Australian Islamic State Doctor Tareq Kamleh's Sudden Change after Mystery Trip in 2013

Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh in the IS propaganda video.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Australian jihadist doctor Tareq Kamleh morphed suddenly from a partying "playboy" doctor to a strict Muslim after a mysterious camping trip, former colleagues say.

Dr Kamleh, who up until recently was working in the health system in Perth, appeared in a propaganda video for Islamic State released this week where he spruiked its health services and asked other Muslim clinicians to join him.

But before this recent infamy, he was working as a pediatrician at a Mackay hospital in north-east Queensland and it is here that former colleagues say he underwent a seismic shift in his personality.

Known as a partying and drinking playboy who constantly cheated on his girlfriend, Dr Kamleh embraced a fundamental interpretation of the religion of his parents in a few short days in 2013, colleagues said.

"I didn't think we had too many radical fundamentalists up in Mackay."

They said Dr Kamleh stopped drinking alcohol, abstained from sex, grew his beard and withdrew from the friends he had made. » | Tammy Mills, Patrick Hatch and Rachel Olding | Monday, April 27, 2015

Related »

‘Australian’ Islamist Video Deplored

Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh.

THE AUSTRALIAN: Security agencies will reassess their monitoring efforts amid growing outrage over an Australian doctor joining Islamic State.

Registered Adelaide doctor Tareq Khamleh has appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video calling for Muslim health professionals in the West to join him in the extremist group’s stronghold in Raqqa in Syria.

The 29-year-old flew to Kuala Lumpur on March 10, before appearing on the video on the weekend wearing scrubs and working in a neonatal unit describing his work as “part of my Jihad”.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says Mr Khamleh is the first known Australian medical professional to join the extremist organisation.

It proved Islamic State isn’t just recruiting fighters, and security agencies will be alert to the new threat, he said.

The acting attorney-general and foreign affairs minister said it was disturbing development that a highly-educated person had succumbed to “the death cult’s evil message”.

“For an Australian doctor to go, to sign up with this group of bandits, people who are murdering, raping, killing people in the Middle East, in the name of ISIL is just something that our country can’t tolerate,” he said.

Mr Dutton urged Australians to report family and friends if they had concerns they were considering joining the extremist group. There is a maximum 25 year jail term for anyone found to be aiding the group. » | AAP | Sunday, April 26, 2015

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Australian Doctor Appears In Islamic State Propaganda Video

NEWS.COM.AU: Perth doctor joins ISIS medical team in ‘jihad for Islam’ against the west: A PERTH doctor has appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video urging medicos to join his jihad. » | Saturday, April 25, 2015

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Islamic State Threatens to Repeat 9/11 in New Video Warning to America

The video is a reminder of the power if Isil and Al-Qaeda
to inspire followers around the world to 'lone wolf'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Isil supporters launch social media blitz with hashtag #WeWillBurnUSAgain

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's social media have launched a new campaign threatening to repeat 9/11 and bring war to America.

The campaign, given the hashtag #WeWillBurnUSAgain, is accompanied by a video compilation showing some of Isil’s “greatest hits”, including the beheadings of the American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

“America thinks it’s safe because of the geographical location,” its voiceover says. “Thus you see it invades Muslim lands, and thinks that the army of jihad won’t reach in their lands.

“But the dream of Americans to have safety became a mirage.”

The hashtag campaign was announced on April 8, last Wednesday, and launched on Saturday, when pro-Isil accounts posted thousands of tweets with the hashtag with variations on the same theme, of America’s vulnerability to lone wolf and other attacks. » | Richard Spencer | Monday, April 13, 2015

China Says Uighurs Bring Islamic State Terror Back From Jihad, Plot Attacks

A key Chinese official claimed Tuesday that ethnic Uighurs who once fought with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have returned with plots to attack China, an assertion that quickly drew scrutiny in Washington but underscored the increasingly global reach of the extremist outfit that has drawn more foreign fighters than any other jihadi movement…

France Seizes Passports of Six 'Syria-bound' Citizens

BBC AMERICA: French authorities have for the first time confiscated the passports of six nationals who were allegedly planning to travel to Syria to join jihadists.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the intelligence services believed the men wanted to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The measure is part of new counter-terrorism laws adopted last November.

Meanwhile, France has deployed an aircraft carrier off Bahrain to be used against Islamic State (IS) militants. » | Monday, February 23, 2015

My Friend the Suicide Bomber: Meet the Men Recruited to Kill

Al-Shabaab targets young vulnerable men across Scandinavia, inviting them to embrace jihad and become suicide bombers in Somalia. Seeking a sense of belonging, and encouraged by preachers on online videos, a group of Danish Muslims gathers in a small Copenhagen apartment and makes plans. When one man doubts the cause and sees his friends planning carnage, can he escape the call of al-Shabaab? If so, what next?

It’s Absurd to Deny Jihadis Act in the Name of Islam

THE AUSTRALIAN – OPINION: WITH jihadist violence continuing to escalate, the acid test of today’s national security statement will be the actions it proposes.

But no policy can be effective without an honest diagnosis of the problem it is intended to address.

That is why Barack Obama’s statement to last week’s global summit on extremism was so disappointing. Coming from a man who ridicules the proposition that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, Obama’s claim that “No religion is responsible for terrorism, people are responsible for terrorism”, combined mendacity with hypocrisy.

The jihadis may indeed be “madmen”, as Obama said; but to deny they act in the name of Islam is as absurd as denying the crusades were fought under the banner of Christianity.

Nor was Obama on more solid ground in blaming Islamic extremism on poverty and disadvantage. Few claims have been as decisively rejected by social scientific research; and so has the claim that the radicalisation of Muslim youth in western countries is caused by social exclusion. (+ video) » | Henry Ergas | Columnist | Sydney | Monday, February 23, 2015

Marie Harf, State Department, on Islamic State: 'Can't Win by Killing Them'

Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said America can't win against the Islamic State "by killing them" and ought instead to focus on addressing what she claimed was the root problem - their poor economy - and help them get jobs. "We're killing a lot of them, and we're going to keep killing…

Danish PM on Jihad Murders: “This Is Not a War between Islam and the West”

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish Prime Minister

JIHAD WATCH: “We feel certain now that it was a politically motivated attack, and thereby it was a terrorist attack,” said Thorning-Schmidt. But actually, it was a religiously motivated attack. Islam is the only belief-system that mandates violence against those who commit the crime of drawing cartoons of Muhammad and those who commit the crime of being Jews. Thorning-Schmidt’s denial of manifest reality only aids and abets the advancing jihad. Read on and comment » | Robert Spencer | Sunday, February 15, 2015

Op-Ed: The West Cannot Win This War

ARUTZ SHEVA: The West doesn't want to make the changes that will allow it to win

Take another look at the video filmed under the Charlie Hebdo’s building, the black car of the terrorists who had no fear of death and are advancing by shooting, while the white car of the policemen is forced to retreat.

We are capitulating.

The West cannot win this war. Take the last French mass rally with dozens of heads of states from around the world: it was a silent march, a mute show where nobody took the podium. As if these people didn’t know what to say. As if these Western leaders didn’t really believe in what they were doing in Paris.

A few days ago, Martin Wolf in the British daily Financial Times gave voice to the deep estrangement of Europe’s élite. He suggested using massive doses of multicultural recognition of equality between different cultures in order to combat Islamism. Mr. Wolf is implicitly saying that we must surrender, that we cannot win, that we have to contain terror and finally find a way to coexist with it. » | Giulio Meotti | Monday, January 19, 2015

Sydney Siege: Hostages Held in Lindt Café

BBC: Several people have been taken hostage by at least one armed man at a Lindt cafe in Sydney, Australia.

Hundreds of armed police have sealed off the normally busy Martin Place in the central business district.

At least three people have been seen inside the cafe with their hands up against a window, and holding up a black flag with Arabic writing.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described the incident as "deeply concerning".

He said it was not yet clear who was behind the incident but that it could be politically motivated, and that the National Security Committee had been briefed.

"I can think of almost nothing more distressing, more terrifying than to be caught up in such a situation, and our hearts go out to these people," he said.

About six hours into the siege, three people were seen running from the building. The circumstances of their exit from the building are not clear. (+ BBC videos) » | Monday, December 15, 2014

Kuwaiti Cleric Tareq Al-Suwaidan: Our Struggle with the Sons of Zion Pertains to Our Very Existence, Requires Jihad

Scandinavian Islamist Junes Kock Calls on Syrian Mujahideen to Unite against International Coalition

How Tunisia Became a Breeding Ground for Jihadists

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The liberal standard-bearer of the Arab Spring has become the biggest recruiter of jihadist fighters

It is just the sort of neighbourhood that Tunisia’s revolution was meant to help. Douar Hicher’s concrete flats are filled with young men and women who drove the uprising that kicked off the Arab Spring of 2011, hoping to usher in a new era of opportunity.

But something has gone wrong. These few square miles of dusty sprawl in the capital, Tunis, have not welcomed the western-style freedom that many thought the Tunisian revolution was supposed to usher in. Instead, it has become notorious for another sort of revolution: at least 50 of its young men are now fighting with the jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

“Jihad is an Islamic obligation,” says 30-year old Abdelmoneim as [he] wanders through the backstreets. “If it was organised for me, I'd go."

Several of Abdelmoneim’s friends travelled to fight in Syria last year. “Seeing their photos on Facebook, I cannot blame them,” he says. “Life is good there.” » | Louisa Loveluck, Tunis | Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Campaigning for ISIS in the West

Clarissa Ward speaks with Islamic radicals in London about accusations they recruit British citizens for battlefields in Syria and Iraq

Read CBS News article here | Clarissa Ward | Sunday, November 02, 2014

Robert Spencer and Michael Coren on Jihad and the War on Free Speech

British Jihadist Calls for Terror Attacks in UK

A British-accented jihadist has released a video urging Muslim
men in the UK to rise up and "cause terror in the hearts" of the
British people

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: New Isil video shows an unidentified man challenging David Cameron to send ground troops into Syria and Iraq

A British-accented jihadist has released a video urging Muslim men in UK to rise up and "cause terror in the hearts" of the British people.

The unidentified fighter calls David Cameron "a despicable swine" and challenges him to send British ground troops against the Islamic State so the jihadists can "send them back one-by-one in coffins".

"You're fighting people who love death more than you love life," the jihadist says.

Unlike the masked British man featured in the beheading videos of two American journalists and a British aid worker, the man in the most-recent video leaves his face defiantly uncovered. » | Raf Sanchez, Washington | Friday, October 03, 2014

If you recognise this man, email raf.sanchez[at]telegraph.co.uk

'Jihadist' Flag Flown in East London

THE GUARDIAN: Flag flown outside housing estate on Poplar High Street

A black flag with white Arabic writing, similar to those flown by jihadist groups, was flying at the entrance of an east London housing state near Canary Wharf.

In a highly provocative gesture, the emblem was planted on top of the gates of the Will Crooks estate on Poplar High Street, and is surrounded by flags of Palestine and slogans.

The flag bears similar writing to the jihadi flags that have been flown by the extremist group in Iraq and other jihadi groups since the 1990s. When the estate was approached last night, a group of about 20 Asian youths swore at Guardian journalists and told them to leave the area immediately. One youth threatened to smash a camera. » | Rajeev Syal | Thursday, August 07, 2014

Threat to Diggers*

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Australia's most notorious jihadists fighting in Iraq have issued a macabre threat to Australian soldiers as their ranks were bolstered by a Melbourne-born preacher who has joined their new "caliphate".

Underscoring the deep concern the Abbott government has expressed in recent weeks about Australians involved with extremist groups, two prominent jihadists fighting with the al-Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State took to Twitter to issue fresh threats.

Mohamed Elomar, a former boxer from Sydney who has been implicated in executions of unarmed Iraqis, posted on the social media site a distressing picture of what appears to be a captured Iraqi soldier who has been beaten and is about to be executed.

The accompanying message states: "Look at the end of these Iraqi maliki dogs bunch of girls can't wait to see a Australian soldier cyring (sic) saying bakia."

"Bakia" means "he cries" in Arabic and "maliki" refers to the Shiite-led Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki, the fervent enemy of the Sunni extremists who have swept through northern Iraq in recent weeks. » | David Wroe | National Security Correspondent | Friday, July 05, 2014

* Digger is a military slang term for soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. [Source: Wikipedia]