France vs. Jihadism

ifri.org, Marc HECKER, Elie TENENBAUM, France vs. Jihadism: The Republic in a New Age of Terror "This paper assesses the current state of the jihadist threat to France, as well as the French authorities’ security response. With the upcoming presidential election, 2017 will be a decisive year for the country. Terrorism will be at the heart of the campaign and ISIS will most likely try to strike again."

Footage from within Islamic State attack cell yields secrets

AP/Daily Mail, Footage from within Islamic State attack cell yields secrets, 5 May 2016 "Filmed by a young French Muslim journalist who infiltrated the group with a hidden camera, the Canal Plus documentary takes an extraordinary inside look at the group, which called itself the Soldiers of Allah. The cell was nominally led by a young ex-convict who called himself Abu Oussama, who speaks dreamily about his coming death, the palace that awaits him in paradise, the winged horse made of gold and rubies, and the women: "I'm not making this up, I swear," he breathes."

Radicalisation processes and the internet

:e Monde, Au procès d’apprentis djihadistes : « Comment j’ai pu être assez bête pour vouloir partir là-bas ? »

French jihadis

Zee, Jihad lures teens from unsuspected corners of France ""Religion is very much an accessory. It`s an Islamist community, but it could just as easily have been anarchist, or anti-fascist," [Marc] Sageman told a news agency.

"It was a point underlined recently when it emerged that would-be jihadists bought the books "Islam for Dummies" and "The Koran for Dummies" over Amazon before leaving Britain last year."

French and Belgian Jihadists Boast About the Syrians They Slaughter

French and Belgian Jihadists Boast About the Syrians They Slaughter - The Daily Beast "A cable news station in Paris has aired shocking video of French-speaking jihadists at work in Syria. The footage broadcast Thursday night on BFMTV played like a macabre postcard home, only the latest reminder that hundreds of French and thousands of European jihadists are waging war against Bashar al-Assad. The news channel has called it evidence that France’s own are “direct actors in the atrocities committed in Syria.”"

French teen 'jihad'

AP, Minister: French teens go to Syria for jihad "The minister suggested the young men were converted to the jihadi cause on the Internet, not in mosques. He said the pair is likely now in Turkey." Also see Mail Online, Schoolboys aged just 15 'have become France's youngest ever Jihadists after flying to Syria to fight for Al Qaeda'

France: arrests

Reuters, France arrests suspected Islamic militants, 30 Mar 2012 "Gilles Kepel, political scientist and specialist in Islam, said the group operated more on the internet - preaching extreme views and intimidating but never actually turning to violence.

""It's a big show, but obviously spreading ideas that can cause problems," he said."

Cyber Jihadi-Takfiri Video

occident.blogspot.co.uk, Cyber Jihadi-Takfiri Video Dedicated to Muhammad Merah, 25 Mar 2012 [posted retrospectively] "A video montage produced by the fringe cyber transnational jihadi-takfiri community, specifically the al-Fida' al-Islamiyya Internet forum dedicated to French gunman Muhammad Merah. A similar montage appeared less than a day after Major Nidal Malik Hasan's shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009. This video montage makes use of jihadi-takfiri anasheed (rhythmic recitations) and video clips of Usama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the latter clip from Al-Qa'ida Central's video production about the July 2005 suicide bombings in London."

Cops fear footage of terror in Toulouse will surface

The Australian, Cops fear footage of terror in Toulouse will surface, 23 Mar 2012, "Police and intelligence officials in Paris fear the footage might surface on the internet despite their success in tracking down the Islamic extremist who was killed during a blazing gun battle at his apartment in Toulouse, southern France."

France: Sarkozy vows crackdown on Islamic indoctrination

ABC, The World Today, Sarkozy vows crackdown on Islamic indoctrination, 23 Mar 2012 cites Sarkozy (translated): "All those people who decide to visit internet sites that apologise or defend this kind of violence or terrorism, all those who go away to work and being indoctrinated in countries with this kind of ideology will also be punished."

Toulouse situation update

Expatica.com, Man claiming to be French shooter vows to post videos online

‎"French police said Wednesday they were probing a call made to a news channel by a man claiming to be the killer of seven people, who said footage of the attacks would soon be on the Internet."

Daily Mail: Police surround flat of 'Islamic warrior' suspected of being serial killer

"A self-confessed Al Qaeda terrorist thought to have murdered seven people across south west France over the past two weeks was going to post footage of his crimes online today, he claimed."

'Muslim Batman of Paris'

Andy Khouri, comicsalliance.com, Racists Totally Freak Out Over Muslim 'Batman of Paris', 28 Dec 2010 reflects ongong online opinions and discussion relating to the new 'Muslim Batman of Paris':

"Introduced in this month's Detective Comics Annual #12 and Batman Annual #28, Nightrunner is a 22-year-old Algerian Muslim who's lived in Paris his entire life (it seems reasonable to assume he was born in France, but at the very least he was raised there). Born Billai Asseiah, the character is uncommonly adept at the highly YouTubeable gymnastic form known as parkour. That and Asseiah's sense of justice make him an ideal recruit for Bruce Wayne's new Batman, Inc. initiative, whereby he franchises Batmen to cities all over the world."

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Reuters, Qaeda's Zawahri condemns France, Yemen clerics: Web, 27 Jul 2010 "Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader condemned a French move to ban Islamic face veils and urged Yemeni clerics to call for jihad against an alleged U.S. intervention in Yemen, in an Internet message posted on Tuesday."

France arrests

AHN, Five Extremists Arrested In France For Internet Jihad Posts, 27 Apr 2010

AQIM CERN

BBC News, 'Al-Qaeda-link' Cern worker held, 9 Oct 09

"The 32-year-old man of Algerian descent was one of two brothers detained in the south-east town of Vienne on Thursday.

"Police believe they had been in contact over the internet with people linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and had been planning attacks in France."

YouTube video 'Muslim Demographics'

BBC News, Debunking a YouTube hit, 7 Aug 09 "A big YouTube hit makes startling predictions about the Islamification of Europe over the next few decades and has been viewed more than 10 million times. But can you believe what it says?

"This seven-and-a-half minute video "Muslim Demographics" uses slick graphics, punctuated with dramatic music, to make some surprising claims, asserting that much of Europe will be majority Muslim in just a few decades. It says that in the past two decades, 90% of all population growth in Europe has been Muslim immigration."

aQ Belgium

CNN, Al Qaeda priority: Western targets, 31 Jul 09 "This story is based on interrogation reports that form part of the prosecution case in the forthcoming trial of six Belgian citizens charged with participation in a terrorist group. Versions of those documents were obtained by CNN from the defense attorney of one of those suspects. The statement by Bryant Vinas was compiled from an interview he gave Belgian prosecutors in March in New York and was confirmed by U.S. prosecutors as authentic. The statement by Walid Othmani was given to French investigators and was authenticated by Belgian prosecutors." CNN have been following this for some time.

Sarkozy 'fatwa'

Saudi Gazette, Mufti Sarkozy’s ‘fatwa’ not amusing, 25 Jun 09, "Within minutes of his speech, internet forums, social networking sites and blogs – the 21st century’s version of the village grapevine – erupted with hoots of laughter and derision at his feeble attempt to deflect his nation’s attention from more pressing matters to the quintessentially French preoccupation with women’s clothes."

Islamic Google Initiative

Islamic Google Initiative



Islamic Google

There have been 'Islamic' search engines before, but this seems quite innovative - haven't checked under the hood yet, though. Their blurb states: "Islamic search engine powered by Google striving to provide an easy to use resource to anyone wanting to learn more about Islam and provide a good way for muslims to surf the web safely.

"IslamicGoogle is powered by Google using "safe search" technology, it produces results from all over the internet with more weighting to given to famous islamics websites and eliminates the vast majority of unsavoury content, such as pornography, it apply strict filtering for both explicit text and explicit images.

"The site is not associated or affiliated with Google.com, we work closely with Google to help ensure that the results are not objectionable in nature, however, some of the results and adverts that are displayed may not be in line with Islam and we do not endorse any of the results or adverts displayed on Islamic Google."

It's not clear at present who is making these decisions (the domain is registered in France). A quick search on key terms relating to my own research area, specifically those relating to jihad, suggests that there is some further work to do in the filtering area. It's a difficult task ...

Research

LA Times, An inside look at Islamic militants, 25 Nov 08 Interview with Farhad Khosrokhavar (whose research is well worth consulting): "The Iranian French professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes de Sciences Sociales here has explored the underworld of Islamic extremism through rare access to impeccable sources: the militants themselves. He has conducted in-depth interviews in French prisons with 15 inmates convicted of terrorism-related offenses such as the assassination by Al Qaeda agents of an anti-Taliban leader in Afghanistan and a plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Paris."

Krosrokhavar has a new book out, which I look forward to reading: Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide, (The Yale Cultural Sociology Series, Paradigm Publishing)