Children of Jihad: ISIS Training 70 Dutch Children

At least 70 Dutch children, brought to Syria by jihadist parents, are said to be undergoing training by the Islamic State.

A shocking new report from the Dutch secret service (AIVD) shows that yet more children are being recruited into the ranks of the Islamic State. The agency claims that over 70 children are taking part in training which could include anything from military training to suicide attacks.

The head of the AIVD Rob Bert Holee said: “We can’t exclude any scenario,” at a conference in Berlin on the topic of tackling the threats of ISIS in Europe. He said that European countries need to be fully prepared for if and when children and their parents return from fighting in Syria N-TV reports.

Holee said that the 70 Dutch children were likely brought to Syria by their parents who either fight for ISIS themselves or are sympathizers of the group and moved to Syria to join the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate. Some of the children may even have been born in ISIS controlled territory.

The head of the German intelligence services Hans-Georg Maassen gave a press conference Monday in which he discussed the threat of ISIS in Germany, but could not give any concrete figures as to how many German children had gone to Syria to fight for ISIS or had been taken by their parents. At least one 13-year-old boy is known to have attempted to join the terrorist group but was apprehended at the Turkish-Syrian border.

Maassen did speak of the 15-year-old girl who stabbed a policeman in the neck in Hanover saying simply: “That’s a problem.” The teen was radicalized by ISIS propaganda and carried out the attack after she was brought back from Turkey where she attempted to cross over to Syria and join ISIS. The intelligence head said that the government needed to look at a new policy to give his agency more authority in order to better track minors who may try and travel to Syria to join the group.

ISIS are not the only Islamic terror organization to be recruiting children or trying to teach them the ways of jihad. In Palestine, the terror group Hamas, who govern the Gaza strip, have put on a children’s play where a Muslim girl stabs an Israeli and is then shot by Israeli soldiers. The play presents the girl as a hero or a martyr for randomly attacking an Israeli.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the play was tantamount to brainwashing and Israeli diplomat Ofir Gendelman commented: “If Palestinians have their children join this school play, it is no wonder that their children commit attacks when they are older.” The children who appeared in the play were between four and eight-years-old.