Changing Perceptions of Jihad in New York City

It’s the 23rd anniversary of 9/11, described by Wikipedia as “Islamist terrorist suicide attacks”, and the first 9/11 anniversary since soldiers of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”), UNRWA, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad invaded Israel (October 7, 2023).

At least on September 12, 2001, nearly everyone in the New York metro area apparently believed that jihad was bad. It is tough to find a statistic on how many Muslims lived in NYC in 2001, but at least their leadership came out against attacking civilians: “No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.” (Wikipedia).

Today, there are “1.5 million Muslims in the greater New York metropolitan area” (Wikipedia). Together with progressive Democrats (“Queers for Palestine”), at least some of these New Yorkers now say that attacking civilians as part of an “Islamic Resistance Movement” or “Islamic Jihad” is praiseworthy. “Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters — including A-list actress — shout ‘Long live the Intifada!’, pass out maps of pro-Israel locations to target in NYC” (New York Post, November 17, 2023):

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at Union Square Friday – before joining another massive rally near Bryant Park and marching to locations listed on a troubling map that called for “direct action” to “globalize intifada.”

By early Friday evening, the crowd made at least five stops in Manhattan that the Palestinian-led community organization Within Our Lifetime called for followers to target in a since-deleted social media post Thursday.

Outside The New York Times building, one enraged protester holding a Palestinian flag appeared to say “Bomb the New York Times. Bomb the New York Times!”

Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon was in attendance and donned a playful Simpsons-themed bomber jacket to the protest, which also called out politicians by name.

She joined the crowd in chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – which is largely regarded as an antisemitic slogan that implies the decimation of Israel – before addressing the group herself.

“There are a lot of people that are afraid, that are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country,” she said.

Some of the protesters held a banner that read “By any means necessary” – seemingly implying that Palestine should be freed at all costs, even violence.

The “by any means necessary” slogan presumably includes attacks on Israeli civilians, as featured on October 7, 2023 and, since at least 2001, via rocket attacks from Gaza and Lebanon (the rockets are generally targeted at cities, such as Tel Aviv). “By any means necessary” also includes, much to my surprise, taking and holding fellow Muslims hostage.

How widespread has the support for killing Israeli civilians been? As of November 17, 2023:

The Union Square event is one of hundreds of similar gatherings that took place in New York City and beyond this week, as tensions continue to simmer in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 sneak attack on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent retaliatory bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Uptown at Columbia (France24):

At least New York City, therefore, has been transformed in just 23 years from a place where jihad is condemned to a place where jihad is celebrated. What would New Yorkers do today if a jihad were waged against civilian New Yorkers (targeted in some way so as not to affect Muslim New Yorkers) to “stop the genocide”, for example?

Associated Press video: “Palestinian men, women and children chanted in jubilation after terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center causing them to collapse on Tuesday morning.”