A rocket attack on Baghdad's diplomatic Green Zone Sunday night was “a
terrorist act” that undermines Iraq's international reputation, the country's

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


December 21, 2020

 

CNN: Rockets Fired At Baghdad Green Zone In 'Terrorist Act,' Iraq Says
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“A rocket attack on Baghdad's diplomatic Green Zone Sunday night was “a
terrorist act” that undermines Iraq's international reputation, the country's
president says. Eight rockets were fired at the heavily fortified area, with at
least one Iraqi soldier injured when a rocket landed near an Iraqi security
checkpoint, according to a statement from the Iraqi military. The military said
most of the rockets hit the Qadisiya residential neighborhood near the US
Embassy, damaging several buildings and cars. The US Embassy said minor damage
was caused to the embassy compound but that there were no injuries or
casualties. A spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic of Iraq issued a
written statement saying “targeting the Green Zone is a terrorist act that
endangers the security and lives of innocent citizens and their property. “It
represents a targeting of the country's sovereignty and national efforts to
preserve the state's prestige,” the statement said. “Targeting diplomatic
missions undermines Iraq's international reputation and its foreign relations.”

 

Bloomberg: Somalia Accuses Kenya Of Arming Local Militia As Tensions Rise
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“Somalia’s government accused Kenya of arming local militia to attack its
forces on the border, just days after severing diplomatic ties with its East
African neighbor. The alleged steps can “undermine general security of the Horn
of Africa region,” Somalia’s Ministry of Information said in a statement posted
to its Twitter account on Saturday. Calls and text messages to the spokeswoman
for Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau
outside of normal working hours weren’t answered. The assertions are being made
after Kenya said this week that it would open a consulate in Somaliland, a
breakaway region that declared independence in 1991 following a civil war.
Somalia’s government ordered Kenyan diplomats to leave Mogadishu after talks
with Somaliland started, a step reciprocated by officials in Nairobi.
Diplomatic relations soured last year after Kenya accused Somalia of auctioning
four offshore oil blocks in a disputed area, an allegation Somalia denied.
Kenya invaded Somalia in 2011 after a spate of kidnappings by the Islamist
extremist group Al-Shabaab, which had originated in Somalia.”

 

Reuters: Four Arrested For Sept. 25 Paris Knife Attack, Source Says
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“Four people have been arrested in France as part of an investigation into a
knife attack in Paris on Sept. 25, a judicial source said on Friday. The source
told Reuters that one of those held has been charged with a terrorism-related
offence and placed in custody in the southwestern Gironde region. On Sept. 25,
a stabbing in which two journalists were wounded took place in Paris’s rue
Nicolas-Appert, where Islamist militants killed 12 people in the offices of
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago. The main suspect in the attack
was an 18-year-old man from Pakistan. Police arrested him soon after the
stabbing. French daily Le Parisien reported on Friday that the four detained
people of Pakistani origin had allegedly encouraged the attacker to act.
Several attacks in recent months, including the beheading of a teacher who had
shown his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, have prompted the French
government to take action against Islamist “separatism.”

 

United States

 

Los Angeles Times: Islamic State Train Attacker Thwarted By Three California
Men Is Convicted
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“A French court has convicted an Islamic State operative in a 2015 train
attack that was foiled by three fast-acting young California men, whose heroics
were turned into a film by Clint Eastwood. The special terrorism court
sentenced Morocco-born Ayoub Khazzani on Thursday to life in prison, with 22
years guaranteed behind bars. Khazzani, who went to Syria as a jihadi after
trafficking drugs in Spain, met his match in the train encounter with three
childhood friends from California who took him down. Eastwood turned the
face-off into the movie “The 15:17 to Paris.” Three of Khazzani’s accomplices,
who weren’t on the train, were convicted of complicity and handed prison
sentences ranging from seven to 27 years. The verdict closed the monthlong
trial of Khazzani for attempted terrorist murder. He had boarded the
Amsterdam-to-Paris train Aug. 21, 2015, with an arsenal of weapons. The court
rejected Khazzani’s contention that he had changed his mind about carrying out
the assault. He seriously wounded a French-American teacher who grabbed his
Kalashnikov. From left, Cal State Sacramento student Anthony Sadler, U.S.
serviceman Spencer Stone, U.S. ambassador to France Jane Hartley and National
Guardsman Alek Skarlatos pose after a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in
Paris on Sunday.”

 

CNN: US To Announce New Criminal Charges Monday In Pan Am Terrorist Bombing
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“In one of Attorney General William Barr's final acts leading the Justice
Department, he plans to announce on Monday criminal charges against an alleged
bombmaker in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland, in 1988. The former Libyan intelligence officer Abu Agila Masud is
expected to be charged for his involvement in the bombing, according to three
officials familiar briefed on the matter. Monday is the 32nd anniversary of the
attack, which killed 270 people, the majority of whom were Americans. The Pan
Am Boeing 747 was en route from London to New York. The announcement also
brings Barr's service as attorney general -- a position he's held twice -- full
circle. Last week, when he told President Donald Trump of his resignation, Barr
asked to delay his departure by a week so he could announce the Lockerbie
charges, one of the sources said. Early in his tenure at the department under
President George H.W. Bush, Barr had announced charges against two other Libyan
intelligence-linked men, Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah
Fhimah, whom the US accused of placing explosives in a portable cassette and
radio player that was inside a suitcase on the plane.”

 

CBS New York: Internal NYPD Memo Warns Officers About Threats From Terrorists,
Extremist Groups
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“The NYPD is circulating a memo warning its own about continuing threats
against current and former officers from terrorists and extremists. Just this
past June, three NYPD officers were attacked in Brooklyn. One was stabbed and
two were shot in what’s been described as an Islamic terrorist attack. Back in
2014, there was a violent hatchet attack on a group of rookie cops in Jamaica,
Queens, that was also deemed an act of terror. The NYPD is now warning its
members about attacks like these. A new Intelligence Bureau memo sent to
uniformed members Friday says law enforcement and military personnel remain
prime targets for violent extremists. The memo outlines recent threats from
traditional al-Qaida aligned networks as well as anarchists and neo-Nazis.
Threats include lone-wolf attacks and knife-wielding assassinations. Security
expert Manny Gomez says it’s no surprise extremists are planning attacks while
Americans remain distracted — first by the COVID crisis and second by
anti-police sentiments.  “They’re capitalizing on the fact that defund the
police and anti-police issues … They’re targeting police officers when they
have less resources than they had before this,” Gomez told CBS2’s Kiran
Dhillon.”

 

Iran

 

The Jerusalem Post: Biden Administration Must Counter Iranian Terrorism
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“Slovenia recently joined a growing band of European governments that have
fully recognized Iran’s foremost proxy group, Hezbollah, as a terrorist
organization. The designation – the latest announced by a member of the
European Union, which currently only partially bans Hezbollah – emphasizes both
the progress made in exposing the threat of Iran-backed terrorism, and the
continued urgency for Washington and Brussels to hold the regime and its
proxies to account. Slovenia’s decision follows those of several European
counterparts that have already moved to comprehensively blacklist Hezbollah,
most notably Germany and the United Kingdom, and brings their policies in line
with the United States, Canada, Japan, Israel, the Arab League and some Latin
American countries. Yet the seemingly indisputable admission that Hezbollah is
a terrorist organization unfortunately still faces resistance in important
quarters. In 2013, the EU finally banned the Iranian proxy’s “military wing,”
but stopped short of proscribing its “political wing.” Most EU member states
have since relied on this incomplete designation, with the foreign minister of
Spain acknowledging just last week that her country does not outlaw Hezbollah’s
“political wing” because the EU does not.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Reuters: Suspected Rickshaw Bomb Kills 15, Mostly Children, At Afghan Koran
Reading Ceremony: Official
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“A suspected rickshaw bomb killed at least 15 civilians, including 11
children, on Friday at a Koran recitation ceremony in central Afghanistan,
officials said. Initial information suggested that explosives were placed in a
rickshaw in a district of Ghazni province, interior ministry spokesman Tariq
Arian said. At least 20 people were wounded. Afghanistan continues to be hit by
violence even as the Afghan government and the insurgent Taliban have been
holding meetings since September to discuss an end to the 19-year war. Western
countries have begun a sharp troop drawdown. Most of the victims in Friday’s
attack were under 18 years old, Wahidullah Jumazada, spokesman for the
provincial governor of Ghazni, said. Killings by small, magnetic bombs placed
under vehicles have unnerving Afghan officials, activists and journalists, who
blame the Taliban for the attacks. At least 10 government officials and aides
have been killed by “sticky bombs” in recent weeks, mostly in the capital,
Kabul.”

 

Associated Press: Official: Large Car Bomb Kills 9 In Afghan Capital
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“A car bomb blast that rocked Afghanistan’s capital Sunday morning killed at
least nine people, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry. Interior Minister
Masoud Andarabi told reporters at the site of the attack that the attack
wounded around 20 others, including a member of parliament, Khan Mohammad
Wardak. Andarabi said the lawmaker was in “good condition.” The interior
minister added that the casualty toll could rise further. The attack happened
while the lawmaker’s convey was passing through an intersection in Kabul’s
Khoshal Khan neighborhood. The blast set afire surrounding civilian vehicles,
as well as damaging nearby buildings and shops. No one immediately claimed
responsibility for the attack. In a statement condemning the attack, Afghan
President Ashraf Ghani said that the Taliban should stop violence against
civilians and accept a ceasefire, to facilitate the current peace process.
Ghani’s statement did not directly lay blame on the Taliban for the car bombing
or offer evidence that the group was responsible for it. The Islamic State
group has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks in the capital of Kabul
in recent months, including on educational institutions that killed 50 people,
most of them students.”

 

NPR: 'Our Houses Are Not Safe': Residents Fear Taliban In Afghanistan's Capital

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“In a mosque on the outskirts of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, a preacher
crowed to assembled men and boys: The Taliban, with their primitive guns,
brought foreign forces to their knees, he said, and the Afghan government is
next. “America with her rich and modern weaponry knelt down to us mujahedeen.
So how will you defy us?” shouted the preacher on a sunny Friday in late
October. He only permitted NPR to use his family name, Mazloum, and requested
the mosque's name and its precise location remain anonymous, so it would not be
targeted by Afghan government forces. “The world is realizing the power of
Islam and the mujahedeen, but not a few stupid puppets here,” Mazloum said,
referring to the country's Western-backed government. “Soon, Allah will grant
us the Islamic government that our nation deserves.” The Taliban once lurked on
the outer fringes of Kampany, a busy Kabul district with unruly traffic and
roads that peter out into the countryside. But in recent weeks, they have been
openly preaching in the district. It is one of the ways the Taliban have been
emboldened since signing a deal with the United States that will lead to
American and allied foreign forces withdrawing from Afghanistan by spring 2021.”

 

Voice Of America: Rare UN-Taliban Agreement To Set Up 4,000 Schools In
Insurgent-Held Afghan Territory
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“UNICEF has struck a rare agreement with the Taliban in war-ravaged
Afghanistan to establish thousands of informal schools in areas controlled by
the Islamist insurgent group. The program will reach up to 140,000 Afghan boys
and girls, said Sam Mort, the agency’s chief of communications, advocacy and
civic engagement in the South Asian nation, where an estimated 3.7 million
children are out of school. “Through this agreement, UNICEF will support the
establishment of 4,000 community-based education classes across Helmand,
Kandahar, Uruzgan and Faryab,” Mort told VOA, naming the four Afghan provinces
where the Taliban controls or influences swaths of territory. The UNICEF
official said that currently there are 680 such informal classes already taking
place across these provinces. The agreement will scale those up to 4,000, she
added. Mort said that each class could accommodate up to 35 students, and
classes are expected to start in March, when the new school year begins in
Afghanistan. She said the plan aims to ensure that every child, especially
girls, in remote areas, can go to school safely and securely. “Currently, 60%
of the children that are out of school are girls and that increases to 80% in
some hard-to-reach areas,” Mort said.”

 

Lebanon

 

The Jerusalem Post: Former Lebanon Justice Min. Blames Hezbollah For Deaths Of
Hundreds
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“Lebanon has been experiencing unrest following new discoveries surfacing in
the investigation surrounding the explosion at the Beirut port on August 4 that
led to hundreds of casualties and thousands of injuries. Maj.-Gen. Ashraf Rifi,
a former justice minister and retired commander of the Lebanese Internal
Security Forces, said on Thursday that he has testified to the team leading the
investigation that Iran is behind the shipment of ammonium nitrate sent to
Hezbollah that caused the terrible explosion. He urged the judge to allow him
to publish his testimony, saying, “I call on the judge to make my testimony
public. And my message to Hezbollah is to not think that it has succeeded in
sabotaging the investigation of the crime of the century, and limiting it to a
few several clerks who knew about the presence of the ammonium nitrate but
remained silent,” Rifi said. “I've mentioned it in my testimony to the
investigating judge, and I will say it again: The shipment of ammonium nitrate
was sent to Lebanon by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for
Hezbollah,” Rifi noted in a statement, which came as a response to a lawsuit
filed against him by Hezbollah's attorneys, who are suing him for “incitement,
sparking controversy and endangering civil peace,” following similar
accusations he has made in the past.”

 

Egypt

 

Associated Press: Egypt Officials: Bombs Kill 3 Security Forces In Sinai
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“Two roadside bombs exploded in restive northern Sinai Peninsula killing three
members of Egypt's security forces and wounding 10 others, officials said
Friday. The bombs went off near separate checkpoints in the town of Sheikh
Zuweid late Thursday, said two security officials and a medical official, who
asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The officials didn't say who was responsible for the attacks and no one
immediately claimed responsibility. But Egypt has been battling an Islamic
State-led insurgency in the Sinai that intensified after the military overthrew
an Islamist president in 2013. The militants have carried out scores of
attacks, mainly targeting security forces and minority Christians. The first
explosion Thursday night left one dead and seven wounded, while the second
killed two and wounded three, the officials said. The casualties were
transferred to El-Arish military hospital. Also on Thursday, the Egyptian
military carried out a series of raids in the same town killing four militants,
officials said. It wasn't clear if the raids took place before or after the
bombings.”

 

Somalia

 

Reuters: At Least 10 Killed In Central Somalia Bombing Claimed By Al Shabaab
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“At least 10 people were killed on Friday in a town in Somalia’s semi
autonomous state of Galmudug when a suicide bomber detonated a device at a
rally due to be addressed by the country’s prime minister, a security official
said. Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble was on his way to address the rally
at a stadium in Galkayo, a town in central Somalia where many residents and
security forces had gathered to welcome him before the explosion, Galmudug
state security ministry said in a post on its Facebook page. “Over 10 people
died in the blast including three senior military officials, soldiers and
civilians,” Major Mohamed Abdirahman, a military officer, told Reuters from
Galkayo. Over 20 people were injured, he added. Senior officials at the site
included General Abdiasis Abdullahi Qooje who was commander of a battalion
based in Galmudug, Somali state radio SONNA reported. He said the death toll
may rise. Somalia’s al Qaeda-allied Islamist group al Shabaab, claimed
responsibility for the attack and said it was “targeting the apostate prime
minister who was visiting the town.” Among those killed, al Shabaab’s military
operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters, some were U.S.-trained.”

 

Africa

 

Voice Of America: Cameroon Says Boko Haram Infiltrates Top Business And
Political Leaders
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“A Cameroonian official said Friday he had found evidence that, as widely
suspected, Boko Haram militants have been establishing close ties in
Cameroonian political and business circles. The revelation came after
Cameroon's military arrested a former lawmaker for allegedly supplying cattle
to the Nigerian terrorist group. Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon’s Far
North region, on Nigeria’s border, says that within the past two months, Boko
Haram has been establishing ties with top officials of his region. He spoke via
a messaging app from the northern town of Maroua. He says security reports
indicate that Boko Haram has infiltrated some political, business and elite
circles along Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. He says Boko Haram
accomplices in the communities supply food and money for the terrorists to
procure weapons. Bakari says the military has been assigned to arrest those who
have established ties with Boko Haram. Bakari did not say how many people have
been arrested for establishing ties with the terrorist group, but this week,
local media reported the arrest by Cameroon’s military of a former member of
parliament, Blama Malla, for alleged ties with the Boko Haram. He has been
detained in the northern town of Mora.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Guardian: Lockdown Blamed As More Under-18s Held For Terror Offences In UK
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“The number of children being arrested for terrorism offences is rising as the
pandemic creates a climate for lonely young people to be drawn in, police have
warned. A total of 17 under-18s were arrested in the year to September 2020
compared with 11 in the year to September 2019, police have said. So far this
year a total of 3,000 pieces of suspected terrorist content have been flagged
up to the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) compared with 2,796
in 2019, a rise of around 7%. But the number of referrals of rightwing content
rose 43%, from 134 in 2019 to 192 between 1 January and 20 November this year.
DCS Kevin Southworth, from the CTIRU, said that one unforeseen consequence of
the global pandemic could be young people being radicalised. “There has been a
slight shift during the pandemic, which may simply reflect people being at home
more, and ultimately perhaps spending more time online – Perhaps in some
instances sadly who have less people to speak to, perhaps recoursing to online
media for greater quantities of their time because they’ve been stuck in
self-isolating, or lacking people to come into contact with. It could be a sad
corollary really of the Covid pandemic that we’ve not yet really fully
realised.”

 

The Independent: Nando’s Knife Attacker Who Claimed To Be Terrorist Detained
Under Mental Health Act
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“A man who launched a knife attack in Nando’s restaurant and claimed to be a
terrorist has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. Ali
Algdaner, 27, grabbed a handful of cutlery before stabbing a 20-year-old
waitress in the back inside the Arndale Centre. Greater Manchester Police said
he approached other staff members and customers, before moving to the
restaurant next door on 18 October 2019. The shopping centre was evacuated and
Algdaner was pursued by members of staff before armed police arrived. “While in
police custody, Algander made false admissions that he was a terrorist and that
he had planted bombs in the centre but a thorough search of the building ensued
and no suspicious items were found,” a police spokesperson said. “Algander
continued to state he had committed a terrorist attack and was subsequently
assessed by mental health specialists before being detained under the Mental
Health Act. He has since been remanded in a specialist hospital.” On Friday, he
was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order under section 37 of the Mental
Health Act 1983. He had previously admitted affray, assault causing actual
bodily harm and communicating false information causing a bomb hoax at
Manchester Crown Court.”

 

Germany

 

The New York Times: She Called Police Over A Neo-Nazi Threat. But The
Neo-Nazis Were Inside The Police
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“Traveling for work and far from home, Seda Basay-Yildiz received a chilling
fax at her hotel: “You filthy Turkish sow,” it read. “We will slaughter your
daughter.” A German defense lawyer of Turkish descent who specializes in
Islamist terrorism cases, Ms. Basay-Yildiz was used to threats from the far
right. But this one, which arrived late one night in August 2018, was
different. Signed with the initials of a former neo-Nazi terrorist group, it
contained her address, which was not publicly available because of the earlier
threats. Whoever sent it had access to a database protected by the state. “I
knew I had to take this seriously — they had our address, they knew where my
daughter lives,” Ms. Basay-Yildiz recalled in an interview. “And so for the
first time I actually called the police.” It would bring her little sense of
security: An investigation soon showed that the information had been retrieved
from a police computer. Far-right extremism is resurgent in Germany, in ways
that are new and very old, horrifying a country that prides itself on dealing
honestly with its murderous past. This month, a two-year parliamentary inquiry
concluded that far-right networks had extensively penetrated German security
services, including its elite special forces.”

 

Deutsche Welle: Germany Brings Home 'Islamic State' Brides, Children From
Syrian Camps
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“German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday said he was “relieved” that a
“humanitarian” recovery operation had brought home 18 children and five
“Islamic State” (IS) brides from Kurdish-run internment camps in northeastern
Syria. One of three German women brought back, identified in reports as Leonore
M., 21, from Saxony-Anhalt state, was arrested a day earlier on arrival in
Frankfurt airport, on charges including terror organization membership, said
federal prosecutors. All three German women reportedly face terror charges in
Germany. Accompanying Saturday's chartered flight were German federal police
officers, reported the German news magazine Der Spiegel. German public
broadcaster SWR said the group, reportedly comprising five women and 18
children, including 7 orphans, were handed over to a Foreign Office delegation
by Kurdish envoys at Qamishli in northeastern Syria. SWR said they had been
held at Roj and al-Hol, two Kurdish-run internment camps holding tens of
thousands of detainees since the military defeat of IS by Kurdish forces backed
by a multinational US-led alliance in late 2018, early 2019. Germany's Foreign
Office did not mention the women's alleged IS backgrounds but said the mission
involved “humanitarian cases, especially orphans and children with illnesses —
cases in which departure was particularly urgent.”

 

Deutsche Welle: Berlin Islamist Terror Attack: A Deadly Story Of Failure
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“Eleven people died and 60 were seriously injured when the Islamist Anis Amri
drove a stolen truck into a Christmas market in central Berlin on December 19,
2016. The 24-year-old Tunisian national whose application for asylum had been
rejected had hijacked the semi-trailer truck, killing Polish driver Lukasz
Robert Urban. The attacker managed to escape and travel through Europe until he
was shot dead by Italian police on December 23 after an altercation in Milan.
Islamist terrorist Anis Amri drove a stolen truck into the crowd at the
Christmas market The attack on the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market was the
most serious Islamist terror attack in Germany to date. And it was
“preventable,” according to Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the domestic
intelligence agency at the time. Maassen made his testimony in October this
year before the Bundestag's parliamentary inquiry committee, set up in March
2018 to establish who was responsible for the many mistakes in the course of
the investigation. It turned out the police had been aware that Amri was more
than just a small-scale drug vendor and failed asylum-seeker. Still, they
failed to prevent the attack. “This didn't need to happen, and that for me is
the real tragedy,” Maassen conceded four years after the attack.”

 

Europe

 

Reuters: Two More Suspects Linked To Vienna Attack Arrested: Prosecutors
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“An Austrian of Afghan descent whose genetic material was allegedly found on
the weapon that a jihadist used to kill four people in Vienna last month has
been arrested, prosecutors said on Sunday. Authorities will seek court approval
to put the 26-year-old into investigative custody, a spokeswoman for Vienna
prosecutors said, confirming a report in the Krone newspaper. “Traces of DNA
from this person were found on the weapon,” she said. Another suspect was also
arrested, she said, without giving details. Police shot dead the 20-year-old
gunman, whom Austrian authorities have described as an Islamist terrorist,
during his rampage in the centre of the Austrian capital in early November.
Austria had already arrested 15 people in connection with the attack.
Authorities in Germany and Switzerland are also investigating people they
suspect had ties to the shooter.”

 

Australia

 

New York Post: Elderly Couple Murdered In ‘Terrorism Incident’ In Australia
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“An elderly couple in Australia was killed in a “terrorism incident” carried
out by a knife-wielding man who was later shot dead by police, officials said
Friday. The bodies of Maurice Anthill, 87, and Zoe Anthill, 86, were found in
their Brisbane home Thursday — hours after the suspect, Raghe Abdi, 22, was
killed by police. Abdi — who was out on bail — threatened cops with a knife
before he was fatally shot on a highway on the outskirts of Brisbane.
Queensland state Police Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford declined to detail
how the octogenarian couple died but said homicide detectives found evidence
that Abdi had been inside the house. Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said
Abdi was a known extremist who acted alone. “We had no choice but to declare
this as a terrorism incident,” Carroll told reporters. The ISIS-influenced
killer was arrested in May 2019 on suspicion that he was trying to join
extremists when he attempted to depart Brisbane Airport for Somalia. He was
released without charge due to insufficient evidence, but his passport was
canceled. Abdi faced more charges a month later, including refusing to give
detectives the passcode for his phone. He was free on bail and had been forced
to wear a GPS tracking device — which he’d cut off before he was shot.”

 

ABC News Australia: Victims Of Racist Attacks Fear Reoccurrence As Australia
Launches Inquiry Into Right-Wing Extremism
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“Anam Javed was shopping for vegetables at her local supermarket when a man
ripped her hijab off her head. In shock, she told herself it must have just
flown off by accident, but she soon realised she was being verbally abused. Ms
Javed went to the information counter looking for help but was followed by the
man, who yelled phrases she can't forget. “They [Muslims] have f***ing made it
here too,” she recalled him saying, which she took to suggest he was concerned
Muslims had taken over his neighbourhood. “In his mind we, as Muslims, were a
real and active threat and he was acting on this threat,” she told the ABC. In
the same week as the racist attack, the 33-year-old had moved to a new
neighbourhood in Victoria and decided to start wearing her hijab. That was six
years ago, but the memory is still vivid in her mind. Victims of racist attacks
can experience trauma — sometimes called “racial trauma” — which can leave
memories that haunt them for many years, according to the American
Psychological Association (APA). Ms Javed had to attend counselling sessions to
“unpack” what had happened to her and help her deal with the memories.”



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