In Paris, President Francois Hollande calls it a ‘war’ against Daesh (ISIS).
The French leader has ordered his sole aircraft carrier to head urgently for Syria to reinforce the French jets that carried out the first coalition air strike against the Daesh oil facilities. Income from the oil funds 50% of its operations in Syria, Iraq, Sinai, and Europe. But the response of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was to abort Canada’s combat role against Daesh in the Middle East. At a time when the Free World nations should rally to the aid of France, Trudeau has declared: ‘Count Canada out!’
I am aware that Canada will provide more instructors for their less risky training role. Really? That’s a cop-out! Imagine this indicative caricature – the Charles de Gaulle flat-top cruising at full speed in the Mediterranean to take on the Daesh barbarians, while Canadian aircraft fly overhead in the opposite direction – back home to Canada. What message is Trudeau sending to the rest of the world? True during the election campaign, Trudeau pledged to cancel Canada’s combat contribution, but should this take priority now?
If this is World War III, Daesh is keeping its vow to launch total war against the ‘Crusaders’. Or maybe I am forgetting that Canada never sent any Crusaders. But what about Canada’s membership in NATO? Will Ottawa then remember it if ‘push comes to shove’ in its territorial quarrel with Russia over who owns the North Pole? But on second thought, maybe Trudeau is only following Big Brother Obama’s lead in disconnecting from the Middle East.
Why is France in Daesh crosshairs?
Simply due to the huge number of Muslims living in France today – a result of French colonialism in North Africa. It is estimated that five to seven million Muslims within an overall population of 65 million. Do the math – Muslims comprise up to 10 percent of the overall population. In Paris, the number is far higher. Put this into context of the Republic’s historical credo of ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – the epitome of a free and open democracy. The huge Muslim minority enjoys the total freedom of liberté, less of fraternité, but certainly not economic égalité in their suburbs and slums. Resentment builds and is fanned by Daesh’s fascist brand of Islam. For many Muslims it provides the answer to their plight – a Jihad holy war sanctioned by the Koran and the new prophet Bakr al Baghdadi.
Consider the huge task now facing the French Security Service. Say there are an estimated seven million Muslims in France today. The potential pool of terrorist recruits would be some one million or so taken from the pool of Muslim males from the ages of 16 to 40. Suppose only one percent might consider joining a Daesh cell – that would leave up to 10,000 Muslims who could pose a threat. But the current liberal laws of both the Fifth Republic and European Union ban any intrusive counter-terror measures on citizens. That’s how the Paris attacks were master-minded across the border in Belgium by Daesh fighters who returned from the vicious fighting in Syria, some bearing phony passports. (The French passports of French Muslims who were killed in Syria had been doctored and given to other Daesh fighters who were killed in Paris.
Desperate situations require desperate remedies…
In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron got the message – he announced that MI has been authorized to recruit more personnel for its surveillance operations. The French have initiated a crackdown by launching raids and arresting some 100 suspects. This is also in the interest of the vast majority of Muslims who want to live peacefully with their non-Islamic countrymen. Isn’t the wonderful French way of life the reason why they chose it as their new homeland?
There is no alternative to clamping down on the incitement that goes on in many of the mosques. This may run counter to the revered ideals of the French Republic, but if the current wave of Muslim violence is not suppressed, the alternative is staring French democrats in the face. The far Right will likely be voted into office and impose far greater restrictions on French democracy. The first obligation of any democratic government is to protect its citizens, but the French authorities were found lacking after the Charlie Hebdo and Jewish grocery attacks last January, not to mention the Toulouse murders – all perpetrated by Muslims in the name of Islam.
In his convoluted way, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry revealed the Obama administration’s ambivalence about what to do. The puzzled Kerry pointed out the senselessness of massacring French civilians who simply went to a rock concert or were drinking coffee in a cafe, whereas there had been some ‘rationale’ that he could grasp in the attack at Charlie Hedbo. After all, the magazine had dared to poke fun at Muslims as it did to everyone else. It’s not as if the U.S. is in a state of denial; President Obama has simply decided that America has paid more than enough in blood and treasure in the Middle East; now its up to the Europeans to do their fair share.
Attack the Crusaders!
In a sophisticated Internet campaign, Baghdadi has instructed his followers:
“If you cannot come here to fight alongside us, it is your Muslim duty to now go on Jihad wherever you are – attack the Crusaders in the name of Allah!”
This time, the attacks were not ‘lone wolf’, but carefully planned and orchestrated from their base in Belgium. The vast majority of peaceful Muslims also have a key role to play. They have their obligation not only to speak out forcefully against terrorists who act in the name of Islam and Daesh, but also to cooperate with the French authorities in monitoring what goes on in their mosques. Israel’s Channel One News has reported that the French Security Service has requested a detailed report on how Israel copes with terrorism. Earlier, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said Israel was ready to supply its vast counter-terrorism experience to France and other EU countries.
Sweden of all places…
Sweden, which has welcomed Muslim immigrants with open arms in recent years, has now gone on a ‘high terror alert’ for the first time. Several hundred thousand Muslims now make their homes in the country. The terror alert was triggered by security officials when they launched a manhunt for a suspected terrorist who was thought to be plotting an attack. An undisclosed number of Sweden’s Muslims are now arriving after fighting alongside Daesh in Syria. This has started alarm bells ringing in Stockholm. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven declared:
“It is unacceptable that people (Swedes) can take part in terrorism and return to Sweden without being held responsible.”
The Swedish leader went on to say that former governments had been ‘naive’ in ignoring the Muslim issue. His statement appeared to amend an attempt by his foreign minister, who had insinuated that Israel’s handling of Palestinian terrorism was responsible for the Daesh attacks in Paris! Go figure.
At present, France has taken off the gloves by smashing the Daesh ring that was holed up in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis, and launched hundreds of raids, arresting some one hundred suspects. Urgent anti-terrorism legislation is now being drafted. Neighboring Belgium, from where the attacks were masterminded, is also stepping up its surveillance. So far German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a key player, has taken a back seat role. While Germany may have a bigger Muslim population than France, most of them are not Arab but Turks. There’s a big difference there when it comes to supporting Daesh.
Nevertheless, before a football match in Istanbul, many of the fans booed when a minute’s silence was held for the Paris victims, and shouts of ‘Allah Akbar ‘ could be heard. (By the way, the meaning is that Allah is greater than your God and you are infidels).
A major earthquake of terror has hit France. In the after-shock, European leaders have had to reconsider what to do. But will this frenzy of activity lead to a coordinated campaign to really clamp down on Islamist terror? Or when the current waves of after-shock gradually die down will the Europeans abandon their resolve and revert to their old way of waiting until the next time? Many of the experts believe this will be the case. For years Islamist terrorism has taken its toll in Madrid, London, and even in Paris last January, and what has been the lasting result? Another atrocity in ‘the city of lights’.
France and Russia are continuing to wreak their vengeance by launching heavy air strikes on both the Daesh capital of Raqqa in northern Syria and the terrorists’ oil facilities. As for the U.S., President Barack Obama is sticking to his policy ‘of leading from behind’ – he hopes to do so for the rest of his second term. In any event, Secretary of State John Kerry will be arriving in Jerusalem to try and cool off the current flare-up between the Palestinians and Israel.
A week after the Islamist atrocities in France, four Israeli civilians and one innocent Palestinian were murdered in a spate of Palestinian attacks. This is a law of Islamist terrorism – when it succeeds in one place, this will motivate other fanatics to go on killing sprees. This is the terror timetable for that day:
- 9:30 – Near Israeli settlement of Tekoa in the West Bank: Three Palestinian young women armed with knives were arrested trying to sneak into an IDF base.
- 13:20 – Near the Tomb of the Jewish Patriarchs in Hebron a Palestinian juvenile was caught with a knife hidden in a secret pouch of his clothing.
- 13:50 – Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli cars driving on a highway near Arab village.
- 14:00 – Two Israeli civilians were stabbed to death near a Tel Aviv synagogue by a Palestinian who was captured by bystanders.
- 16:30 – Palestinians threw rocks at a bus carrying Israeli school kids near an Israeli settlement in Mount Hebron area.
- 16:45 – A Palestinian killed two Israelis and one Palestinian in a drive-by and shooting attack on West Bank at Gush Etzion intersection.
Most of the terrorists have come from the town of Hebron on the West Bank. Today the IDF announced new restrictions in an attempt to suppress the attacks. At the same time, tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank will still be allowed to go to work inside Israel.
