Is the Abedi family Islamikaze? Professor Israeli’s Letter to former Labor PM Tony Blair

When I posted  on the NER/Iconoclast yesterday, “Who shares responsibility for the Suicide Bombing at the Manchester Arena?”  ,  we  criticized the track record of Conservative PM, Theresa May as former Home Secretary dealing with Islamist extremists in Britain’s midst.

Upon  publication  of the  NER/Iconoclast post we received an email from retired Hebrew University  Professor Raphael Israeli, author of a 2003 book, Islamikaze: Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology.  Israeli’s neologism appeared to us to  describe the  Islamic extremism of the Abedi family of Libyan refugees, among whose progeny was Salman, the  suicide bomber,  a “soldier of the Caliphate,” ISIS and Al Qaeda.  With the arrest in Libya of the father and a brother involved with  Islamic terrorism, perhaps they also might be deemed Islamikaze.  

Following the July 7, 2005 Islamikaze attacks on the London Transport system that killed 52, injuring over 700, Israeli sent a letter to then Labor PM Tony Blair. He criticized official condemnations of the worst Islamic terror attack in the UK as the act of ”criminals. ” Instead  Israeli suggested the UK government should brand the native born  Muslim youths as Islamikazes. Israeli argued  that by  identifying  them as  Islamikaze   it would  communicate that  the perpetrators  of this heinous attack were committing  the  “holy” act under Qur’anic doctrine. By do so they  became shahids, martyrs, sacrificing their lives to follow in the way of Allah;  jihad against Kufr, infidels, innocent fellow British citizens.

Former UK PM Tony Blair

What follows is Professor Israeli’s letter to the UK PM Tony Blair:

Professor Rapahel Israeli

On Hebrew University Letterhead

The Honorable Tony Blair

Prime  Minister

London

England                                                                                                14 July, 2005      

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

Like with most Israelis, my heart went for you and your people during the tragedy that  has been inflicted upon you. I hear many British officials stating their “shock” that the perpetrators were British, and the British public in general expressing their incredulousness that such a home-grown plight  could be permitted to develop  under the noses of the authorities.

More than two years ago my book entitled Islamikaze: Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology was published and distributed in London (Frank Cass, 2003), identifying the danger very concretely, with the names of its instigators and their deeds, including the young Britons from Leeds who were recruited and sent to Afghanistan to train for exactly this kind of horror. To my knowledge, no one in a position of responsibility heeded those warnings nor did anything about them. The wishful thinking of “peaceful Islam” and the liberal treatment of  Muslim  murderers who found refuge in Britain  overshadowed  all other considerations, and now the British common people are paying this horrendous price.

I was also struck by the announcement by the Chief of Scotland Yard to the effect that the perpetrators  were just “criminals”, thus skirting their attributes of “Muslim fundamentalists” or “Islamikaze”. Criminals  usually take their risks for economic gains which they try to enjoy by surviving and escaping punishment. Islamikaze, by contrast, are ideological murderers, who take risks and even sacrifice themselves  for an idea (of Islamic dominion) . To call them “suicide bombers” therefore, not only misses the point but may even evoke some sympathy for them and attempts to “understand” why they performed their abominable act.

A new thinking is needed, Mr Prime Minster, not only by England but also by the rest of Western countries in general if we are all to survive  and then overwhelm this relentless wave of Islamic terrorism (no other poor, disadvantaged, “frustrated” etc. group of people has ever launched such a murderous assault on  Western culture).

I have put in the mail, and will also channel via your Ambassador in Israel , the relevant pages from my book which have sounded the alarm two years ago, but were unfortunately ignored.

With my deepest respect and sympathy, I remain

Truly Yours,

Raphael Israeli,

Professor of Islamic History

Hebrew University

Jerusalem, ISRAEL