View source for Internet Haganah

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'''Internet Haganah''' is a "global intelligence network dedicated to confronting internet activities by Islamists and their supporters, enablers and apologists." Internet Haganah also is an activist organization which attempts to convince businesses not to provide web-based services to such groups, and collects intelligence to store and pass on to government organizations.

==Background==
Internet Haganah was set up by former computer programmer and web designer [[Aaron Weisburd]]. He told ''The Atlantic Monthly'' that he started Internet Haganah 'because he was mad--mad that Yasir Arafat had rejected the peace plan at [[Camp David]] in 2000, mad that [[al-Qaeda]] had blown up the buildings in Manhattan he grew up around, and mad because he had read that [[Hamas]] was teaching [[Palestinian]] kindergartners to hate [[Israeli]]s. <ref>Nadya Labi, 'Jihad 2.0: with the loss of training camps in Afghanistan, terrorists have turned to the Internet to find and train recruits', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', 1 July 2006, Pg. 102(6) Vol. 298 No. 1</ref>

'Haganah' is the name of the Zionist paramilitary forces in Palestine which formed the basis for the Israeli Defence Forces after the establishment of the State of Israel and was involved in expelling the Palestinians from their homes.

Weisburd has stated that the 'primary inspiration' for his 'own efforts' was [[John Galt]], the web designer who set up [[Islamic News]] for the British 'expert' [[Glen Jenvey]]. He also credited the Christian right winger [[Jeremy Reynalds]] and fellow IT technician [[Jim Ownbey]] with encouraging him to set up Internet Haganah. <ref>[[Media:Internet Haganah Internet Archive Screen Print.JPG|Screen grab]] of Internet Haganah from the Internet Archive (Accessed 23 January 2000)</ref>

The website was registered on 19 October 2003 and Weisburd began to appear in the media shortly afterwards. The first record the Internet Archive has for the website is dated 7 December 2003. The homepage stated the group was 'Confronting Islamist terrorists and their supporters online" and "Defending Israel and the Jewish people'. It also requested payments to the 'Haganah Fund', which at that stage it said had raised $5,800 in donations. <ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20031207034530/http://internet-haganah.com/ Internet Archive cache of internet-haganah.com, 7 December 2003]] (accessed 23 January 2009)</ref>


==Activities and personnel==
Internet Haganah is reportedly a one man operation run out of Weisburd's home office in Carbondale, Illinois. <ref>Nadya Labi, 'Jihad 2.0: with the loss of training camps in Afghanistan, terrorists have turned to the Internet to find and train recruits', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', 1 July 2006, Pg. 102(6) Vol. 298 No. 1</ref> ''The Atlantic Monthly'' described Weisburd's operation as follows:

<blockquote>''Weisburd is the only paid full-time member of Internet Haganah. He runs his operation from the second-floor office of his home. Surrounded by five computers, he trawls online in search of the press statements and videos that terrorists release to rally their supporters. He goes undercover, logging on to restricted forums (if he has been able to get a password) and visiting the many open sites advocating jihad. He doesn't speak Arabic but insists the limitation doesn't slow him down much. Though he relies on translation software at times, and on associates in Internet Haganah's network who speak Arabic, linguistic comprehension isn't his goal.'' <ref>Nadya Labi, 'Jihad 2.0: with the loss of training camps in Afghanistan, terrorists have turned to the Internet to find and train recruits', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', 1 July 2006, Pg. 102(6) Vol. 298 No. 1</ref></blockquote>

By April 2004 Weisburd claimed that he had facilitated the closure of over 420 alleged jihad sites by targeting the internet service providers. <ref>Cam McGrath, 'Politics: Activists Crusade Against E-Jihad', Inter Press Services, 12 April 2004</ref>

Although Weisburd works at home alone, he is part of a network of online activists. In 2005 The ''Washington Post'' reported that Weisburd and others like him had 'managed to put together well-organized operations that run almost like companies'. <ref>Ariana Eunjung, '[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/24/AR2005042401062.html  Watchdogs Seek Out the Web's Bad Side]', ''Washington Post'', 25 April 2005</ref>

==Affiliated groups==
Internet Haganah is a project of the [[Society for Internet Research]] and 'endorses' two other organisations: The [[Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center]] and the [[Global Justice Group Inc]]. The former is run by a retired colonel in Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and maintains an office inside the Israeli defence ministry.

==External Sites==
*Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irhabi_007 Irhabi 007]

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Israel Lobby]]