MEMRI, April 28, 2015:
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On April 28, 2015, Islamic State (ISIS) supporters and fighters took over the trending Twitter hashtags “#BaltimoreRiots” and “#BaltimorePurge,” in order to champion the merits of the Islamic State, criticize democracy, and shed light on the race-related riots currently making headlines in the U.S. It should be noted that ISIS frequently takes advantage of such calamitous events, including those involving race, in the West, in order to promote their beliefs.[1]
The following is a review of some of the tweets from these accounts.
British Islamist Anjem Choudary tweeted: “#BaltimoreRiots even where they absurdly celebrate a black skinned leader racism still rears its ugly head. Time for change, time for Islam!”[2]
A Jordanian ISIS fighter hijacked the trending Baltimore hashtags to show off his weapons, with a photo of rifles, bullets, grenades and an ISIS flag accompanied by the hashtags “#BlackLivesMatter, #BaltimoreRiots, and #Islamic State.” In Arabic he wrote: “Strife is dormant. May Allah bless whoever awakens it. #America_Burning.”[3]
Female ISIS supporter Muslimah1 shared a meme by the Birmingham, UK-based radical Islamist organization Invite to Islam[4] showing a black ISIS fighter sitting between two white comrades. The text reads, “Our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said in his final sermon: ‘No Arab is greater than a non-Arab, and no non-Arab is greater than a Arab, except in whoever fears Allah most.”[5]
The American-Palestinian “Umm Jihad,” who is an outspoken female ISIS supporter and who currently resides in the West Bank,[6] tweeted a photo of three ISIS fighters of different races posing together with the caption, “Currently in love with this picture. Skin color means nothing in Islam or in Dawlah [ISIS].”
She also tweeted, “Americans are worried about Dawlah who are all the way overseas when they should be worried about their police forces.”
ISIS supporter Abu Al-Mundhir Al-Salafi tweeted a photo of German rapper-turned-ISIS fighter Denis Cuspert sparring playfully with a white fighter, with the comment: “Brotherhood in the Islamic State between blacks and whites #ISIS #BaltimoreRiots #FreddieGray #BaltimorePurge.”
ISIS supporter Rami Allah tweeted photos of orderly scenes from the Islamic State and contrasted them with images of chaos from the riots in Baltimore. His caption read: “Make no mistake: this looting & sabotaging is happening in #Baltimore #BaltimoreRiots #USA not in #Tikrit #Iraq #ISIS.”[7]
Twitter user Abu Tawbah called for attacks on policemen, writing: “Fighting the corrupt police is a good thing. They are guard dogs of tyrants. Hope the protesters kill as many as possible. #Baltimore Riots.”
He further suggested, “They should behead any cops caught & bomb the rest till they retreat. Simple insurgency tacits would defeat the pigs. #Baltimore Riots.”[8]
Female supporter “Umm Qisas Asomaliyah” tweeted, “Shariah implementation of the laws of God is the only answers to this oppression. #BaltimoreRiots.”[9]
User Abu ‘Abdallah tweeted a photo of Australian ISIS suicide bomber Jake Bilardi sitting between two ISIS fighters of different ethnicities, and wrote: “#BaltimoreRiots Different languages different colors different nationality But one god #BaltimorePurge.”
Twitter user Al-Jabali Uthman 15 tweeted: “The evolution of the black man in #America Nothing much changed, from slavery to … #BaltimoreRiots.” Included in the tweet are images of black slaves, blacks fighting with cops during the Civil Rights Era, and current clashes with police.
Twitter user Pray4Sham[Syria] shared a photo of two fighters of differing races, writing, ” This is two best friends from different race, Abu Sa’eed Al Britani & Shaheed Abu Abdulluh Uzbeki. #Noracism.”[10]
User Colonel Shaami advised: “Once a IS video release comes out everyone should use #BaltimoreRiots hash tag Baqiyah needs to take over that hash tag noooow.”[11]
Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, an American fighting with the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab in Somalia,[12] tweeted a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. participating in a civil rights march and commented: “Don’t buy into the Martin story. This man never gave u freedom. Just mental slavery. #BaltimoreRiots #YouNeedShariah.”[13]
Another user, Omar, tweeted a meme of Malcolm X with a quote by him: “America needs to understand Islam, this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. True brotherhood.”[14]
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