‘Wage Jihad Against The Infidel West’: US Extremist Cleric Rallying Cry Amid Israel-Hamas War – News18

A US-based extremist cleric who is believed to have inspired the London terror attack has called on American Muslims to wage Jihad against the “infidel West”.  In a video making rounds on social media, he blamed the United States led by “senile Pharaoh” President Joe Biden for the “genocide in Palestine.”

51-year-old Ahmad Musa Jibril, a radical Islamist preacher from the US state of Michigan, is seen in videos asking Muslim Americans to turn away from a mellowed version of “American-Zionist Islam” that rejects the idea of Jihad. “Yes, there is holy war in Islam, it is Jihad,” Jibril was quoted as saying by The New York Post (NYP), in one clip posted on X.

“This may be a surprise to many who grew up in the West, especially those who were born or grew up post-9/11, because of the growing number of hypocrites, who are spreading the American-Zionist Islam, and it has nothing to do with Islam, that version of Islam is and Islam that suits the enemies.”

Israel-Hamas conflict

This threat comes in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Israel says 116 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages. Meanwhile, over 18,700 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. The high death toll in Gaza has led to severe anger in Muslim-majority nations.

The FBI this week warned Americans of potential violence perpetuated by lone actors over the holidays. US security agencies issued a public service announcement saying the war will heighten “the threat of lone actor violence targeting large public gatherings throughout the winter.” It said large gatherings throughout the holidays might be a “convenient target” for those inspired to commit violence against Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Arab communities.

‘Wake-up call’

In one of the videos, the US-based hardline preacher addressed the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, saying it should be viewed as a “wake-up call” for young Muslims in the US to start “normalising” Jihad. “Jihad must be a common, normal term on your tongues, on your social media, and in the mosques and elsewhere,” Jibril said.

He also attacked Biden, whom he labeled a “terrorist,” and his administration’s policy toward Israel. “You have seen that senile Pharaoh of our time, he has lost his mind of everything, except his loyalty and support for Jewish occupiers,” the extremist cleric said. He claimed that with the war raging in the Middle East, now is the time for young people to understand that “the infidel West, particularly the US, are the enemies of Muslims.” Jibril insisted that Muslim mothers should “nurse their infants with the love of Jihad and the ambition to become a mujahid and a martyr.”

Earlier, US-based Newsweek reported that security experts had named Jibril as one of the most influential online recruiters for ISIS nearly a decade ago. Jibril had been calling on young people to travel to Syria and join the ranks of ISIS. He was convicted of 42 criminal counts in 2014, including conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, and possession of firearms and ammunition, the NYP report said. The US extremist cleric was sentenced to more than six years in a high-security federal prison, from which he was released in 2012, the report added.