'Post' report prompts demise of AqsaTube, which was most popular in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Germany.
By AMIR MIZROCHasqatube 224.88(photo credit: www.asqatube.com/ www.youtube.com)
Following a report in The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, the jihadist Web site AqsaTube, a video-sharing platform modeled on the popular YouTube, has been taken off-line by its French internet service provider OVH.
AqsaTube (www.aqsatube.com) featured videos inciting against Israel, glorifying terrorism (the "resistance") and preaching the doctrines of radical Islam.
According to the BBC, OVH initially denied hosting AqsaTube, but later confirmed that it had hosted the Web site and had now taken it off-line.
The disappearance of AqsaTube follows Google's removal of its AdSense program from the Web site following a query filed by the Post to Google Israel.
AqsaTube's format and design were strikingly similar to the American YouTube's. Its name and graphic logo were also similar to YouTube's, and without a doubt were inspired by them, although the format of the site has similarities to other video-sharing platforms on the net.
According to the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), which tracked the site and alerted the Post to its existence, the Hamas version of YouTube was devoted entirely to propaganda and incitement. AqsaTube was listed under the name of Abu Nasser Skandar from Dubai, hosted by OVH. Reuven Ehrlich, head of the ITIC, welcomed the news that AqsaTube had been taken off-line. "Israel can't fight Jihadi Web sites themselves, but it can fight their service providers," he told the Post.
According to the ITIC, AqsaTube was only one of over 20 Web sites, in eight languages, managed and directed by Hamas.
According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, most AqsaTube users were from Saudi Arabia, followed by Iraq and Germany. It had more users in Israel than in the Palestinian territories.
Noah Shachtman, an editor at the technology magazine Wired, reported Thursday that this incident was the second time in a little more than a month that an extremist video distribution network had been taken off-line. "The al-Ekhlaas network of sites had long been a primary distributor of videos from al-Sahab, al-Qaida's propaganda arm. Then, on September 11, al-Ekhlaas.net was suddenly re-registered. All of its content vanished.
"As in the case of the al-Ekhlaas takedown, militant forums blamed Western intelligence agencies for the unplugging of AqsaTube. But it appears a little sunlight may have done the trick, instead," Shachtman wrote, referring to the recent media exposure.
The overwhelming majority of AqsaTube videos were supplied by Hamas, but it was possible to find those of other Palestinian terrorist organizations. The videos were divided into subcategories: the Hamas movement, Fatah, the children of Al-Aqsa (i.e., children motivated by Hamas ideology), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and others.
The site had many videos produced by the information office of the Izzadin Kassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, documenting terrorist attacks and training. They included masked operatives firing rockets and training with weapons. One of them was devoted to one of the Izzadin Kassam Brigades's special units, and was accompanied by a song encouraging suicide attacks: "Oh suicide bombers' unit, oh heroes of the [terrorist] attacks... Our great hope is death for the sake of Allah."
For more of Amir Mizroch's articles, see his personal blog Forecast Highs
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