From the Jerusalem Post, thanks to RH for the pointer
The emerging evidence suggests that this organization is a front for elements operating on behalf of the Iranian regime. Given the nature of the attacks, HAYI appears most likely to be linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). No clear evidence or details of the process by which the group is managed have yet been made public. But a number of indications suggest that HAYI is not simply a convenient moniker for individuals acting at their own behest in support of Tehran.
Rather, it appears to offer an example of what some analysts have termed “gig economy” terrorism. This refers to a process whereby a state agency hires individuals not necessarily deeply organizationally or ideologically linked to the state in question, to carry out acts of violence on its behalf, usually in return for financial remuneration, and often on an ad hoc or one-off basis.
THE TELL-TALE evidence, in the public domain, of direct state involvement in HAYI derives from the timing of its claims of responsibility and other online activity. Specifically, HAYI claimed responsibility for arson attacks on April 15 against the Finchley Reform Synagogue in north London, and the Volant Media Offices, the media company that owns Iran International, the high-profile Iranian opposition TV channel.
London’s Metropolitan Police did not confirm the attack on the Volant offices until the following morning. But at approximately the same time that the attack was taking place, an Iran-linked Telegram channel carried a claim of responsibility from HAYI, reading “targeting the building of the terrorist opposition channel Iran International in London.”
Similarly, other claims of responsibility and statements by HAYI have been first circulated on known IRGC-linked channels, in a way that would be impossible without direct links
HAYI claimed responsibility for an arson attack that torched four ambulances belonging to the Hatzolah Jewish charity in north London on March 23. Four individuals have now been arrested and charged with arson; three of them have been named. They are Hamza Iqbal, 20; Rehan Khan, 19; and Judex Atshatshi, 18. A fourth person arrested has not been named because he is a minor.
According to British media reports, Iqbal, Khan, and the unnamed individual are British and Pakistani citizens. The three individuals arrested for the attack on Iran International also included a 16-year-old boy.
Essa Suleiman, 45, has been arrested for the May 1 Golders Green stabbing attacks, for which HAYI has also claimed responsibility. Suleiman is Somali-born, but holds British citizenship. It is worth noting that HAYI’s claim of responsibility did not include privileged information; it is possible that the group chose to claim responsibility after the fact. This remains to be ascertained.
None of these individuals is Iranian. What is known about their biographies, along with the age of some of the suspects, suggests that they are not veteran or trained IRGC operatives.
Given the clear Islamic affiliations of many of those named, it is possible, and even likely, that they acted out of some element of ideological or religious commitment. But their recruitment by HAYI and those behind it seems likely to have followed the ad hoc, disposable approach typical of “gig economy” terrorism.
THIS TYPE of recruitment, it’s worth noting, parallels the recruiting pattern adopted by the Iranians in their use of Israeli nationals for espionage and terror activity in Israel over the last three years. The use by states of criminal networks and unaffiliated individuals is part of the landscape of modern conflict. Given the technical challenges of remaining long off the grid, unobserved, or under an assumed identity in the modern context, this type of recruitment has obvious advantages.
As in other variants of the “gig economy,” it also has a positive aspect for the employer, who has no commitment or responsibilities regarding the employee.
Keir Starmer’s government is heavily dependent on the support of British Muslims; this may be affecting its decision-making, though it is still considered impolite in British political discussion to point this out.
The US and Israel’s battle with Iran is “not our war,” the British prime minister said this week. In the meantime, attacks on Jewish targets on British soil by HAYI, an organization clearly backed by the Iranian state, are taking place on a weekly basis.
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So HAYI is hater and hurter for hire. That’s like a branch of Muslim Murder Inc.
Does HAYI have a teen-ager junior cadre yet ?
Anything to be learned from erasure of Thugee and Assassins of yesteryear?
Meanwhile, the main perpetrators of all this anti-Semitic, anti-Western hate and violence keep on arriving by the thousands, the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, and the millions. And Starmer says it is not Britain’s fight.
I guess it’s time that we all go back to tending our gardens.
Meanwhile, the main perpetrators of all this anti-Semitic, anti-Western hate and violence keep on arriving by the thousands, the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, and the millions. And Starmer says it is not Britain’s fight.
I guess it’s time that we all go back to tending our gardens.