Father of synagogue attacker praised Israel’s murder of militia leader, made pro-al Qaeda comments

The father of alleged synagogue attacker Jihad al-Shamie, welcomed Israel’s murder of Lebanese militia leader Hassan Nasrallah – along with hundreds of innocent civilians in the same neighbourhood – and praised Syria’s new ISIS- and al Qaeda-linked president, who was backed by the CIA against former president Bashar al-Assad and welcomed by the US since taking over.

Jihad al-Shamie’s father

Faraj al-Shamie lauded Israel’s killing of Nasrallah, ending his post on his X account with “Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds”:

However, the Telegraph also reported that he praised the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. It noted he said:

The scenes broadcast by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of a group of fighters storming an occupation army camp with simple means – balloons and motorcycles – prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Israel will not remain.

Men like these prove they are God’s men on earth, and regardless of who leads them, this is the true compass for men confident of their victory even if their means are limited

Faraj Al-Shamie also gushed over a speech by new Syrian president Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who took over Syria with the help of the US military, UK military, CIA and Israeli military despite his group being classified as terrorists by the US until recently (and still by the UK), describing it as “such honesty and clarity” and asking God to “bless you and your father” for achieving “your impossible mission”:

The government and ‘mainstream’ media in the UK have pushed a narrative aligning Jihad al-Shamie with the pro-Palestine, anti-genocide movement, with the Starmer regime exploiting the attack to launch new restrictions on anti-genocide protest, which they paint as ‘frightening’ to Jews despite Jews being in the forefront of the movement and the unvaryingly peaceful nature of the protests.

The government narrative has been further complicated by images of the attacker outside the synagogue that appear to suggest they have been edited for use by the media. Some show Jihad al-Shamie with a heavier, darker beard holding a knife, while others in the same series appear to show him with a shorter beard and holding a mobile phone:

The victims of the attack were either killed or wounded by Manchester armed police as they killed al-Shamie.

Featured image via the Canary