I guess some ISIS supporters are ignoring credible reports that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was probably gay and mentally ill and wasn't really religious at all and are trying to claim him as one of their own. In a new, essentially empty threat video from ISIS/ISIL recruiters, partly in Arabic but featuring other languages as well, including French, images of the aftermath of the shooting and of Mateen are juxtaposed with images of soft targets like the Las Vegas strip, and random cell phone video that tourists took on the Golden Gate Bridge and on the Powell Street cable car. (Fast forward all the way to the last minute of the video above.)
As CBS 5 translates, part of the footage is accompanied by one of the armed men in the video saying, "Arise, o Muslims and kill the unbelievers in their own homes."
The station speaks with its own "security analyst" who tries to draw some connection between the video's release and this past weekend's Pride celebrations, but that doesn't appear to supported in the video itself.
Also, as the Chronicle reports, the French-speaking man in the video refers to Mateen as one of "my brothers," and says, "You have pleased our hearts, you have pleased the hearts of Muslims," adding something about ignoring all "hate from the hypocrites of the Muslim community."
The SFPD and the FBI say that there are no credible threats against the Bay Area, but of course as we've learned over the last eight months, law enforcement is not likely to have any warning of lone-wolf type attacks like the one in San Bernardino, or coordinated suicide attacks like the ones in Paris. Still, FBI spokesperson Prentice Danner tells the paper, "We are aware of the video. We can’t confirm its validity. We’re not aware of any credible threat."
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who sits on the U.S. Homeland Security Committee and who is running against CA Attorney General Kamala Harris for Barbara Boxer's Senate seat in the fall, reminds us that threats against the Bay Area have basically come on the regular since September 11. "Let me tell you something about the Bay Area and California: we’ve never been spared," she tells CBS 5. "We’ve had just really good intelligence and people working every day to keep us safe."
Not sure that that's any comfort...
Hopefully some more graphic gay sex stories like this one will emerge about Mateen so these ISIS fools will stop wanting to claim him as their own and hold him up as a hero.
Previously: Orlando Mass Shooter Had Been To Gay Club A Dozen Times, Messaged Man On Dating App