Steven Stalinsky

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Steven Stalinsky is an American political commentator[ citation needed ] whose writings focus on the interplay between Islamic terrorism and technology, and especially terrorism and social media. He has served as executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) since 1999.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Commentary

On terrorism and social media

Stalinsky has published analysis on the use of social media by Al-Qaeda and ISIS. [1] [2] He has been interviewed by media outlets about terrorist use of social media, especially about terrorist use of Telegram, VK, and encryption. [3] [4]

Stalinsky's writing on Al-Qaeda's online magazine Inspire was cited in a U.S. Department of Justice terrorism case. [5] In 2013 and 2014, several media organizations used Stalinsky's research describing the indoctrination and exploitation of young children by Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups. [6] [7]

Stalinsky also spent years pressing Twitter to take action about jihadis' use of their social networking service – efforts which culminated in a 2013 congressional letter to the FBI urging them to take action. [8]

On terrorism and drone use

Stalinsky co-authored a study for MEMRI on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's and other Jihadi organizations use of drones that has been cited by many media outlets. The Washington Post subsequently interviewed Stalinsky for an article on how Islamic State uses unmanned aerial vehicles. [9]

On Muslim communities in the US

On February 2, 2024, Stalinsky published an opinion piece on The Wall Street Journal titled "Welcome to Dearborn, America's Jihad Capital". [10] The article criticized the Dearborn, Michigan community for perceived "enthusiasm for jihad against Israel and the West" stemming from the Hamas led terror attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud described Stalinsky's article as being "inflammatory" and linked it with "an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn". [11] President Joe Biden and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined in the condemnation. [12]

On Anti-Israel Protests in American Universities

On April 22, 2024, Stalinsky published an opinion piece on The Wall Street Journal titled "Who's behind the Anti-Israel Protest". [13]

Related Research Articles

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), officially the Middle East Media and Research Institute, is an American non-profit press monitoring and analysis organization that was co-founded by Israeli ex-intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and Israeli-American political scientist Meyrav Wurmser in 1997. It publishes and distributes free copies of media reports that have been translated into English—primarily from Arabic and Persian, but also from Urdu, Turkish, Pashto, and Russian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilles Kepel</span> French political scientist and Arabist (born 1955)

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Abu Musab al-Suri, born Mustafa bin Abd al-Qadir Setmariam Nasar, is a suspected Al-Qaeda member and writer best known for his 1,600-page book The Global Islamic Resistance Call. He is considered by many as 'the most articulate exponent of the modern jihad and its most sophisticated strategist'.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadism</span> Islamist movements for jihad

Jihadism is a neologism for militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West. It is a form of religious violence and has been applied to various insurgent Islamic extremist, militant Islamist, and terrorist individuals and organizations whose ideologies are based on the Islamic notion of lesser jihad from the classical interpretation of Islam. It has also been applied to various Islamic empires in history, such as the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates of the early Muslim conquests, and the Ottoman Empire, who extensively campaigned against non-Muslim nations in the name of jihad.

<i>Tomorrows Pioneers</i> Television program

Tomorrow's Pioneers, also known as The Pioneers of Tomorrow, is a Palestinian children's television show. The series was broadcast by the Hamas-affiliated television station Al-Aqsa TV from April 13, 2007 to October 16, 2009, and featured young host Saraa Barhoum and her co-host Farfour, a large Mickey Mouse-like costumed character, performing skits and discussing life in Palestine in a talk show fashion with call-ins from children. Presented in a children's educational format similar to such other preschool shows as Sesame Street or Barney & Friends, Tomorrow's Pioneers is highly controversial as it contains antisemitism, Islamism, anti-Americanism, and other anti-Western themes.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salafi jihadism</span> Transnational Sunni Islamist religious-political ideology

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tawhid al-Jihad (Gaza Strip)</span>

Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin is a Sunni Islamist Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula, and is the branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza. The establishment of the group was publicly announced on 6 November 2008, with communiqués vowing loyalty to al-Qaeda, after having "received the messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri." Various forms of the "Tawhid al-Jihad" label have appeared in relation to developments in the Gaza Strip. The size of the group is not publicly known.

Terrorism, in some of its definitions, serves to communicate a message from terrorists to a target audience (TA). By extension, symbols play an important role in such communication, through graphics that the organizations use to represent themselves, as well as the meaning and significance behind their choice of targets. But we can not attribute Quran and other Islamic symbols as terrorism related things. Because, we may disagree with Al-Qaeda but we can not say the religion is wrong. If Al-Qaeda is responsible, it means only Al-Qaeda not the Islam. So, it's not symbolism of terrorism as heading of this article suggests. It is just symbolism.

Hisham Al Saedni, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Walid al-Maqdisi, was a Palestinian military activist and a Muslim leader and founding member of the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem in the Gaza Strip and he was also leader of al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, a branch of al-Qaeda in Gaza.

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The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) is an Islamist propaganda organization that is associated with the terrorist group, al-Qaeda, and other jihadist groups. The GIMF is known by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as an "underground media" organization. The GIMF specializes in production of jihadist material for distribution. It is one of several organizations that jihadists use to spread information via the Internet, including the well-known As-Sahab. Their slogan that is used on their materials is "Observing Mujahideen News and Inspiring the Believers." There is no indication who the leader of this organization is.

The Egyptian Islamic Jihad, formerly called simply Islamic Jihad and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and then the Jihad Group, or the Jihad Organization, was an Egyptian Islamist group active since the late 1970s. It was under worldwide embargo by the United Nations as an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. It was also banned by several individual governments worldwide. The group is a proscribed terrorist group organization in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.

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Abu Khalid al-Suri, also known as Mohamed al-Bahaiya or Abu Umayr al-Shami, was a Syrian Islamist insurgent who was often affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Osama Bin Laden and the Syrian Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham. Al-Suri is also said to be a veteran, having participated in fighting in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq. He was believed to be assassinated by an ISIL suicide attack in 2014, however ISIL denied involvement in the attack or regarded it as friendly fire.

Al-Fajr Media or Dawn Media is an Al-Qaeda affiliated media organization that was started in 2006 and was used by multiple Al-Qaeda affiliated organizations on Jihadist forums.

Shumukh al-Islam is an online password protected Jihadist forum that disseminates pro-Islamic State and pro-Al-Qaeda ideals and propaganda.

References

  1. ↑ "Commentary: Online jihad". UPI. 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  2. ↑ "Orlando Shows the Limits of Facebook's Terror Policing". Wired. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  3. ↑ Kirkos, Bill (17 March 2016). "Minnesota police officers appear on kill list". CNN. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  4. ↑ Purnell, Newley; Yuniar, Resty Woro (2016-01-19). "Islamic State Eludes Southeast Asian Authorities With Telegram App". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  5. ↑ "AL-AULAQI v. OBAMA et al". Justia Dockets & Filings. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  6. ↑ "Syrian Jihadists Target Children for Indoctrination, Training". Voice of America. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  7. ↑ Warrick, Joby (2023-05-17). "Al-Qaeda-linked Syrian faction touts training camp for boys". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  8. ↑ "Feds take little action against U.S. Web companies hosting sites linked to terror". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  9. ↑ Warrick, Joby (2023-05-24). "Use of weaponized drones by ISIS spurs terrorism fears". The Washington Post . ISSN   0190-8286.
  10. ↑ Stalinsky, Steven (2024-02-02). "Welcome to Dearborn, America's Jihad Capital". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  11. ↑ Sutter, Tara (2024-02-03). "Michigan mayor ramps up police force near places of worship, citing 'inflammatory' WSJ op-ed". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  12. ↑ "Biden, Whitmer join in condemnation of Wall Street Journal column on Dearborn". Michigan Advance. 2024-02-04. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  13. ↑ Stalinsky, Steven (2024-04-22). "Who's Behind the Anti-Israel Protests". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
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