Italian anti-terrorism police have arrested Zakaria Ben Haddi, a 21-year-old Islamist of Moroccan origin, for glorifying and promoting Islamic State terrorism against Christians.
Ben Haddi said he was “ready to do like Modena,” referring to the car-ramming attack carried out by Salim El Koudri, a 31-year-old Moroccan Italian who mowed down seven pedestrians in Modena on May 16. El Koudri earlier called Italians “f*****g Christian bastards,” saying he would “burn Jesus Christ on the cross.”
It is the new front for Islamist terrorism.
Milan’s Public Prosecutors Alessandro Gobbis and Marcello Viola ordered Ben Haddi’s arrest on May 31, highlighting his “willingness for martyrdom,” and the promotion of “terrorist attacks carried out by the Islamic State against Christians and more generally against the West,” as well as the glorification of the “tragic event” in Modena.
Ben Haddi, who has just turned 21 and lives in Vimercate, Brianza, north of Milan, stands accused of associating with an international terrorist organization, following his indoctrination and radicalization on the internet that revealed his membership in the group. He had purchased a plane ticket to Morocco for June 9.
Islamist Discusses Staging Coup
The order reports that Ben Haddi published “images, and comments extolling the most brutal and atrocious actions carried out by Islamic State against Christians and, more generally, against the West, with an open exaltation and incitement to martyrdom.” Ben Haddi also created fake social media profiles to gain access to and promote the content of jihadist online channels and archives, the report states.
Investigators identified nine publicly accessible original videos and 201 reposts of jihadist propaganda on the defendant’s Instagram and TikTok profiles.
Among the content analyzed were jihadist nasheeds (devotional chants) referring to the “will to kill the French,” videos praising ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the “savior of the people,” threats directed at U.S. supporters, and clips extolling martyrdom as “the most powerful weapon of today’s Muslims.”
“It’s impossible to stage a coup in the current situation,” Ben Haddi declared in response to another social media user’s comment. The user replied, “However, to be able to stage a subversion and therefore a coup, we need many more people, organized and not scattered, and everyone following the same or similar idea.”
Based on the evidence, prosecutors said that they were convinced that it is “an absolutely concrete possibility that Zakaria Ben Haddi is actually about to carry out violent acts, which, increasingly, are carried out in a completely impromptu manner and through the use of easily available, rudimentary tools (such as bladed weapons).”
Alongside his posts extolling martyrdom, Ben Haddi wrote: “Tomorrow I will make Italy a little better,” a message that triggered the anti-terrorism police’s alarm bells. The next post states: “Don’t blame me for what I do tomorrow, because I’m doing the right thing.”
Terrorism Expert Assesses Threat Facing Italy
Milan’s investigating judge, Rossana Mongiardo, who ordered Ben Haddi remanded to precautionary custody, said the Islamist used “dissimulating behavior to evade the attention of the investigative bodies” by using fictitious identities on social media to enter the “jihadi galaxy” and “systematically disseminate propaganda material.”
Defending his behavior before the judge, Ben Haddi claimed that his posts were “solely for informational purposes” and that he had purchased the plane ticket to Morocco to appear for an exam.
“We are facing yet another case of Islamist terrorism on Italian soil, the fourth in just under 15 days,” Giovanni Giacalone, terrorism and counterterrorism expert at the David Institute for Security Policy, told Focus on Western Islamism (FWI). “Three Islamists, including Ben Haddi, were detained by the authorities before they could act. Salim El Koudri managed to escape their radar and perpetrated the car-ramming attack on May 16.”
“It is also worth highlighting that, during the search of Ben Haddi’s home, approximately 22,000 euros in cash were recovered,” Giacalone said. “It is indeed another case of self-activated jihadism: an individual willing to autonomously take action after indoctrination online through widely available pro-ISIS propaganda material. It is the new front for Islamist terrorism.”
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi praised the “effectiveness of the measures implemented by our country to counter the dangerous phenomenon of Islamist radicalization.”
“Thanks to widespread territorial control, constant monitoring of extremist circles, careful monitoring of IT channels and social networks, and a high level of analytical capacity, our law enforcement and intelligence agencies were once again able to intervene promptly to identify a terrorist threat,” he added.
Not First ISIS Supporter in Italy
Ben Haddi’s arrest has revived memories of a similar incident in his hometown of Vimercate, where a 38-year-old Tunisian, Kamel Ben Hamida, was deported in 2015 by then Interior Minister Angelino Alfano for aligning himself with ISIS.
Married to an Italian Catholic, Ben Hamida harbored a grudge against and wanted to kill her because he didn’t want his wife to convert their two children to Christianity. Alfano said that Ben Hamida was thinking of a sensational act, of “martyrdom.”
“I hate Italy,” Ben Hamida, who moved to Brianza, where he attended the Monza Islamic Center on Via Ghilini, had repeatedly stated. He was also in contact with “foreign fighters” in Syria.
More than 5,000 Muslims live in the Monza and Brianza area, most of whom originate from Muslim-majority countries. The largest immigrant populations come from Egypt (24 percent), followed by Bangladesh (18 percent) and Morocco (14 percent), according to the Office of Application Management, Data Analysis, and Statistics of the Municipality of Monza for 2023.
ISIS Does Not Like Christians
ISIS has orchestrated a virtual genocide against Christians in Syria and Iraq and publicized their mass slaughter and destruction of Christian sites with a series of videos over the last two decades.
Islamic State “delivered a stark ultimatum to the Christians: flee your ancient homelands, convert to Islam, remain as second-class citizens and pay the jizya tax, or die ‘by the sword,’” researchers Benjamin Isakhan and Sofya Shahab write in their peer-reviewed article titled “The Islamic State’s Targeting of Christians and their Heritage: Genocide, Displacement and Reconciliation.”
“IS undertook mass genocidal pogroms that included the slaughter, enslavement and forced exodus of thousands of innocent civilians. In terms of heritage destruction, the IS waged an aggressive iconoclastic campaign, targeting some of the region’s most sensitive and important cultural heritage sites,” Isakhan and Shahab noted.
FWI contacted the Italian Bishops’ Conference, to ask whether the prelates had any proposals to combat the rise of anti-Christian hatred in Italian Islamist circles but did not receive a response.
