The edition of Dabiq, the online magazine of the Islamic State (IS), that followed the horrific Paris attacks (130 dead) glorified the work of what it called the “eight knights” who carried out the killings. It rejoiced, too, in the downing of a Russian airliner (224 dead), picturing the homemade bomb it said caused the crash. together, these constituted what the magazine called “blessed attacks” against “crusader nations”. Other “brave knights” who carried out terrorist attacks in Australia, America, Israel and Jordan in the autumn of 2015 are said to have “sacrificed their souls in the noblest of deeds in pursuit of Allah’s pleasure”.