24 ISSN 2334-3745 June 2018 PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 12, Issue 3 Jihadi Beheading Videos and their Non-Jihadi Echoes by Ariel Koch Abstract In recent years, the Islamic State terror organization has become notorious for its evil brutality. he brutal nature of its propaganda (distributed mostly online) inspires Jihadi sympathizers around the world, encouraging them to use violence against “the enemies of Islam”. his form of violent behavior has also been adopted and imitated by others – including non-Muslim individuals and groups – regardless of their geographic location, worldview, religion, ethnicity, or nationality. Drawing from numerous examples, this article illustrates two processes: irst, the “mainstreaming” of beheadings among Jihadists, and second, the imitation of this method (decapitation) by individuals motivated by other kinds of extremism. Keywords: Beheadings, Contagious Behavior, Copycat Crime, Islamic State, Propaganda, Social Media Introduction: Mainstreaming Beheadings he emergence of the Islamic State (IS) organization shocked the West with a wave of terrorism that was accompanied by propaganda campaigns of beheadings,[1] aimed at terrifying “the enemies of Islam” and inspiring its sympathizers to attack the West.[2] Omar Mateen, the Orlando Pulse club shooter, for instance, downloaded and watched IS beheading videos for two years prior to his attack.[3] he assailants of the Rouen church attack recorded themselves slicing the throat of an 84-year-old priest.[4] In the United States as well, a man who was “obsessed with beheadings” beheaded his co-worker.[5] Beheadings are nothing new these days, and this IS-style gore propaganda,[6] which has been distributed online since early 2000s, is echoed on television, in ilm, and even in video games.[7] It was also relected on the Der Spiegel cover page of its February 2017 issue, which depicted the United States’ president, Donald Trump as Jihadi John, the notorious British IS executioner.[8] In Belgium, football fans “unfurled a giant banner depicting the severed head of an opponent.”[9] As it seems, in the twenty-irst century beheadings have gone mainstream. It is no longer alien to our reality. While the academic literature on execution videos as Jihadi propaganda focuses on related security issues, or strategic, cultural, political and religious dimensions, little attention is being paid to the manifestations of these videos among non-Muslims. In other words, these videos have a contagious efect. Although Jihadi gore videos attract the world’s attention, Jihadists are deinitely not the only violent actors who use this brutal method; and Jihadists’ videos—nowadays produced mainly by IS—have inspired non-Jihadi actors. As is evident below, these videos afect the youth and are even linked to non-Islamic violent crimes derived from ideological, mental or criminal motives.[10] In other words, this article deals with copycat crimes, as the technique used by Jihadists (beheading) is being imitated by non-Muslims, who were exposed to this very particular method. he academic literature on copycat violence is extensive. Researchers in the United States note that, the “media contagion” efect fuels copycat crimes such as mass shootings.[11] According to Ray Surette, the perpetrator of copycat crimes “must have been exposed to the media content of the original crime and must have incorporated major elements of that crime in his or her crime.” He added that “[t]he choice of victim, the motivation, or the technique in a copycat crime must have been lited from an earlier, media-detailed generator crime.”[12] Additionally, Jacqueline B. Helfgott wrote that “[i]mitated crimes have occurred ater intense media coverage” of violent incidents, and “ater ictional depictions [of crimes][…] on TV, in ilm, and in video games.”[13] In regard to the possible efects of IS beheading videos Arie W. Kruglanski said that “the very concept of beheading, that was virtually non-existent in our conscience prior to these events being propagated, is