Foreign Policy: Sanitary hygiene may stop the Corona epidemic but fuel terrorism and extremism

The American Foreign Policy magazine warned that self-isolation may restrain the Corona virus, but it will stoke the extremes of extremism in the world.

The magazine - in an article by Nikita Malik, director of the Center for Extremism and Terrorism at the Henry Jackson Society in London - said that millions of people who are staying at home, fearing exposure to the deadly Corona epidemic, will turn to social media sites full of misinformation.

Nikita Malik says that Islamist extremists and far-right groups are exploiting widespread confusion and fear to spread hatred.

The Corona (Covid-19) pandemic has ravaged many countries around the world, providing an opportunity for extremist groups from across the religious and religious spectrum to spread hate speech.

As often happens in times of uncertainty and uncertainty, "extremists and terrorists" rushed to seize the opportunity to reach out to an audience other than the ones who used to reach them.

Anxiety and causes
The author considered this a matter of concern for several reasons. In 2014, when academic circles in the West were studying the impact of the propaganda launched by the Islamic State on those wishing to travel abroad and join the conflict in Iraq and Syria, it seemed clear that what attracted the elements involved in the recruitment New supporters towards the target audience is their desire to know their location in the world.

With more information available about those who joined terrorist organizations, or even those who committed terrorist attacks in their countries, the common motivation for these was the need to belong to an “indigenous” society, commit acts of violence or eliminate the lifestyles of those belonging to the “intruder” society.

People who embrace such ideas are seen by most societies as "fanatics", but they are often able to seduce the minority because of their attractiveness, or because their "alien" claims make sense.

The article's author cited an example of what she went to the 21-year-old British woman who stabbed a member of the British Parliament because of his vote in favor of the war in Iraq. Nikita Malik stated that this woman may have done this under the influence of the speeches of Islamic preacher Anwar al-Awlaki on YouTube.

Attraction
In the opinion of the author, the worker who pushed that woman to make her decision to challenge the parliamentarian - represented in loneliness and boredom - was associated with an attractive factor manifested in the personality of an attractive recruiter who was able to clarify the duties assigned to his followers of both sexes in an English language.

As the Corona pandemic spread, people were asked to stay home. Unfortunately, such a move foreshadows audiences using false news, conspiracy theories, and extremist propaganda on the Internet at a time when people are trying to understand the dimensions of the crisis surrounding them.

Although the governments of countries have made great efforts to provide the correct information about the Covid-19 epidemic on the Internet, social media companies must be vigilant and cautious about two things: increased conspiracy theories and their role in calls for more violence targeting societies At risk.

According to a foreign policy article, a YouTube search conducted in the midst of an outbreak of the Corona virus shows an increase in "Crusader" and jihadist videos that predict the emergence of the "awaited Mahdi" before Judgment Day to rid humanity of evil.

Punishment and an epidemic
As for Islamic extremists - according to the writer's expression - the publication of that speech coincided with lengthy lessons for a number of speakers, in which they indicated that COFED-19 is a punishment that God inflicted on humans, and that the Islamic State urged its followers not to enter the land of the epidemic.

On the other hand, a recent FBI memo revealed that far-right groups in the United States urged their supporters in letters sent to them to spread the Corona virus among Jews, and to use "sprays" filled with infectious body secretions to attack police personnel, as well as She urged this infectious body to travel to places where Jews gathered, such as markets, political offices, companies, and places of worship.