Extremism researcher Peter Neumann warns that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Europe could lead to a “jihadi wave of terror” on a whole new scale. And he draws parallels with the Syrian civil war.
Just over a decade ago, the Syrian civil war led to unprecedented jihadist mobilization – including in Europe, Neumann wrote on Twitter (X).
Danger from returnees
At that time, thousands of young men and women joined the terrorist group Islamic State and traveled to Syria to live in the “caliphate.” Many of them died or returned demoralized and traumatized.
But some brought their radical Islamist mentality to Europe and then terrorized the ‘infidels’ with attacks. The extremism researcher warns that something similar could happen again.
“For Islamists this is THE conflict”
“Just like then, the conflict is conveyed via social media. In the case of Syria, fragments of bombings and dead babies had a dramatic effect. Today there is even more of it, communication is faster and the disinformation is many times greater,” says Neumann.
Unlike Syria, this is not just a civil war or conflict between Muslims: “For Islamists it is THE conflict of all: Jews against Muslims, the Holy Land, Jerusalem. It couldn’t be clearer.”
Jewish life as a target
But because you can’t just go to the Gaza Strip as a fighter, many will probably look for their targets in the West: “And these will probably be primarily related to Israel and the Jews.” The threat to Jewish life is extremely high. .
Furthermore, the idea of the individual terrorist perpetrator has now become so widespread and mythologized among jihadists that networks are no longer necessary to become a ‘soldier’ or even a ‘martyr’. The mainly male perpetrators would simply radicalize themselves via the internet. The most recent example of this was the Brussels attacker who murdered two Swedish football fans.
The terror alert level has been raised
Austria, like other European countries, has recently raised its terror alert level. Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, director of the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN), spoke of a “significant number of threats in Austria”.
Terrorism researcher Nicolas Stockhammer also said that the danger clearly comes from individual perpetrators: “I dare to predict that there are fears of further terrorist activity in the coming weeks and months. Especially by lone perpetrators or small cells. IS terror is around the corner in Europe.”
Source: Krone
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