al-Qa'ida online magazine targets US values during C-19
16/06/20 11:41
AX INTEL BULLETIN: al-Qa'ida online magazine targets US values
DATE: 17JUN2020
In the June edition of al-Qa’ida’s English-language online extremist magazine, One Ummah, the group devotes three sections to disparaging US society, economic policies, and treatment of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic..
AX INTEL BULLETIN: al-Qa'ida online magazine targets US values during C-19
DATE: 17JUN2020
In the June edition of al-Qa’ida’s English-language online extremist magazine, One Ummah, the group devotes three sections to disparaging US society, economic policies, and treatment of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. While al-Qa’ida seeks to recruit supporters by criticizing US culture and mentions how a New Jersey nursing home failed to protect the elderly, the group does not supply supporters with any lone offender tactics to conduct an attack.
- In a section titled, “America Burns,” al-Qa’ida praises the alleged collapse of the United States from COVID-19, internal divisions, racism, an economy in shambles, and attacks by the mujahideen. When citing these events, al-Qa’ida appeals to supporters and the oppressed to liberate themselves by accepting the group’s extremist ideology while hoping the United States will continue to be punished by God.
- In an article titled, “The Abysmal State of The US Economy,” al-Qa’ida justifies attacks by claiming the United States weaponizes the economy to spread disbelief, atheism, and immorality in Muslim societies, as well as controls oil markets and supports new technologies. As a result of US prominence in digital innovation, supporters are encouraged to conduct electronic warfare that includes recruiting members online, hacking servers, disrupting financial networks, and targeting industrial infrastructure such as the aviation sector, electricity grids, water systems, and emergency response systems.
- Al-Qa’ida’s efforts to convert supporters also include manipulating the COVID-19 pandemic to claim US and Western countries were not interested in caring for and protecting the elderly. The group claims its supporters treat the elderly with great respect, unlike Americans and Europeans who disrespect senior citizens by citing how in one case “in New Jersey, the police discovered dozens of dead bodies in one of the biggest old homes.”