Saudi Student Khalid Aldawsari Convicted in Texas Bomb Plot

A Saudi national who arrived in the U.S. in 2008 on a student visa has been convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in Texas.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a former chemical engineering student at Texas Tech, was planning to use his skills to build a bomb, according to prosecutors. Although he had not definitively selected a target, Aldawsari allegedly researched of list of targets, including the Dallas home of a former president George W. Bush, nuclear power plants and former soldiers who were stationed at Abu Ghraib prison. Prosecutors also indicated that a college football game was a possible target as well.

Authorities began their investigation into Aldawsari in February 2011 after a chemical supplier in North Carolina reported an unusual purchase made by Aldawsari. He was arrested within a month in Lubbock.

The FBI found chemicals at Aldawsari’s residence along with a journal allegedly indicating that he was inspired by Osama Bin Laden and had been planning to commit a terrorist attack. In one journal entry described by the DOJ, Aldawsari wrote, “…after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.”

Aldawsari allegedly created a blog called FromFarAway90, where he wrote in English and Arabic about college life in America, romance, his efforts to maintain his religious identity, and his perceptions of Americans, which included some positive impressions. A few of his posts, however, were more militant, including a March 2010 post in which he wrote “grant me martyrdom for Your sake and make jihad easy for me.”

A month later, he wrote in Arabic, “Muslims can not enjoy a carefree life and peace when in front of them and behind them their lands and dignities are being desecrated with the help of the Arab traitors and other Zionist rulers inside the Muslim world…” His Facebook profile lists “STOP Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza” as one of his interests.

Aldawsari faces a possible life-sentence at a hearing scheduled for October. Anti-Defamation league

Saudi TV Launches Program Hosted By Anti-Semite



Salah Sultan on Masra Al Habeeb

Al-Risala, a Saudi-owned television channel with a history of promoting Islamist views, began airing a new weekly program last week hosted by anti-Semitic media personality Dr. Salah Sultan. The program, Masra Al Habeeb, was created to “provide practical steps on how to liberate Al-Aqsa,” according to Sultan.

During the first episode, which aired on May 9, Sultan commented about recent visits to Jerusalem by Muslim scholars. “We want to go as liberators and not as visitors under the shadow of occupation.” He further explained that those who want to support or visit Jerusalem should “announce that he is a supporter of fighting, Jihad and resistance... support the case for holy Jihad to liberate the prisoners, Al Aqsa and Palestine.”

The program also featured live call-ins from viewers, including several who used the platform to make anti-Semitic remarks. One caller from Egypt said:

“It will be impossible for the Jews, those sons of apes and pigs, no way... no way... that they can achieve their goal in building their alleged temple. Inshallah and God’s willing this will never happen. We will raise our young children, the seven year old ones, the five year old ones, and the four years old to fight the Jews and have war with the Jews.”

Sultan responded, “God willing.”

Later in the program, Sultan, head of the Jerusalem committee of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), tried to reinterpret the Islamic texts which refer to the historical existence of the Jewish nation in Jerusalem, arguing that this was a short period that didn’t exceed 400 years.

In a promotional video for the program, Sultan is shown reciting a poem that says he shall return to Jerusalem with his rocket launcher. On the program’s Facebook page, Sultan posted a comment indicating that historically when the sons of Israel invade a city they burn it and kill its inhabitants, unlike the Egyptians who would not attack the city’s people.

During a session of the IUMS conference in Cairo on February 1, Sultan described the recent civil unrest and church bombings in Egypt as the “acts of Jews.” He also said, “God exposed [the Jews’] inner wickedness, exposed their secrets and they were made an example of to future nations.” Prior to Sultan’s speech at Al Azhar Islamic University, where the event is taking place, the crowd chanted: “To Jerusalem we are going as martyrs in millions.”