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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Jihadism In Holland Is Spinning Out Of Control: Salafism On The Rise

Jihadism In Holland Is Spinning Out Of Control: Salafism On The Rise

February 9, 2015


By EMERSON VERMAAT


On February 4, 2015, "the provincial division of the Islamic State (IS) for al-Fallujah," Iraq, claimed a suicide bombing by a Dutch fighter identified as Abu Abdul Rahman al-Hollandi. The latest Dutch suicide bomber is believed to be Lofti S. (Abu Hanief) from Amsterdam. A martyrdom's video is being prepared showing a smiling Lofti S. who enters a truck and drives towards the location where the suicide bombing attack takes place. He played an important role in IS propaganda.

Lofti S. was one of the speakers at an IS-demonstration in The Hague in July 2014. There, IS-followers shouted slogans such as "Kill all the dirty Jews!" Another speaker at that demonstration was Azzedine Choukoud (Abu Moussa). Black IS-flags were on display as well.

Another dangerous jihadist from Amsterdam is Omar H. When he was arrested in March 2012 police discovered that he was trying to make a bomb. A Dutch court sentenced him to just one year at the end of 2013. The appeals court sentenced him to one and a half years on January 27, 2015 – also a very mild sentence. But Omar H. did not show up for court. He had left for Iraq instead – although his passport had been confiscated. Reliable sources told the Dutch newspaper "Algemeen Dagblad" early February that 23-year-old Omar H. is now in Fallujah where he joined the Islamic State. There, he probably met his fellow jihadist Lofti S. who would blow himself up in Fallujah on February 4.

There was a political row over the fact that Omar H. managed to travel to Syria or Iraq. Ivo Opstelten, the Dutch Minister of Security and Justice, told parliament that he could not confirm what "Algemeen Dagblad" had reported about Omar H.'s possible whereabouts. "I can't confirm or deny that," he lamely said. "I would prefer if it would be otherwise." The Dutch Security and Intelligence Service (AIVD) somehow lost track of Omar H. – largely due to lack of manpower. "The situation changed completely at the beginning of 2013," AIVD-chief Rob Bertholee said in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy last December. "Within a few months, more than a hundred jihadists left for Syria. The wave surprised everyone. Present estimates put potential Dutch participants in the Syrian conflict at a few hundred, with several thousand more sympathizers." "Interestingly, a rising number of women and girls, even as young as thirteen, wish to travel to Syria."

Ronald Sandee, a former Dutch military intelligence expert and now a global jihad analyst for Kronos Advisory, told "Algemeen Dagblad" that one and a half years prison sentences do not have any effect. "People such as Omar H. have their own support system. If you have the right friends, they will always be able to get you out of the country." Confiscating passports is not enough. A Dutch Identity Card allows you to enter Turkey – as many jihadists, also girls or so-called "jihad brides" do. What will happen if the well trained Omar H. returns to the Netherlands and stages a terror attack there? This is what happened in Belgium and France.

Omar H. and Sabir Khan were reportedly close friends. H. stayed at Khan's house in The Hague. Khan is a Dutch-Pakistani jihadist who fought against the American army in Afghanistan. The Americans believe that Khan cooperated with al-Qaeda and prepared a terror attack in Afghanistan. Liberal Dutch courts, however, lamely ruled that Khan cannot be extradited to the United States.


"The sight of evil kindles evil in the soul"

Gouda is a very nice city in the Netherlands and famous for its cheese and rich cultural traditions. But the city is also a magnet for radical Muslims and Moroccan criminals. By early November 2014, five young Muslim women and one young man had already left Gouda to join the jihadists in Syria. These masochistic "jihad brides" are very silly indeed. Like the Nazis and the Fascists between 1933 and 1945, they are attracted to what is harmful and evil in life (see Erich Fromm's excellent book "Escape from Freedom," first published in 1942). It was Carl Gustav Jung who wrote in 1945: "The sight of evil kindles evil in the soul – there is no getting away from this fact." I am not a follower of Fromm and Jung, but some of their observations are highly topical today.

The socialist Gouda city government recently approved plans to build a huge mosque, the "El Wahdah." The mosque's chief fundaiser is the radical Salafist cleric Tariq Chadlioui, also known as Tariq ibn Ali. This anti-Semitic hate cleric is a Moroccan from Belgium who on previous occasions raised money for Salafist mosques in Spain, Norway and Germany. He is also suspected of financing young jihadists who want to travel to Syria or Iraq. He cooperated with Sharia4Belgium, a terrorist organization, as well as with Sharia4Holland and the outlawed German terror group Dawa FFM.

Rob Bertholee told the Washingston Institute for Near East Policy in December 2014 that "the Dutch Salafist movement has recently become another jihadist breeding ground." "Many foreign preachers are now speaking outside the mosques and calling for violent jihad. These foreign imams attract many people, pushing domestic imams to take a more hardline stance to maintain their constituences. Still, the foreign message is much more radical, and has proven very attractive to susceptible young Muslims."

The same applies to other European countries. Anti-Semitic Salafists in Britain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and France play an important role in jihadist recruiting networks and no not hesitate to use physical violence as they attack their opponents and the Jews.


Emerson Vermaat is an investigative journalist in the Netherlands. Website:www.emersonvermaat.com.




Sources:


SITE, February 4, 2015, IS Claims Suicide Bombing by Dutch Fighter in al-Fallujah, https://news.siteintelgroup.com/Jihadist-News/is-claims-suicide-bombing-by-dutch-fighter-in-al-fallujah.html.

Algemeen Dagblad (Rotterdam), February 3, 2015, p. 1, 3, Jihadist ontsnapt aan celstraf en zit bij IS. Also quote from Ronald Sandee.

Algemeen Dagblad, February 4, 2015, p. 3, Let opa Ivo wel goed op onze veiligheid?

Rob Bertholee, Jihadism on the Rise in Europe: The Dutch Perspective, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, December 4, 2014,http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/jihadism-on-the-rise-in-europe-the-dutch-perspective.

De Volkskrant (Amsterdam), February 4, 2015, p. 6, Jihadganger verdween van de radar. "Hij (Omar H.) zou hebben gelogeerd bij terreurverdachte Sabir K., wiens uitlevering twee keer door de rechter is verhinderd. De Amerikanen verdenken de Pakistaanse Nederlander ervan een aanslag te hebben voorbereid op Amerikaanse troepen in Afghanistan." See also: Algemeen Dagblad, February 4, 2015, p. 12, Hagenaar Sabir K. niet bang meer voor uitlevering.

Omroep West-ondezoek: Jihadisten komen uit de steden, October 31, 2015,http://www.omroepwest.nl/nieuws/31-10-2014/omroep-west-onderzoek-jihadisten-komen-uit-de-steden.

Erich Fromm, Fear of Freedom (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1960; first published in 1942; known in the United States as "Escape from Freedom"), p. 230.

Carl Gustav Jung, Collected Works, Volume Ten (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970/1974), p .199.

De Telegraaf (Amsterdam), February 6, 2015, p. 1, 3, Moskee (editorial article).

Radical Imam should be banned from Gouda: politicians, NLTimes, September 18, 2014, http://www.nltimes.nl/2014/09/18/radical-imam-banned-gouda-politicians/.

De Telegraaf, September 17, 2014, Haatprediker niet welkom in Nederland,
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/23090188/__Haatprediker_niet_welkom__.html.

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