Jihadists Pay Tribute to French Shooter Mohammed Merah

Members of several online jihadist forums have praised Mohammed Merah for his attacks on French Jews and soldiers. Comments on these forums include calls for similar lone-wolf attacks and describe Merah’s shootings as Allah’s revenge on France for its foreign policy and attitude toward Muslims.

Over the weekend, a video tribute to Merah entitled “The Lone Lion” also began circulating on the forums. The video begins with text commending Merah for killing “three French soldiers returning from Afghanistan” and “a Jewish rabbi and his children.” It also applauds him for fighting “the French special forces with courage until he was killed as a martyr.”

Funeral footage of Merah’s victims in France and Israel is juxtaposed with images of bleeding Palestinians and videos of Israeli airstrikes carried out by “the enemies of Allah, the Jews.” This section suggests the type of moral equivalence that Merah claimed prompted him to undertake his attacks. 

The video also includes recordings of Osama bin Laden speaking about a promised war “between us and the Jews” and of current Al Qaeda leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, describing England and the U.S. as legitimate targets because of the civilian casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza. 

The video concludes with a warning, apparently directed at French President Nicolas Sarkozy, that Merah’s wave of terror “is the beginning.”

Toulouse Jewish Day School Shooter Linked to Banned Forsane Alizza

Update: French authorities have confirmed the death of Mohammed Merah after a 30-hour standoff at his home. A former spokesman for Forsane Alizza denied that Merah was ever a member.

French media is reporting that Mohammed Merah, the suspect behind Monday’s deadly shooting at a Jewish day school in Toulouse, France, has links to Forsane Alizza, a radical organization that was banned by the French government in January 2012 for supporting terrorism and preparing its members for “armed struggle.” 

During a standoff today between Merah and French authorities, Merah reportedly said he is a member of Al Qaeda and that he carried out the attacks as revenge for Palestinian children and as a reaction to French military intervention overseas. Merah, a French citizen of Algerian decent, has also been linked to two earlier attacks on French military.

Forsane Alizza (Arabic for "Knights of Honor"), which advocates a Salafist ideology that rejects democracy, sought to recruit members with martial arts training. “We are looking for all kinds of skills but soldiers above all,” read a statement on the group’s website. “So if you enjoy martial arts and are quick to respond when we call on you, then you are a good fit, inshallah [God willing]." The website, which featured videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, also expressed the group’s support for “mujhaideen wherever they are in the world.”

The group, which advocates for BDS on its website, organized several protests against Israel in France. In September 2011, its members disrupted the El Al counter at Roissy airport in Paris, shouting “Death to Israel!” and “Death to Jews!” In June 2010, they protested at a McDonald’s, telling customers that McDonald’s supports Israel.

Two members of the group were convicted by a French court on charges of “inciting racial hatred” and shouting anti-Semitic remarks at the restaurant. That same month, the group participated in a pro-flotilla rally in Paris.

Forsane Alizza seems to be currently operating with “Force de Défense Musulmane sur Internet.” Its stated goal is to remove online materials that they consider to be offensive to Muslims and Islam and to provide resources to those who are engaged in the same activity. Its activity is similar to that of Revolution Muslim, a fringe anti-Semitic Muslim organization that was based in New York and that attracted a radical following online.

French authorities indicated that Merah has been under surveillance for at least several years due to his radical beliefs. There have also been reports that he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan for militant training, but French authorities say that they have no evidence that he had been in contact with terrorist groups.

Denver-area Shooting Latest in String of Extremist-Related Violent Confrontations with Police

 Police investigating a stolen vehicle in the Denver suburb of Englewood on February 23, 2012, unexpectedly found themselves facing an armed white supremacist with a history of violence—an encounter that eventually turned fatal. 

Jeremiah Barnum’s Colorado Department of Corrections photo

Source: Denver Westword

Earlier that day, Englewood police took two suspects into custody in connection with an allegedly stolen vehicle. Two officers remained behind to finish up paperwork, when they allegedly spotted a vehicle parked nearby whose driver was a “known associate” of the arrested suspects. The driver, later identified as Jeremiah Barnum, a long-time white supremacist with a history of violence, allegedly threatened police, who reportedly noticed that he had a “weapon” in his waistband (a gun was later found in the car). According to officers, Barnum “made a move like he was reaching for a gun” and the officers opened fire, wounding Barnum fatally.  An investigation into the shooting is pending.

In 1997, Barnum had briefly been infamous in Denver, after he and another white supremacist, Nathan Thill, were arrested for the brutal hate crime murder of an African immigrant, Oumar Dia. Thill eventually pleaded guilty in return for a sentence of life without parole. Barnum was initially convicted of murder, but his conviction was overturned by a judge. He eventually pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and received a 12-year sentence. During his stint in prison, he frequently appeared on lists of “Aryan Prisoners of War” circulated by white supremacists to get support for imprisoned fellow racists. He also became a member of the 211 Crew, a Colorado-based racist prison gang (Thill also became a 211 Crew member).

This shooting incident was merely the latest in a long string of confrontations across the country in which shots were fired between police and adherents of extremist movements.  Since 2009, ADL has identified some 24 such incidents, most of them related to white supremacists or anti-government extremists. 

The bulk of the incidents involved actual shootouts or exchanges of fire between police and extremists, while a handful of incidents were officer-involved shootings—typically after extremists attempted to draw weapons on the officers (or, in one instance, actually attempted to fire at police, only to have the gun jam). Six police officers have died in such confrontations, as well as a number of extremists, while others have been wounded or injured.