Pierre Vogel is a former professional boxer and notorious German Salafist, a convert to Islam. After the story about 14-year-old Safia S. hit the news (see the previous reports about the knife-wielding would-be murderess from Hannover, here and here), Mr. Vogel’s name was brought into the controversy because he had previously been videotaped with the young lady when she was even younger, long before she stabbed the policeman in the neck. Two of the photos of Safia posted here earlier were stills from that video. An uncropped version of one of them is at the top of this post, with Imam Vogel on the left.
The video below is an exercise in self-promotion and self-justification by Pierre Vogel in the wake of the negative publicity generated by the stabbing in Hannover. Bear with it, however; it is relevant to the news article that follows it.
Many thanks to Nash Montana for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Now for the context. The article below from Bild was also translated by Nash Montana:
Islamists celebrate Safia (15) as a Martyr on the Internet
… and post vitriol against “unbelievers”
Hannover — On Islamist sites on the Internet the ISIS girl Safia S. (15) is celebrated as a martyr as calls for action for similar acts against “unbelievers” are made.
One anti-terror investigator said to BILD: “This is a very dangerous development, one which we have warned against for months. Looming attacks are expected not just from terror cells, but by self-radicalized solo terrorists like Safia. And it’s hard to prevent those.”
In one forum it is being said that, “Apparently the women of the Ummah (the Muslim community) are braver than the men. Where are the lions? When will you wake up and show the Kuffar that we are Ummah? That this body brings terror into the houses of the kuffar…”
This is alarming to the security administration, because male Islamists are being accused very concretely that women are braver than them.
The investigator: “We fear that in the militant Salafist scene a kind of real pressure is now being created to carry out attacks in order to show bravery and to use Safia as a role model. Unfortunately, a simple kitchen knife is enough.”
Even the Salafist Pierre Vogel has said a few words about the bloody knife attack against a police officer in a YouTube video. In the video Vogel holds up the BILD and explains: “And here you can see a picture of Safia and myself, may Allah free her.”
According to Vogel, German security forces are to blame for Safia’s radicalization.
The Salafist preacher: “She is only fifteen years old, she is still very young, it could be that someone whispered peculiar thoughts into her head. Why did her attitude change like this? Why was she before with the peaceful Salafists, and then change her opinion? It is very simple, it’s because the Intelligence Service, also called dirt, for roughly six years now have prevented us in Hannover from holding lectures.
At the end of his propaganda film Pierre Vogel swears on his followers: “Once your reputation is ruined, you can live your life any way you want. We will prevail with our cause. And those who deny our signs, those that deny the Koran, they will become the companions of fire. We don’t say that to threaten anyone, we say that because we want to shake you awake.”
Video transcript:
| 0:19 | (Arabic) | |
| 0:24 | Dear sisters of Islam, as you can see, we are here in Frankfurt | |
| 0:28 | to conquer the hearts of the people everywhere. | |
| 0:32 | And of course before that we were in Berlin, we are in Frankfurt now, | |
| 0:36 | yesterday we were in Dusseldorf, and before that we were near Duisburg. | |
| 0:43 | We are trying of course to steer against and (…) | |
| 0:49 | and now, so I have here for example from the BILD paper, | |
| 0:54 | a picture of me, and a picture of Safia, may Allah release her, | |
| 1:00 | here, one can see, Safia began her terror career at seven years old. | |
| 1:05 | This is of course rubbish. It’s a big lie. It is claimed that Safia stabbed | |
| 1:14 | either a policeman or -woman; the papers tell different stories, that she stabbed | |
| 1:18 | one with a knife, in the neck. We don’t yet know what is true and what is not. | |
| 1:22 | I have not seen her since 2010, so roughly six years, by the way. | |
| 1:29 | I only met her three times in my life, five to ten minutes, | |
| 1:33 | (…) other than that I had nothing to do with her. | |
| 1:36 | But despite this she is our sister, and we stand with our sister, | |
| 1:40 | because the prophet told us, help your brother when he is in the right, | |
| 1:44 | or when he is in the wrong. | |
| 1:47 | And to that the (…) say if he’s right that’s clear (…), | |
| 1:51 | but what if he is in the wrong, and the prophet said, | |
| 1:55 | if he is in the wrong, then keep him from doing wrong. | |
| 1:59 | Of course, we are against such an action, if it really played out | |
| 2:02 | the way it is said it did, that without any reason a neck was stabbed, | |
| 2:06 | which we doubt, but we will see what happens, | |
| 2:10 | we just want to say (…) Islam, she is our sister nonetheless, | |
| 2:15 | she is only fifteen years old, she is still very young, it could be | |
| 2:19 | that someone whispered peculiar thoughts into her head, but certainly not through us. | |
| 2:24 | If one were to be honest, contrary to the BILD paper, | |
| 2:27 | then one would know that we repeatedly said not do commit such actions, | |
| 2:32 | one has to keep away from such actions and distance oneself, | |
| 2:35 | pertaining to violence. | |
| 2:38 | And then they show a picture from 2007, | |
| 2:42 | where I met her when she was seven years old. | |
| 2:45 | The picture was taken a little later, (…) | |
| 2:49 | and then they want to show with this picture, ‘Oh, look, she started | |
| 2:53 | with Pierre Vogel, her terror career began at seven years old.’ | |
| 2:56 | It is a fact that I haven’t seen her for around six-seven years, | |
| 3:00 | but now the question arises, why did she, if this is indeed how it happened, | |
| 3:05 | if she really is for ISIS, we don’t really know, why did her attitude change like this? | |
| 3:12 | Why was she before with the peaceful Salafists in quotation marks, | |
| 3:18 | and why did she supposedly change — we don’t really know for sure — her opinion? | |
| 3:23 | It is very simple, it’s because the Intelligence Service, also called dirt, | |
| 3:30 | for roughly six years now have prevented us in Hannover | |
| 3:35 | from holding lectures. | |
| 3:38 | It’s always said that sure, according to Claudia Dantschke the clueless one, | |
| 3:42 | that we are the gateway drug, but the question is, if we are the gateway drug, | |
| 3:46 | why does one not stay with the gateway drug, why does one go to their drugs? | |
| 3:50 | Exactly. Because through the Intelligence Service, also called dirt, we are | |
| 3:57 | being stymied from going to the mosques, we are kept from going certain places, | |
| 4:01 | when we for around six years couldn’t have lectures in Hannover, not sure if it’s five or six, | |
| 4:08 | then one shouldn’t be surprised when one finds other contacts, | |
| 4:12 | on the Internet, and the counterweight against violent actions (…), | |
| 4:20 | the counterpart against violence basically is being pulled away, | |
| 4:24 | then one shouldn’t be surprised when it goes into a different direction. | |
| 4:27 | This is not our fault, but those that stopped us from spreading peaceful Islam. | |
| 4:33 | it is their fault, (…) They can go on and write more articles, | |
| 4:37 | but once your reputation is ruined, you can live your life any way you want. | |
| 4:40 | We will prevail with our cause, and I tell every Muslim: | |
| 4:44 | Move for your religion, it is the truth and we stand by it, no matter if it’s not | |
| 4:48 | pleasant for everyday people, Allah says in the Koran sura 3:84, | |
| 4:52 | (Arabic…) | |
| 4:58 | whoever wishes to belong to a religion other than Islam, | |
| 5:01 | will never be accepted and will (…) belong to the losers. | |
| 5:04 | The winners are in paradise, the losers are where? They’re in hell. | |
| 5:07 | Allah says in the Koran (…) (more Arabic…) | |
| 5:15 | (Arabic) | |
| 5:25 | Truly those that do not believe in Allah and his prophet, | |
| 5:28 | they are trying to make a difference between Allah and his prophet by saying | |
| 5:32 | we believe in one, but we don’t believe in the other, the one prophet but | |
| 5:36 | not the others, what happens with those… (Arabic) | |
| 5:40 | Those are the true deniers of faith and (Arabic) | |
| 5:45 | (Arabic) | |
| 5:49 | And those who deny our signs, those that deny the Koran, | |
| 5:53 | yes, and call them liars, (…) what they call a lie, | |
| 6:00 | they will become the companions of fire (…). | |
| 6:03 | We don’t say that to threaten anyone, we say that because we want to shake you awake. | |
| 6:10 | We want to shake people awake, we want to shake everyone awake so that one | |
| 6:14 | starts thinking, ‘Am I on the right path, what is the meaning of life, | |
| 6:18 | where do I find answers to my questions, and I can guarantee to everybody?’ | |
| 6:22 | The answers are in Islam, and when a small sister made a mistake, | |
| 6:26 | we as Muslims will nonetheless stand with her, not with her actions, | |
| 6:30 | but as sister we will support her, we support her and who wants to help | |
| 6:35 | with costs for the attorney etcetera, or help the family, | |
| 6:38 | please contact us if you do and (Arabic)… |
“This is alarming to the security administration, because male Islamists are being accused very concretely that women are braver than them.”
Yes, there is significant social psychology here. This is not the only group that uses this propaganda tactic. The message this sends is that if teenage girls are fighting then:
1) teenage boys are cowards if they don’t fight.
2) (to some extent) adult women are cowards if they don’t fight.
3) adult males are even bigger cowards if they don’t fight.
This propaganda tactic has been used by at least the Viet Kong and Kurdish YPK/YPG. It was also depicted in the Hunger Games (I think the author probably learned about this from her father who saw the Viet Kong propaganda photos.)
And yes it should be a major concern.
On another note, it’s absolutely absurd for anyone to claim that this 14 year old was “self radicalized”. There is absolutely zero chance that this didn’t involve others, and this nonsense about “self radicalization” is just an attempt to deny the scale of the problem.
He doth protest to much. The small sister made a mistake? No words of sympathy whatsoever for the injured police officer so violently stabbed in the neck. Such duplicitous words from an over zealous Islamic convert.