Singaporean, 20, detained under ISA for plan to kill three Jews
Terrorism experts concerned by two recent cases of young radicals willing to kill their fellow Singaporeans
A Singaporean youth planned to carry out a fatal attack on Jews at a synagogue here after becoming convinced that Israel was oppressing Palestinians.
He had intended to use a Smith & Wesson knife he had bought in 2016 for scouting activities to kill three Jewish men at the Maghain Aboth Synagogue in Waterloo Street on a Saturday after Jewish congregational prayers.
But Amirull Ali was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) last month before he could carry out his plan, the Internal Security Department (ISD) said yesterday.
Amirull, 20, is the first self-radicalised Singaporean who was primarily driven by the Palestine-Israel conflict to be detained under the ISA, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam said during a visit to the Maghain Aboth Synagogue yesterday.
"He's not being detained because he sympathised with the Palestinian cause. He's being detained because he wanted to kill innocent people in Singapore to show his support for the Palestinians," added Mr Shanmugam.
ALERTED
When he was arrested, Amirull, who had developed an interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict as early as in 2014, was serving his full-time national service in the Singapore Armed Forces.
The ISD was alerted by the Ministry of Defence about the possibility of his radicalisation, which was confirmed after ISD's investigation.
Mr Shanmugam said that while Amirull had intended to kill Jewish men on the assumption that they would have served national service in Israel, a large part of the Jewish community here are Singapore citizens and would have served national service here.
Amirull is the second young Singaporean to be detained under the ISA in recent months for planning fatal attacks on places of worship.
Last December, a radicalised 16-year-old Christian Protestant boy of Indian ethnicity was detained before he could carry out his plan to attack Muslims with a machete at two mosques in Woodlands and Sembawang.
Dr Rohan Gunaratna, professor of security studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told The New Paper about his concern over the cases of Singaporeans radicalised by hateful ideologies to the extent of wanting to kill their fellow Singaporeans.
Since 2015, the ISD has picked up 32 radicalised Singaporeans. But there have been few reported cases of planned attacks here until recently.
Dr Gunaratna said: "The influence of such harmful ideologies from overseas has the potential to threaten Singapore's social fabric and should be countered."
In 2018, Amirull was told by a foreign contact that he would be a martyr if he were to die fighting against the enemies of Islam on the battlefield.
Three years earlier, he started supporting Hamas' military wing - the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades - after reading a book glorifying its exploits in fighting for Palestinian rights.
Amirull shelved his plans to attack Jews here twice - in October 2019 and Dec 25 last year - out of concern that he would not attain martyrdom should he be arrested and sentenced to death after the attacks.
The ISD said: "If Amirull had remained undetected, he might have eventually carried out his attack plans in Singapore or travelled abroad to undertake armed violence."
Associate Professor Bilveer Singh said that the aim of radical movements is to dehumanise the enemy.
The deputy head of the department of political science in the National University of Singapore said people influenced by these movements are brainwashed into thinking their victims are "not fellow citizens but targets who have done wrong and need to be destroyed".
Online radicalisation by these movements is often powerful, and Singapore's nation-building efforts must be strong enough to counter it.
"Family units, schools and the community must play a part as well. We need to keep asking ourselves whether we are doing enough," Prof Bilveer added.
"Should an attack happen, we must have an understanding that a deviant person is behind it and ensure that the bonds within our community remain resilient to overcome the tragedy."