Another piece of evidence has emerged to indicate that the Muslim man who recently stormed and held a Texas-based synagogue hostage was not just acting in accordance with jihadist ideology, but following an ISIS directive.
On Jan. 15, 2022, Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British Pakistani armed with a gun, took four people hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, during Sabbath service. Akram repeatedly demanded the release of his “sister” (in Islam), Aafia Siddiqui, aka “Lady al-Qaeda,” another Pakistani national imprisoned for attempted murder and other terrorist-related activities. In the end, only Akram died in the standoff with police; all four hostages survived.
Instantly, however, and as almost always happens, the initial explanation—because we must never “jump to conclusions,” must never call it a duck, even if it looks, swims, and quacks like a duck—revolved around anything but the obvious. Thus, whether the FBI initially declared that “we’re continuing to work to find motive,” or whether Akram was presented as suffering from “mental health issues,” few in officialdom wanted to confirm that this was a jihadist operation directed against Jews, who are seen by not a few Muslims as one of Islam’s archenemies.
Since then, some evidence has emerged indicating that Akram did indeed hate the “f*cking Jews” and sought to kill them.
Missed, however, is the fact that, a few weeks before Akram stormed the synagogue, the Islamic State (ISIS) issued a directive calling on Muslims to do exactly what Akram did—and for the very same reason he cited.
On Dec. 20, 2021, the ISIS-operated Rocket.Chat communication platform did what it and other jihadist forums always do in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas: it sought to rile and incite Muslims to launch “lone wolf” attacks during the festive season, including by posting a drawing of a veiled jihadist brandishing a bloody knife in one hand while holding the severed head of Santa Claus in the other, with the following message:
With the advent of the so-called polytheistic celebrations that the unbelievers are experiencing these days, we send a message to our monotheist brothers in Europe, America, Australia, Canada, Russia, and other countries of unbelief and apostasy…. Attack the citizens of crusader coalition countries with your knives, run them over in the streets, detonate bombs on them, and spray them with bullets.
We have, of course, over the years seen numerous such lone wolf attacks, especially those consisting of Muslims randomly driving vehicles into people (Nice, France, 2016, with 86 people killed being only the most notorious) or going on stabbing sprees (London Bridge, with two killed, being only one of the most notorious).
But the aforementioned Rocket.Chat communiques which appeared in December, 2021, had another message:
Imagine with me, brothers, if Muslim refugees in Crusader Europe took hostages while the pigs [Christians] celebrate their polytheistic holidays and forced the European crusaders to order their angry dogs to release our sisters from the Al-Hawl and Ain Issa camps or else they would cut off the pigs’ heads.
This suggested scenario almost perfectly conforms to both the stated motive and actions of Malik Faisal Akram, who, before holding a synagogue in Texas hostage, was investigated in Britain for his known “radical” links—links that almost certainly suggest he visited, and was influenced by, jihadist sites such as Rocket.Chat.
Akram did, however, make one minor alteration: he took hostage, not the “pigs” (one of Islam’s epithet for Christians) but rather their partners in the infamous “Crusader-Zionist” alliance, the “apes” (one of Islam’s epithet for Jews). He did so, not while Christians “celebrate their polytheistic holidays,” but rather while Jews, whom Islam also accuses of polytheism, worshipped on their holy day, the Sabbath. And he did it all in accordance with ISIS’s directive “to release our sisters,” with Lady al-Qaeda—whom Akram repeatedly referred to as a “sister”—being the posterchild of female Muslim terrorist prisoners.
Not a surprise is it? …
*** God bless Raymond, and his family, and protect them from harm.
Your solutions? Or, do you just want to share continuous information?
Someone has to do the reporting Michael. You perhaps are not aware of the absolute mainstream media block on any criticism of Islam. Raymond has testified before Congress, spoken at the US Army War College, written 3 books, and given numerous talks and interviews on the subject to give awareness.
All that not even mentioning a very prolific volume of articles on this site alone.
He’s a scholar, fluent in Arabic so can monitor what goes on in their press and media in their own countries. He is also qualified to translate original manuscripts from original sources on the history of Islam, revealing much that has been ignored by our modern historians.
It is a grizzly task he does in his monthly series of reporting the persecution of Christians and some others as well, in countries all around the world, including Western countries, by Islamists.
Many like him have to live in secret not to be assassinated.
It takes courage to report at the level he maintains for more than 10 years now.
It’s up to our leadership to wake up and form policies that keep us safe in our countries, not scholars and journalists. Trump, for all his character flaws, faced the problem head on, and was enacting policies that kept America stronger and safer, and by extension much of the world. His administration was providing solutions.
Like it or not Michael, we are still the essential nation to lead others in the protection of democracies and freedom worldwide. Would be great if all western countries and all democracies in the east as well joined in to a much higher degree, but they haven’t yet. I think they are beginning to now.
Sorry for the long rant. I assumed from your question you are not aware of all I just wrote.
Why the ‘absolute media block on any criticism of Islam’ Don? From whom do the orders come for this silence? And what more does ‘our leadership need to wake up’? We have more anti-Semitism now than we’ve ever had. I guess Jews are fewer and easier to tackle before they tackle the Christian majority in the West when they have sufficient numbers to do the job – as they are tackling it now in Muslim majority countries? One at a time. And why are our teenage daughters still being prostituted for years now without all those responsible for this horrendous crime being prosecuted to the full extent of the law and more?
Mary, first, good to see you here. I’ve been extra busy and was wondering how you’re doing.
Reasons why:
1. The infiltration of Marxism into the west from the group called the Frankfurt School, I’m sure you know them. Slowly they brought forward Critical Theory, which basically criticized western systems from a Marxist view. The main proponent of it was Herbert Marcuse.
It poisoned the thinking of the generation of the 60’s and 70’s of the US and Europeans as well.
You can Google the Frankfurt school and Marcuse, too much to get into here.
Conservatives were asleep at the wheel as all this took place. Busy with actually producing goods and services and not paying enough attention to what academics were up to, the Dem party in the states was captivated by this thinking and the academics especially began to take over higher education turning our students towards an errant left.
I realize you are familiar with all this as well, just thinking out loud here.
Revisionist history: Big problem for sure here. Howard Zinn’s, “A People’s History of the United States”, is revisionist history fully accepted by many of the leftist academics,(even though rejected by a large group as well) and has inculcated a hatred in our own citizens of their own country, that is very hard to break through.
He was charismatic and evangelistic and well acquainted with the CPUSA and their groups and activism but never formally on the rolls. He has done immeasurable damage to the view of many intellectuals of western civilization.
I’m currently reading, “Debunking Howard Zinn” by Mary Grabar.
A scholarly work of rebuttal and expose’ of this terrible guy. I recommend it highly.
She also published “Debunking the 1619 Project” which as you know here in the states is helping us to refute that narrative. Like the book on Zinn it is another scholarly work with references cited in end notes.
Moral Equivalence and the false equivocations that come from that thinking, i.e. all civilizations, religions, cultures, etc. are equal, none better or worse.
Nonsense of course but creates a blindness to the overwhelming good elements in Western culture as opposed to others.
Also, a romanticizing of poverty and native, tribal cultures as if they were all living in perfect, peaceful harmony until Europeans came along and the US among the modern evil countries being the greater evil.
The press and media being what I call Big G Globalists – – having a hatred or disdain for the nation state, middle class, wonderful diversity of language, customs and traditions of peaceful democratic countries living very well, without warring with each other since WW2 – – have demonized the west by the false narratives and revisionist historians and bought into the Utopian (neo-Marxist) Globalist vision.
Our enemies of all stripes, especially our “friends” we focus on here with Raymond, being well aware of this self-hatred in our countries, have seized the opportunity to make themselves one of the groups “we” have victimized.
They are no fools these friends, brilliant in their strategies.
Our young people welcome them as do our Leftist internal adversaries, thinking the friends will help them in their Globalist, multicultural vision.
Our own citizens, leaders and military who are not aware of the history we learn here and from other accurate sources have no clue that:
The People they are inviting in en masse, have their own Globalist aspiration, a world under the Sharia, nothing less.
Also the Chinese, Pres Xi, has his own aspirations.
Sorry for the long rant Mary. My conclusions after these recent years of observation and learning.
On the girls: A subject you likely know is closest to my heart as well. Not just the UK teens, one whom I even contacted to see if I could get her to speak here, she declined.
But all the women and girls and young boys who will endure unimaginable suffering if we don’t get the west to wake up soon.
I’m continuing my strategy to mention these troubles to journalists and retired military with some progress. Continuing to educate myself to be able to articulate the deceptive Marxist influence here in our country, and expose the lies.
Making some progress there also with younger people, 40’s, a group here who respect me due to the work I’ve done in carpentry and building in the area on their homes and one worked with me for a while.
That’s the looonnng version Mary, forgive any redundancy. Stay well and in touch when you can. You’re an inspiration to me.
Thank you for your reply Don and your kind words. One multi-billionaire who is the power behind the left is George Soros, as I am sure you know. You have probably read David Horowitz and Richard Poe ‘The Shadow party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and the Sixties Radicals seized control of the Democratic Party’, 2006, but still timely and well worth re-reading again and again. Soros did what he could to stop Brexit by bribing crowds to demonstrate but most of the country wanted out of the anti-democratic EU, which tries to rule Europe by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, who have completely distorted the original aim of the founders of the European Economic Community. And he doesn’t stop trying to reverse Brexit and push globalism in order to destroy Western civilisation and Christianity. Remember during WWI when the Marxists tried with “Workers of the world unite” but those great patriotic workers each fought for their own country? Now they are trying by introducing, through unbridled immigration, elements completely alien to our civilisation and promoting multiculturalism in order to dilute patriotism. When was it no longer a principle that immigrants accept our Western laws and values as the price of settling in our countries and obtaining their benefits?
I know that in the States you have Fox news and now we have a new channel GBnews where subjects not covered by the mainstream media are discussed but still gloves are not completely off. It seems it is dangerous to deal with certain subjects as we do here in the columns of Raymond Ibrahim, many thanks and blessings to him and his family. I am sure there are many more voices who love their country and are not corrupted by cash in their pockets but they face not only hefty fines but seemingly even prison. Incredible! We fought wars for our freedoms, so many lost their lives, the soil of this European continent is soaked with blood, and still those ungrateful members of the Frankfurt School, etc., etc., to whom we gave sanctuary are trying to turn us into a Marxist dictatorship!
As for the girls, forgive me Don but I am not quite sure I agree with you on this. If these gangs were a high-class prostitution ring maybe but these are anything but … and I cannot see a member of the government being involved with such low-lives of a particular ethnic origin abusing and prostituting white British teenage girls because they think all white girls are sl..s. That members of the government know what is going on but pretend they don’t, yes I agree, but that anyone is actually involved in getting freebies, I doubt very much, unless the freebies are in the form of cash under the table, if that’s what you mean.
PS Mary. As to the UK in particular, I’ve heard the excuse that the leaders don’t want to be seen as “racist” and turned a blind eye to the absolutely horrific 10 decade grooming gang abuses stull going on.
I don’t buy it Mary. I think leaders at the highest levels are somehow compromised. I’ll stop there having no evidence. It is my suspicion.
PS. i think I misunderstood what you meant by ‘compromised’ Don. And I agree that the excuse that the leaders don’t want to be seen as ” racist” doesn’t wash.
Couldn’t reply to your last comments. No “Reply” link under them. Haven’t read that Horowitz/Poe book. Will get it and put it in the plan. Thankfully, work life about half time and I am able to read a few books simultaneously and take notes or mark them up. I call it, “becoming fluent in a subject,” so you can speak comfortably on it at any time without resources at hand.
I am nowhere near as well read as you are. Busy work life with 5 kids most of my life. Then with kids grown in my 50’s and 60’s was very sports active and enjoying life in far Western MA, a rural area with small cities and towns, like heaven to me after Boston area.
Dove into all this when I discovered the G-gangs recovering from a knee scope in 2016 I think. Can’t let that item go as you know, don’t lose sleep anymore but take every chance to inform our leaders of it.
Always voted conservative, but didn’t take politics seriously, trusted our Gov to do the right things and self correct. Realized after 8 yrs of the Obama Admin, and what I would consider almost treasonous activity by it, the world was on fire and his admin enabled the blaze.
Snubbing Israel, empowering the Mullahs, soft on Putin, friendly with the Castro regime, embracing Big G Globalism (= totalitarian governing, you know very well) and efforts to downgrade the US to enable Globalism and socialist policies.
That fired me up to talk to people and try to open eyes.
I copy many of your comments to Word documents.
Thanks for the replies, great to hear from you. Hope we see more of Danos also, like yourself, he’s a force for good in communication of truth in history and policy.
And I agree heartily, Raymond’s writings and articles are invaluable aids in the struggle for Truth.
Stay well and in touch.
Thank you for this Don. I learn a lot from you too. And thanks to Raymond Ibrahim for all his efforts and keeping us informed.
Islamic State is also growing in the Europe’s neighbor, Turkey, with the full-support of Erdogan! The West seems to be unaware that they will be targeted next, after Islamic State cleansing the Middle East from it’s original, native Christian inhabitants. All of this due to the reckless, and so-called concerned policies of the so-called “Crusader” West! They are an insult to the real Crusaders of the Middle Ages!
DEUS VULT!
These are very difficult to read because of the suffering. Always makes me wonder when this scourge be at my door?
Mr Ibrahim thanks for doing the job the Ministry of Socialist Media has abandoned in favor of being Biden’s PR.