"We'll always have Damascus..."

From a recent report on Jihad Watch:

A woman from London has appeared in court charged with trying to help fund terrorism in Syria “by smuggling €20,000 (£16,500) in her knickers”. 

Scotland Yard said Nawal Msaad, 26, has been charged along with alleged co-conspirator Amal Elwahabi, 27, with trying to make money available for another, knowing or having reason to suspect it would be used for the purposes of terrorism.

The pair exchanged a tearful embrace at Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday before speaking only to confirm their names, addresses and dates of birth. They are the first British women to be charged with terrorism offences in relation to the Syrian conflict...

She was allegedly caught trying to board a flight to Turkey while carrying €20,000 wrapped in cling film hidden in her knickers...

Four things impress themselves on the careful reader who also notices the photograph of the young Muslima in question, Nawal (and one can easily Google others, such as this one, and this one) :

1) She looks decidedly Westernized (as Robert Spencer wryly noted:  "From the looks of her photo, she appears to be “moderate”—no hijab, apparently out at a party—but she was committed to the jihad nonetheless.")

2) This underscores -- as has been noted time and time and time and time and time again -- the prevalence among Muslims, in and out of the West, of international jihad (Muslims are quite the cosmopolitan jihad jet-setters)

3) Muslims like Nawal and her boyfriend are starry-eyed true believers in jihad: they are sincerely fanatical ideologues, willing to risk their lives and their money to go fight and kill, and die, for the cause of Islam

4) They are not immune from romantic feelings (the tearful parting noted above) -- an aspect that, were it to display itself in other seemingly benign contexts, would easily fool many Westerners -- including many in the Counter-Jihad -- into thinking they must be decent folks like the rest of us, with hearts that can be touched, etc.