Could ISIS Inspire a “Stabbing Intifada” in America?

What is ISIS’s strategy for America?

I’ve addressed that question often since the March 2015 release of my book, “ISIS Exposed.” The short answer: envision deadly jihadi terror attacks like we saw in San Bernardino and Paris recently unfolding in American cities on a regular basis, creating a guerilla war-like atmosphere in the United States.

This would likely require ISIS employing a number of well-trained, disciplined jihadists on American soil that have had battlefield experience in the Middle East, similar to what we witnessed with the ISIS terror team that struck in Paris. To that end, according to a recent report by the House Homeland Security Committee, out of the roughly 250 U.S. citizens who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS, dozens have already returned home. Where they are and what they do next is anybody’s guess: including, apparently, Obama administration officials.

Yet, as we saw in San Bernardino and have seen in smaller scale attacks by homegrown ISIS sympathizers over the past year-plus (see: Chattanooga, TN, Moore, Oklahoma, New York City and Merced County, California), prior battlefield experience is not necessary for jihadists to create havoc on American soil.

Indeed, there is another strategy that ISIS can employ here in the short term that is far less complicated than putting a highly-trained team of operatives into place undetected. For a glimpse at that strategy, look no further than the Palestinian “lone wolf” terror wave that is plaguing Israel right now—because it’s frighteningly similar to what ISIS would love to see unfold in the West.

Encouraged and incited by officials from Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, waves of Palestinian young men and women—acting alone or in small groups—have engaged in an almost daily spree of stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks against Israeli men, women and children over the past four months. The attacks, most of which have occurred suddenly and without notice in Israeli civilian centers, have left no less than 21 Israelis—and one American citizen—dead as of this writing.

It’s no coincidence that ISIS has released several videos cheering on this Palestinian terror wave and encouraging more attacks (while also vowing to eliminate every Jew from the face of the earth). ISIS’s immediate plan for America looks a lot like this so-called “Stabbing Intifada” against Israeli Jews. Only, instead of regular “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and Beersheba, the carnage would unfold in places like New York City and Columbus, Ohio. Unlike last month’s massacre in Paris, or even the jihadi rampage in San Bernardino, these attacks require very minimal training and preparation.

Take Faisal Mohammed, the 18-year-old UC-Merced student who stabbed four people last month before being shot and killed by a campus police officer. Mohammed, a computer science and engineering major, was reportedly “carrying an image of the black flag of ISIS…as well as a handwritten manifesto with instructions to behead a student and multiple reminders to pray to Allah.” I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. Or not.

What if a wave of Faisal Mohammeds—or “city wolves,” as ISIS calls them–rises up and decides to carry out their own daily “Stabbing Intifada” in U.S. cities? Is America ready for that, either psychologically or from a security perspective?

Before you dismiss this as alarmism and fear mongering, consider the following statistics compiled from a recent report on the ISIS threat to America, co-authored by Dr. Sebastian and Katherine Gorka of the Threat Knowledge Group:

–82 individuals in the United States affiliating with ISIS have been interdicted by law enforcement since March 2014.

–As mentioned previously, more than 250 individuals from the United States have joined or attempted to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq according to a report published by the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee in September 2015.

–The FBI currently has nearly 1,000 ongoing ISIS probes in the United States.

–ISIS is recruiting within the U.S. at about three-times the rate of Al Qaeda

Additionally, FBI Director James Comey has said that the Bureau is investigating ISIS-related activity in all 50 states. Folks, these numbers all add up to a virtual homegrown jihad epidemic—the kind that Israel has been dealing with, in various forms, for decades. As U.S. officials grapple with how to combat the growing jihadist menace on the homefront, they would be well-advised to consult with their Israeli counterparts, who, sadly, have far too much experience in this department.

What happened in San Bernardino will become the “new normal” only if we let it.

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