Ku Klux Klan (KKK) terrorist plotter Eric J. Feight was sentenced to 8 years in prison on December 16, 2015, for providing material support to terrorists in a Ku Klux Klan plot to kill Muslim-Americans in the Albany, New York area. The anti-Muslim terrorist Eric J. Feight sought to modify an industrial-grade radiation device intended to be used to kill Muslims in the Albany area. He assisted KKK terrorist Glendon Scott Crawford by designing and building a remote initiation unit to allow the radiation device to be activated from a distance.
The terrorist was arrested in June 19, 2013. As the Albany Times Union reported at the time: “they never actually obtained a radiation source and the device was not fully constructed, officials said.”
As previously reported by R.E.A.L., Eric J. Feight’s co-conspirator, KKK terrorist Glendon Scott Crawford was convicted in August 2015. His co-conspirator faces prison sentencing of 25 years to life, and also plotted an attack on the New York Governor’s Mansion, as previously reported.
WASHINGTON—Eric J. Feight, 55, of Hudson, New York, was sentenced today to serve 97 months in prison for providing material support to terrorists.
The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian of the Northern District of New York and Special Agent in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBI’s Albany, New York, Division.
Feight pleaded guilty on Jan. 22, 2014, and admitted to helping Glendon Scott Crawford modify an industrial-grade radiation device intended to be used to kill Muslims in the Albany area. Feight also admitted he assisted Crawford by designing and building a remote initiation unit to allow the radiation device to be activated from a distance. Both men were arrested following an extensive federal investigation. Crawford, a self-proclaimed Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member, sought financial support for his plot from the KKK, and he and Feight later met with individuals they believed to be KKK financiers to advance their scheme to kill innocent Americans. Those individuals were actually FBI agents posing as businessmen connected to the KKK who were willing to support the scheme.
“Eric Feight aided Glendon Scott Crawford in altering a dispersal device to target unsuspecting Muslim Americans with lethal doses of radiation,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “Feight and Crawford’s abominable plot to harm innocent Americans was thwarted thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement. The National Security Division’s highest priority continues to be combatting terrorism, and we remain ready to identify, disrupt and prevent terrorist threats, both domestically and internationally.”
“The sentence today highlights both the dangers we face when hatred and bigotry beget domestic terrorism and violent extremism, and our commitment to holding those who commit such crimes accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Hartunian. “No American—of any background—should have to live in fear of this kind of attack. This case illustrates the importance of vigilance by community members and an immediate, comprehensive investigation by our Albany FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which thwarted the diabolical plan Feight supported. We must continue to counter messages of hate by empowering communities and emphasizing the inclusion on which our nation was founded—with local, state and federal law enforcement ready to stop any who refuse to heed that call.”
“Today’s sentencing is the result of the incredible efforts of our Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said Special Agent in Charge Vale. “While we enjoy today’s success, it is important that we continue to gain the strongest possible understanding to allow us to better assess the terrorism threat and identify those who would go beyond hateful rhetoric and extremist views to commit violent, criminal acts.”
This case was investigated by the Albany FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen C. Green and Richard Belliss of the Northern District of New York, and Trial Attorney Joseph Kaster of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
Swedish press and other European press has reported a series of death threats purportedly from ISIS extremists posted in Swedish areas of Sigtuna, Ronneby, and Vasteras, stating that if the residents that they will decapitate ‘non-believers’ who do not convert to ISIS’s twisted views or pay a religious tax. The threat reportedly also extended to Stockholm. The story was first reported in Sigtuna. Then additional accounts were reported in Ronneby and Vasteras, with other reports about threats in Stockholm.
Swedish SVT News first reported the threatening letters in connection to Sigtuna, stating (translated into English): “Several residents of the municipality of Sigtuna has received threatening letters in their mailboxes. In the case of “IS-piece” which says that one should convert to Islam, pay the poll tax, or be beheaded. The police are taking seriously the threats. During Thursday received a number of accommodation of Steningehöjden distributed IS-pieces in their mailboxes. According to the police, these are two plaintiffs. But SVT Stockholm News has spoken with one of the residents in the area and according to her, there are several who received such threatening letters.”
Swedish SVT News also reported: “Police are now investigating whether there is a threat against the people who received the letters. A further letter should have been found on the ground adjacent to the residential area. We take this very seriously before we know what it is about. We have connected the Security Service in order to make an assessment, said Emil Andersson, local police chief Sigtuna.” “This is a police matter. What we have done is to send out information to management executives who in turn sent out information to principals and teachers. We want to spread this so that no one should have received a letter and then walk around and be scared. You should be able to turn to someone directly, says Anna Jernberg Carlsson, press officer for the municipality of Sigtuna.”
Swedish Press Reports on Threatening Letters Purportedly from ISIS
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
To require a report on United States strategy to combat terrorist use of social media, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015”.
SEC. 2. REPORT ON STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
(a) In General.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on United States strategy to combat terrorists’ and terrorist organizations’ use of social media.
(b) Elements.—The report required by subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) An evaluation of what role social media plays in radicalization in the United States and elsewhere.
(2) An analysis of how terrorists and terrorist organizations are using social media, including trends.
(3) A summary of the Federal Government’s efforts to disrupt and counter the use of social media by terrorists and terrorist organizations, an evaluation of the success of such efforts, and recommendations for improvement.
(4) An analysis of how social media is being used for counter-radicalization and counter-propaganda purposes, irrespective of whether or not such efforts are made by the Federal Government.
(5) An assessment of the value of social media posts by terrorists and terrorist organizations to law enforcement.
(6) An overview of social media training available to law enforcement and intelligence personnel that enables such personnel to understand and combat the use of social media by terrorists and terrorist organizations, as well as recommendations for improving or expanding existing training opportunities.
(c) Form.—The report required by subsection (a) should be submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence sources and methods.
SEC. 3. POLICY AND COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO COUNTER TERRORISTS’ AND TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
(a) In General.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that contains a comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists’ and terrorist organizations’ use of social media, as committed to in the President’s 2011 “Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States”.
(b) Form.—The report required by subsection (a) should be submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence sources and methods.
SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term “appropriate congressional committees” means the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.
Passed the House of Representatives December 16, 2015.
The German news media Berliner Zeitung is reporting on the case of an ISIS terrorist plot to attack the Israeli Embassy in Berlin. The reports state that the ISIS plot was a plan to attack the Israeli embassy or another Israeli institution between December 2014 and July 2015. A criminal case began on December 15, 2015 in the Berlin District Court against two 21-year-old men ISIS terrorist plotters, Mohamed El-N. and Ali El-I., who are charged with “preparing a serious subversive violence.”
One of the ISIS terrorist plotters, Mohamed El-N., is a German citizen. Both men were born in Berlin. Mohamed El-N. had been working as a baker. He also told his friends that he sought to support suicide bombings and attacks on public schools, including taking hostages from schools. Reportedly, a witness on Friday, December 18, will report that he claims to have saw a bomb. While the police found guns and other weapons on the men, the authorities reported in court that traces of chemicals used to make bombs.
Berliner Zeitung reports (translated into English) that the terrorist plot was inspired initially by the ISIS attack on a Tunisia hotel in June 2015, as previously reported by R.E.A.L. and others.
According to the Berliner Zeitung (translated): “Ali El-I. had adopted a radical Islamist sentiment, he endorsed the violence of the ‘Islamic State’ (IS) and was so fascinated by the touch of a single perpetrator to a Tunisian tourist hotel in June that he saw himself as a future perpetrator, says the prosecutor. Ali El-I. was determined to use the explosives for an attack on the Israeli embassy or any other institution in the country, where he had gone out of casualties.”
“On his cell phone the police found propaganda IS. A witness, who heard both brag about their projects, went to the police. He claims he saw the bomb. This statement is based the indictment. In July and Mohamed Ali were arrested. They lived in a home for young homeless people in Gesundbrunnen.”
“An explosive device, police found in them not, but firearms, prohibited knife, a baseball bat – and Schreckschuss ammunition. There is evidence that they were handling explosives. A chemist of LKA says in court that in the clothes of the two traces of potassium perchlorate and aluminum adhered to so admit it only in pyrotechnics. Also on the tape was seized potassium perchlorate. The defendants assert, built no bomb, but to have handled only with condensed milk and some cartridges.”
“Both were born in Berlin. Mohamed is a German citizen, Ali’s nationality is unknown; he comes from a Palestinian family. While Mohamed worked in a bakery, Ali spent the time with smoking pot and playing on the Playstation. They knew each other only two months, and all about good friends, they are not comfortable. ‘I noticed he had radical ideas, wanted to convince me IS’, Mohamed says Ali. He had said that suicide bombers after her death have a smile on his face. ‘He also tells of hostage-taking in schools and that he wanted to shoot hostages in the head. But I could not take that seriously. I guess he just needs the attention of others. ‘”
During the court trial, Ali El-I.’s lawyer stated that Ali El-I.’s “involvement with the IS is characterized by a “certain ambivalence,’ and that Ali El-I. was not serious about really supporting ISIS. In court, “Ali admitted that he built an explosive device. But having taken the accusation that planned an attack against Israeli institutions and fatalities, he rejected this. The blast was supposed to go up in the forest.”
As always, R.E.A.L. views that all are legally innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
Austrian Kronen-Zeitung news reports that French ISIS terrorists are using fake Syrian passports to escape detection and move throughout Europe, going through Greece to arrive in Austria. The report states that individuals have included those linked to the November 13, 2015 ISIS terrorist attack on Paris, and that the size of the Paris ISIS terrorist cell is larger than previously believed. The report also states that security authorities are concerned that this ISIS terrorist cell has been waiting for further orders to perpetuate new extremist terrorist attacks in Europe.
Austrian Kronen-Zeitung news reports state that (translation from German to English): “Europe’s secret services had warned that now there is the confirmation: Two Paris- Terror helpers were disguised as refugees, arrested in a Salzburg Transit quarters. The two Frenchmen with Algerian or Pakistani roots were with the members of subsequent IS Stop commands via Greece entered with fake Syrian passports. The men are now in continuous interrogation by French and native intelligence experts as the ‘crown’ learned, among other controversial details.”
“A few days ago there were two other putative IS Fighters have been taken in a Salzburg Transit quarters. However, the two current arrests are even more explosive: The case is a ‘Verschlussakt’. Reportedly, the men were officially recognized as asylum seekers – equipped with forged documents – with the future IS Stop command entered via the Balkan route. Meanwhile crystallized in any case out more and more that the terrorist cell of Paris must be far greater.”
“Now prevails Security Red Alert”
“In the intelligence services now prevails Security Red Alert. It is necessary to clarify whether the two suspects may have planned around the Christmas season with another accomplice attacks in major European cities. On the part of the judiciary, there are to the highly charged case an information blackout. ‘I can not comment,’ said Robert Holzleitner, spokesman for the Salzburg public prosecutor to ‘crown’.”
“Introduced in October to Austria”
“How the ‘Crown’ yet learned were that since Tuesday in U- Detention seated ‘refugees’ tracked by information of a friendly foreign intelligence service. In the city of Mozart, the two Frenchmen waited apparently on the order to perpetrate further attacks. Now the investigators expect more information by a continuous interrogation of the men.”
France24 News in English reports this as: “The Kronen-Zeitung daily reported online that the two are French and that they entered Austria in October together with members of the terror cell who carried out the November 13 attacks in the French capital that killed 130 people. The newspaper said that they had been posing as refugees and had fake Syrian passports, having traveled up from Greece through the Balkans into Austria along with hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in recent months.”
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) report addresses the growth of ISIS in Afghanistan as a challenge to the extremist Taliban, specifically as the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (IS-KP).” R.E.A.L. has previously reported ISIS terrorist atrocities in Afghanistan. This is in the so-called “Khorasan Province,” which is actually the eastern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar on the border of Pakistan, with the capital of Jalalabad.
Nangarhar Province, with a capital of Jalalabad, on the eastern border of Afghanistan with Pakistan
The report states: “The presence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) – Khorasan Province (IS-KP) primarily in the eastern province of Nangarhar remains a concern for the Taliban, the Afghan government, and the international community. Through attacks against a United Nations (UN) vehicle and the ANDSF in September 2015, IS-KP has demonstrated that it is operationally emergent. ”
“The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province has progressed from its initial exploratory phase to a point where they are openly fighting the Taliban for the establishment of a safe haven, and are becoming more operationally active. IS-KP has successfully seized pockets of terrain from the Taliban in Nangarhar Province. The group claimed an improvised explosive device (IED) attack against a UN vehicle in September 2015 and conducted its first attack against the ANDSF later that month when it attacked as many as 10 checkpoints in the same day in Achin district, Nangarhar. The group continues to recruit disaffected Taliban and formerly Taliban-aligned fighters, most notably the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which publically declared allegiance to IS-KP in August 2015. IS-KP has not yet conducted an attack against RS forces, although the group’s recruitment of experienced fighters and commanders could increase its capability to do so over at least the next year. ”
“U.S. and RS leaders will continue to monitor the potential threat of an established ISIL presence in Afghanistan. The Afghan government is particularly concerned about the rise of IS-KP, which they see as a serious looming threat in the region as part of what President Ghani has referred to as the ‘ecology of terror.’ IS-KP represents an emergent competitor to other violent extremist groups that have traditionally operated in Afghanistan; this may result in increased violence among the various extremist groups in 2016. ”
The FBI has charged a Baltimore, Maryland area man, Mohamed Yousef Elshinawy, with plotting with ISIS to commit a terrorist attack in the United States.
American ISIS: Mohamed Yousef Elshinawy of Maryland – Arrested for Supporting ISIS Terror Group (Source: WUSA9)
He was charged in U.S. District court in Baltimore with “attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, obstruction of agency proceedings, and making false statements and falsifying or concealing material facts.” Details of his ISIS activity are described in the criminal complaint. He reportedly used a social media account “Egyptt in USA” (with two ts).
The FBI said Elshinawy was instructed by ISIS to “cause destruction” or to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States. He allegedly pretended to sell printers on eBay to mask payments coming from a suspected ISIS operative. Elshinawy received the payments through Western Union and PayPal, authorities said.
NBC reports Mohamad Elshinawy allegedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS and said his “soul was over there with the jihadists,” according to the FBI.
NBC reports that the FBI reported and declared a “love of jihad.”
NBC states: “An address listed in a search warrant for Elshinawy’s Edgewood home in Harford County shows he lives about two minutes from the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground.”
Mohamed Elshinawy, 30, of Edgewood, Maryland, was arrested on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015, on a federal criminal complaint charging him with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization; obstruction of agency proceedings; and making false statements and falsifying or concealing material facts. Elshinawy will have his initial appearance today at 2:45 p.m. EST before U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner of the District of Maryland in Baltimore.
The criminal complaint was announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Baltimore Division.
“According to the allegations in the complaint, Mohamed Elshinawy received money he believed was provided by ISIL in order to conduct an attack on U.S. soil,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “When confronted by the FBI, he lied in order to conceal his support for ISIL and the steps he took to provide material support to the deadly foreign terrorist organization. He will now be held accountable for these crimes. The National Security Division’s highest priority is counterterrorism and we will continue to pursue and disrupt those who seek to provide material support to ISIL.”
“This case demonstrates how terrorists exploit modern technology to inculcate sympathizers and build hidden networks, but federal agents and prosecutors are working tirelessly and using every available lawful tool to disrupt their evil schemes,” said U.S. Attorney Rosenstein. “The affidavit alleges that Mr. Elshinawy initially told the FBI that he was defrauding the terrorists, but further investigation showed that Mr. Elshinawy was supporting the terrorists and misleading the FBI.”
The affidavit filed in federal court alleges that in June 2015, the FBI became aware of an individual located in Egypt who was attempting to send money to the United States, possibly for nefarious purposes. The investigation revealed that on June 28, 2015, that individual wire transferred $1,000 to Elshinawy. The FBI interviewed Elshinawy on July 17, 2015. The affidavit alleges that Elshinawy first claimed that his mother had sent him the money, and then that the money was to purchase an iPhone for a friend. Later, he admitted that a childhood friend had contacted him a few months earlier to connect him, through social media, with an unidentified member of ISIL (referred to in the complaint as the “unidentified ISIL operative”). Elshinawy began communicating with the unidentified ISIL operative through a method of communication used by ISIL. The defendant also admitted that he understood the individual in Egypt who wire transferred the money on June 28, 2015, also to be an ISIL operative (referred to in the complaint as the “Egyptian ISIL operative”).
Elshinawy said that he had received a total of $4,000 in two payments –$1,000 through Western Union and $3,000 through PayPal – and that the ISIL operative instructed Elshinawy to use the monies for “operational purposes,” which Elshinawy understood to mean causing destruction or conducting a terrorist attack in the United States. Elshinawy stated that ISIL instructed him that if he ever came under surveillance by law enforcement, he should stop whatever activities he was doing in connection with executing an attack. Elshinawy claimed, however, that he never intended to carry out an attack and was only trying to get money from ISIL.
The affidavit further alleges that during a second interview with the FBI on July 20, 2015, Elshinawy stated emphatically that he received no other funds from ISIL other than the $4,000 he had previously disclosed. Later, however, Elshinawy said that he remembered receiving another payment of $1,200 from ISIL through PayPal, from the same unidentified ISIL operative, by order of a man in Syria. In this instance, Elshinawy explained that in order to receive the transfers from the unidentified ISIL operative, he engaged in a scheme by which he pretended to sell printers on eBay that would serve as a cover for the payments he received from ISIL.
A review of PayPal records indicates that Elshinawy allegedly concealed at least $3,500 of $7,700 that he received from ISIL operatives through his PayPal account between March and June 2015, specifically, $1,500 on March 23; $1,000 on April 16; $1,000 on May 1; $3,000 on May 14; and $1,200 on June 7. In total, Elshinawy allegedly received at least $8,700 from individuals he understood to be associated with ISIL.
According to the affidavit, Elshinawy used social media, multiple email accounts and “pay as you go” phones subscribed to him under various aliases to communicate with the individuals he understood to be associated with ISIL.
The social media communications between Elshinawy and his childhood friend were in Arabic, and many contained jihadist rhetoric found in ISIL- and other terrorist-related propaganda.
The investigation revealed that on Feb. 17, 2015, Elshinawy pledged his allegiance to ISIL and asked his childhood friend to deliver his message of loyalty. He stated that he was a soldier of the state, a common reference to ISIL, but temporarily away. Elshinawy also stated that his soul was over there with the jihadists and that every time he saw the news, he smiled. At the time of this conversation, ISIL recently had conducted a series of attacks and gained territory in Iraq. On Feb. 16, 2015, a video was publicly released showing the execution of 21 Egyptian nationals in Libya by ISIL extremists.
Also on Feb. 17, 2015, the childhood friend told Elshinawy to seek God’s help and not tell anyone his plans for a terrorist attack. Elshinawy agreed and acknowledged that it is a crime in the United States. He further declared his allegiance to committing jihad.
The investigation also revealed that on April 27, 2015, Elshinawy told his brother that he had pledged allegiance to ISIL and that he had received money from ISIL and expected to receive even more. In further communications with his brother in May 2015, Elshinawy stated his desire to die as a martyr for the Islamic State (ISIL), and in August 2015, he directed his brother to take steps to conceal their communications and any communications with the childhood friend, because Elshinawy believed his relationship with ISIL had been compromised.
Elshinawy’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal history, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. The maximum sentence of imprisonment for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization is 15 years; for obstruction of agency proceedings is eight years; and for making material false statements is eight years.
A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being investigated by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Manuelian of the District of Maryland, with the assistance of Trial Attorney John Gibbs of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
In a breathtakingly irresponsible act, R.E.A.L. has learned through French news media that the reported attack on a teacher in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, is now reported that it was a lie created by the teacher as a way to get a job transfer, according to French authorities.
Given that there is a very real threat by the French ISIS to attack French schools, this irresponsible action was nothing short of deranged.
The New York Times also reports it ” ‘was a fake attempt, done so that he could have himself transferred’ to another job, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to reporters about the episode.”
In the meantime, from this incident, we have learned previously unreported information on the French ISIS threats to schools. As we learned this morning from the French news media, Liberation reported that French intelligence had identified that ISIS terrorist publication, written in French,” ‘Dar-al-Islam’ has called for attacks against officials of Education, which it calls the ‘the enemies of Allah’ who ‘teach secularism’ and that are in ‘open war against the Muslim family.’ The active jihadist group in Iraq and Syria, which recruited hundreds of young French, has been calling for ‘fighting’ and ‘killing’ of officials of social services.”
Especially under the circumstances and the current state of emergency in France, this was the high of irresponsible actions.
R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm has been having an online discussion with Mr. Hussam Ayloush, who describes himself as an Executive Board Member at the California Democratic Party and an Executive Director of CAIR – Greater Los Angeles Chapter.
Mr. Ayloush is predominantly focused on Republican candidate Donald Trump. While Mr. Trump’s extreme views may be unworkable and deserve criticism, the problem we face with violent extremists behind terrorist attacks will continue whether or not Mr. Trump is running in politics. Such distractions keep us from maintaining our focus on the primary challenge that we have faced and will continue to face with violent extremists, until we recognize the problems.
Mr. Hussam Ayloush’s fundamental position is now to me directly that ISIS and other such terrorists do not really have an ideology that we have to challenge — “other than power hunger.” According to CNN and other major news media, this represents the views of an executive director of a major organization, which represents itself as speaking on the human rights for American Muslims.
This Denial and Delusion is the fundamental root of our problem.
In America, if our only challenge to white supremacist ideologies was to criticize white supremacists abuses as simply “power hunger,” without challenging the white supremacist ideology, we would still have a largely segregated and publicly racial discriminatory society today. The ugly, miserable, painful, and completely NECESSARY struggle in America was essential to providing a significantly different level of human rights in America to African-Americans today than during the 1960s-1970s. We could not have moved on as an nation. We had to face the truths that too many Americans were initially unwilling to hear. Furthermore, it was essential that the victims did not abandon a commitment to human rights to become victimizers. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated a “doctrine of black supremacy is as dangerous as a doctrine of white supremacy,” and we must learn to keep our focus on “the freedom of the whole human race.”
A focus only on political outrage, rather than a real “war of ideas,” also fuels the attacks of anti-Muslim extremists such the attack on a mosque in Coachella, California. We must always remember to challenge anti-human rights extremists from every avenue, including those that would spread hate against our fellow human beings who are Muslims, who have freedom of religion guaranteed in our Universal Declaration of Human Rights like all people. We must challenge this ideology of hate as well.
In every instance, we cannot simply ignore the ideologies of extremists, and hope that our security, police, and tactical methods will minimize their violence.
We cannot ignore the ideology of extremists and simply fight a tactical war against them. There will never be enough police, enough military, enough security; they cannot be everywhere and anywhere. We can’t create watch lists big enough or dynamic enough. Even if we had a “perfect” watch list of extremists, we don’t have the resources to “watch” those on the “watch list.” We don’t have the resources to “watch” those on a “watch list” now. Security tactics can help us “buy time,” certainly and are necessary, where they provide some effectiveness. But in the course of the protracted struggle against extremists, we must choose and commit ourselves to fighting a war of ideas.
Concentrating on the wrong thing is just as misguided as doing nothing, and vice versa.
Furthermore, the righteous anger in response to desperate comments by uninformed individuals who want to “do something” about one type of extremists, regarding how genuinely offensive it is to our shared human rights to have a “list” of all Muslims or to “monitor” all mosques — misses the obvious point — it is impossible, especially in such a vast and fluid nation as the United States of America in the 21st century. The outraged arguments on desperate and unworkable ideas for immigration control also miss the main point – it is impossible. If we asked extremists to give us information to help identify them at the border, they would just lie, of course. Just like real extremists can get fake passports, saying whatever they want them to say. (We could change the name of the identity group, and we would get the same result.)
Tactics aren’t enough. This is obvious, but the voices of anger and desperation are so loud in debating this, that they haven’t stopped to reflect on this. The voices of desperation and of anger may be loud and they have their right to be heard, but we cannot allow the important struggle against extremism to be swallowed up by such shouting over what is, candidly, nonsense.
Desperate and confused people want to retreat to “tactics” in the vain and misguided hope that security tactics will “do something.” This desperate reaction is only inflamed by those who mislead the public and develop policies to do “nothing,” making such individuals more desperate, which perpetuates the cycle of desperate statements, followed by angry responses, again and again.
In the meantime, violent extremists continue to recruit enemies against freedom, and we are not consistently challenging such extremist ideologies, when we stubbornly seek to deny such ideologies even exist, even when we know that doesn’t make any sense.
To fight the War of Ideas, the “war we need to win,” we can’t wait for the White House or our politicians or the media to understand and to even begin such a war of ideas.
This is OUR responsibility, as those who are responsible for equality and liberty.
We need to take charge, all of us, from all identity groups, of our destiny. We need to be responsible for the world that we will leave behind for the next generation.
Failure to fight a “war of ideas” against the ideologies and the ideas of extremists is nothing less than surrendering on our Universal Human Rights. We must recognize such ideologies and combat them with the truth of our shared universal human rights.
In my discussion with Mr. Ayloush, however, he has decided, that the focus should be in a political partisan battle, while Muslims are being killed by ISIS terrorists right now. Like others, Mr. Ayloush believes that if we only focus on the ISIS activities in Syria, we are addressing the “root cause” being the “political, economic, and military repression” of ISIS activists.
Have all of the American ISIS recruits been politically, economically, and militarily repressed? Including those with sophisticated jobs and educations in San Bernardino? Were the terrorists who committed the Paris terrorist attacks politically, economically, and militarily repressed? Were the ISIS terrorists who have attacked mosque after mosque, blowing them up, and mass-murdering other Muslims in country after country, killing other Muslims simply because they are politically, economically, and militarily repressed? Does this rationalize blowing up mosques full of praying Muslims by ISIS?
Denial and Delusion are the primary fuels to enable extremists and certainly to promote political overreaction. When your government’s primary focus is on Denial and Delusion, people look to anyone else, because they are that desperate. When your media refuses to report on news due to Denial and Delusion, people look elsewhere to find the news that doesn’t get reported in their goals to shape public opinion.
Today, the French news media reports that the ISIS terrorist publication, written in French, ” ‘Dar-al-Islam’ has called for attacks against officials of Education, which it calls the ‘the enemies of Allah’ who ‘teach secularism’ and that are in ‘open war against the Muslim family.’ The active jihadist group in Iraq and Syria, which recruited hundreds of young French, has been calling for ‘fighting’ and ‘killing’ of officials of social services.” CNN decided NOT to report that part of the story, which you need to go to European news media to learn. CNN is reporting from Paris, they have the entire news story, but they choose to shape the news, to omit any information necessary to help those challenging the ideology of the ISIS terrorists.
It is essential that we continue a War of Ideas to challenge ISIS and other extremists, and that we do not lose sight of their ideological threats against our shared human rights, including their threats against other Muslims who are responsible citizens in our societies.
Here is my discussion with Mr. Hussam Ayloush. To be fair to Mr. Ayloush and myself, the Twitter limited characters do not allow us to provide the complete and nuanced comments necessary for a full discussion. But the basic idea of denial – that there is no real ideology of ISIS that we must confront – remains the primary challenge for the world today. We have to learn from the past. We have to use our knowledge of what works and what does make change to defy extremist views in others and in ourselves.
To R.E.A.L., Mr. Ayloush writes:
— @realhumanrights ISIS must be condemned and fought, even as we try to address its root causes.
— Reply to @HussamA But if we do not challenge the extremist ideology of ISIS we do not begin to address the root causes.
— @realhumanrights it’s not a mutually exclusive approach. We can do both, challenge ISIS & the repression that nurtures it.
— Reply to @HussamA That repression based on ideology accepting crimes against humanity. Mr. Trump’s misguided views <1% of problem, 99% of discussion
— @realhumanrights that repression is mostly not based on any ideology other than power hunger.
— @realhumanrights the evil of violent extremism is often fueled by political, economic, and military repression.
— Reply to @HussamA While I am not defending Trump, using him as an excuse, ignores this problem isn’t going away until we challenge extremists.
— @realhumanrights ISIS terrorism is a symptom of deeper issues in that region
R.E.A.L Debate with CAIR’s Hussam Ayloush on the Need to Challenge the Ideology of ISIS (Source: Twitter)
To be Responsible for Equality And Liberty, we need to be honest and responsible to ourselves as to the truths of ideological threats from extremists that our society faces, and that we may find in ourselves. We need to challenge such extremist views from all, and urge all of us to support our Universal Human Rights for all.
As first reported in the London Times and then the Daily Mail, a group of women have been using social media to promote extremist views. The London Times’ Dipesh Gadher described this as a “women’s network is using macabre images on social media to raise funds for convicted terrorists and their families.” The Daily Mail reported that the ” network across several social media platforms are a hotbed for extremism, filled with propaganda posters and homemade letters decorated in love hearts and glitter for jailed Muslim prisoners involving in terror cases.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) was able to directly confirm these media reports by discovering such a network on Twitter and other social media sources. The online media sources via the prisons where extremist and terrorists are being held as “kuffar” prisons. This “Free Our Sisters” network included an image of a celebration cake for the 9/11 Terrorist attack and praising Osama Bin Laden, as well as the routine trademark raised index finger on numerous postings in support of the ISIS terrorist organization. Osama Bin Laden was responsible for leading the Al Qaeda organization and its plot to murder 2,977 Americans on multiple attacks on the United States via hijacked jetliners, destroying the World Trade Center towers in New York City, attack the Pentagon in Washington DC, and an attempt to destroy the Congressional building or White House in Washington DC which failed due to passengers fighting back over the skies of Pennsylvania.
This has also included “Free Our Sisters” network support for Pakistani woman terrorist Afia Siddiqui, a Pakistan Al-Qaeda operative, who is currently serving 86 years in federal prison. Federal law enforcement believed that she was plotted terrorist attacks inside the United States of America, including plots in New York City, Boston, and suspicious travel near Washington DC in the Maryland suburbs. After she was identified as a terrorist operative in the United States, she disappeared to Afghanistan. She was arrested in Afghanistan, and charged in a sealed criminal complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, with assault with a deadly weapon and with attempting to kill a U.S. Army Captain “while engaged in… official duties.” She was charged on two counts of attempted murder of US nationals, officers, and employees, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying and using a firearm, and three counts of assault on US officers and employees. According to her indictment, she was carrying documents in describing “the construction of ‘dirty bombs,’ chemical and biological weapons, and other explosives (including mortality rates) and plans for ‘mass casualty attack’ and that listed various locations in the United States, including Plum Island, the Empire State Building,the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge.” When she was arrested in Afghanistan, she was carrying in her purse handwritten notes and a computer thumb drive containing recipes for conventional bombs and weapons of mass destruction, instructions on how to make machines to shoot down US drones, descriptions of New York City landmarks with references to a mass casualty attack, and two pounds of sodium cyanide in a glass jar. Afia Siddiqui was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and obtained a Ph.D. doctoral degree from Brandeis University, where she taught a Biology Laboratory course. Media reports stated that Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the alleged al-Qaeda chief planner of the 11 September attacks, named Afia Siddiqui as an Al-Qaeda operative. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was related to Afia Siddiqui, as her second husband’s uncle. Prior to being identified as a terrorist operative, Afia Siddiqui, created a non-profit agency for fundraising and education called the “Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching,” and had previously been involved with other non-profits.
Support for terrorist extremists by the “Free Our Sisters” also includes support for men arrested for terrorism, such as Briton Mizanur Rahman (aka Abu Baraa) who has previously been convicted on solicitation to murder. In addition, in 2006, the Sun reported that “Rahman is said to have told fellow demonstrators: Oh Allah, we want to see another 9/11 in Iraq, another 9/11 in Denmark, another 9/11 in Spain, in France, all over Europe. Oh Allah, destroy all of them.” Then in August 2015, he was re-arrested for support for the ISIS terrorist organization. The “Free Our Sisters” also promotes writing letters on Abu Baraa’s behalf.
To who might recognize this is as a minority voice, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is disappointed that there is not enough majority voices speaking out against such support for terrorist figures.
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
