Over the Christmas and New Year period, there have been a number of tragic and violent Islamic terror attacks, namely in Germany and in the United States. Our Head of Public Policy Tim Dieppe reports on the attacks, in the hope that 2025 will not see a pattern of continued terror.
Two attacks on New Year’s Day
New Year’s Day very sadly saw two attacks hit America. In New Orleans, a man identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a rental truck at high speed into a crowd, killing at least fifteen people and wounding dozens more. Separately, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas killing the driver and seven others.
As I write, the New Orleans attack has been clearly identified as an Islamic terrorist attack, but the Las Vegas attack has not. Authorities are said to be investigating whether there is any link between the two attacks.
Islamic connection in New Orleans
An Islamic State flag was found in the car driven by Jabbar on New Orleans. Jabbar, an army veteran, was raised as a Christian but converted to Islam some time ago. Jabbar is twice married and twice divorced, with two children from his first marriage and one from his second. His second divorce left him with financial difficulties. He is said to have grown ‘increasingly devout’ in his Islamic religion.
Recently he posted a series of now-deleted videos on Facebook “pledging allegiance” to Isis and claiming he was inspired by a dream to join Isis.
The Louisianna Attorney General has said that she can say “with some certainty that there are multiple people who are involved.” Doubtless more information will emerge as the investigation progresses.
Separately, two explosive devices were found near the Cathedral in the French Quarter of New Orleans and safely detonated. This may or may not be connected to Jabbar’s attack.
Las Vegas attack may be connected
The Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel on Wednesday killed the driver and injured seven others. The driver was Matthew Livelsberger, who had served in the same military base as Jabbar. The truck is believed to have had fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver. The FBI are considering whether it should be classed a terror attack and whether the two attacks are linked.
The Curious Case of the Magdeburg attacker
In Germany, just before Christmas, a man drove a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday 20 December, killing five people and injuring some 200. The suspect is Taeleb al-Abdulmohsen from Saudi Arabia, who was granted asylum by Germany in 2016.
Abdulmohsen presented himself as an ex-Muslim who was fiercely critical of Islam and a supporter of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD). Saudi Arabia is said to have warned Germany security authorities several times about Al-Abdulmohsen’s extremist views. In fact, Saudi Araiba had asked for extradition of Abdulmohsen, which was refused on human rights grounds.
Abdulmohsen’s X (Twitter) profile features a picture of an assault rifle. He tested positive for drug use on the night of his arrest and has been remanded in custody. He has in the past been treated for mental illness and the German Interior Minister has said that “there are striking signs of a pathological psyche.”
It is interesting to note that some ex-Muslim groups have questioned whether he genuinely had abandoned Islam. Ex-Muslim atheist Ali Utlu said: “He acted ex-Muslim on the outside, while in DMs he threatened ex-Muslims, especially Saudi women who had fled.”
Ali Utlu added: “Many people who have had contact with Taleb, like me, deny that he was ever an atheist or ex-Muslim.”
“He threatened ex-Muslim and secular associations, as well as women who had fled from Saudi Arabia and renounced Islam. The association and the women legally defended themselves against him. He attacked the Central Council of Ex-Muslims as well as me as a member. All the major critics of Islam blocked Taleb because everyone received confused messages and threats. He never directly criticized Islam or its associations. While we protested in front of mosques, he fought us. He also repeatedly defended Saudi Arabia. For what? Dozens of people are sharing screenshots of conversations where he threatened people because they are ex-Muslims. In one video, he talks about how “the left invented Islamism to wipe out Muslims. No critic of Islam would write such nonsense. We organized ex-Muslims openly say that he practiced taqiyya. If someone was as Islamophobic as him, wouldn’t he try to kill Muslims in an attack instead of Christians at a Christmas market?”
Others too considered that he may have been practicing Taqiyya, the Islamic doctrine which permits lying to advance Islamic objectives.
Another ex-Muslim, Brother Rachid, showed that Abdulmohsen twice declined a request for an interview about his story of becoming ex-Muslim which made him suspicious.
Abdulmohsen’s persona as an ex-Muslim certainly helped his asylum claim and the refusal of Germany to grant Saudi Arabia’s extradition request on allegations of terrorism, rape and smuggling.
An official statement from Ex-Muslims International said: “Abdulmohsen was known to our coalition as a stalker and cyberbully, which underscores his commitment to division and dehumanization.”
Abdulmohsen is detained in custody pending a trial. Multiple questions surround his true motives, and I hope these are all answered in the trial. It may be that he was a mentally disturbed ex-Muslim, but many of the details don’t appear to add up. It is extraordinary that Germany not only refused extradition but also ignored warnings from Saudi Arabia about him. If nothing else, this should prompt a review of procedures when it comes to extradition and security warnings.
In a further extraordinary twist, a company called Mecca Security GmbH was hired to secure the Magdeburg Christmas market. They left a six-metre-wide gap between concrete barriers. Apparently, this should only have been four metres wide, closed with a steel chain and only open when access was required by rescue workers. Abdulmohsen used this gap to drive his car into the Christmas market.
An inauspicious start to 2025
I pray for the security services as they investigate these attacks and seek to get to the bottom of what happened and why. Our security services have been extraordinarily successful in foiling Islamic attacks in recent years, and it is great to see that the US authorities found and detonated explosive devices in New Orleans before more people were hurt.
These attackers are often converts to Islam, as Jabbar was, who become ‘increasingly devout’. As they do so, they no doubt realise that Islamic doctrine and the example of Muhammad supports violent jihad. I have written before about whether Islam is a religion of peace, and concluded that while most Muslims are genuinely peaceful people, Islam as judged by its teaching and the example of its founder is not. This means that those who become more devout are more likely to become supporters or even instigators of Jihad.
No one should deny the connection between Islam and terrorism. That is not to say that all terrorism is Islamic, but the latest CONTEST report did say that “In the UK, the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism, which accounts for approximately 67% of attacks since 2018, about three quarters of MI5 caseload and 64% of those in custody for terrorism-connected offences.”
Islam continues to increase its influence across the West, and not just via terrorism. The good news is that it appears to me that more politicians and commentators are prepared to talk about it now more than ever before. I very much hope that the recent attacks do not set the tone for 2025.
