ISIS is using social media to recruit in the US.
Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The FBI deployed an intelligence analyst to the Bergen Arts Sciences Charter School in Hackensack, New Jersey, amidst suspicion students are being targeted for recruitment by the terror organization ISIS, reported multiple local news outlets.
The presentation at the New Jersey charter school on Tuesday was part of a national outreach effort that is part of the FBI’s efforts to adapt to ISIS’ continued evolution.
According to NJ.com, the senior intelligence analyst informed the students that ISIS is actively and “expertly” using social media to recruit students and young adults. All 56 FBI branches have cases involving the recruitment of young people by ISIS, the analyst told the assembled student body.
“There’s a role for everybody. Every person can contribute to the Islamic State,†a young Canadian man tells viewers in one recruitment video. “You can even come here and rebuild.â€
Outgoing senior Brayan Liz thought the talk was poignant since “100 percent of students are on social media,” she remarked to The Record.
“It definitely was eye-opening,†senior Zoey Zibor told CBS New York. “You know, you learn that it’s in your own backyard. It’s Americans citizens wanting to join these terrorist groups.â€
While some students appreciated the presentation in its function as a countermeasure against terrorism, others felt it to be somewhat heavy handed.
“I did kind of feel offended because they’re putting a bad reputation on Islam in general. That has nothing to do with Islam,” Safiye Taspinar, a junior, told The Record.
The event initially was supposed to be streamed on YouTube for other schools to watch, but the FBI analyst wanted anonymity.
The agent must have anticipated critical backlash such as the comments of Glenn Katon, legal director for the civil liberties group Muslim Advocates, who tweeted that Muslims account for just 6 percent of extremist violence in the U.S., but that the FBI focuses all its anti-extremism efforts on Muslims.
“The FBI keeps peddling ‘radicalization’ rubbish,” he wrote.
According to CBS New York, the FBI is planning to proliferate its message to other schools in the Tri-State Area in a continued effort to resonate with children who are at a critical adolescent age.