The Telegraph has more information about Jihad Al-Shamie, the Manchester synagogue terrorist. It turns out that he comes from a good Muslim family. His father, who emigrated to Britain from Syria, is a trauma surgeon who has worked in war zones around the world. He has expressed shock and horror at his son’s actions. Jihad has two brothers, who appear to have been excellent students. One of them has an advanced degree in mathematics and is described as an expert on artificial intelligence.
About Jihad himself:
It has now emerged that the attacker grew up less than a mile from the synagogue he attacked.
Jihad was born in Syria but moved to the UK when he was an infant along with his parents and younger brother, Jawad.
The family initially settled in the Crumpsall area of north Manchester, which is home to a large Jewish population.
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Little is known of Jihad’s teenage years but his two younger brothers were exceptionally bright and did well at school.
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There is virtually no trace of any social media activity for Jihad, but in 2012, a person using the email address “Jihad Alshamie” sent death threats to a Conservative MP following comments he made defending Israel.John Howell, who was the Tory MP for Henley at the time, was offered police protection after he received around 30 emails.
One person, calling himself Jihad Alshamie, wrote a series of emails, including one which said, “It is people like you who deserve to die.”
So that was 13 years ago. It is not clear whether Jihad on been on the radar of law enforcement since that time.
At one time, it was widely thought that Islamic terrorism was largely a function of poverty, and that economic development would bring about political and religious reform. But that optimistic assumption turned out to be ill-founded, as terrorists were often educated and intelligent men–engineers, doctors, and so on. Jihad Al-Shamie illustrates the fact that Islamic terrorism is, often, an elite activity.
