Labor MP Anne Aly touts herself as a “counter-terrorism academic” and “de-radicalisation expert”. Leaving aside that her academic qualifications are in literature and media, it might better be asked: show us the jihadis she’s “de-radicalised”. Perhaps Junaid Thorne, for whom she provided a letter of support when he was on trial for trying to book a flight out of Australia under a false name.
But Aly is far from the only “de-radicalisation expert” whose alumni have gone on to be far less “de-radicalised” than might have been hoped.
In fact, it appears that jihadis are using “deradicalisation” programs as recruiting centres.
Frustrated youth workers have warned that millions of dollars are being wasted on taxpayer-funded “deradicalisation” programs that either achieve nothing or, in some cases, actually connect at-risk children with radical recruiters.
Sarkis Achmar, who has dedicated much of his life to working with troubled teens in Sydney’s west, said the initiatives were deeply flawed and were routinely infiltrated by members of Islamic extremist gangs posing as either volunteers or participants.
The 57-year-old said many of the programs’ activities — such a public barbecues designed to foster a greater sense of community inclusion among disaffected teenagers — had become prime targets for unscrupulous recruiters looking to sway young minds.
One of the commonest excuses used to hand-wave away Muslim terror attacks is the “mental illness” card. As if being a swivel-eyed jihadi and barking mad are somehow mutually exclusive. In fact, a friend of mine who really is a counter-terrorism expert warns that jihadis deliberately target vulnerable members of their community such as the mentally ill, because they are softer targets for radicalisation.
And just as organisations like schools or the Boy Scouts are prime hunting grounds for paedophiles, terrorism recruiters go where the jihad-bait are.
“These guys, they’re predators. They’re exactly like the paedophiles, and the bikies, and the drug dealers — they’re on that level,” Mr Achmar said.
“So when you get a whole heap of young people who are at risk and you’re bringing them together for intervention programs and community barbecues, what you’re doing is telling these predators where to find them. You’re doing them a favour and then it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
“What they do is, the senior recruiters, they send young Arab guys into these outreach activities to mingle with the other young people and make out like they are volunteers and that they’re somehow part of the service.
“All they’re really doing is fishing out the most vulnerable kids. That’s when the older guys come down and start indoctrinating them and preaching to them. It’s incredibly difficult to police.
“Instead of shutting them out, deradicalisation programs are opening new pathways for these guys and inviting them back in. They’re using the system against itself and we’re losing a lot of young kids to them.”
Achmar warns that jihadists are exploiting events like the Christchurch massacre to instil the belief that the entire white, Western world wants to kill Muslims. Worse, just as happened with the Muslim rape gangs in Britain, people supposedly in authority are covering it all up, because they’re afraid of “racism”.
A second-generation Lebanese-Australian born and raised in Bankstown, Mr Achmar has spent two decades engaging with the suburb’s most at-risk teens[…]
“No one wants to say anything because they don’t want to offend anyone. All these do-gooder lefties, who have never worked on the street and have no idea what’s really going on, are coming out and screaming: ‘Oh those poor things, we shouldn’t discriminate because they are Muslim.’
“What the f. k are they talking about? These recruiters aren’t good Muslims, they’re criminals using the guise of their religion to lure kids into their gangs. This extremism is not an Islamic problem, it’s a criminal problem, and we shouldn’t be worried about offending criminals.”
“De-radicalisation” is a nice little earner for some, too.
In NSW, where Mr Achmar operates, more than $50m has been spent on deradicalisation programs since 2015.
The Australian
Meanwhile, police and bureaucrats are passing the buck.
And the jihadis go right on recruiting.
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