White Jihad

White Jihad is the white supremacist version of Islamic Jihad. The concept of White Jihad seems to have originated with the British Neo-Nazi group National Action. In February 2016 they released a recruitment video titled ‘Inside The White Jihad’ and their website had called on British youth to launch a ‘White Jihad’ instead of wallowing “in their own nihilism”. National Action, a designated terrorist organization by the British government, reportedly has its own internal internet forum, regularly uses the Dark Web and operated up to eight Twitter accounts calling for white jihad.

For Islamic terrorists Jihad means holy war. It specifically refers to the continuation of the Muslim conquests, Islamic military invasions beginning in 632, to subjugate the world under the rule of Islam. On social media white Jihad appears to refer to a continuation of the Crusades, a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims that began in 1095, in response to Pope Urban II’s plea to recover the Holy Land from Islamic rule. Islamic Jihadists continue to identify themselves as Mujahideen, Holy Warriors and Soldiers of Allah. White supremacists have adopted the symbolism, language and the just war doctrine of the crusades.

Both white jihadists and Islamic jihadists characterize the increasing widespread incidents of Islamic terrorism as the final crusade in the long history of the crusades. Their battle cries reflect this. Allahu Akbar, Arabic for ‘Allah is Greater’, also known as the Takbir, signifies the supremacy of Islam over other religions, political ideologies and governments. The first use of the Takbir as a war cry is attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in the Battle of Badr on March 13th, 624 A.D. For centuries, it has been the traditional battle cry of Muslim jihadists as a method to strike fear in the hearts of non-believers and the enemies of Allah. It is often heard before or during Islamic terrorist attacks.

Deus Vult, Latin for “God wills it”, is the Christian equivalent of “Allahu Akbar”. It was the battle cry of Christian soldiers during the crusades. The origin of the phrase is attributed to the response of the people to a speech made by Pope Urban II in 1095 at the declaration of the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in Clermont, France. In the speech Pope Urban II called defenders of Christianity to action in the fight to win back the Holy Land from Muslim occupiers. During the First Crusade, Christian soldiers would shout “Deus Vult!”, “God Wills It!” as they fought the Muslim invaders. Today, the Deus Vult battle cry has moved from the battlefield to the information warfare arena. The phrase appears on social media in memes, hashtags, Instagram, videos and other internet combat zones.

Additionally, White Jihadists frequently refer to Muslims as Saracen, a common Christian term for Muslims during the Crusades. In December 2016, the words “Saracen Go Home” and the term “Deus Vult”, were painted on two walls of a mosque in Cumbernauld in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was treated as a hate crime.

‘White jihad’ should not be mistaken for ‘White Sharia’. White sharia is a meme that was introduced in late 2016 that began as a type of militant manosphere advocacy of traditional gender roles, a refutation of radical feminism and an homage to the inner barbarian in real men. The expression White Sharia is a reference to the patriarchal aspect of Sharia (Islamic) law. Sacco Vandal, one of the originators of the meme described it as, “calls for our people to adopt a Sharia-like form of extreme patriarchy is an effective tactic because, again, it is the only living example of extreme patriarchy left in the world today.” The concept of White Sharia is controversial among some white supremacists and popular among others.

Immediately after the June 19, 2017 Finsbury Park, London attack, where a van ploughed into Muslim worshippers near the Finsbury Park Mosque, both Islamic and white supremacists exploited the incident to promote their causes. Tweets on #whitejihad read: “Looks like #WhiteJihad has started. Run over enough white people and white people start fighting back”; “The time for #WhiteJihad is now”; “You are either in the van, or you are under it”; “Aside the hero in the van, its possible I may be the 2nd most unpopular person with UK’s suicide vest demographic rn.” and “Diversity + Proximity = War. #WhiteJihad is a natural response to the unnatural diversity whites are subjected to.”; Tweets on #DEUSVULT read “They’re saying he jumped out to stab muzzies after ramming them. I hope he was shouting #DEUSVULT while doing it.”; “Can’t wait for the new #Crusades in the streets of #London to ensue!! Islam will be destroyed. The Crusade is coming”; “Good! Bring on the Crusades 2.0!” and “We shall defeat the invaders! #Deusvult I have hope for our race :)” One tweet read “All Hail White Jihad” accompanied by a picture of the June 20th Daily Mail cover that had a photo of the attacker Darren Osborne quoting him saying; “I would do it again”. Responses to the tweet read; “crowdfund his bail”; “is this our new patron saint?”; “Yes. The Saxon Lives.”; Consumed with hate because he wants to stop the religion of peace from murdering his kind and from raping his kids. Utter evil.”; “A True Hero” and ‘Give this man another van.”

Pro-ISIS supporters were also tweeting soon after the Finsbury Park incident calling for more attacks against the West. Footage of the incident was posted on the encrypted messaging app Telegram on pro-Islamic State channels. On ‘War news/ Ummah [community] news’ a message read: “Oh Muslimeen when your brothers took revenge on the crusader nationals for the slaughter they are carrying out on the Muslims, they were shot on site by the British Police. “Then how come the Police never shot a Kaafir [non-believer].” and “Oh Muslims you need to wake up the war is starting now in your own streets outside your own Masajids. “Your elders could be killed, your sisters could be attacked. They hate your Oh Muslims, the Prophet said the Jews and Christians will always hate you…”. The last sentence was edited out from most reports because it undermines the Muslim victimhood narrative. The reference to ‘crusader nationals’ is consistent with Jihadist propaganda that has always referred to Christians as Crusaders as a method to justify their violence as a contemporary crusade against the West. The revenge message was heard loud and clear. In the two days following the van incident Islamic terrorist attacks occurred in Paris, France; Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan; Kalandia, West Bank; Brussels, Belgium and Flint, Michigan.

Even more disturbing then the widespread Islamic jihadist attacks around the world and the modern crusade being waged in London is an even larger threat, an alliance between white supremacists and Islamic jihadists. The liaison concept began shortly after ⁹⁄₁₁ when Aryan Nations added a sector that they referred to as the Ministry of Islamic Liaison and stated, “Aryan Nations’ Ministry of Islamic Liaison is an outreach of Identity believers who work to establish further discourse and working relationship with the Muslim world (who we believe are Ishmaelites, our cousins through Nahor). As the worldwide attack against the Yehudi-Shataan intensifies we, the watchers on the wall, know full well that the “enemy of our enemy is our friend” and any cause which further undermines the United States government (Z.O.G.) is a worthy cause.” Although there is no longer an official Aryan Nations world headquarters or even a web site there has been at least one white supremacist group that may have attempted to form an operational alliance with Islamic jihadists.

A small neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division’, German for atomic weapon, was best known for posting racist white supremacist fliers at universities to recruit new members. Last month they were in the news for a bizarre double homicide in Tampa, Florida involving four members who were friends and roommates. Brandon Russell, 22, the leader of the group, came home from Army National Guard duty on May 19 and found two of his roommates, Jeremy Himmelman and Andrew Oneschuk, dead of gunshot wounds to the head. Devon Arthurs, 18, another roommate told police he decided to kill Himmelman and Oneschuk after converting to Islam. Russell, aka Odin, was arrested on May 21 on charges of possession of an unregistered destructive device and unlawful storage of explosive material. During the homicide investigation FBI and Tampa Police Department officers found multiple materials meant to build explosives in the garage and a framed photograph of Oklahoma City federal building bomber Timothy McVeigh in Russell’s bedroom. In January 2017 RadarOnline, wrote an expose on the Atomwaffen, claiming that the “Atomwaffen Division, are considered a potential threat because they’re aligned with Islamic terrorists and are encouraging attacks on the United States.”

While the unholy alliance of the left and Islamists is based on socialist economic ideals, pro-Palestinian policies and a Third Position political ideology, the alliance of white supremacists and jihadists is based on their shared anti-Semitic, anti-government, genocidal, patriarchal and supremacist ideologies. Atypical political alliances are more than just strange bedfellows, they represent an unprecedented threat to homeland security.