|
|
|
|
§ In the four European countries most targeted by terror attacks --
Britain, France, Belgium and Germany -- the number of official extremists
has reached 66,000. That sounds like a real army -- on active duty.
§ The terrorists' ransom is already visible: they have destabilized
the democratic process in many European countries and are drafting the terms of
freedom of expression. A jihadist takeover of Europe is no longer unthinkable.
Islamic extremists are already reaping what they sowed: they successfully
defeated Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen, the only two European candidates who
really wanted to fight radical Islam.
§ Europe could be taken over the same way Islamic State took over
much of Iraq: with just one-third of Iraqi territory.
"Germany is quietly building a
European army under its command," according to some in the
media. Apparently German Chancellor Angela Merkel, after her clash with U.S.
President Donald Trump, would like to invest, along with France, in a European
army.
At present, however, there is just one
real army in Europe -- the Jihadist Army, as in the terrorists who struck
London on June 3 and murdered seven people,
just two weeks after carnage in Manchester.
In the four European countries most
targeted by terror attacks -- Britain, France, Belgium and Germany -- the
number of official extremists has reached 66,000. That sounds like a
real army, on active duty.
Intelligence officers have identified 23,000 Islamic extremists living in
Britain as potential terrorists. The number reveals the real extent
of the jihadist threat in the UK. The scale of the Islamist challenge facing
the security services was disclosed after intense criticism that many
opportunities to stop the Manchester suicide bomber had been overlooked.
French authorities are monitoring
15,000 Islamists, according a database created in March 2015 and
managed by France's Counter-Terrorism Coordination Unit. Different surveys
estimate up to 20,000 French radical Islamists.
The number on Belgium's anti-terror watch-list
surged from 1,875 in 2010 to 18,884 in 2017. In Molenbeek, the
well-known jihadist nest in the EU capital, Brussels, intelligence services are
monitoring 6,168 Islamists. Think about that: 18,884 Belgian jihadists compared
to 30,174 Belgian soldiers
on active duty.
The number of potential jihadists in
Germany has exploded from 3,800 in 2011 to 10,000, according to Hans-Georg Maassen, head
of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Germany's domestic
intelligence service).
These Islamists have built a powerful
infrastructure of terror inside Europe's cities. These terror bases are
self-segregated, multicultural enclaves in which extremist Muslims promote
Islamic fundamentalism and implement Islamic law, Sharia -- with the Tower Hamlets Taliban of
East London; in the French banlieues [suburbs], and in The Hague's
"sharia triangle",
known as "the mini-caliphate," in the Netherlands. These extremist
Muslims can comfortably get their weapons from the Balkans, where, thanks to
Europe's open borders, they can travel with ease. They can also get their money
from abroad, thanks to countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
These Islamists can self-finance through the mosques they run, as well as get
"human resources," donated by unvetted mass migration coming through
the Mediterranean.
23,000 potential jihadists in the UK,
18,000 in Belgium, 10,000 in Germany, 15,000 in France. What do these numbers
tell us? There might be a war in Europe "within a few years",
as the chief of the Swedish army, General Anders Brännström, told the men under
his command that they must expect.
Take what happened in Europe with the
terror attacks from 1970 to 2015:
"4,724 people died from bombings.
2,588 from assassinations. 2,365 from assaults. 548 from hostage situations.
159 from hijackings. 114 from building attacks. Thousands were wounded or
missing".
Terrorism across Europe has killed 10,537
people in 18,803 reported attacks. And it is getting worse:
"Attacks in 2014 and 2015 have seen
the highest number of fatalities, which includes terrorists targeting
civilians, government officials, businesses and the media, across Europe since
2004".
A jihadist takeover of Europe is no
longer unthinkable. Islamic extremists are already reaping what they sowed:
they successfully defeated Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen, the only two
European candidates who really wanted to fight radical Islam. What if tomorrow
these armed Islamists assault the Parliament in Rome, election polls in Paris,
army bases in Germany or schools in London, in a Beslan-type attack?
The terrorists' ransom is already
visible: they have destabilized the democratic process in many European
countries and are drafting the terms of freedom of expression. They have been
able to pressure Europe into moving the battle-front from the Middle East to
Europe itself. Of all the French soldiers engaged in military operations, half are deployed inside
France; in Italy, more than half of Italian soldiers are used in "Safe Streets," the
operation keeping Italy's cities safe.
Of all the French soldiers engaged in military operations, half are deployed inside France. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
|
After 9/11, the United States decided to
fight the Islamists in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to have to fight them in
Manhattan. Europe chose the opposite direction: it as if Europe had accepted to
turn its own cities into a new Mosul.
If Europe's leaders do not act now to
destroy the enemy within, the outcome may well come to be an "Afghan
scenario," in which Islamists control part of the territory from where
they launch attacks against cities. Europe could be taken over the same way
Islamic State took over much of Iraq: with just one-third of Iraqi territory.
Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
