TEL AVIV – A window into the extremist mindset of San Bernardino jihadist Syed Rizwan Farook was provided by his father Syed Farook, who described his son as supporting the Islamic State’s ideology and being “obsessed with Israel.”
Syed Farook provided an interview to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, where he said:
My son said that he shared [IS leader Abu Bakr] Al Baghdadi’s ideology and supported the creation of the Islamic State. He was also obsessed with Israel.
I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore. Geopolitics is changing: Russia, China and America don’t want Jews there any more. They are going to bring the Jews back to Ukraine. What is the point of fighting? We have already done it and we lost. Israel is not to be fought with weapons, but with politics. But he did not listen to me, he was obsessed.”
Asked if he knew whether Syed Rizwan Farook had contacts with terrorist organizations, the father replied, “I do not know. But these days, who knows, with the internet and all that technology. ”
US correspondent Paolo Mastrolilli inquired whether Farook believes his son may have been radicalized by his 29-year-old wife, Tashfeen Malik. “Maybe, I do not know,” he replied.
A closer look at Syed Farook’s statement that “Israel is not to be fought with weapons but with politics” may indicate support for the general worldview of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood advocates the use of politics and nonviolent means to defeat Israel and the West and to create an Islamic caliphate.