Photo: AFP
The two teenagers who failed in their attempt to cause carnage and mayhem by throwing homemade IEDs in the streets near Gracie Mansion last weekend are now being charged by the feds with providing material aid to ISIS. In fact, after their arrests, 18-year-old Emir Balat and 19-yesr-old Ibrahim Kayumi continued spouting their loyalty to the terror outlet, with Balat even flashing ISIS signs, much like a gang member would flash gang symbols. Asking how they are dealt with from here is important, but asking how these two turned on the United States in the first place is equally important.
On 710 WOR’S Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte in the Morning program, Curtis and Larry tackled how these teens became indoctrinated in their hatred for their new homeland. Mendte, who hails from Pennsylvania, not far from where Balat and Kuyami lived in Bucks County, explained to Curtis and the WOR audience the two important tidbits to glean from the failed terrorist attempt.
The first thing Mendte indicated was how kids who play video games feel they have a connection with other “gamers” they meet online and are instead being recruited to commit heinous acts: ”How did this family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, of all places, how did these kids get indoctrinated into ISIS? And the answer is- video games. ISIS is apparently on Discord all the time and talking to these kids all the time, and trying to find some that they may be able to indoctrinate. And when these kids, when Emir and Ibrahim, said we’ve got friends, one’s in Kuwait, one’s in Turkiye, I want to go visit with them, the parents let them, because that’s their world. And they went over there, and this is what happened.”
Mendte then stressed that we have to be vigilant, because the odds are they probably aren’t the only radicalized teens in the country: “He was smiling the entire time! He was proud of what he didn’t do; I don’t know why he was proud of failing. Thank God he did, but he was proud of what he did. It shows you how indoctrinated he was. He was fully in. He was ISIS at that point, so, they’re here- that’s the other lesson of this.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images