An Iranian government-based organization is recruiting British Muslims to carry out suicide bombings against Israel, the British Guardian newspaper reported.
The organization, the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, an organization the Guardian says "claims to be independent but has the backing of the regime," stated that it is targeting potential recruits in Britain because UK passport-holders can enter Israel with relative ease.
The declaration came hours after the Tel Aviv terror attack, and a few days after Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel would be blown away in a "storm".
’All the Jews are targets’
Mohammad Samadi, a spokesman for the Iranian organization, told the Guardian that striking at Israel was the priority of his recruitment
drive. "The first target is Israel. For us, that is the battlefield. All the Jews are targets, whether military or civilian. It’s our land and they are in the wrong place. It’s their duty to pay attention to safety of their own families and move them away from the battlefield," he said.
The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign took part in a recruitment fair for "martyrdom seekers" being held in the grounds of the former US embassy in Tehran. Several hundred volunteers have signed up for missions in the past few days.
The Guardian reported that volunteers were asked to complete forms to say whether they wanted to carry out terrorist attacks against "the Quds occupiers" (Israel), British dissident author Salman Rushdie - subject of a death sentence passed by Iran’s late spiritual leader - or "the occupiers of Islamic lands", the US and Britain.
The Guardian report said: "Mr. Samadi was standing at an exhibition stall festooned with portraits of Palestinian suicide bombers, including pictures of the aftermaths of attacks… A banner outside the fair read: "There is no voice higher than intifada." Nearby stood a mock model of the Statue of Liberty, with iron bars cut into the torso to symbolize a prison cell.
The Guardian also said that the British embassy has called on Iran end support for the group. "We have longstanding concerns at the support that Iran provides to groups undermining peace in the Middle East through violence, including the activities of this group," the British foreign office told the Guardian.
"When asked how Iranian volunteers would get into Israel, Mr. Samadi cited the precedent of Asif Mohammed Hanif and Omar Sharif, two British Muslims who attacked a bar in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis, in 2003 after entering Israel as tourists and then posing as peace activists," the Guardian reported.
"That shows that it has not been difficult getting into Israel," said Samadi. "Do you think getting hold of a British passport for an Iranian citizen is hard? Tens of passports are issued for Iranian asylum seekers in Britain every day. There are hundreds of other ways available to us, such as illegal entry (into Britain), fake passports, etc."
’Every Muslim has potential to turn into bomb’
"Britain and other European countries have a lot of disaffected Muslims who are ready. We understand the suspicion with which Britain, America and other western countries regard their Muslim populations. We don’t condemn them for this because we believe every Muslim has the potential to turn into a bomb against the west."
Mr. Samadi said recruits would not be told to attack British cities. "With the exception of Israel, we do not target civilians," he said. "They would definitely not be sent to carry out an attack on London unless it was to kill Salman Rushdie."
