January 3, 2015: Jewish, and especially Israeli, teenagers are facing more harassment on the Internet and the perpetrators are usually Moslem teenagers. As more Moslems gain Internet access this is to be expected. That’s because impressionable teenagers have always been the easiest people for Islamic terrorist groups to influence and recruit. While many such enthusiastic Moslem teenagers like to talk about becoming a Holy Warrior (for some Islamic terrorist group) few act on it. But many eagerly participate in “Internet jihad” by backing Islamic terrorist ideas and groups online and attacking Jews and any Moslems or non-Moslems who speak up against Islamic terrorism.

It’s only in the last year that the percentage of Internet users among Moslems passed 20 percent. Next to sub-Saharan Africa, Moslems have the lowest percent of Internet users. At the same time over half of Chinese and even higher percentages in the West and highly developed nations like Taiwan, South Korea and Japan have access.

In the Moslem world cultural factors (high levels of corruption, poor economies, low education levels and religious resistance to such technology) made the growth of Internet use difficult. But while the growth in Internet use benefitted Islamic terrorist recruiters and fund raisers it also turned out that most Moslems Internet users were, in general, more favorably disposed towards the West and non-Moslems in general. While the vitriolic Internet attacks on non-Moslems by Moslem teenagers gets the headlines, what causes more of a stir in the Islamic world was how Internet access made it more difficult for Islamic conservatives to dominate the lives and views of other Moslems. That’s one reason why many Islamic conservatives (and nearly all Islamic terrorist groups) prohibit (or try to) use of the Internet. Even Islamic terrorist groups find that their young members, even some of the most dedicated, are avid Internet users. There are plenty of Internet sites catering to Islamic terrorists and if that’s all there was on the Internet Islamic terrorist leaders would have no problem with it. But most of what is on the Internet is haram (forbidden) to pious Moslems and conservative clerics and Islamic terrorists leaders don’t believe the average Moslem can handle all those temptations (especially the porn and anti-terrorist arguments of many Moslem scholars and clerics).

Another reason Islamic terrorists dislike the Internet (and cell phones in general) is that in any Moslem community there are Moslems who dislike Islamic terrorists in a big way and are inclined to discretely call, text or email the police and report local Islamic terrorist activity. Before cell phones came along many Moslems had no access to any phones and because of the corruption in Moslem nations, those countries that did have land-line phones priced them so high that most Moslems could not afford it. Cell phones were not only more convenient but were difficult for the government to control. So the cell phones were cheap enough for most people (or at least families) to afford, even in the poorest countries (like Afghanistan). When Islamic terrorists try to shut down cell phone service in an area, especially a place like Afghanistan, there is often armed resistance. So while the anti-Semitic postings get the most media attention, it’s the quiet, anonymous tips from Moslems reporting Islamic terrorist activity that are making the most difference.