{"id":122206,"date":"2025-06-28T17:05:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T15:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=122206"},"modified":"2025-06-28T07:47:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T05:47:06","slug":"28-05-108","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=122206","title":{"rendered":"Towards Jihadist Pogroms in Europe?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"center alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/images\/gatestone-logo-1000.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"50%\" \/><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/21704\/jihadist-pogroms-in-europe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Towards Jihadist Pogroms in Europe?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Drieu Godefridi<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\" \/>\n<ul class=\"content_preface_bullets\">\n<li><strong>Europol reports indicate that Europe is now home to tens of thousands of radicalized individuals. The attacks in Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016) demonstrate the feasibility of complex operations by small groups.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Will people who criticize Islam be dragged through the courts by a desperate regime, while those who outspokenly fantasize about murdering Jews are granted a blank check?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Is quoting Islamic law &#8220;inflammatory&#8221;? The answer is completely arbitrary. The European Court of Human Rights often upholds convictions if statements about Islam are deemed to disrupt &#8220;religious peace&#8221; or &#8220;target Muslims&#8221;. This subjective determination reflects a legal trend in Europe to prioritize &#8220;social cohesion&#8221; over freedom of speech, unlike the U.S. First Amendment.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Whomsoever God has cursed, and with whom He is wroth, and made some of them apes and swine, and worshippers of idols \u2014 they are worse situated, and have gone further astray from the right way.&#8221; \u2014 Qur&#8217;an 5:65.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;And He brought down those of the People of the Book who supported them from their fortresses and cast terror in their hearts; some you slew, some you made captive. And He bequeathed upon you their lands, their habitations, and their possessions, and a land you never trod. God is powerful over everything.&#8221; \u2014 Qur&#8217;an 33:26.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>In such a cultural context, in this atmosphere of hatred, can it not be considered legitimate or even desirable, from that perspective, to participate in collective action against Jews?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Let us never forget that the vast majority of Muslims in Europe are peaceful and take no part in terrorist activity. But even if only 0.01% of Europe&#8217;s Muslims were to take up the cause and seek revenge for the supposed &#8220;genocide&#8221; committed by &#8220;the Jews&#8221;, this would still represent thousands of potential &#8220;jihadists&#8221;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/pics\/5401.jpg\" width=\"100%\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Europol reports indicate that Europe is now home to tens of thousands of radicalized individuals. The attacks in Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016) demonstrate the feasibility of complex operations by small groups. Pictured: Rescue teams evacuate wounded people outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels on March 22, 2016, after jihadi terrorists exploded a bomb there. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Europe in 2025 has been facing rising tensions linked to Islamist\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ispionline.it\/en\/publication\/political-islam-in-europe-challenges-and-implications-203300\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">radicalization<\/a>, These have been fueled by conflicts in the Middle East, jihadist\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/securityanddefence.pl\/Pro-Daesh-jihadist-propaganda-A-study-of-social-media-and-video-games,103197,0,2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">propaganda<\/a>\u00a0on social networks and\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu\/document\/download\/30b50d2c-49aa-4250-9ca6-27a0347cf009_en?filename=White%20Paper.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gaps<\/a>\u00a0in security coordination among countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Imagine a handful of individuals, mostly radicalized European Muslims, between the ages of 18 and 35, operating in major European cities such as Brussels, Paris or Berlin, and determined to avenge &#8220;the Palestinians&#8221;. This network decides to strike Jewish Europeans, massacre as many as possible, spread terror among Jews and non-Muslims \u2013 all &#8220;<i>kuffars<\/i>&#8220;, unbelievers in Allah &#8212; and to pit one community against another. They gather in unmonitored mosques, on encrypted internet forums or through recruiters in the Middle East. Together, to maximize the psychological and media impact, they plan a coordinated attack, inspired by Hamas&#8217;s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Their target: a high-profile public event, such as a cultural festival, a march against antisemitism, a pro-Israel rally, or a so-called &#8220;republican march&#8221;, as it is known in France. Their attack could be paired with a secondary target, such as a Jewish community center or synagogue, to remind the international community who the villain is supposed to be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The group acquires edged weapons, smuggled firearms (pistols and assault rifles from the Balkans or local criminal networks) \u2014 which in Brussels, for example, are reportedly as\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vrt.be\/vrtnws\/en\/2023\/10\/18\/how-do-terrorists-get-hold-of-military-weapons-in-belgium-fig\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">easy<\/a>\u00a0to obtain as a packet of cigarettes \u2014 and homemade explosives, produced with available chemicals. Rental vans are available for vehicle-ramming attacks. These &#8220;vigilante terrorists&#8221;, ostensibly supporting Palestine &#8212; although it is still unclear how killing &#8220;infidels&#8221; makes the lives of Palestinian Arabs any better; there will still be the same atrocious governance and no economic future &#8212; they communicate via encrypted apps, such as Signal, and prepare videos to be streamed live on TikTok. Their subsequent attacks end with the intervention of special forces. The Muslims among the assailants might prefer to die as &#8220;martyrs&#8221; rather than negotiate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The death toll could rise to hundreds, depending on the effectiveness of the attack and the speed of the security response. Authorities would declare a state of emergency, tighten border controls and increase surveillance of communities deemed at risk. Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations would break out, deepening social tensions. A group affiliated with the Islamic State or Hamas would claim responsibility for the attacks via a video posted on X, and call for more such actions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Unthinkable? Europol reports\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.europol.europa.eu\/media-press\/newsroom\/news\/new-report-terrorists-exploiting-global-tensions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">indicate<\/a>\u00a0that Europe is now home to tens of thousands of radicalized individuals. The attacks in Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016) demonstrate the feasibility of complex operations by small groups. Conflicts in the Middle East, combined with insufficient coordination among intelligence services and the easy availability of weapons on the black market, have increased vulnerabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>In Europe, hatred of Jews is again the norm<\/b><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">What makes the resurgence of jihadist pogroms in Europe not just plausible, but perhaps even likely, is the silky normalization of antisemitic rhetoric. Already in 2018, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights published its second survey on antisemitism in the EU. The survey\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/fra.europa.eu\/en\/publication\/2018\/experiences-and-perceptions-antisemitism-second-survey-discrimination-and-hate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stated<\/a>\u00a0that &#8220;antisemitic harassment is so widespread, it has become normalized.&#8221; In other words, a discourse of murderous hatred towards Jews is resurfacing on European streets at levels not seen since the 1930s and 1940s. In countries such as France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, those who publicly express hatred of Jews enjoy near-total impunity. In Belgium, the author Herman Brusselmans\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/belgian-writer-acquitted-charges-antisemitism-herman-brusselsmans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">expressed<\/a>\u00a0that &#8220;I want to ram a pointed knife straight down the throat of every Jew I meet,&#8221; and faced\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/belgian-writer-acquitted-charges-antisemitism-herman-brusselsmans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no consequences<\/a>. Adolf Hitler, in his public declarations, was often more restrained than that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In recent years, the &#8220;left&#8221; and &#8220;far-left&#8221; who have attempted to cloak their antisemitism under term &#8220;anti-Zionism,&#8221; increasingly no longer bother with such pretenses. Why should they, when prosecutions for inciting hatred against Jews remain rare? Will people who criticize Islam be dragged through the courts by a desperate regime, while those who outspokenly fantasize about murdering Jews are granted a blank check?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Most European countries lack explicit blasphemy laws (the UK repealed theirs in 2008, as did Ireland in 2020), but hate speech, public order, and anti-discrimination laws are often applied to critique of Islam. The 2008 EU Framework\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bug-ev.org\/en\/topics\/focus-areas\/dossiers\/hate-crime\/hate-crime-legislation\/framework-decision-on-combating-racism-and-xenophobia#:~:text=After%20lengthy%20negotiations%2C%20the%20Council,a%20racist%20or%20xenophobic%20background.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Decision<\/a>\u00a0on combating racism and xenophobia requires member states to criminalize incitement to hatred based on religion, which includes criticism perceived as inflammatory. For instance, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a lecturer, was\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/hudoc.echr.coe.int\/fre#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-187188%22]}\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">convicted<\/a>\u00a0for comments made during a seminar on Islam in Austria, where she described the Islamic Prophet Muhammad&#8217;s marriage to Aisha as having &#8220;pedophile tendencies&#8221; due to Aisha&#8217;s age (married at six, with the marriage consummated when she was nine). This event is said to be historical\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/2702\/sabaditsch-wolff-appeal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fact<\/a>, related by the Hadith, the second most sacred source of Islamic law after the Qur&#8217;an. Is quoting Islamic law &#8220;inflammatory&#8221;? The answer is completely arbitrary. The European Court of Human Rights often upholds convictions if statements about Islam are deemed to disrupt &#8220;religious peace&#8221; or &#8220;target Muslims&#8221;. This subjective determination reflects a legal trend in Europe to prioritize &#8220;social cohesion&#8221; over freedom of speech, unlike the U.S. First Amendment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Organizations such as the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ)\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/eclj.org\/free-speech\/un\/backsliding-on-freedom-of-speech-echr-un-france\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">argue<\/a>\u00a0that these laws create a chilling effect, where factual or historical criticism of Islam (such as discussing Muhammad&#8217;s life) risks prosecution if deemed offensive. Yet these cautions, when it comes to protecting Islam, disappear completely when it comes to demonizing Jews. Then, it is suddenly an open bar. Everything, absolutely anything, can be said about the Jews, the more psychopathic, the better. It is quite obvious that Brusselmans&#8217; statements, in the context of anti-Jewish hatred in Europe, can only make simple minds more resolute to &#8220;make the Jews pay&#8221; for &#8220;Palestine&#8221;. This is not free speech. It is a call to murder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Can we not see the disturbing similarity between this rhetoric and that of National Socialism in the 1920s? Are we now supposed to distinguish between &#8220;bad Nazism&#8221; and &#8220;good Nazism&#8221; \u2014 that still calls to murder Jews, this time ostensibly &#8220;for the Palestinians&#8221;?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In addition, the European &#8220;left&#8221; and &#8220;far-left&#8221; \u2014 often indistinguishable \u2014 have adopted Hamas&#8217;s false claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Genocide presumably means the total eradication of the Palestinian people. Yet no available data, not even from Hamas, supports this claim. Nonetheless, &#8220;left-wing&#8221; and &#8220;far-left&#8221; parties in Europe have made &#8220;fighting the genocide of the Palestinian people&#8221; a key electoral argument.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Imagine, for a moment, being a young Muslim there \u2014 newly arrived or not, or a convert. This individual is saturated daily with messages, both on social media and in the mainstream press, declaring that Israel \u2014 &#8220;the Jews&#8221; \u2014 are committing one of the greatest massacres in modern history against Muslims. From birth, this young person has been told day-in and day-out that his primary identity is Muslim, that he belongs to the\u00a0<i>ummah<\/i>\u00a0(the Muslim nation) and to Allah \u2014 and that his ties to his family or nationality are secondary, irrelevant, or even meaningless. The Koran, the\u00a0<i>sunnah<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/ulumalazhar.com\/fiqh-in-islam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fiqh<\/a><\/i>\u00a0&#8212; Islamic laws &#8220;essential for every Muslim as it ensures correct worship, guides moral conduct, and provides practical solutions for personal and social challenges. By integrating faith into every aspect of life,\u00a0<i>fiqh<\/i>\u00a0helps Muslims live in harmony,&#8221; teach that Muslims have both the right and the duty to take up arms and fight &#8220;in the path of Allah&#8221; against the enemies of Islam. &#8220;A jihadist,&#8221;\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/resolve.cambridge.org\/core\/books\/abs\/genealogy-of-evil\/modern-jihadist-ideological-foundations\/8E64DEEB8FD3FE0908C3CBDEA4102AC7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote<\/a>\u00a0David Patterson, &#8220;by sacred Islamic definition, must fight and kill in order to be righteous.&#8221; Starting, of course, with the Jews \u2014 who are described as the sworn enemies of Muslims even\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/jcpa.org\/article\/verses-and-reality-what-the-koran-really-says-about-jews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in the Qur&#8217;an<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><i>Say: &#8220;People of the Book, do you blame us for any other cause than that we believe in God, and what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down before, and that most of you are ungodly?&#8230;&#8221;<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Whomsoever God has cursed, and with whom He is wroth, and made some of them apes and swine, and worshippers of idols \u2014 they are worse situated, and have gone further astray from the right way. (5:64-65)<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>And He brought down those of the People of the Book who supported them from their fortresses and cast terror in their hearts; some you slew, some you made captive. And He bequeathed upon you their lands, their habitations, and their possessions, and a land you never trod. God is powerful over everything. (33:26)<\/i><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In such a cultural context, in this atmosphere of hatred, can it not be considered legitimate or even desirable, from that perspective, to participate in collective action against Jews?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Let us never forget that the vast majority of Muslims in Europe are peaceful and take no part in terrorist activity. But even if only 0.01% of Europe&#8217;s Muslims were to take up the cause and seek revenge for the supposed &#8220;genocide&#8221; committed by &#8220;the Jews&#8221;, this would still represent thousands of potential &#8220;jihadists&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">We owe our Jewish fellow citizens the highest level of protection \u2014 and solidarity. It is a moral and civilizational imperative.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><i><strong>Drieu Godefridi<\/strong> is a jurist (University Saint-Louis, University of Louvain), philosopher (University Saint-Louis, University of Louvain) and PhD in legal theory (Paris IV-Sorbonne). He is an entrepreneur, CEO of a European private education group and director of PAN Medias Group. He is the author of<\/i>\u00a0<a style=\"color: #808080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Green-Reich-Global-Warming-Tyranny-ebook\/dp\/B081H2MB37\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Green Reich<\/a><i>\u00a0(2020).<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\" \/>\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"content-alignment\">\n<div id=\"watch-description\" class=\"yt-uix-button-panel\">\n<div id=\"watch-description-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><em>Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion&#8217;68,<\/em><em><br \/>\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion&#8217;68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.<br \/>\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:<br \/>\n<\/em><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"mailto:webmaster@reunion68.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width: 100%;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Towards Jihadist Pogroms in Europe? Drieu Godefridi Europol reports indicate that Europe is now home to tens of thousands of radicalized individuals. The attacks in Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016) demonstrate the feasibility of complex operations by small groups. Will people who criticize Islam be dragged through the courts by a desperate regime, while those [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122206"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122220,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122206\/revisions\/122220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}