The following video is the second part of an Israeli documentary about the hijra — the migration of mujahideen from Europe to Syria, and then back again to Europe. The interviews with a father who went to Syria to try to find his son — a Flemish convert who joined the jihad — are particularly affecting.
Many thanks to D@rLin|{ for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Previously: Part 1.
Transcript:
| 13:48 | When you convert? Like six years ago. | |
| 13:51 | His name was Michael De La Forte, he took the Arabic name Yunes. | |
| 13:54 | A teenager, who joined “Sharia4Belgium”, and immediately labeled everyone around him as infidels, | |
| 13:59 | those one should be cautious around and one day go to war against. | |
| 14:02 | You eat at their house? (parents) I don’t eat with them, but | |
| 14:05 | if there is water I’ll drink some water, Insh’allah. The main thing, I was searching for a better life. | |
| 14:11 | Kuffar, they don’t have this. If you see if they are in trouble, they run away like chickens It’s so funny that you call them Kuffar. | |
| 14:17 | It’s amazing. | |
| 14:20 | I cannot call them believers, can I? | |
| 14:23 | The first thing my father said before I came to Islam, | |
| 14:26 | he says: “You are a traitor to your own country”. | |
| 14:29 | That’s the Fiqra ( idea). | |
| 14:32 | Yunes’ video testimony is the only one on record in Europe today | |
| 14:36 | from those who waged Jihad in Syria and came back. | |
| 14:39 | And for the first time, he tells of his experiences as a Jihadi, | |
| 14:43 | while preparing for a trial in Belgium. | |
| 14:46 | He is under house arrest and cannot meet the journalists, so we called him using a computer. | |
| 14:50 | ”Peace upon you, Yunes.” “Greetings.” | |
| 14:53 | Hoping that the Belgians will not notice this interview. | |
| 14:56 | Yunes immediately reminds us of our previous talk, | |
| 14:59 | then in the Coffee Shop. You remember we met before? | |
| 15:02 | It was two years in the cafe, I don’t remember the name? With the red sofas. | |
| 15:06 | We saw the video and first you all claimed to, like, “We are Palestinians”, | |
| 15:11 | You know, the thing that journalists do. | |
| 15:15 | They want to give you confidence, they make you feel OK. | |
| 15:21 | But for me, it does not matter. Here, before our eyes, a Belgian guy, who converted to Islam, | |
| 15:25 | went to wage Jihad and came back to tell how it all happens right under the noses | |
| 15:30 | of the European Intelligence Services You don’t have to be a tour guide | |
| 15:34 | to find your road to Turkey. | |
| 15:37 | Everybody knows how to take a plane, and, once you get there, | |
| 15:40 | there are people over there, even over there Turkish people, who know how to get to the borders. | |
| 15:45 | How you cross the border? How? You phone them? They take you? | |
| 15:49 | There are a lot of options There are people who have contacts There are people like me, I didn’t have contacts, | |
| 15:55 | because I don’t want to talk with everybody, because at that moment it was “Code Red”. | |
| 15:58 | You can cross by military way, | |
| 16:01 | Even at Turkish border, you give them $50 and you are across. | |
| 16:05 | But the most of the people I know, they give money to people who live across the border, | |
| 16:11 | and at night they let you cross the barbed wire. | |
| 16:15 | and, of course, there is a policy in Turkey. | |
| 16:18 | They look like this. | |
| 16:21 | If you go, it’s not their problem. | |
| 16:24 | If you come back, you have problem. | |
| 16:27 | And then you meet with a guy and you get your weapon, you get your personal tools? | |
| 16:32 | You are being welcomed, you get some meals. People gonna ask you what is the reason, | |
| 16:38 | why you came to Syria. Some people want to do humanitarian jobs. | |
| 16:41 | Some want to live in the shadow of Caliphate. Here is the first account of what happened to | |
| 16:46 | all his friends from the “Sharia4Belgium” group in the Islamic State. | |
| 16:50 | Abu Attiq, I think he died in a battlefield, he was hurt badly. | |
| 16:58 | And I think he pulled out two grenades and took out six or seven. | |
| 17:02 | Abu Attiq is the one with the Afghani hat? | |
| 17:05 | No, the one who looks like… He was in your reportage. | |
| 17:10 | You picked him out especially. | |
| 17:14 | Abu Mujahid also. Abu Mujahid died? | |
| 17:18 | Abu Mujahid yes. He is Shahid, yes. | |
| 17:21 | I know they invaded the house and there was a firefight. | |
| 17:24 | This is what I heard from his family. Between them and the Syrian regime? | |
| 17:29 | I think it was with the Free Syrian Army. | |
| 17:33 | There were… a few, somebody from Willworda, | |
| 17:36 | Abu Faludja, Alwasaqi Hussein. | |
| 17:39 | There were a lot of bodies. Also over there is his family, I have seen, | |
| 17:44 | named, two brothers from each other, also from Jamma, | |
| 17:50 | they were Shahids. We lost a lot of heroes. | |
| 17:55 | But… What about Abu Fares? | |
| 17:58 | The guy who spoke about… He died also. How? | |
| 18:03 | They claim with an attack, I don’t know from who. | |
| 18:06 | But there was an electric pole fell upon his head or something. | |
| 18:12 | ||
| 18:18 | So all of the Yunes’ friends, who were with him at our first interview, | |
| 18:21 | were killed. This is the redaction room of our newspaper, “Het Laatste Nieuws”. | |
| 18:26 | Abu Fares, he is considered to be Emir in ISIS. | |
| 18:32 | But a problem that, alas, he was killed. | |
| 18:35 | Early. Oh, early. Quite a while ago. | |
| 18:38 | It’s a Dutch guy. Dutch? Yeah. And he is not in Belgium. He also went to Syria. | |
| 18:44 | Who is this guy? Do you know him? He is dead also. | |
| 18:47 | This one, he is still alive. He is in Raqqa. Still alive in Raqqa? Yeah, Raqqa. | |
| 18:51 | It’s Abu Atiq. He is police in Raqqa. Islamic police. I know, he is police, I know him. You know him very well. | |
| 18:56 | He is also dead. This guy is also dead. | |
| 19:00 | Do you know him? Yes. He is dead. Yes, he is dead. | |
| 19:04 | Tell me about Abu Fares He played a very, very important role | |
| 19:08 | in selecting and recruiting our Western children. | |
| 19:11 | He was the right hand of Abu Elqasam, Abu Imran. Yes, | |
| 19:14 | in Syria he was Emir. He had the function of Emir. | |
| 19:17 | Emir? Of course he was. He is Emir? He was Emir in Syria, of course. | |
| 19:21 | I don’t believe they died. You know all the verses from the Koran | |
| 19:24 | that declare that they are already with… “Those who fell serving Allah, don’t say about them, they are dead. | |
| 19:30 | They are alive and will be rewarded by the almighty” | |
| 19:38 | Everybody has his own choice to decide what is good for him and what is not good for him | |
| 19:43 | Why do they want to arrest you? You didn’t do nothing. Even if you chopped heads there… | |
| 19:47 | There is no approval at all that I actively participated in war or I did war crimes there, there is no proof of this. | |
| 19:55 | The only thing they have is a weapon, | |
| 19:58 | is a picture, three or four pictures of me with Kalashnikov. | |
| 20:01 | Yunes is on trial right now in Belgium He know he will go to jail for a long time. | |
| 20:06 | ”I will go to jail, they may give me ten years extra.” | |
| 20:11 | ”Insh’allah” for the dream he fulfilled when he went to the Islamic State. | |
| 20:15 | You are not allowed to live somewhere else, | |
| 20:19 | except at your parents’ place Of course they are all Kuffar. | |
| 20:22 | You told me last time that you can’t even drink water | |
| 20:25 | Because they are not eating Halal. | |
| 20:28 | Every day I have to eat outside or take something away | |
| 20:31 | I live in my own room, I have my own kitchen, | |
| 20:35 | in my like a real studio I try to be separate for the things that I want to do, | |
| 20:42 | and of course we sit together and I make Dawa for them. | |
| 20:45 | He defends the beheadings done in the name of ISIS. | |
| 20:49 | I was convinced two years ago, I was convinced yesterday, | |
| 20:52 | I am convinced today and I will, Insh’allah, be convinced | |
| 20:57 | that the Sharia has to be in place in every country in the whole world, | |
| 21:02 | even though they dislike it. | |
| 21:05 | So this is how the circle is closed: A Belgian teenager, who converted to Islam, was radicalized, | |
| 21:10 | went to Jihad and came back, now preaches to others. | |
| 21:16 | In his way, he and his friends will be the rulers of Europe. | |
| 21:19 | This is clear. It will be, it will happen | |
| 21:23 | We have proof from the Koran and the Sunna | |
| 21:27 | that Islam will dominate the whole world, | |
| 21:30 | from the East to the West, from the West to the East, | |
| 21:33 | and I am sure for my truth, and I am sure for my religion. And even if they give me 10 million dollars, | |
| 21:38 | I will not change my religion for one second. | |
| 21:44 | At the end of March I discover a video from Aleppo TV station | |
| 21:48 | with only Belgian guys, Belgian members of this organization, | |
| 21:52 | From here, from Antwerp, I say, I am sure now, no doubt, my son is there. | |
| 21:58 | Scenes from video taken by Dimitry on his journey to Syria to save his son | |
| 22:05 | How far can a father go to rescue his son? | |
| 22:08 | It’s hard do believe but amongst the demonstrators protesting the Syrian regime in Aleppo, | |
| 22:12 | there is a Belgian citizen, who arrived from Europe, | |
| 22:15 | in search of his son, who left for the Jihadi State. | |
| 22:19 | Of course it’s crazy. I made this. Look at what I made. Look | |
| 22:27 | Hi. Dimitry. Shalom, shalom, how are you? | |
| 22:30 | Dimitry’s son, Jojon, grew up in a Christian community and was a typical European teenager. | |
| 22:36 | Of course we have seen the radicalization | |
| 22:39 | and transfiguration of my son. I am an atheist, his mom is a devout Catholic. | |
| 22:44 | We brought our son up as a very Western boy. | |
| 22:48 | We have been in the United States, we’ve been in Spain, all over the world, in Italy. | |
| 22:51 | You know, most of the youngsters who move up to Syria, they disappear like a thief in the night. | |
| 22:57 | Nobody of them say to the parents. My son, he said he is going on holiday to Holland with friends. | |
| 23:02 | I meet his Muslim friends, so I trust him, I believed that they are going to Holland. | |
| 23:07 | After he said they are going to Cairo He never had been in Egypt to study. | |
| 23:13 | What they did? They move up to Holland with friends from this organization, | |
| 23:17 | and they took a plane to Istanbul. Istanbul, Adana and then entered Syria immediately. | |
| 23:22 | And Abu Fares, the one you show in the video, he was the first one to pick up my son there. | |
| 23:27 | They what did you do? I feel… this is… I don’t know, something is wrong, | |
| 23:30 | totally something wrong. 14 of March, he has a small sister, she was 10 years old, | |
| 23:36 | so the day of the birthday, 14 of March, | |
| 23:39 | no phone call, no message, from the big brother. | |
| 23:42 | I really had a feeling, if you believe it or not, I felt that something is wrong. | |
| 23:47 | Believe me, I feel it. 6 days later on 20 of March, | |
| 23:50 | I hear news from other parents from Antwerp, from this city, | |
| 23:54 | who have children, who were also members of this organization, | |
| 23:58 | that they are in Syria. When I hear that, I know that my son is there | |
| 24:06 | From 20 of March, every day I was on YouTube, on the Internet, | |
| 24:09 | searching — pictures, YouTube… | |
| 24:12 | I couldn’t sleep in the night, until 3, 4, 5 in the night I was looking. | |
| 24:16 | Videos of Syria on YouTube. Dawa? Yes, Dawa. | |
| 24:20 | At the end of March I discover a video from an Aleppo TV station | |
| 24:24 | with only Belgian guys, Belgium members of this organization, | |
| 24:28 | who were speaking our language. Flemish? Yes, Flemish. | |
| 24:32 | They said, which means: “Don’t shoot if you don’t see them.” | |
| 24:38 | When I see that video, when I see that video, | |
| 24:41 | yellow flowers, | |
| 24:45 | all friends of my son, very young guys, | |
| 24:48 | from here, from Antwerp, I said, I am sure now, no doubt, my son is there. | |
| 24:55 | So, what I need to do? | |
| 24:58 | I don’t speak Arabic. | |
| 25:01 | I don’t know anything about the culture, I don’t speak Arabic. | |
| 25:04 | I don’t have any connections in Syria So what I did? | |
| 25:07 | I make an appeal in newspaper and in media that I am looking for volunteers. | |
| 25:12 | to start mission to Syria in search of my missing child. | |
| 25:17 | Nobody replied. | |
| 25:20 | When Dimitry discovered that his son was in Syria, he understood that under the Belgian law his son | |
| 25:24 | did not actually commit any crime, and there is no problem. The father decided to act on his own. | |
| 25:29 | I even went to the police to say I am afraid , I am worried. My son has disappeared. | |
| 25:34 | You know what police said to me? It is not your business. | |
| 25:38 | I said: “Excuse me? What?” They were laughing at me, they took me as a clown. | |
| 25:42 | It’s disgusting, really. All the parents are in the same tragedy, really. | |
| 25:45 | I am telling you, it’s disgusting. You know, they took… I said “What? I am afraid”, | |
| 25:49 | because I know the history, I know that he was under bad influence from the wrong people, | |
| 25:55 | bad people, wrong people. | |
| 25:58 | So I am afraid that maybe my son is in a conflict area. | |
| 26:02 | And they said to me: “It’s not any of your business” Why? Because he is 18? He is an adult? | |
| 26:07 | At that moment Dimitry understood that he is the only person who is willing to rescue his son from Syria, | |
| 26:11 | and that the European authorities don’t care whether his son is beheading people or getting a tan somewhere in the Caribbean. | |
| 26:15 | He is on a vacation and that’s all that matters. Of course we asked for help everywhere. | |
| 26:18 | Nobody helped us The whole world was watching, | |
| 26:21 | was watching and doing nothing to see that our own Western child | |
| 26:26 | was totally in the hands of evil. | |
| 26:29 | Who answered my appeal in the media? | |
| 26:32 | Nobody. All the media, yes? So I went off to Syria. — How? | |
| 26:37 | With media, with one of Holland’s journalists, freelance journalists, | |
| 26:40 | and a photographer from Mexico, who have connections in Syria, | |
| 26:44 | who have connections with the rebels. | |
| 26:50 | So there you enter and come to Aleppo, | |
| 26:53 | and the only point of view we had was this video with yellow flowers. | |
| 26:56 | So where do we need to start? The first logical assumption is to start in Aleppo. | |
| 27:04 | At that time the area was controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra. I sleep with rebels, I sleep with mujahideen. | |
| 27:10 | They all respect me. They never took one dollar from me. | |
| 27:14 | They all do it voluntarily. Time for action, we have targets, we are ready to move. | |
| 27:20 | You know what? I’ve been in so many places, you can’t imagine. | |
| 27:23 | I think, totally, on my mission. I’ve been 40 days there, | |
| 27:26 | I think I’ve been in total in more than 125 fighting groups. | |
| 27:30 | Al-Tawhid Brigade, Jabhat al-Nusra,Thuwar al-Sham Battalions, Mujahideen Shura Council. | |
| 27:33 | There is no bombing? Of course there was bombing, of course! | |
| 27:37 | You can see videos that there is bombing above my head. That I need to run and snipers and … | |
| 27:41 | Of course! You will see me in the car and there is a bombing above me. | |
| 27:44 | and I’m saying “Do you feel adrenalin in your body?” |
He is absolutely correct about one thing – The West is a great big CHICKEN! What has happened since the 1960s is the FEMINISATION of Western culture to the point of absurdity. But opposing that is the barbaric male chauvinist HONOR-SHAME culture of Islam which unintelligent Western males of little consequence in society are happy to embrace. Finally they can pretend to be real men – like the super-heroes they mindlessly watched as kids.
Very interesting documentary , is there a part III?