Australia finally feels the ripples of Islamist terrorism on its own shores

It was a scene that Australians are hitherto unfamiliar with. Terrified civilians forced at gunpoint to press a black flag, bearing the shahādah – the Islamic declaration of faith, most notably used as a battle banner by Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda’s franchise in Syria – against the Lindt café window. The gunman, aside from a chat with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, requested a proper Islamic State flag, which, in fairness, would be hard to come by in Sydney these days.

The perpetrator, Man Haron Monis, was well known to authorities. Facing more than 40 sexual and indecent assault charges, he had a conviction for sending offensive letters to families of deceased Australian soldiers, describing a dead Australian soldier as ‘the dirty body of a pig’.

Australia has finally felt the maiden ripples of the long war against Islamist terrorism on its own shores. This battle, as David Martin Jones and MLR Smith argue,