Yes it’s terrorism, but that’s not the worst part

THIS Muslim-hating moron is so staggeringly stupid he is doing the job of Islamic State for them, writes Joe Hildebrand.

People gather to attend a vigil outside Finsbury Park Mosque, close to the scene of a van attack in Finsbury Park. Picture: Isabel Infantes

IT SAYS everything about the vacuousness of modern debate that an atrocity in which innocent people were mown down on a London footpath descended into outrage about semantics before the final body count was even known.

As if there were not already enough to be upset about in the Finsbury Park attack, social media almost instantly erupted into howls of indignation over why it had not been labelled a “terrorist” incident. Even as the carnage was still being quantified, the race to take offence was on.

Finsbury Park Mosque released a statement on its Facebook page saying: “We are extremely unhappy with the mainstream media not reporting this as a terrorist attack, whereas they are very swift in describing attacks involving individuals professing to be Muslims and acting in the name of Islam.”

Many others parroted a similar line, including a very prominent author who later deleted her tweet after the outrage became self-evidently ridiculous.

For as soon as the attacker’s stated motives and the police response became clear, the incident was in fact almost universally reported as a terrorist act. Here are just some examples:

The Sun: “Finsbury Park mosque terror suspect’s mum reveals horror at seeing son, 47, on TV”

The Guardian: “The victims were all Muslims and the incident was declared a terror attack on the Muslim population”

The Telegraph: “Terror attack on a north London mosque”

The Independent: “Donald Trump fails to personally address terror attack on London mosque”

The New York Times: “London Attack Near Mosque Investigated as Terrorism”

The ABC: “Finsbury Park Mosque attacker ... being held for terrorism, attempted murder”

Sky News: “London mosque attack a ‘terror incident’”

Islamophobic? The day after the attack people came together to attend a vigil outside Finsbury Park Mosque. Picture: Isabel Infantes/AFP

In fact, not only did all corners of the media report it as a terrorist incident, many emphasised that it was a terrorist incident precisely to address the concerns of those upset that it wasn’t being called a terrorist incident.

Political leaders did the same. UK Prime Minister Theresa May called the attack a reminder that “terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms” and London Mayor Sadiq Khan also clearly called it “terror”. Police have also specifically arrested the van driver for the “commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism”.

In short, the affront, the insult, the double-standard, the failure — whatever you want to call it — simply wasn’t there.

Welcome to the age of pre-emptive outrage, where you get offended by something that hasn’t happened yet, only to have it not happen at all. This is not just nauseating, it is also dangerous. But we will come to that later.

The first thing to state clearly — as if it hasn’t been made clear enough — is that the Finsbury Park atrocity was indeed a terrorist attack. Indeed, by every known measure it was a textbook terrorist attack.

Islamophobic? People of all faiths and backgrounds united at the mosque. Picture: Isabel Infantes/AFP

For the purposes of clarity, the Oxford dictionary defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”.

Someone ploughing a van into innocent people outside a mosque because he wants to kill Muslims, and doing so using the exact same technique employed by Islamist terrorists in the same city just weeks earlier, is obviously using violence against civilians and almost certainly making a political statement.

But that’s not the worst part. Even worse is that this Muslim-hating moron is so staggeringly stupid he is doing the job of Islamic State for them. In fact, he is doing it even better than they ever could. The shithead might as well be an ISIS agent.

Everything about his actions feeds into the Islamic State narrative that Muslims are hated and unwelcome in the West — a powerful yet palpable lie easily exposed by the opposing complaint of white nationalists that the West has granted too many Muslims asylum. At least it proves all extremists have idiocy in common.

Islamophobic? Women give flowers to a member of the Muslim community. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Likewise the dumb rantings of the extreme-right cheer squad that this was a “revenge attack” or somehow justified or understandable in the aftermath of earlier atrocities plays directly into Islamic State’s false mythology that they are engaged in a legitimate war instead of wholesale homicide.

But even that’s not the worst part. Because you’d expect such idiocy from a bunch of unreconstructed skinheads. You wouldn’t expect it from the so-called intelligentsia who are the self-appointed moral and intellectual guardians of our community.

Yet they too feed the ISIS narrative when they rave about Islamophobia pervading Western institutions, as many rushed to do after this incident only to have their conspiracy theories disintegrate in the wake of the media, government and police response.

Islamophobic? Muslim Mayor of London Sadiq Khan immediately ordered extra police protection for the Muslim community. Picture: Isabel Infantes/AFP

Indeed, the popularly-elected Khan, himself a Muslim, has already deployed extra police to protect Muslim communities fearing blowback from terror attacks.

That is not the act of a Muslim-hating society.

The fight against terrorism of all kinds is raw enough and hard enough without keyboard warriors starting bogus battles on the side.

The terrorists are nasty enough and numerous enough without needing our help.

And the toll of terror is tragic enough without adding faux insult to injury that is all too real.

That’s the worst part.