UC Merced Update:Jihad, Intifada or Both?

Yesterday, I added an update to my posting on the UC Merced stabbing. Ever since it happened, I have been speculating as to whether Faisal Mohammad was carrying out an act of intifada in solidarity with the recent rash of Palestinian stabbings of Israelis. I particularly wanted to know if any of his victims-especially the first student stabbed in the classroom- was Jewish.

Last night, I was advised by a credible Jewish source in Merced that no Jews were harmed in the attack.

While I don't yet consider that conclusive, if true, I would now tend to discount the anti-Jewish aspect to the incident. I understand there are not too many Jews at Merced though there are both Hillel and Bobcats (UCM mascot) for Israel chapters at the school.

Focusing on the jihad aspect, in spite of the Merced County sheriff's statements, I still believe there was more to the attack than just anger at certain students for being kicked out of a study group.

Why did Mohammad plan to kill as many people as he could as opposed to only those specific students who had angered him?

Why did his manifesto contain numerous references to praising Allah including reminders to praise Allah as he was carrying out his attack? Did he really think Allah would be pleased that he was killing students whose only offense was kicking him out of a study group?

Why would he behead his victims as is reportedly reflected in his manifesto? Beheading is not only the preferred method of murder of ISIS, but is the traditional method of killing throughout the history of Islam.

And now there is this:

"Mohammad's family has not come forward and attempts to locate them were unsuccessful."

If you will recall there was a delay in publicly identifying Mohammad-not because he was not known, rather because they could not identify his family for notification purposes. And they are still not around? Doesn't that raise more suspicion? According to Islamic tradition, Mohammad should have been buried within 24 hours of his death (assuming authorities released his body). Why would the family not want to try and bury their son within the 24-hour period?

Here is a wild guess and it is pure speculation:

Could it be that someone in his family advised him that he should avenge his honor at the hands of infidels?

Unfortunately, I suspect that we will have to dig deeper to get past the official line of the authorities.