Fursan Al-'Izza emblem[1]
Posted on 03/25/2012 10:04:30 PM PDT by PRePublic
Islamic jihad group: 'FORSANE ALIZZA'
March 21, 2012 Special Dispatch No. 4593
Toulouse Shooter Ideologically Affiliated with Al-Qaeda
Following is an overview of this group:On March 19, 2012, a terrorist opened fire on the Jewish school Ozar Hatorah in Toulouse, France. As of this writing, the suspected gunman, 24-year-old Muhammad Merah, is holed up in a nearby apartment building, with French police still attempting to negotiate his surrender.
Merah, a French-Algerian who spent time training in jihad camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, told the French authorities that the shooting was to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children. He also claimed responsibility for the March 15 murder of three French soldiers, which he said was due to their role in the Afghanistan war.
Merah claims to belong to Al-Qaeda, and, indeed, apparently is a member of the French group Fursan Al-'Izza ("The Knights of Pride)," spelled in French, "Forsane Alizza," which is ideologically affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Fursan Al-'Izza emblem[1]
Fursan Al-'Izza Affiliated with Global Shari'a Movement
For its logo, Fursan Al-'Izza uses Al-Qaeda's well-known black flag, and is ideologically aligned with the worldwide shari'a movement calling to Islamize Western states and societies by "implementing shari'a law," "exalting the word of Allah," "abolishing democratic states," and "replacing them with Islamic regimes."[2]
The group's leaders include Abu Hamza, aka Mohamed Achamlane, who used the handle "Cortex" on Islamic forums. Abu Hamza, 33, hails from the French city of Nantes, is fluent in both Arabic and French, and identifies himself as Fursan Al-'Izza's spokesman. He was set to stand trial on June 24, 2011, in Limoges for incitement, and for publicly trampling a copy of the French Penal Code while saying: "This is the book that should be burned," apparently in a reference to Koran burnings spurred by American pastor Terry Jones. Another man, Oueri Neba, was to stand trial along with Abu Hazma for antisemitic comments he made at a McDonald's restaurant in Limoges.[3]
Another central figure in Fursan Al-'Izza, who used the handle "MedMed," described himself as living in Caen, France.[4] He is the creator of Fursan Al-'Izza's official website[5] and a longtime active member of France's Islamist forums.[6]
Fursan Al-'Izza has supporters and members in Limoges, Caen, Paris (specifically in the 17th district and the immigrant suburb La Courneuve), and Toulouse, the scene of the shooting. In one of the group's videos, it is shown holding a public meeting, which it says are held weekly and intended to "confront unbelievers" and provide "Islamic reminders [of a Muslim's duties]."[7]
Fursan Al-'Izza's pages on Facebook[8] have been closed down several times. For this reason, the group is mainly active on Mon-islam.com, a comparable social network used by France's Islamist community.[9] It also maintains a Twitter page.[10]
A recent Fursan Al-'Izza video calls on "all Arab countries to boycott France and its products, and to teach them a lesson" by "pushing France a little deeper into the [economic] rut it has dug for itself," until it repeals its laws banning the niqab and hijab. The video opens with the slogan "Restore the Caliphate," and ends with the slogan "Disavow the idol of democracy."[11]
Hundreds of hours of Fursan Al-'Izza videos can be found on YouTube; for more, see Appendix.
"The future is Islam"[12]
Fursan Al-'Izza Participates in Islamist Demonstration against France's Burqa Ban
On April 4, 2011, Fursan Al-'Izza, along with other Islamist groups like Jama'at Al-Tawheed, Sharia4Belgium, and Sharia4UK, announced that it would take part in an April 9 demonstration in Paris's Place de la Nation against the French law prohibiting full concealment of the face – the so-called burqa ban – which went into effect on April 11.[13] The French authorities ultimately revoked the demonstration's permit and broke it up, arresting several participants.
Following is a summary of the events:
Online flier for the April 9 demonstration: "The ummah is awakening!"
On April 3, 2011, Sharia4Belgium issued a video in which its leader, Abu Imran, aka Fouad Belkacem, responded to the France-based Jama'at Al-Tawheed's call to participate in an April 9 demonstration against France's so-called burqa ban, by affirming that he would, indeed, be in Paris to take part. Abu Imran also called on Carla Bruni to divorce French President Nicolas Sarkozy and to don the niqab. He asked Allah for the strength to hoist the black flag of Al-Qaeda atop the Elysée Palace. On April 6, MEMRI TV posted the video, with English subtitles, on its site.[14] On April 7, Jama'at Al-Tawheed's website featured both the Sharia4Belgium video as well as another video, in which UK-based Islamist Anjem Choudhary, head of Sharia4UK, said he would also attend the April 9 demonstration in Paris.
On April 8, the demonstration, which had until then been authorized by the police, was banned on the grounds of "possible violence and turmoil." Anjem Choudhary and Abu Imran were arrested en route to Paris, as were 19 niqab-clad women on their way to the Place de la Nation. One of these women was carrying an "illicit weapon."[15]
Appendix: Fursan Al-'Izza Videos On YouTube
Hundreds of hours of Fursan Al-'Izza videos can be found on YouTube. The following are some examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sRSd1V-OTk&list=UUkzIPBMbRLLsHafbActt-HQ&index=6&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zss4NyxXb8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cboh0P539Q&list=UUkzIPBMbRLLsHafbActt-HQ&index=24&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bu0nZRm0O4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2MuKPetKHU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxYQBGyik1o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9U0nkFSlUE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJxcpCrY3O4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdA4oCEyWyw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKhu11aQ2L0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le3CKcMNYC0&feature=related
[1] http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=313052418734855&set=a.208721859167912.63065.208721282501303&type=3&theater.
[2] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.723, "Shari'a Movement Struggles to Globalize Campaign for Islamizing Western World," August 14, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/809/5565.htm.
[3] http://www.salahdin.fr/actualites/forsane-alizza-proces-tribunal-limoges-533. This site, it should be noted, has apparently been shut down.
[7] http://www.mon-islam.com/reseau-social/videos/fouad/video/2147-video-promotionnelle-du-site-mon-islamcom.html.
[8] A search for "Forsane Alizza" yields numerous results on Facebook. It is unclear which pages are actually affiliated with the great.
[11] http://www.forsane-alizza.com, February 21, 2012. The video was posted by "MedMed," one of the most active members on the French Islamist forums.
[12] http://www.forsane-alizza.com. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=266998933340204&set=a.244880738885357.71951.208721282501303&type=3&theater.
[13] http://www.salahdin.fr/actualites/islamophobie/jamaat-at-tawhid-rassemblement-samedi-9-avril-2011-paris-contre-loi-interdisant-niqab-459. See MEMRI JTTM report "Islamists to Protest in Paris against France's Burqa Ban," April 7, 2011, http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/blog_personal.htm?id=4752¶m=GJN.
[14] See MEMRI JTTM Report No. No. 4359, "Belgian Islamist Sheikh Abu Imran with Al-Qaeda Flag Opposite the Atomium Monument in Brussels: Our Flag Will Soon Be Flying on Top of All the Palaces in Europe Until We Reach the White House," December 14, 2011 http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=5914¶m.
ICT - March 2012
...decries French Islamophobia.... According to Forsane Alizza, the return of the Caliph is the only way for the Muslim community to regain a safe living environment.
http://www.ict.org.il/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=99fFLwpcQLQ%3D&tabid=320.
Jewish Community Unites After School Shooting
Christian Broadcasting Network
Officials said he was affiliated with the Belgian Sharia group Forsane Alizza, meaning “The Knights of Glory.” Merah also spent time in Afghanistan and ...
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/March/French-Police-Surround-Shooting-Suspects-Building/
France’s Jihadist Shooter Was No Lone Wolf
Mohamed Merah was practically a prince in violent extremist circles.
By Jytte Klausen
[March 23, 2012]
Mohamed Merah, the Frenchman who assassinated three French paratroopers of North African background and then launched a terrible attack on a Jewish school—murdering a teacher, his two young sons and an 8-year-old girl—claimed to act for al Qaeda. Skeptics have dismissed the claim, saying al Qaeda barely functions anymore. But Merah was no “lone wolf” and did indeed bear the imprint of al Qaeda.
Young and alienated, Merah had served two years in a juvenile prison for robbery. Was he rejected by French society because of his Algerian background? “He snapped,” say friends. After prison, he was completely cut off from reality, said his lawyer.
In fact, Merah was practically a prince in French jihadist circles. His mother is married to the father of Sabri Essid, a leading member of the Toulouse radical milieu who was captured in Syria in 2006. Essid and another Frenchman were running an al Qaeda safe house in Syria for fighters going to Iraq. In a 2009 trial that came to be known in the press as “Brothers for Iraq,” they and six others were convicted in France of conspiracy for terrorist purposes. Essid was sentenced in 2009 to five years imprisonment.
Family contacts could have been instrumental in setting up Merah’s jihadist contacts and facilitating his travels to South Asia. Le Monde reports that the Pakistani Taliban and the Uzbek Islamic Movement trained Merah to become a killer.
In 2010, he was captured in Afghanistan (reportedly by Afghan forces) and handed over to the French government, yet French media report that he was able to return to Northwest Pakistan in 2011.
The French police have confirmed that Merah was under periodic surveillance in recent months. That he slipped through and was able to carry out his attacks will become a source of criticism and self-recrimination on the part of the generally efficient French police. It certainly suggests that he had help from a network.
In executing his attacks, Merah did everything by the jihadist textbook. He made sure he would die a martyr’s death that would be witnessed on television screens around the world. He murdered with a video camera strapped to his body, making him star and director of his own epic. He told
journalists his videos would soon be uploaded. In the attack at the Jewish school Monday morning, Merah held a little girl by her hair while he paused to reload his gun. He then shot her.
In a recording found in his apartment he tells another victim, a soldier: “You kill my brothers, I kill you.” This is theater.
The Internet was his friend. “I have changed my life . . . on video,” said one of his last tweets (in French) during the siege. His account ID featured a black knight on a horse holding high the flag of jihad.
He signed that last tweet “Mohamed Merah-Forsane Alizza.” Forsane Alizza, or “Knights of Glory,” is a France-based jihadist media organization that was banned in January by French authorities after they discovered members preparing to train in armed combat. The ban made little difference, as content was uploaded to new sites. A website using the Forsane Alizza alias is still active—and registered with a domain name registrar and Web hosting company based in the state of Washington....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304636404577299550343286104.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
—
Islamic hate group under a banner of “fighting Islamophobia”
France - Government Bans Domestic Islamist Group - NYTimes.com
By SCOTT SAYARE
Published: January 23, 2012
The government has ordered the dissolution of a domestic Islamist group, saying that it was a terrorist organization training its members “for armed combat,” Interior Minister Claude Guéant said Monday. The Web site of the group, Forsane Alizza or “The Knights of Pride,” says its aim is to fight Islamophobia. The Web site is laced with anti-Semitic material and postings supporting organizations that are widely deemed to be terrorist groups, including the Afghan Taliban. A recent recruitment appeal by Forsane Alizza called for “soldiers,” and the group acknowledges some violent aims, in particular in the defense of Muslim women. The group gained attention last year through demonstrations against a French law banning the wearing of the full facial veil in public. A cofounder of the group, Mohammed Achamlane, said it would contest the dissolution order in court. “This is truly farcical,” he said in a telephone interview from Nantes in western France. “They have absolutely nothing against us.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/world/europe/france-government-bans-domestic-islamist-group.html
French killings refocus fears on ‘solo’ acts of terror - Page 2 - CNN
4 days ago – Forsane Alizza was outlawed in January by the French government, ... invading a McDonald’s restaurant and shouting anti-Semitic slogans.
http://articles.cnn.com/2012-03-21/world/world_europe_france-solo-terror_1_french-nationals-french-intelligence-french-citizen/2?_s=PM:EUROPE
09-2011 - CFCA - The Coordination Forum for Countering ...
Two fined for inciting antisemitism in McDonald’s. Two members of the radical Islamic group “Forsane Alizza” were convicted of “inciting racial hatred’ by a court ...
http://antisemitism.org.il/list/3?m=2011-09
Here are some data still extracted from the site currently “under maintenance”:
1) A ‘lot’ of talk about the mythology of “palestinian children” as if others, not their parents and radical Muslims are to blame for their deaths, not to mention the blown up numbers 10 fold (like in Jenin) or distributing simply fake images as in Khulood Badawi’s tweet of March 10, 2012).
2) Repetition of old Nazi-garbage, already refuted, falsification [or completle out of context] of text in the Talmud.
3) “Direct” ‘broadcast’ of Euro-Palestine ugly propaganda. Including the infamous al-dura Pallywood.
—
Rafle de musulmans en France sous pretexte de terrorisme
9 nov. 2010 – Tarjuma Abi ‘Abdur-Rahman Muqbil Ibn
Hadi al-Wadi’i (p. ..... du CRIF, d’avoir fait un reportage sur la mort de l’enfant Mohamed Al-Dura, tombé sous les balles israéliennes à Gaza en septembre 2000.
http://www.forsane-alizza.com/islamophobie/rafle-de-musulmans-en-france-sous-pretexte-de-terrorisme-4408
(le Prix Gondecourt à Charles Enderlin
http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article5594)
Le judéo-sionisme une grande
29 nov. 2011 – J’encourage le viol, car ce sont nos esclaves”. ou encore “Je jure que je brûlerais tout enfant palestinien qui vivra sur cette terre, le danger vient ...
http://www.forsane-alizza.com/breves/le-judeo-sionisme-une-escroquerie-de-2500-ans-21040
Juifs | Forsane Alizza - Les Cavaliers De La Fierté - Page 3
9 oct. 2010 – Allons droit au but pour comprendre : Talmud, Choschen Ham 226, 1: Les juifs peuvent garder sans s’en inquiéter les affaires perdues par un..
http://www.forsane-alizza.com/tag/juifs/page/3
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