of friendship and support of the intifada and the Palestinians, but we say to them that this doesn't suffice. There must be some actual (support, friendship); there must be serious efforts and work from the masses to aid the Palestinians in all problems and with all support in meaning and materials;

"Jerusalem is the holy title and symbol and struggle with the Zionist enemy. … Jerusalem today is in danger. The case of all the Palestinians is in danger, danger of final cleansing (genocide) by weapons of the siege and plans of the Zionists in front of everybody. The prisoners cry for help from the republics of our peoples and are grateful for the defense of Jerusalem and the Palestinians and those who take an active role in the holy war to take (achieve the) rights of the just and the heroism of the heroes against the hated criminals."

The vow is signed, "Movement of the Islamic Jihad in Palestine; Jerusalem, 29 Ramadan, hijra 1422."

In other news headlines posted on the site Sunday, the continued Israeli bombardment of Palestinian Authority areas was criticized, while one article noted that the PA closed some "public offices and hospitals" to follow " Islamic Jihad and Hamas," but "the American enemy considers that insufficient."

Another headline said that despite the European Union declaring that the groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad were terrorist organizations, The secretary general of the Arab League made it a point to refuse to label them as terrorist organizations.

Other articles complained that Palestinians were unable to "enjoy Ramadan because of the enemy (Israel)," but that some families were able to celebrate despite Israeli blockades.

Last week, Doug Fogwell, vice president of marketing and sales for Hostway, told WND that if the content was found to violate the company's illegal-use policy, "we would likely take it down from our servers."

Yesterday, however, Fogwell – in a follow-up interview – said he wanted to make it clear that Hostway "will take the right action according to our policy" when websites with inappropriate content are brought to management's attention.

That policy states, in part: "Transmission, storage, or distribution of any information, data, or material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material; trademarks; trade secrets or other intellectual property rights used without proper authorization; material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws. ..."

"We maintain a very strong policy on what we feel is appropriate to be hosted," he said, "and we follow that. We don't want to monitor the content of all 75,000 of our sites, but when sites are brought to our attention – as in this case – we do take a look at them and decide, based on our policy, whether it's in violation.

"When we see that it is, we take action," he added, pointing out that Net surfers could no longer access the site.

There was also some question as to whether the company's hosting of JihadIslami.com constituted a violation of President Bush's Executive Order 13224, which "blocks the assets of organizations and individuals linked to terrorism. ..."

A State Department spokesman told WND last week he was uncertain whether website hosting constituted the kind of support banned by the order. The Treasury Department, which carries out the asset seizure portion of Bush's order, had no opinion.

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