#jihadism

"There is no difference. The vast majority of Palestinians support Hamas. If they did not have Israel as a common enemy, they would kill each other."

Mohammed Emwazi (born Muhammad Jassim Abdulkarim Olayan al-Dhafiri) was born on August 17th, 1988 in Al Jahra, Kuwait.

Emwazi was the eldest of five children born to Jassem and Ghaneyah Emwazi. His family were Bidoon (stateless people of Iraqi origin) living in a marginalized area of Al Jahra, Kuwait. In 1994, when he was six, the family moved to the UK, settling in west/northwest London (areas like Maida Vale and Queen's Park).

He attended St. Mary Magdalene Church of England primary school (described as a football-loving, smiling kid in class photos) and Quintin Kynaston Community Academy (secondary). Former headteacher Jo Shuter recalled him as quiet, reasonably hardworking, with typical adolescent issues like bullying.

Emwazi graduated in 2009 with a degree in computer science from the University of Westminster. Reports note exposure to Islamist groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir via the university's Islamic Society. He was described as polite, observant Muslim, into designer clothes, and playing five-a-side football. His family lived in a middle-class terraced house. He reportedly tried to move back to Kuwait and worked with Syrian refugees in Turkey at one point.

Emwazi's radicalization appears to have accelerated in his late teens/early 20s, as he became associated with networks like the "London Boys" (linked to Islamist extremism) and attended the Al-Manaar mosque. MI5 monitored him in connection with attempts to join militants (e.g., al-Shabaab in Somalia). In 2010, he was stopped trying to travel to Tanzania with friends; authorities suspected jihadist intent.

He complained of harassment by British security services, claiming it prevented normal life (including travel and work). Friends and family portrayed him as increasingly angry and alienated. He also traveled to Syria around 2012–2013, initially possibly with al-Nusra Front before joining ISIS.

Emwazi became the public face of ISIS brutality in 2014. He is believed to have directly participated in or appeared in videos of the beheadings of:

James Foley (US journalist, August 2014) — first major video

Steven Sotloff (US journalist)

David Haines (British aid worker)

Alan Henning (British aid worker/taxi driver)

Peter Kassig (US aid worker, formerly Abdul-Rahman Kassig)

Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto (2015)

He also appeared in videos threatening leaders like Barack Obama and David Cameron. As part of "The Beatles" (with other British fighters like Alexanda Kotey, Aine Davis, El Shafee Elsheikh), he was involved in hostage-taking, torture, and executions. Hostages reported mock executions to psychologically break them.

caleb vasquez x jihadi john ship edit

سُئل الإمامُ الشافعي: إذا كانَ الله يرمينا بِسهام القدر فكيفَ لنا بالنجاة؟

‏قال: "كُن بجوار الرامي تنجو".

Imam Al-Shafi’i was asked: If Allah shoots us with the arrows of qadar then how can we be saved?

This week, it sent a very different message.

A city that buried nearly 3,000 victims of Islamist terrorism is increasingly rewarding politicians who excuse or minimize Islamist movements, normalize antisemitism, or frame Hamas as "resistance."

How did we get here?

It starts with a lie.

For twenty-five years, many people have insisted that Osama bin Laden was poor brown person simply "resisting oppression", "fighting colonialism" and promoting "social justice".

He wasn't.

Bin Laden was born into one of the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia. His father built the Saudi Binladin Group into one of the Middle East's largest construction empires, with close ties to the Saudi royal family. He grew up surrounded by privilege, education, and opportunity.

He did not become a terrorist because he was poor.

He became a terrorist because he embraced an ideology. The Muslim Brothers ideology.

That ideology has a history.

After Egypt cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, many of its leading figures found refuge in Saudi Arabia. Among them was Muhammad Qutb, brother of Sayyid Qutb - the Muslim Brotherhood's most influential modern ideologue. Muhammad Qutb became one of Bin Laden's teachers, while Sayyid Qutb's writings profoundly shaped his worldview.

The Brotherhood also gave birth to Hamas through its Palestinian branch.

The same brotherhood that it's 100 years plan to take over the USA was revealed in the holy land trial, by positioning their supporters in key positions in education, media and government, as well as their connections to CAIR, one of Mamdani's big sources of finance.

Bin Laden himself explained why he attacked America, and it had little to do with the popular mythology that emerged afterward.

He condemned democracy as a man-made system replacing God's law.

He rejected religious pluralism.

He wanted governments across the Muslim world replaced with sharia.

He denounced modern Muslim rulers as apostates.

He objected to American troops stationed in Saudi Arabia after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Israel appeared in his rhetoric - but it was only one element of a much broader ideological war against liberal democracy itself.

Yet after September 11, something remarkable happened.

Instead of confronting the ideology that produced nineteen hijackers, much of the conversation shifted toward blaming America - or blaming the Jews.

Conspiracy theories flourished despite decades of investigations finding no evidence that Israel was anyway involved in the attacks, warned Jewish employees to stay home, or benefited from the murders. Those myths survived because antisemitism has always offered a convenient answer when societies refuse to confront the real source of violence.

Even more disturbing, parts of the Arab world openly celebrated. Television cameras captured celebrations in several locations, including Palestinians distributing sweets and cheering in the streets after thousands of civilians had been murdered.

Two decades later, Bin Laden won another victory.

His 2002 "Letter to America" exploded across TikTok, then owned by China's ByteDance. Millions of young Westerners encountered it not as terrorist propaganda, but as a revelation. Videos praising the letter accumulated millions of views before many were removed, with users claiming Bin Laden had "made good points".

The man who murdered nearly 3,000 Americans was suddenly being rediscovered as an anti-imperialist philosopher.

That should alarm everyone.

Authoritarian regimes and Islamist movements do not need to defeat the West militarily if they can convince Western societies to lose confidence in themselves. Russia and China have repeatedly been linked to influence operations aimed at deepening polarization. Qatar has spent decades supporting Muslim Brotherhood-linked movements while providing sanctuary to Hamas leaders and investing heavily in Western institutions.

Today, New York - the city that suffered one of the worst jihadist attack in modern history - is increasingly embracing narratives that excuse or sanitize the ideology that inspired it.

History has a cruel sense of irony.

The people who murdered New Yorkers believed Jews, Christians, secular governments, and liberal democracy were all enemies to be defeated.

Twenty-five years later, many New Yorkers  have accepted that worldview.

If the extremists they excuse ultimately turn against them - as history repeatedly suggests they do - they will likely search for someone else to blame.

And if history is any guide, the oldest scapegoats in the world - the very people they elected jihadist apologists to fight, boycott, and divest from - will be blamed for the destruction caused by those same jihadists. By then, of course, New York may already be too far gone.