“Khalid Mahmood, the MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, estimates that at least 1,500 young British Muslims have been recruited by extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria in the last three years” …
… one of them seems to be the Jihadist who beheaded the journalist James Foley…
- British Isis Militant in James Foley Video ‘Guards Foreign Hostages in Syria’Â (The Guardian)
- European Fighters Take on More Prominent Roles in the Islamic State (NPR)
… while an expert on IS says that their main message is revenge and secondarily deterrence …
- Islam Expert on ‘IS’: ‘Main Message is Revenge’Â (Deutsche Welle)
… but undeterred by threats that more Americans will be murdered, the US continues air strikes against IS …
- US Official: More Airstrikes in Iraq (ABC/AP)
“[I]s it fair to continue to allow extremist religious groups to use religion as a pretext to wage wars?”:Â
- ISIS and Islam: Detaching Religion from Terrorism (International Business Times)
The Islamic State publishes a video of Yazidi men ” converting to Islam,” with no mention or evidence of informed consent …
- Islamic State Video Shows Conversion of Yazidi Men to Islam (The Telegraph)
… a reminder that “far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practice their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could … be regarded as religious novices”‘:
- What the Jihadists Who Bought ‘Islam For Dummies’ on Amazon Tell Us About Radicalization (Huffington Post)
Some Muslim leaders refused to meet on the legislation many object that the PM is “merely seeking approval under the cover of consultation” and “that similar issues about Australian troops travelling abroad to fight or Jews travelling to train or fight with the [IDF] are simply never raised”:Â
- Muslim Leaders Reject Tony Abbott’s Proposed New Terrorism Laws ( The Sydney Morning Herald)
“[Y]oung Muslim women living in Britain … have, for various reasons, chosen to adopt the headscarf to declare their faith to all around them, despite figures showing rising violence against visibly identifiable Muslims”:
“A lot of Muslim people say it’s about religion. But I think it’s more about the culture and how people have been brought up. Men and women are treated equally [in the religion]. In the culture, it’s like the women should be at home cooking tea” – Ambreen Sadiq, one of Britain’s first Muslim female boxers:
“Why were we arrested, because we participated in protests? Because we stand with our family? What’s our crime? They’re the criminals” –Â Issa Abu Khdeir, father of the 19-year-old Baltimore boy arrested for protesting the burning to death of his cousin by Israeli extremists:
- US ‘Concerned’ by Arrest of American in Israel (AP / abc News)
“[T]here has been a serious failure … in framing Gaza primarily as a humanitarian crisis. Addressing the broader context of occupation and siege is critical to ending violence and achieving a future of freedom and human security for both Palestinians and Israelis”:
“For Muslim youth, music [is a way] to proclaim your identity, to proclaim your politics, to explain who you are, to mobilize, to build community†Hisham Aidi, lecturer at Columbia University and author of Rebel Music: Race, Empire and the New Muslim Youth Culture:
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