Overview
- ISIS’s weekly Al-Naba, in its editorial, calls on the organization’s operatives and supporters to carry out terrorist attacks against Jews around the world, especially in Israel and Europe.
- The article, replete with virulent anti-Semitism, demonizes the Jews and claims that there is an eternal conflict between Muslims and Jews that will continue until the Day of Judgment. Therefore, Muslims must stay away from Jews, fight them, and carry out attacks against them.
- The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is described as a religious rather than a national conflict, and the only way to resolve it is through violent jihad. In this context, the author praises the perpetrator of the combined attack in Jerusalem (November 23, 2022), Islam Farokh, whose action was inspired by ISIS, and calls on others to follow his path and resume suicide attacks throughout Israel.[1]
- The article also criticizes regimes in the Arab and Islamic world, such as Chad, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, which maintain relations with Israel and sign agreements with it. They are referred to as “apostates,” and some of them as “infidels.”
- It should be noted that the article is published amid a campaign conducted by ISIS supporters against Christians, calling for attacks against Christians around the world, especially in Europe.[2] In the ITIC’s assessment, the encouragement of the organization’s operatives and supporters to harm Jews and Christians should be seen in the context of the unprecedented decrease in the scope of ISIS’s attacks around the world in recent months.
- The organization is also trying to leverage the growing tensions over the past year between Israel and the Palestinians, which intensified following the formation of a right-wing government in Israel.[3] ISIS seems eager to achieve more attacks inspired by it among Israeli Arabs, after a number of ISIS-inspired attacks were carried out in Israel in the last year.
Details
- On February 2, 2023, ISIS’s Al-Naba weekly published an editorial under the title “Kill the Jews,” calling on Muslims around the world to carry out terrorist attacks against Jews (Telegram, February 2, 2023).
- The article also includes the photo of Islam Farokh, the terrorist who carried out a combined attack inspired by ISIS, which included planting explosive charges in several sites at the entrance to Jerusalem, on November 23, 2022. The photo of the terrorist appears against a background of photos from the various scenes of the attack. ISIS did not claim responsibility for the attacks in Jerusalem nor did it assert that Farokh was one of its members, but implicitly, in the organization’s view, the attack was inspired by it.
The article entitled “Kill the Jews” (Telegram, February 2, 2023)
- The main messages conveyed in the article:
- The evil qualities of the Jews are mentioned in the Quran many times. Allah mentioned them in the Quran to guide the Muslims not to behave like the Jews and for the Muslims to prepare to fight them. Past and present events in the Palestinian arena reflect the hostility of the Jews towards the Muslims, and their vicious qualities. The Muslims must stay away from the Jews and their devious ways and be aware of their schemes.
- The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is religious only and not a national one. The Muslims in “Palestine” are called upon to wage a religious war against the Jews rather than a war based on national motives, which is contrary to the values of Islam.
- Muslims all over the world are called upon to kill Jews in any possible way and by any means at their disposal. They are to attack them in their neighborhoods, in their synagogues in Europe and elsewhere around the world, to put pressure on them, and initiate a “war that will burn the infidel Jews” before the tyrants of the entire world reach an agreement to put an end to it.
- The Muslims in “Palestine” should attack synagogues and resume the terrorist attacks using explosive belts, which were not used in the recent attacks in Jerusalem but their use was mentioned in the context of those attacks.[4]
- The “apostate” rulers of the Arab countries, such as the rulers of Qatar and the Emirates, who accept the Jews and support them, are an integral part of the circle of “infidels.” The government of Chad, which is a Muslim country and has recently faced harsh domestic criticism for tightening its ties with Israel, is also part of this circle of “apostates.”
- Sunni Islam is based on the principle of loyalty to other members of Islam while being hostile towards the “Infidels,” and the Jews among them.
- It should be noted that ISIS’s threats against Israel and the Jews in general are not new. ISIS has been threatening to attack Jews in Israel and elsewhere around the world ever since its inception.
- The Al-Naba issue in question includes the transcript of a recording by the organization’s founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in which he calls on the organization’s operatives and supporters to carry out violent jihad against the “infidels.” In the recording, he also claims that reconciliation with the Jews, Christians, and other “infidels” is against Islam and that violent jihad against them will continue until the Day of Judgment (Telegram, February 2, 2023). The fact that the recording is cited in full testifies, in the ITIC’s assessment, to ISIS’s extreme sense of urgency to carry out attacks.
The transcript of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s recording (Telegram, February 2, 2023)
[1] For details about the attack, see the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from December 30, 2022, “Spotlight on Global Jihad (December 22-28, 2022)” ↑
[2] See the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from February 6, 2023, “ISIS calls for attacking Christians around the world, especially in Europe” ↑
[3] The formation of the new government in Israel has already triggered a special reference on the part of ISIS. See the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from January 23, 2023, “ISIS in Afghanistan refers to the formation of a new government in Israel, noting that “Palestine” will be liberated through jihad” ↑
[4] The attacks in Jerusalem involved the use of explosive charges. However, the Israeli security forces also located an explosive belt, which was in the possession of Farokh’s friend, Hamed Othman, who planned to use it as part of another attack, which he intended to carry out at the central bus station in Jerusalem. ↑
