reflectivepundit

Hamas Leader Condemns "Barbaric" Terrorists for Offending the Messenger of Allah

By Brigitte L. Nacos

In his speech to commemorate the Birth of the Prophet Mohammad on January 9, 2015, Hamas leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah condemned categorically those terrorist groups that align themselves with the Prophet and Allah but in reality offend the Messenger of Allah with their “barbaric” and “animalistic” behavior. He singled out beheadings and massacres carried out around the world saying that those responsible for those murderous deeds were worse than those who publish offending books and movies. He called those terrorist groups “one of the biggest challenges of our religion.”

While he did not mention the names of groups, it was clear that he talked about ISIS, AQAP, Boko Haram, and the likes. He also criticized the media for broadcasting the deeds of these groups.

To my knowledge, no other well-known Muslim has issued such a sharp condemnation of the practitioners of the most brutal, most lethal form of modern-day terrorism.

To be sure, Hezbollah has a history of carrying out terrorist acts, many of them in the 1980s against Americans. While greeting Christians and Muslims at the beginning of his speech, Nasrallah did not include Jews in his New Year’s greetings. And, unfortunately, he did not signal a retreat from hostility towards Israel.

Nevertheless, if high profile Muslims everywhere were to issue similar condemnations and take on the challenge within their religion, this would be the beginning of a most effective counterterrorism campaign.

Feel-Good Rituals and Symbols Do Not Defeat Terrorism

By Brigitte L. Nacos

Several dozen heads of government and state walking arm-in-arm in the largest demonstration that France every experienced was an impressive mass media event that symbolized a united front against terrorism and support for democratic values. It was a textbook example of what communication scholars call ritual communication that drew people together in fellowship and communality—French and Non-French. Christians, Jews, Muslims, people with other religious affiliations and those with none.

At least for the day.

Even before the talking heads, media pundits and politicians, launched their attacks on President Obama for not attending the Unity Rally in Paris, I heard several friends express outrage over Obama’s among the crowd of leaders, most of them Europeans. But this latest criticism of Obama is a red herring that once again diverts attention from what is a real issue in this context. Actually, Obama’s absence should have reminded those who marched and those who watched that the United States should not and cannot carry the bulk of the burden in the fight against this growing threat.

Neither shows of unity nor more police and soldiers in the streets nor more deliberations on countering jihadist terrorism in the western diaspora will defeat jihadist terrorism.  All of these and other measures have in the past and will in the future foil some, even most of the plots but not all. And none of these band aid measures will remove the carriers of the viruses of hate and violence that infect people around the globe, among them the perpetrators of last week’s attacks in Paris.

If the leaders and the publics in Europe and in Muslim majority countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and many more want to prevent the further spread of jihadist violent extremism, all of these countries need to get involved militarily in concert with the United States. If there were a collective will to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, al-Shabab in Somalia, and Boko Haram in Nigeria, this could be achieved by collective military action against these barbaric groups that target fellow-Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others they declare infidels.

So far, there is no indication of this kind of reaction to the Paris attacks. Instead, there continue to be  piecemeal actions by U.S.-assisted Kurdish and Iraqi fighters against ISIS.

The Killer-Jihadists in Paris Followed the Calls of Al Qaeda and ISIS

By Brigitte L. Nacos

As brazen and lethal as today’s attack on the headquarters of the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo by jihadist gunmen was, it did not come as a complete surprise for those following the online propaganda and recruitment calls by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). AQAP for a good number of years and ISIS more recently call relentlessly on their followers in the West to strike the enemy in the diaspora instead of joining the “brothers” in Yemen, Syria, or elsewhere.

The typical propaganda tract first describes the deadly sins of the enemy. A good example is the following passage published in INSPIRE, the online magazine of AQAP:

“Outrageous slander, blatant smearing of Muĥammad, desecration of the Qur’ān, and the insulting of over a billion Muslims worldwide are done under the pretext of “freedom of speech”. They are never called what they really are: a deeply rooted historic hatred for Islām and Muslims. Yesterday it was in the name of Christianity; today it is in the name of Democracy.”

Passages like the above one explain why fanatical followers of the mentioned terrorist organizations targeted the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a newspaper known for its satirical depictions of politics and religion. While Christians, too, have often been outraged about the treatment of their religion in the newspaper’s cartoons and stories, they did not go on a killing spree in the editorial offices like the angry jihadists. The latter, like their AQAP and ISIS masters, consider the civil liberties in democracies as a shield in the West’s alleged attacks on Islam. But as French President François Hollande said during his visit of the site of horror, the attack on Charlie Hebdo was an assault on freedom of the press. Just as the violence following the publishing of the Danish cartoons a decade ago were attacks on fundamental values and rights in Western democracies.

Recognizing that a large number of participants in terrorist plots are easier to detect and foiled by the enemy, AQAP and ISIS recommend attacks by “lone wolves” and tiny cells in the West to strike the infidels.This was summarized in the following appeal published in ISIS’s online magazine Dabiq:

“It is very important that attacks take place in every country that has entered into the alliance against the Islamic State, especially the US, UK, France, Australia, and Germany. Rather, the citizens of crusader nations should be targeted wherever they can be found…Every Muslim should get out of his house, find a crusader, and kill him. It is important that the killing becomes attributed to patrons of the Islamic State who have obeyed its leadership. This can easily be done with anonymity. Otherwise, crusader media makes such attacks appear to be random killings. Secrecy should be followed when planning and executing any attack. The smaller the numbers of those involved and the less the discussion beforehand, the more likely it will be carried out without problems. One should not complicate the attacks by involving other parties, purchasing complex materials, or communicating with weak-hearted individuals.”

Similarly, an Inspire article instructed,          

“There are many Muslims [who] believe that in order to defend the ummah they need to travel and join the mujahidin elsewhere and they must train in their camps. But we tell the Muslims in America and Europe: There is a better choice and easier one to give support to your ummah. That is individual work inside the West…”

Often, these instructions note that the fewer people involved in a plot the smaller the risk of discovery by the authorities.

While Europe and especially France have been the preferred targets in the latest series of attacks, every Western country is well advised to heed these threats. As for the American homeland, it is noteworthy that whenever the jihadists enumerate their enemies, the U.S. is mentioned first.