WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- Many anti-American jihadist Web sites are hosted by servers in the United States, an Israeli expert said this week.
"Islam makes great use of the Internet," Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, a pro-Israel think tank in Washington, told a press conference on Capitol Hill. Carmon previously served as a senior intelligence official in the Israeli Defense Forces for 20 years and as a top counter-terrorism adviser to Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin.
Terrorists in all three of the recent botched terrorist attacks -- the London car bombs, the JFK airport fuel line and the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey -- were inspired by jihadist Web sites, according to MEMRI.
Carmon said that there are countless Web sites, like the one with a caption atop its main page saying "Kill Americans everywhere," that are hosted by American servers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, Washington and New Jersey.
He also cited two Web sites hosted by Google, one by Yahoo and one by Microsoft and claimed that they circulate military guidelines used in training fighters and making dirty bombs. The Web sites are also used for indoctrination and the dissemination of information, religious texts and videos, according to Carmon.
"These ISP providers frequently are totally unaware of hosting jihadist Web sites," and if they were aware they would take them down immediately, he said. Carmon further suggested exposing these Web sites through a database and spreading an alternative message to counter the jihadist one.
A last resort would be to bring legal measures against servers that host jihadist Web sites, according to Carmon. But he added, "I don't believe there is a need for legal measures. No ISP will host such a Web site for $80 or $95 a year."
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Leander Schaerlaeckens, UPI Correspondent.
