In the 1990s, Nablus was a hub of Palestinian nationalist activity in the West Bank and when the Second Intifada began, arsonists of Jewish shrines in Nablus were applauded. After the controversy over the Muhammad cartoons in "Jyllands-Posten", originally published in Denmark in late September 2006, militias kidnapped two foreigners and threatened to kidnap more as a protest. In 2008, Noa Meir, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said Nablus remains "capital of terror" of the West Bank.