Jihadists use Trump for recruiting drive
DONALD TRUMP, the Republican presidential candidate, features in a new al-Qaeda recruitment video, which exploits racial tensions and seeks to persuade Muslims of America’s history of discrimination.
The 52-minute film, made by Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s Somali affiliate, includes Mr Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from entering the US in the wake of terrorist attacks. The film, which has been seen by
The Sunday Telegraph, also features Anwar al-Awlaki, the late Americanborn militant leader who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
“Yesterday, America was a land of slavery, segregation, lynching and Ku Klux Klan. And tomorrow it will be a land of religious discrimination and concentration camps,” he says in archive footage.
His words are followed by a clip of Mr Trump addressing a rowdy campaign rally last month, days after a husband and wife shot dead 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in an attack inspired by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
“Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,” Trump said to cheering supporters.
He also called for surveillance of mosques and said he was open to the idea of a database for all Muslims living in the country. At the same time, Muslim groups in the US have reported a backlash, with an increase in attacks on mosques and individuals.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has described Mr Trump as “Isil’s best recruiter”.
The new video also includes images of black teenagers shot dead by American police officers, and statistics on Muslims deported from the US.
Al-Shabaab has proved adept at using online resources, such as Twitter, to attract Western recruits – frequently from the Somali community in Minnesota. Its latest video is a slick production in English, featuring Malcolm X as well as Awlaki.
The group, which is fighting to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government, has carried out terrorist attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.
In 2013 its gunmen killed at least 67 people at the Westfield shopping centre in Nairobi. Last April it murdered 148 staff and students at Garissa University in Kenya.