Has the far right become more dangerous than ISIS?

The Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism prepared a new study dealing with the intellectual approach of the New Zealander who committed the Christchurch massacre against peaceful Muslims worshipping.

The observatory asserted that the attacker holds the same doctrine and ideas as ISIS and implemented its strategy. He excelled in exploiting social media, having livestreamed his attack, just as ISIS has done in its propaganda to recruit new elements from any part of the world. Social media was the most powerful weapon ISIS had to recruit new elements, the study noted.

The New Zealander published his memoirs through Twitter to propagate his ideology and invite others to follow his example and imitate his crime, which in his view was heroic. He wrote that he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after serving 27 years in prison, just as it was awarded to “the terrorist in South Africa,” in reference to former President Nelson Mandela.

The Observatory explained that the attacker’s most important message could be found in what he wrote on his guns, not what he wrote in his memoirs. On his gun, the perpetrator of the massacre wrote references to historical events of Muslim defeats over centuries, including the Battle of Tours and the Siege of Vienna, as well as the names of people who have committed criminal acts against immigrants, such as Anders Behring Breivik, who committed the Norway attacks in 2011.

More dangerous than ISIS

The study pointed out that on the way to commit his crime, the New Zealand attacker was listening to a song that praises Radovan Karadzic, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia", who was tried for crimes against humanity, having led massacres against Muslims in Bosnia. This type of extremism, which is adopted by many of the far right around the world, poses a greater danger than ISIS, especially as it extends everywhere and is known to coexist in otherwise peaceful places.

The Al-Azhar Observatory called on the world to fight this ideology, which is no less dangerous than that of ISIS. It cited Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, who said that hatred and fanaticism have long been a cancerous disease, adding that the New Zealand massacre and the crimes of ISIS are two branches of a single tree watered with hatred, violence and extremism. He added that the time has come for people in the East and West to stop repeating the lie of "Islamic terrorism", because terrorism has no religion or homeland.