Community reacts to Goshen grad’s alleged ISIS involvement

BY ERIKA NORTON
GOSHEN — In the fall of 2014, 24-year-old Samy El-Goarany of Hamptonburgh began talking with an Arizona man through social media about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Prosecutors say he eventually joined the terrorist group and died fighting in Syria.
El-Goarany’s death last November was revealed to the public only this year, in papers filed on Oct. 17 and 18 in Manhattan federal court against the Arizona man, Ahmed Mohammed El Gammal, who has pleaded not guilty to helping El-Goarany travel to Syria and train with ISIS.
Quazi Al-Tariq, the founder of the Islamic Center of Middletown, the mosque attended by El-Goarany. He said he knows the El-Goarany family, especially Samy's father, Mohamed El-Goarany, but didn’t know Samy himself very well. He said Samy came to the mosque only for big events like Eid-Al-Adha, and once in a while for prayer on Fridays. But he was not a regular attendee.
Al-Tariq said the mosque held a funeral service for Samy El-Goarany last November. His family told them he had died in an accident and that his body was completely burned, which is why his body wasn’t present at the service.
Al-Tariq said El-Goarany’s family was devastated, so they didn’t ask any further questions.
Reached by phone, El-Goarany's father said he was not able to speak until El Gammal’s trial is finished.
Al-Tariq said he was stunned at the news El-Goarany may have been killed fighting for ISIS.
“It was an extreme surprise — for me at least — when I came to know on Wednesday (Oct. 19), when a reporter called me,” Al-Tariq said. “I was very shocked.
“We are proud of our Islamic center that we condemn this kind of behavior, and we are not with ISIS. ISIS is the number one enemy of Islam, and it is destroying....and somehow with the media or social networks, they are tracking the young people. I definitely believe they are brainwashing people all over the world. We need to look into that and what we can do to prevent this situation going forward.”

El-Goarany’s path to Syria

According to court papers, El-Goarany’s alleged path to extremism was through his social media activity. In the latter half of 2014, while a student at an unidentified Manhattan college, El-Goarany became more radical in his religious views and more vocal about his frustration over U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
At one point, El-Goarany allegedly sent out a social media message saying ISIS was the "reaction to the real problem which is US imperialism, mass murder, economic exploitation, systematic torture, the whole 9 yards."
Through different social media platforms, El-Goarany connected with El Gammal of Arizona, and for several months, discussed traveling to Syria to join ISIS, prosecutors say. The two eventually met in New York City in October 2014.
After plans were made online with an acquaintance of El Gammal, El-Goarany left New York City on Jan. 26, 2015, and flew to Istanbul, Turkey, without telling his parents or friends, prosecutors say. Shortly thereafter, El-Goarany made it to Syria, where he received several months of military training from ISIS.
In the midst of his training, in February 2015, El-Goarany sent his brother an online message that ended with, “I just want to let you know everything is normal and safe and I'm having a great time Bro. I got a lot to talk about with u...just stay calm and please remind (our parents) that everything is cool.”
Later that year, in November, prosecutors say an unidentified person contacted a relative to say El-Goarany was killed fighting in Syria. The person provided photos of a handwritten note in which El-Goarany said, "If you're reading this then know that I've been killed in battle.”
El-Goarany also made a YouTube video before he died, prosecutors say. In the video, he claims he is in the Islamic State and attempts to clear the name of El Gammal, who was arrested in August 2015. El Gammal’s lawyers said in court papers that the video is unreliable and should be precluded from his trial.
They also challenged El-Goarany's note, saying claims of his death were "unreliable” and could have been sent so that El-Goarany could “disappear.”

'Keep your eyes and ears open'

After El-Goarany’s story came to light, it came up at the mosque’s prayer gathering, Al-Tariq said. He said he encouraged the leader of the mosque to tell members, “Please, keep your eyes and ears open with your children especially, what they are doing, what’s happening.” If parents notice something, he said, they can get their child to a counselor or help in some other way.
“They can change their ideology because what they are learning (online) is not what Islam is all about,” Al-Tariq said. “They need to know more than what they are told by this ISIS group. They are making them their empathizers. That’s one of the major issues that we are facing here, I think all over the world. Our community was very good and I was proud of our community, that we are away from all this violence and aggression with ISIS involvement.”
Al-Tariq said he wants El-Goarany’s family to share their experience so that other families can recognize the early warning signs of radicalization.
Samy El-Goarany graduated from Goshen High School in 2008. A 2010 Goshen graduate who knew Samy through his brother Tarek but wished to remain anonymous said Samy had “a gentle personality, liked to laugh, and made music with his friends.” She said she was “horrified by the reactions of the general public,” and that “the family deserves respect and support.”
“I am saddened how easily people want to forget he was a human being, with friends and family who loved him," she said. "Our focus should be on the people out there who are intentionally seeking out others to radicalize. I have only love for the family, and I hope others are able to demonstrate empathy during this really difficult time.”