Of all the analysis on the terrorist attack in New Zealand which an Australian white supremacist slaughtered 50 innocent Muslims at prayer, including a three-year old boy, what has surfaced on occasion is the fear that this incident will inspire others to carry out similar heinous acts of violence: copy cat crimes if you will. This is unfortunately all too real a phenomenon and may explain in part why authorities are trying to limit access to the video the terrorist made of his actions as well as the manifesto he left. Then again, human decency alone would suffice to take down the video, which is really nothing more than violence porn in my view.
Getting back to the manifesto, the terrorist tried to outline the reasons for his decision to gun down Muslims he saw as ‘invaders’. Among the twisted rationales and questionable history can be found the following excerpts in which the individual cites a form of revenge:
- To take revenge for the thousands of European lives lost to terror attacks throughout European lands.
- To take revenge for Ebba Akerlund (NB a Swedish girl who died in an Islamist extremist terrorist attack in Stockholm in April 2017)
- (to avenge) sexual assaults in Cologne, Hamburg, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Bielefeld (in 2015)
- (to avenge) the rape of British women by the invading forces (in the town of Rotheram from the 1980s to 2010)
- The invaders must be removed from European soil, regardless from where they came or when they came. Roma, African, Indian, Turkish, Semitic or other. If they are not of our people, but live in our lands, they must be removed.
The Aussie terrorist is not the only one to use past atrocities to justify future ones. Here are some headlines from jihadi propaganda over the past two days alone, courtesy of MEMRI – the Middle East Media Research Institute (NB I can only reproduce the headlines and not the text as MEMRI requires a subscription for the content and, despite several attempts to pay for one, I have been continually rebuffed for reasons that are beyond me):
- Ansar Al-Din Urges Muslims To Engage In Jihad Following New Zealand Mosque Attacks
- Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen Vows Revenge For New Zealand Mosque Terror Attack
- Jihadi Posters Brand New Zealand Attack Part Of ‘Crusade,’ Call For Vengeance Against Christians, Pope
- Gaza Based Pro-Al-Qaeda Cleric Calls For Jihad In Response To New Zealand Terror Attacks
- Pro-IS Media Outlet Calls For Attacks In The West To Avenge New Zealand Terror Attacks
- Ansar Al-Islam: Exploit New Zealand Mosque Massacre As Catalyst For Jihad Against Enemies Of Islam
- Pro-Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) Jihadi Publishes Video On Telegram, YouTube Calling On Sunni Muslims To Avenge Killing Of Muslims In New Zealand
What then are we left with? You attack me and I’ll attack you. Every act of violence that you visit on me or my people will be revisited upon you and your people. This is nothing more than the Old Testament adage of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. Retaliation, pure and simple.
What worries me is that we will see more jihadi attacks in the days, weeks, months and years to come (see my previous blog for a list of attacks that occurred after the events in Christchurch). Some may indeed be attributed to the deaths of Muslims in New Zealand. Which may lead to more RW attacks against Muslims by terrorists who will cite the Islamist extremist actions. Which will lead to more jihadi propaganda vowing revenge. Which….you get the point.
Are we destined to go down this path? Is there no better way to resolve these differences? Are we really just violent mammals in essence?
I hope not but I am less than confident.
