ISIS targets educated youth lacking patriotic background - Jordanian MP whose son blew himself up

Jihadist recruiters operate in universities all over the world to attract new educated converts, Jordanian MP Mazen Dalaeen, who lost his son to ISIS, told RT. The politician is proposing patriotic education to fight against the false jihadist ideology.

The Jordanian MP revealed that his son Muhammad was recruited in Karazin University in Ukraine’s Kharkov, where he had enrolled to study medicine. The young man became radicalized in a matter of months after coming into contact with Islamist students who came to Ukraine from Azerbaijan, Russia’s Chechen Republic and Tunisia.

Muhammad Dalaeen

“He was urged to join Islamic State by the group’s proponents, who claim that Muslims living in Syria and Iraq risk being overrun by the Shiites who rule Iraq – they refer to the al-Maliki government,” Dalaeen said, recalling that the Muslim youth he met while visiting with his son in Ukraine used to call the Shiites in Iraq “corrupt.”

“They say a lot of people in that country have been imprisoned, even women,” Dalaeen said, adding that supporters of Islamic State (IS, previously known as ISIS/ISIL) would say they “want to liberate these women” from oppression at the hands of the “Safavids (Iranians) and the Shiites.”

“He would talk about an Islamic caliphate returning to the Levant. He’d say, “By God’s will, we will aid the caliphate with our Jihad.”

The Jordanian MP stressed that he personally rejects the jihadist ideology that influenced his son because it “encourages you to kill your fellow Muslims.”

Mazen Dalaeen shakes hands with King of Jordan Abdullah II

“They might be Shiites, but they are still Muslims,” Dalaeen said.

After his son disappeared from the university, Mazen Dalaeen traced him to Turkey, but failed to get in touch with Muhammad who was trafficked to Syria and forced to become a suicide bomber just three months after becoming an IS fighter.

“I’ve noticed that [ISIS] operates with impunity in Turkey. One can join a Jihadist group like that any time, and there are plenty of volunteers,” Dalaeen said, adding that the terrorists are primarily targeting young men between 15 and 25 years old.

“This organization has recruiters all over the world. It was ISIS recruiters in Ukraine who encouraged Muhammad to join… Jihadist recruiters come to universities again and again, hoping to attract new converts from various countries,” the Jordanian MP told RT.

Mazen Dalaeen said that lately the terrorists’ recruiters are getting more interested in educated students, not those young men who simply want to earn money. The recruiters are operating in many educational institutions, including the University of Jordan, he said.

“Even Jordanian girls are falling under the influence of these ideas,” he said.

“It’s no secret that social networks are now accessible for everyone. ISIS is finding its way into every home. Anyone can get information about this organization, get into the spirit of its poisonous ideas and eventually join it,” Dalaeen said.

The state should teach youth patriotism, and that the motherland needs stability and security, Dalaeen shared. The lack of such educational work on a governmental level leads to the youth failing to identify themselves with their nation and ending up in terrorist organizations, he said.

Muhammad Dalaeen

The youth and students in particular should be allowed to participate in political activities and join political parties, he said.

“If a person is not adherent to any [political] ideas, than he tends to be affected by the ideas of terrorist organizations,” Mazen Dalaeen said.