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Muslim MP: 2,000 Muslims from UK fighting for Islamic State

Nov 23, 2014 7:19 pm By Robert Spencer

Khalid-MahmoodThe concept of the caliphate is what gives the Islamic State its appeal among young Muslims in the West, but Western authorities cannot acknowledge that, for it would suggest that the Islamic State has something to do with Islam. And so they lurch about in the darkness looking for alternate explanations.

“Muslim MP: 2,000 Britons fighting for Islamic State,” by Robert Mendick, Robert Verkaik and Tim Ross, the Telegraph, November 23, 2014:

As many as 2,000 Britons are fighting alongside Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq, a senior Muslim MP has claimed.

Officials had suggested that the number of British jihadists within the ranks of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and other terrorist groups was about 500.

However, Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, a constituency with a significant number of Muslims, has suggested this was a fourfold underestimate of the number of British jihadists fighting in the region.

“The authorities say there are 500 British jihadists but the likely figure is at least three to four times that,” he said. “I think 2,000 is a better estimate. My experience in Birmingham is it is a huge, huge problem.”

There are growing fears that the authorities remain unable to detect extremists leaving UK ports on their way to terrorist training camps.

Evidence from one posting on a social networking site last week suggested that as many as 20 British jihadists have been joining Isil forces every day. And on Saturday it emerged that two more Britons – Abu Abdullah al Habashi, 21, and Abu Dharda, 20, both from London – had died fighting in Syria.

It was reported that Dharda, who grew up in west London, had been questioned by counter-terrorism police at a British airport and allowed to travel because they were “satisfied with the explanation he gave” for the trip.

The pair are thought to have died in the border town of Kobane, which Kurdish fighters have been defending against Isil with the help of US air strikes.

Al Habashi is believed to have made comments supporting Isil on social media, and appeared in at least two propaganda videos put out by the extremist group.

He grew up in north London in a British-Eritrean family, and converted to Islam when he was 16, according to reports. Dharda, who comes from a British-Somali background, is understood to have travelled to Syria in December 2013, entering via Turkey.

The Government has refused to say how many Britons had been arrested at UK borders in connection with terrorism in Syria, adding to concern the figure is very small and that the borders are worryingly porous.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, in an attempt to get to grips with the terrorist threat, will outline measures in a Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill requiring internet companies to keep data allowing police to identify terrorists who plot attacks online.

But Mr Mahmood said the Home Office had so far failed to do enough to crack down on British jihadists coming and going through UK ports.

Mr Mahmood, England’s first Muslim MP and a former member of the Commons home affairs committee, said: “The Government does not have significant people at border control. The fact is these jihadists are coming in and going out without almost ever being arrested. We have had hardly any arrests. We have had people coming back in after six months in Syria and they are not being picked up.”

The official figure of 500 jihadists was released by the authorities six months ago and has not been revised. Isil has since stepped up its recruitment drive by issuing gruesome videos of the murder of Western hostages.

Evidence gathered by The Telegraph suggests at least four Muslims, who had their passports confiscated either by the authorities or concerned parents, had still managed to leave Britain in recent months. It is estimated that at least 250 British fighters have returned from Syria and Iraq – about 30 of whom have been arrested – raising the prospect of a growing number of hardened jihadists on the streets.

Security services believe about 35 Britons, mainly fighting for Isil, have been killed in Syria and Iraq, but evidence of more arriving came in a message posted online last week.

A British jihadist posted on Twitter on November 11 that he had been joined by 20 Britons, after others had been killed in air strikes. The jihadist, writing under the assumed name Qa’qa al-Biritani, tweeted: “Was sat with around 20 British brothers. Allah has brought more to replace those who were martyred.”

The Muslim Council of Britain, which represents the UK’s 2.8 million Muslims, accused the Government of not doing enough to stop would-be jihadists from leaving the country. Harun Khan, the group’s deputy secretary general, said: “There are serious questions for the Home Office and the security services to answer. I don’t understand why border authorities are not making arrests.”

The Home Office has refused to disclose how many jihadists have been picked up at Britain’s borders.

In the nine months between January and September this year, 104 arrests were made for Syria-related terrorist offences but this gives no indication how many were picked up at ports.

James Brokenshire, the immigration and security minister, said: “The intelligence agencies and police are working to identify and disrupt potential threats. This includes interviewing individuals at the UK border suspected of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, and cancelling or withdrawing the passports of some UK nationals of concern seeking to travel to Syria or Iraq.”

On Saturday, police said a 19-year-old man from Coventry had been arrested at Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism. He was detained by officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit on Thursday afternoon as he got off a plane from Jordan.

In February, three teenagers, including Mohamed Hadi, nicknamed “Bin Bieber” because of his youthful looks, left Coventry to fight for Isil. Police refused to confirm the identity of the arrested man….

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Filed Under: Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), United Kingdom Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. cs says

    Nov 23, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    This is Britain, and that is why I want to leave ASAP. BBC complains about Farage, but silences towards this jihad trend, it is shameful. It is suicidal.

    • Shane says

      Nov 24, 2014 at 10:13 am

      Yes, and the larger point is that non-Muslim countries that allow large numbers of Muslim immigrants are committing a slow form of suicide.

      • Charli Main says

        Nov 24, 2014 at 1:18 pm

        Muslim immigration AKA suicide by Islam.

        • John says

          Nov 25, 2014 at 9:45 am

          To True, The ONS suppressed statistics to show that Muslims will outnumber the local population by the 2060’s.

      • Mary says

        Nov 25, 2014 at 2:49 am

        im muslim i dont even know whats this. what ISIS means and stuff. u cant differentiate religion .There is no where its written that if they christian,Buddhist let them in country but is they muslim dont let them. its so stupid

    • ECAW says

      Nov 24, 2014 at 10:32 am

      No thoughts of saving your country then, only yourself. With patriotism like that our future is assured, or at least certain.

      • cs says

        Nov 25, 2014 at 7:12 am

        I am not British, I tell these things to British people, I try to make them aware of the problems we are facing, as a South American Jew person I am constantly under a very alienated atmosphere here, for me is better now to retreat and regroup. Make people aware of the problem in a safe environment, if I tell the truth here, I may be even arrested or killed, believe me.

  2. Sams says

    Nov 23, 2014 at 7:40 pm

    If a nation does not want to protect its culture and identity and invite its enemies home to rape and kill his people so be it, Goodbye England!!!!

  3. dumbledoresarmy says

    Nov 23, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    Sez the Mohammedan Mobster Fifth Columnist, the Muslim MP: “The authorities say there are 500 British jihadists but the likely figure is at least three to four times that,” he said. “I think 2,000 is a better estimate. My experience in Birmingham is it is a huge, huge problem.”

    Yeah, a problem…**only if they get back in**.

    If they were ALL de-citizened and de-passported as soon as it was known for sure – or with a reasonable degree of probability – that they had a/ gone and b/ were in Syria (or Yemen, or Iraq, or North Africa, or Somalia, or Afghanistan) wallowing in Jihad, then…what would be the problem?

    2000 dangerous Muslims would be OUT of Britain and NOT coming back.

    What’s not to like about that?

    Here’s the vox populi among British Infidels, as reported by the redoubtable Esmerelda Weatherwax of New English Review, commenting upon this very same news story, here:

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/57651

    Sunday, 23 November 2014
    Muslim MP: 2,000 Britons fighting for Islamic State

    Article:

    “The Muslim Council of Britain, which represents the UK’s 2.8 million Muslims, accused the Government of not doing enough to stop would-be jihadists from leaving the country. The Home Office has refused to disclose how many jihadists have been picked up at Britain’s borders.”

    Now, Esmerelda:

    “I heard the news about the two jihadists killed, while in a small art gallery in rural Suffolk.

    “The lady proprietor was reading the news on her laptop and called to her husband ‘Good news – another two of them jihadists dead!’

    “The general opinion amongst people I speak to while out and about (hardly a scientific sample I admit) is that as many as wish should be allowed to go, but none allowed re-entry.” END

    One hopes that *all* Islamosavvy UK non-Muslim citizens are hammering this theme home to their elected reps, day in and day out, over and over and over. And emphasising, moreover, just how much money will be saved if thousands of potential bombers-or-beheaders do *not* have to be expensively monitored 24 hours a day seven days a week lest they suddenly Go Jihad and start slaughtering people on the streets or in the shops and worship places of Britian.

    • ManchesterLad says

      Nov 24, 2014 at 7:12 am

      I think it is about time we had a tax on Muslims to pay for the extra security required to monitor them for potential jihadist attacks and other security threats. A sort of reverse jizya.

      Perhaps this could be collected at mosques where they would have to show their passports and pay for entry – definitely NOT policed by the mosques themselves, of course.

      It is clear that the security and policing issues are far more expensive for Muslims than for normal members of society. It is not just the MI5 trailing terror plots that is a massive drain, it is the rape-grooming gangs that now hopefully can start to be policed, the cost of investigating forced marriages, FGM, ‘honour’ killings, extra security at airports and almost every venue you visit and so on.

      Why should everyone else have to pay for such a disruptive and negative influence?

  4. eib says

    Nov 23, 2014 at 8:22 pm

    Britain owes beheaders and jihadists nothing. For such as fight with ISIS, citizenship in the West must be a dead letter.

  5. Salah says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 12:31 am

    “It is estimated that at least 250 British fighters have returned from Syria and Iraq…raising the prospect of a growing number of hardened jihadists on the streets.”

    Britons, you must carry arms: legal hunting rifles, illegal guns, knives, whatever you can get is always better than nothing. You also need to get organized and always walk in groups of three or four at least.
    Your government is unable and/or unwilling to protect you. Get organized and protect yourselves and your loved ones.
    Yes, it has come to that.

    • ECAW says

      Nov 24, 2014 at 3:40 am

      This is bloody nonsense. The chances of both being attacked by jihadis and being in a position to do something about it (think cars as weapons, bullets, bombs) are vastly outweighed by the likelihood of ending up in the slammer for carrying illegal weapons. Not only that but it would only lend support to those who cry “Islamophobia” and those inclined to take it seriously.

      It may well come to violent conflict, even civil war, but at the moment we are in a game of own goals. Acts of violence create sympathy for the victim and the victim’s side. It has taken the 7/7 bombings, Woolwich and the horrors of IS to even partially stir the British people from their slumbers. In fact we need more martyrs to completely give the lie to our leaders’ “nothing to do with Islam” line. I am not willing to step forward myself, you understand, but several atrocities involving ordinary people or one involving a celebrity or one mass killing should do the trick.

      • Darren says

        Nov 24, 2014 at 1:55 pm

        Honestly I think it would take a Nuclear attack like in the show Jericho to awaken the slumbering west. What’s worse even after such an attack I could see Western governments cracking down on the people trying to defend themselves.

  6. citycat says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 12:40 am

    The Muslim Council’s propaganda chat is stealth jihad, and there’s plenty more would-be-jihadists here. The problem is already here, creeping and breeding. The government won’t, the people must, world wide.

  7. harrylime says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 2:02 am

    Yes,and lets give them social work when they come back home. These are not youths. They are adults who choose to go with the enemy. This is treasonous and they should go to the gallows. The UK is going to pot with its political correctness.

  8. Tommo says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 4:45 am

    Please do not refer to these thugs as ‘BRITONS’. They may hold British passports and live in the UK but they are not and never will be Britons. Only residents whose heritage is British can call themselves Britons which excludes the vast majority of immigrants.

  9. alyn21 says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 6:45 am

    The Islamic state group is following the example set by Mohammed 1400 years ago. The politicians who deny this are idiots. Britain and American are in big trouble. So is the rest of Europe.

  10. Kurt Pötschke says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 7:33 am

    Be glad, merry old England, when they leave your country for I hope be killed in their murderer war. I remember the glory times, when Britain was consequent with their enemies. When will they come back?

  11. thomas pellow says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 7:59 am

    U.K today-

    “Thousands of police deployed in major anti-terror campaign”

    http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/schools-and-firms-told-to-join-met-in-fight-on-terror-9879148.html

    • ECAW says

      Nov 24, 2014 at 8:24 am

      All this is from Theresa May’s speech on counter terrorism this morning. She is always careful to balance any warning about Muslim jihadis (she calls them Islamist extrmists) with one about the far-right. The reference to Lee Rigby’s murder was balanced by one to the murder of a Muslim man by a Ukrainian neo-nazi.

      Separately, parents in Portsmouth have complained that in talks at local schools Police have told children that the EDL are as bad as ISIS. Whatever you think of the EDL you’ll have to agree that they haven’t been beheading many of their opponents lately.

      All this leads me to believe that if and when the government get their Extrmism Disruption Orders through Parliament they will be used equally against jihadis and people like us just as she used her banning powers against RS and PG as well as (or even rather than) jihad preachers.

  12. lester says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 9:03 am

    It just goes to show what turning your back on the One True God will get you. Britain lost most land possessions throughout the world for cursing the Jew and dividing their land and the [apple of Gods eye] isn’t being cared for even today by Blair / Britain and Arab lovers! God created the Universe and He still has complete control over it, and He holds the title deed to the land of Israel and the Jews are not intruders as the world wants to think. You want to argue with God??
    Britain created this problem–let them solve it while they still can’

  13. rex says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 9:29 am

    So the ‘British’ muslim contingent fighting in ISIS is four or five times the size of the number of muslims serving legitimately in the UK armed forces. What does that tell us about whether islam is a good fit with the UK?

    May and Cameron are just whores of the islamists. After it became public knowledge that Qatar was financing jihad using money from it’s businesses such as Harrods in the UK, some MPs were calling for boycotts. A couple of weeks later and our man Cameron was on his knees to the Qataris begging for investment. Same story with the Saudis. There is nothing that he won’t do to ingratiate himself with these people.

    Any new internet-monitoring powers which the government grabs will be disproportionately be used against right wingers.

  14. zulu says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 9:54 am

    ‘ISIS have sleeper cells in the UK and will unleash war on Europe’: Jihadi hunter who rescued his own son from fighting with extremists in Syria issues chilling warning
    Dimitri Bontinck says ISIS chiefs have European countries ‘in their sights’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2847049/ISIS-sleeper-cells-UK-unleash-war-Europe-Jihadi-hunter-rescued-son-fighting-extremists-Syria-issues-chilling-warning.html#ixzz3Jzw9ld4w

  15. thomas pellow says

    Nov 24, 2014 at 10:30 am

    “Security services have foiled FORTY terror plots since 2005, including Mumbai-style attacks, plane bombings and assassinations”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2847399/Security-services-foiled-FORTY-terror-plots-2005-including-marauding-gun-attacks-plane-bombings-assassinations.html#ixzz3K03pydS1

    And what is the key aspect of Ms May’s policy on unspecified, and to her, the unfathomable terror threat?: ‘persuade people of British values’! She hasn’t a clue.

  16. Johnd says

    Nov 25, 2014 at 1:02 am

    How shocking it would be for the media to tell the truth for once about Islam. What would happen if the news reported that ‘Koran states that greatest thing muslim can do is fight and die in jihad for Allah’? The thought police would close it down. And why is it so damn politically incorrect now to ‘hate’ Islam? I also happen to ‘hate’ what Nazism and Hitler stood for but rather see it as my moral, and decent duty, an intense emotional dissaproval of any totalitarian death cult. I think this must be just more thought police stuff. ie. DONT feel strongly about important issues.

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