A doctor? But…but…poverty causes terrorism! And a “jihad for Islam” in the Islamic State? But…but…the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam!
“Perth doctor joins ISIS medical team in ‘jihad for Islam’ against the west,” News.com.au, April 25, 2015:
A PERTH doctor has appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video urging medicos to join his jihad.
Dr Tareq Kamleh is filmed cradling a newborn baby in a hospital in the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, saying: “Please consider coming, please don’t delay.’’
The blue-eyed paediatrician says he is offering his medical services as part of his “jihad for Islam”.
The Sunday Times can reveal Dr Kamleh made multiple visits to an army surplus store in Perth late last year to buy gear for his trip.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website shows he was registered as a medical practitioner in Subiaco in 2010.
A former friend said Dr Kamleh, now going by the name Abu Yusuf, left Perth for Adelaide to begin his medical degree about 10 years ago.
After graduating from Adelaide University, he began his pediatrics career at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
The friend, who knew Dr Kamleh when he was a paediatric registrar in 2011, said he showed no signs of radicalisation.
“I am just shocked and sort of saddened for him because it’s the end of his life in Australia, I imagine,” the friend said.
The video introduces the “ISHS” – or IS Health Service – and features a number of doctors talking about medical facilities.
Dr Kamleh is filmed telling converts that his only regret is not joining the terrorist state sooner.
A worker at the Perth surplus store said a man instantly recognisable as the doctor in the video made multiple visits last December.
The worker said the man spent $400 on a backpack, jacket, socks and several pairs of pants popular with security contractors in the Middle East.
“He didn’t speak about Islam or anything to do with religion during the entire conversation,” he said.
“Take away the beard and I just thought he was a young doctor going overseas to do his part.”…