The Islamic State’s sophisticated public relations department has released another in a long line of slick videos: “Eid Greetings from the Land of Khilafah.” Once again it is calling upon Muslims to move to the caliphate and wage jihad. If their caliphate proves viable over the next few years, many more Muslims will begin to heed this call.
“Islamic State Releases ‘Eid Greetings’ Video Purporting to Show Foreign Fighters,” by Liz Fields, Vice News, August 3, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
A new video released by the Islamic State in celebration of Eid al-Fitr, an important Islamic holiday, claims to show fighters recruited from America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa.
The footage, originally posted to Twitter on Saturday by al Hayat, the media arm of the Islamic State (previously known as ISIS), is titled “Eid Greetings from the Land of Khilafah.” It calls for Muslims to join the jihad and move to the self-declared “caliphate” that straddles occupied swathes of Iraq and Syria. The conflict in the region has killed some 5,600 civilians in Iraq this year.
ISIS declares Islamic caliphate in occupied parts of Iraq and Syria. Read more here.
The 20-minute video features several interviews with foreign fighters said to be from countries that include Belgium, Finland, Indonesia, Britain, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, and the United States.
The segments promote the new caliphate, encouraging Muslims and their families to come and experience life under the rule of the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“I’m feeling like I’m still dreaming,” Abu Abdurahman al-Trinidadi, a US fighter originally from Trinidad, says in the video. “You have to be here to understand what I’m saying. If you stand away you will not understand.”
ISIS has released several recruitment videos urging young Muslim men from around the world to join the group.
Last week, an eight-minute video titled “Join the Ranks” was broadcast on YouTube urging Indonesians to join the Islamic State’s jihad.
Guy Macher says
Muslims moving from civilized countries to the caliphate is good news. I endorse it 100%.
Shane says
As long as they stay there, I agree with you! If they come back to the USA, they could be coming back to wage jihad against us.
Peter Buckley says
Yup. Let’s hope they heed the call. The more muslims leave dar-ul-Harb (the House of War) for war-torn dar-al-Islam, the better.
Ian says
This is great news,I would even help them pack for free!
Ian says
This is great news,I would even help them pack for free!
John C. Barile says
Guys, their khalifa, al-Baghdadi intends to send them back some day soon, either as conquerors or as “martyrs.”
Beagle says
How long until we start hearing the “military wing” excuse for IS mass murder? Some think tank will float “moderate IS” within a couple months I will wager. It is the willfully blind playbook, and our so-called experts will run it however absurd it may be.
John C. Barile says
Oh, yes, those “moderates.” You know, all those Sunni fellow travelers of the IS like the Ba’athists, the 1920 Brigades, Ansar al-Islam, assorted tribesmen and the like.
Angemon says
Gardener says
One aspect that gets nowhere near enough attention is the role of emotion in Islamic propaganda. They use emotive music and lyrics to lure young men and women who may not have even a rudimentary grasp of most things Islam teaches. The nasheed here saying “the sharia of our Lord is light, by it we rise over the stars, by it we live without humiliation, a life of peace and security” is a good example.
In fact, I would say the emotive component is the main ingredient in the success of their propaganda. When the barbarity is carried on waves of emotion it almost goes unnoticed. They melt the hearts of their audience, and when they succeed in that, indoctrination becomes very easy. A great example of this was one emotive nasheed that had a sinister refrain about the Jews. Murder doesn’t sound quite so bad when the heartstrings are adroitly tugged.
It may be somewhat surprising on the face of it how girly the jihadists actually are in their youthful emotionality, but it isn’t that surprising when inspected closer. Repression, whether inflicted from within or imposed from the outside, heightens your emotions and thereby makes you more susceptible to emotional manipulation. All propaganda has an emotional component, but in the case of the Islamic State and the like, the appeal is even greater because of an already present Muslim identity in their target audience.
This is exactly why the fanatics find so much success in beguiling especially the young regardless of social class. How are bright medical students radicalized? Through emotion. They would never be radicalized just by feeding them dry Islamic doctrine, not to even mention doctrine about killing the non-Muslims. The key to success is to gain access to their heartstrings, and the access is gained by combining emotive music, pictures, videos, and stories.
Middle-aged men are not going to be quite as easily tricked by emotional manipulation, but young men especially are very vulnerable to being exploited this way. There is a reason why it’s mostly 16-30-year olds rushing to aid the Islamic State while throwing away more constructive and promising life paths in the West. They are naive to the world. They don’t really see through the emotional mist. They have a lot of ideals and emotions but little wisdom. As for women, no sane woman in her 30s would leave everything behind and rush to marry a jihadist in a conflict zone like the teenage sisters who left Britain to go to Iraq. There have been some Western female converts with a long history of mental illness that converted to Islam (syntactic pun intended) and who ended up marrying a jihadist and/or taking part in a suicide bombing in their mid-30s, but those are the exception. Mostly it’s the young that rush to ruin their lives and the lives of many others.
John C. Barile says
Yes. Very insightful.
Jay Boo says
Excellent
Descendantofacrusader says
These are the same barbarians that have vowed to butcher four million women and girls in Mosul, Iraq with female genital mutilation . They too are the people who truely believe their demonic “prophet” when he once proclaimed that “paradise lies under the shadow of swords” – Bukhari, Vol. 4, Book 52, No. 73. This slick video is surely one of the best examples I have seen that fully documents Satan’s being losed upon the earth. If the deaf will finely hear – let them hear……If the blind will finally see – let them see…….if those who do not speak will finally speak……..let them speak. Jeremiah 6:17
Suzu says
Target rich environment… works for me. 😉