Jihadi Jake

Jake Bilardi (1996 – 11 March 2015) renamed to Abu Abdulla al-Australi, commonly known as Jihadi Jake, was an 18-year old Australian suicide bomber considered among the youngest recruited from a Western nation. Bilardi has been labeled by the international media as a baby-faced White Jihadi, whose background has been described as radically different from other Western recruits and symbolizes youth issues more than ideological ones.

Early life
Bilardi was born and raised in Craigieburn, Victoria, Australia. Raised an atheist, Bilardi was the youngest of six children, an avid football fan, and had been described by his father, John, as shy and lonely. There have been claims that Bilardi was a victim of a form of bullying known as happy slapping in school.

Radicalization
According to Bilardi's blog, he first expressed admiration for the Mujahideen after reading about abuses committed by United States forces against Muslims in the Middle East. He became radical after his mother died of cancer in 2013. By 2014, he openly supported Osama Bin Laden on Facebook. Concerned that the Australian government was monitoring him, Bilardi turned to building explosives in the event he would not be able to leave the country. He discovered acquiring explosive materials was more difficult than leaving the country and left in 2014 for Iraq after contacting an al-Qaeda recruiter from Jabhat al-Nusra, in August of that year.

Death
Bilardi died in a coordinated suicide attack in Ramadi, Iraq on 11 March 2015. The Iraqi Army stated Bilardi's attack was unsuccessful, killing only himself. ISIL used his death as propaganda, to shame boys from Muslim families into joining the conflict in Syria and Iraq. According to a friend, Bilardi was concerned his family would "spend eternity in hell" for being non-believers.

Reaction
Bilardi's radicalization was comparably different from other recruits. Unlike others, he was raised an atheist and from a Western family background. Professor Greg Barton, director of the Centre for Islam and the Modern World, considers Bilardi a self-radical motivated by underlying mental health issues instead of religious zealotry. Miranda Devine of the Daily Telegraph believes Bilardi was radicalized by the "banality of life", suggesting vulnerable and impressionable teenagers need strong guidiance, otherwise terrorism becomes a possible outlet.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, commented on Bilardi’s death as an “absolutely horrific situation”, stating, “it’s very, very important that we do everything we can to try to safeguard our young people against the lure of this shocking, alien and extreme ideology.”