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Iran's Radicalism and Hamas's Fundamentalism Endanger Europe and Beyond

(Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) Pinhas Inbari - Since Trump ended his first presidency, Palestinian secular nationalism has declined, while the Palestinians' fundamentalist religious narrative is on the rise. Today, that narrative is imbued with Hamas Islamist ideology, which Iran is likely to deploy as a new means to destabilize Europe and, eventually, the U.S. In the recent Islamist violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the pogromists did not call for the liberation of Palestine or a Palestinian state; their passionate appeal was: "Jews are a cancer!" The outbreak in the Netherlands was only the latest in a spate of violence in all the European cities with large Muslim populations. When Hamas attacked Israel's Gaza border communities, it did not speak of a war of liberation and a Palestinian state, but, rather, of a religious war to liberate Jerusalem. Hamas called on all the fronts surrounding Israel to join the war under the cloak of religion. The name Hamas chose for the war - the Al-Aqsa Flood - was taken from the Islamic State, which used it after the group's establishment in Mosul, Iraq. Islamists believe that Allah will bring a worldwide flood and only those within the ark of the Islamic State will survive to establish a new world. The choice of this theme by Sinwar was meant to convey that Hamas was the successor to the Islamic State, and the liberation of Al-Aqsa would unite all the Muslims under the flag of Islam. The ominous events in Amsterdam indicate the degree to which Europe's Muslims have operationalized Hamas's messages. Radical Islam in Europe is taking a new form. Until now, the Muslim Brotherhood's leadership in Europe preferred a quiet infiltration of the European social and political milieu, rejecting the Islamic State's approach of terror attacks. The writer, a veteran Arab affairs correspondent, is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center.
2024-11-17 00:00:00
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