This is a cross post by Haras Rafiq from The Quilliam Foundation
The original article appeared in the Sunday Express and can be viewed here
Reports suggest that at least 500 British Jihadis have flown to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS [PA]
ISIS has set up the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and at least 500 British Jihadis have flocked to the region to heed the call.
Khalid Mahmood the MP for Perry Bar has said that there are 1,500 British Jihadis in the region – but the frightening thing is that we don’t actually know the exact number.
The growth in the number of British Jihadis has alarmed everyone, especially as they have posted videos on YouTube and Twitter showing the decapitation of heads and posing with them then last week we heard the distinct British accent of the murderer of the US Journalist James Foley.
All of a sudden one of our main exports has become terror.
But we shouldn’t be surprised at this. London and the UK has been primed for this for decades.
Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and their offshoots have been indoctrinating our youngsters for decades that they have to join the struggle in the creation of a Utopian Islamist Caliphate and then to expand it across the globe.
Hizb ut Tahrir is another group that has been doing this and they have high profile events in East London and Brent during the next few weeks that will further add fuel to the fire.
These organisations have been doing this with impunity and without being challenged sufficiently.
This government has ordered an inquiry into the Muslim Brotherhood and its findings are due to be published soon but where is the strategy to combat their ideas?
After the last review of Prevent in 2011 the Department for Communities and Local Government was tasked with publishing the strategy on how they would help stop British Muslims being radicalised ie: the challenging of ideas and counter narrative dealing with non-violent extremists before they quickly become violent.
We are still waiting for this.
When our Prime Minister says that his Government is going to redouble the efforts to stop youngsters being radicalised – the redoubling of zero still equals zero.
We need this strategy urgently and we need to build resilience so that when youngsters are confronted with the Islamist rhetoric underpinned with Salafi Jihadi theology, they have the ability to push back.
Groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb ut Tahrir need to be challenged more robustly otherwise we will continue to lose youngsters to Jihadism.
• For more information about Haras Rafiq visit his Twitter page: @harasrafiq
