Was the Islamic State (ISIS) behind the Crocus City Hall terror attack in Moscow that killed 139 and wounded 182 on Mar. 22, 2024, or not?
Not only did the Islamic State claim the attack, but the Western mainstream is agreed that it was, indeed, behind it. On Mar. 25, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said,
ISIS bears the sole responsibility here — the sole responsibility. And Mr. Putin understands that. … [T]here is no evidence — absolutely no evidence that Ukraine was involved here.
Jean-Pierre specifically referred to a March 7 public advisory which warned Americans in Russia to stay away from concert venues due to a threat of attacks by “extremists.”
Russia, on the other hand, while agreeing that the perpetrators were, in Putin’s words, “radical Islamists,” believes that they were ultimately working for — hence captured fleeing to — Ukraine.
Where’s the truth?
Unfortunately, it’s hard to take the “word” of the Biden administration (on anything). Moreover, it is only to be expected that it would shield Ukraine — its close ally and recipient of $75 billion + in U.S. tax dollars — from any suspicion. As for warning against — meaning foreknowing about — Islamic terror attacks targeting Russian concert halls, this fact can be understood, and is being understood in Russian circles, in a completely different way.
Finally, that Muslim terrorists would randomly pick Russia, of all nations, to attack now — when it is at war with another Western nation — does seem to be more than a “coincidence.”
And yet — especially concerning this last observation — there are some overlooked points to consider that do lend weight to the view that ISIS is indeed behind the attack.
For starters, and as discussed in this article, because ISIS and its followers are strict and literal adherents to Islamic teachings, their behavior often comes off as counterintuitive if not downright erratic.
For instance, in early January ISIS issued a statement arguing that true Muslims must not support or fight on behalf of the Palestinian Authority; that “Palestinian liberation” was a joke; and that Shia Iran — while presenting itself as the great enemy of Israel — is the true enemy of Muslims (in fact, the ISIS communique came a day after ISIS took credit for a terror attack on Kerman, Iran, where some 100 were killed).
Needless to say, many Muslims were shocked by these assertions and actions (prompting renewed allegations that ISIS is a creation of the CIA, etc.). And yet, all of ISIS’s seemingly counterintuitive claims were (as more closely discussed here) consistent with Islamic teachings.
As one example, why should Muslims support or fight for the Palestinian Authority against Israel, ISIS argued, when the PA is secular and does not enforce sharia — meaning it is an apostate entity that only pays lip service to Islam? Why bother empowering one infidel (PA) over another (Israel)?
As for what, according to ISIS, Muslims should be doing, this was reflected in the title of the terror group’s communique — “Kill Them Wherever You Find Them” — a paraphrase of Koran 9:5, known in Islamic jurisprudence as the “Verse of the Sword” (which has alone abrogated 124 other, more peaceful, verses):
[K]ill the mushrikin [pagans, idolaters, in short, non-Muslims] wherever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them on every way.
More to the point, ISIS expounded on how best to realize Koran 9:5 by urging the “lions of Islam” — meaning any would-be jihadists — to,
Chase your preys whether Jewish, Christian or their allies, on the streets and roads of America, Europe, and the world. Break into their homes, kill them and steal their peace of mind by any means you can lay hands on. … [D]etonate explosives, burn them with grenades and fiery agents, shoot them with bullets, cut their throats with sharp knives, and run them over with vehicles. … Come at them from every door, kill them by the worst of means, turn their gatherings and celebrations into bloody massacres, do not distinguish between a civilian kaffir [infidel], and a military one, for they are all kuffar [infidels] and the ruling against them is one.
What happened in Moscow completely conforms to this call by ISIS, irrespective of all suspicions and curious circumstances (war with Ukraine, etc.). On the Koran’s mandate to “kill them wherever you find them,” Muslims — ethnic Tajikis, descendants of the Turco-Tatars who terrorized Christian Russia for centuries — found a large “gathering and celebration” of their historic archenemies, and turned it into a “bloody massacre.”
Such is the seeming caprice and nihilism of Islamic terrorism: it knows no bounds and can strike at any time and any place, without rhyme or reason — as evidenced by all of the random terror attacks to plague Western cities in recent years: the Madrid 2004 and London 2005 train bombings (193 and 56 killed, respectively), the many in France, including Paris 2015 and Nice 2016 (137 and 87 killed), Brussels 2016 (35 killed), and Barcelona 2017 (24 killed), to name but a very few.
While one can read much into any of these attacks — why they occurred when and where they did — such attacks could also be mere manifestations of Allah’s open-ended command to kill “infidels” wherever and whenever they are found.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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