Nobody is justifying the terrible terrorist attacks that have taken place in Europe in the last few months.
And no one can remain unmoved by the senseless loss of life in Paris, Nice, Brussels and so many other cities across the continent, all at the hands of violence-crazed religious fanatics who have adopted a perverse form of jihadism as their banner.
These delusionary foot soldiers of terror, motivated by the vile acrimony churned out by the so-called Islamic State’s (I.S.) sleek propaganda machines, are only too willing to go out and murder innocent lives in the name of some putrescent perception of sharia justice.
But while the world’s hearts go out to Europe and its people for the tragic and gruesome massacres orchestrated by the I.S., the troubling truth is that Europe has made itself an easy target for Islamic terrorism.
Even after a barrage of terrorist attacks, most European countries have still not increased their travel restrictions, and, in a political correction obsession to maintain an outdated ideology of geographic openness, have sacrificed national security and public safety.
Despite the EU’s spiel on continental unity, the majority of European countries and cities have archaic and decentralized police departments that share little information with one another due to deep-rooted power rivalries and a lack of regional coordination.
That aversion to cooperation leads to giant gaps in Europe’s security network, and opens the door for corruption and infiltration by terror operatives.
Moreover, while European security forces are still living in the 19th century when it comes to technology and information-sharing, the Islamic State is exploiting cutting-edge 21st century equipment and knowhow to enlist its army of disgruntled Muslim immigrants to do its bidding and sacrifice themselves in the name of Allah, taking out as many civilians as possible along the way.
Unrestrained by geographic borders and standard military conventions, the Islamic State is waging its war against civilization through the internet, spanning continents and creating a crippling wave of terror in its most vulnerable enemy, Europe.
While I.S. may have lost territory in Iraq and Syria in recent months, it has expanded its reach through the keen psychological manipulation of Europe’s own marginalized Muslim communities.
And, make no mistake, in that war of theology and misguided religious fervor, the Islamic State is winning.
Terror, the I.S.’ most powerful weapon, inevitably sends a message, and that message is ringing loud and clear among Europe’s Muslim youths, who see an idealized caliphate ruling the world in accordance with the fundamental laws of the Quran and themselves at the helm of this new idyllic Islamic Shangri-La.
Europe is just another front for I.S. in its unbridled expansionist ambitions, and it is a front where the jihadist group is gaining ground.
So far, Europe has been woefully incapable and unwilling to neither defend itself nor make significant retaliations against the Islamic State.
In order to regain its footing in the fight against the I.S., Europe and its security forces are going to have to knuckle down and revamp their efforts to fight the terror organization on its own turf, the World Wide Web.
And rather than trying to catch the perpetrators of violence terror acts after the fact, Europe will need to focus its efforts on preventive intelligence to avert further assaults.
That is the only way that Europe can successfully overcome the cancer of terrorism that is currently spreading throughout its sinews.
Thérèse Margolis can be reached at [email protected].
