The global jihad is so 2005, right? 9/11 was more than two decades ago, our national misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan are, for better or worse, over, and despite twenty years of denial and obfuscation about the motivating ideology behind jihad terror, there has not been another catastrophic attack on American soil. As a result, many, if not most, Americans assume that jihad terror is a Bush-era problem, as dated as MySpace. Abetting this impression is the repeated insistence of Old Joe Biden and several of his handlers that the real terror threat the nation faces today emanates from “white supremacists.” The only ones who haven’t gotten the memo that they’re yesterday’s news are the Islamic jihadis themselves, and plots continue to be uncovered within the United States on a regular basis.
On Monday, I wrote about the case of Bader Alzahrani, the Pennsylvania-based Saudi national who has been charged with stealing a school bus and transporting it across state lines, and who wrote: “Why didn’t you slaughter the police officer who threw the Quran?” And chillingly: “God I am ready for your orders. I want to live the rest of my life to serve you and the religion….Blood, blood, destruction, destruction. Allah.” He also wrote about “jihad” and about his determination not to return to his homeland, indicating that the bloody, destructive jihad he apparently had in mind was going to be in the United States. And Alzahrani, unfortunately, is by no means singular.
UPI reported Wednesday that an Ohio resident, Naser Almadaoji, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for attempting to join the Islamic State (ISIS). Almadaoji, who hails from Iraq and is now an American citizen, “also will be subject to 15 years of supervised release following the prison sentence,” according to the Justice Department. The 23-year-old jihadi “pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations,” and “admitted to investigators that he planned to smuggle himself into Afghanistan and join the Islamic State to receive military training, including how to make a car bomb, kidnap priority targets and break into homes.” Almadaoji also told “a man he believed to be an ISIS member” (that is, a fed) “that he was interested in assisting with ‘projects’ in the United States.”
The plan was that, armed with this knowledge, Almadaoji would return to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave and do all that he could to stoke “an armed conflict between the federal government and anti-government militias.” The goal of doing that would be to bring about the downfall of the federal government so that the Islamic State could establish a caliphate in all or part of the United States. Fanciful, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean that people wouldn’t have gotten killed in the attempt.
Then there was Victoria Jacobs, also known as Bakhrom Talipov. ABC News reported Wednesday that Jacobs, who lives in New York City, “has been charged with using cryptocurrency to provide financial support to terrorist groups in Syria.” The terrorist groups Jacobs helped support were Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, “a U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization,” and Malhama Tactical, a “terrorist training group” that fought alongside Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and gave it “special tactical and military training.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg noted that “this case marks the first time that terrorism financing is being prosecuted in New York State Court and is one of the rare cases worldwide where cryptocurrency is alleged to have financed terrorism.” Jacobs is charged with laundering $10,661 for Malhama Tactical through cryptocurrency, as well as wires sent via Western Union and MoneyGram from supporters and enablers of jihad violence from all over the world. She sent the money to Malhama Tactical’s Bitcoin wallets and threw in some Google Play gift cards as well.
On Jacobs’ cell phone were notes from jihadis such as this: “Assalamu aleykum my dear brothers and sisters, we currently are buildings new place (train camp), it’s getting cold and we need new place, who want help us and support can do this safely and anonymously by Bitcoin wallet. Send me DM for details. Retweet.” In response to such plaintive appeals, Jacobs not only offered money, but a “comprehensive U.S. Army Improvised Munitions Handbook” so as “facilitate their bomb-making efforts in Syria.” No shrinking violet, she “bought military-style combat knives, metal knuckles and throwing stars.” When she was arrested in August 2021 in her apartment on the Upper East Side, all this was found on the premises.
Naser Almadaoji and Victoria Jacobs, as well as Bader Alzahrani, are just the latest among many indications of the fact that even if Americans have forgotten about the global jihad, the jihad has not forgotten about us. And with Biden’s corrupt intelligence agencies devoting their time and resources to finding “white supremacists,” the jihadis have a freer hand to operate in the U.S. than they have had in years.
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