An Islamic State supporter in Australia had grisly plans.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the plan involved kidnapping randomly selected members of the public off the streets in Sydney and Brisbane, beheading them on camera, and releasing the recordings through Islamic State’s propaganda arm in the Middle East.
Later Thursday, Attorney General George Brandis confirmed that a person born in Afghanistan who had spent time in Australia and is now working with the Islamic State group in the Middle East ordered supporters in Australia to behead people and videotape the killings.
“If the … police had not acted today, there is a likelihood that this would have happened,” Brandis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The plan was disrupted.
But, why Australia? They’re not leading the coalition of the unwilling to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
One possible reason that Australia was chosen — handguns are banned there. ISIS operatives there would know that they would be extremely unlikely to face an armed opponent, instead of a hapless victim.
The raid has smoked out another potential problem for Australia.
Uthman Badar, a spokesman for the Islamist group Hizt ut-Tahrir, warned of a growing unrest within Australia’s Muslim community.
“We are tired of being made scapegoats. The government is the terrorist,” he said in front of supporters wearing anti-government placards, according to News.com.au.
“We would be fools to think we can now wake up and feel safer,” he added. “We are not fools to be deceived. There is anger in the community. We have been victimized for years and years.”
Here’s Uthman Badar’s Twitter feed. He apparently engineered the “snap protest” that has run interference for ISIS.
Scores gather in Lakemba accusing NSW Police of vilifying Muslims in predawn raids @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/2Fkb6ZABdM
— Manny Tsigas (@mantsig) September 18, 2014
Crowd at Lakemba chanting "Women children should be safe.
From the terror of the state" @7NewsSydney pic.twitter.com/kEAvvX3YKI
— Matthew Snelson (@matthewsnelson7) September 18, 2014
Badar justifies “honor killings,” despite the chant above about keeping women safe.
His group is already banned in many countries for its radicalism. It’s time for Australia to follow suit.
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