The terrorist attacks in Europe reached 124 attacks from 2014 to 2017, which led to the death and injury of 211 people. This raises questions about the power and influence of terrorist organizations and especially ISIS in Europe where the most powerful security agencies are working. Do we deal with a situation of security or civilization?
Last Wednesday, six French soldiers have been injured after a car slammed into them before speeding off in a suspected terror attack in Paris. This came days after a failure stab to kill attempt in France as well as several terrorist attacks in France killing dozens of people including children.
On January 7, the attack on the French newspaper Charles Hebdo in Paris killed 12 people, including two policemen, four of the most prominent cartoonists, and 11 others, following the publication of cartoons found insulting to the Islamic religion by Muslims.
On November 13, 2016, Paris witnessed a series of bombings targeting various parts of the capital including the French stadium, while French President Francois Oland attended a friendly between France and Germany. These led to the murder of 137 people.
It should be noted, according to French official statements, all the terrorists had French nationality, whether they are of French or Arab origin. All of them were born, raised and received education in France.
Other European capitals suffered from terrorist attacks by ISIS including the Brussels bombings that killed 35 people and wounded 135. In May 2014, a gunman opened fire on the Jewish Museum in the Belgian capital Brussels, killing four people after another gunman opened fire on American soldiers in Germany.
I should mention here the attack on the British capital London on June 3, 2017, and in Copenhagen, Denmark. In February 2015, an armed attack hit the symposium held to honor the victims of the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo. One person was killed and 11 were injured. The Jewish synagogue was attacked on the next day and a man was killed. In December 2016, there was an armed attack on a bus in Ukraine killing 3 people.
According to a study by the American University Bell, there are about (12) thousand young men and women of Europe, half of them of Arab origins fighting for ISIS.
Attempts to travel to such camps have been criminalized in Germany since June 2015. The case concerns a German from Munich who twice tried unsuccessfully to travel to Syria to take part in the fighting with the Islamic State.
These were examples of terrorist attacks targeting the heart of the old continent and its youth, whether they were of Arab or European origin. They were not exposed to any extremist education, media, culture or religious discourse that is similar to what we have in our region. This is the globalization of terrorism targeting the European civilization.
