Europe Under Attack: The Need to Change Middle East Policies

Paris suffered yet another Islamic terrorist attack.

François Hollande vowed to respond to this “declaration of war”. Many Western countries stood behind France and, as expected, there's a rapprochement towards Russia. Air-strikes against ISIS, in Raqqa, are increasing, but these are only an insufficient PR move (to show that something is being done). However, the West failed to announce one important step in the fight against Global Jihad: a change in their Middle East (ME) Policies.

Change ME Policies

There's a clear need for a change in policies regarding the Middle East. It's about time for France, for example, to realise that every time she empowers Arab political objectives, she suffers terrorist attacks:

• Support for UN Palestinian Resolution to force an Israeli withdrawal from disputed territories, on the 30th of December 2014. Result: the 7th of January 2015 terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher (a Jewish target). 
• Support for Labelling Products stemming from the disputed territories, on the 11th of November 2015. Result: November 13 terrorist attacks in the 10th and 11th arrondissements in Paris, the Stade de France and the Bataclan (a perceived Jewish target). 

There are no coincidences, therefore we reiterate the obvious: there's a clear relationship between the Palestinian Cause and Global Jihad. Denying this fact will only put more European lives in danger.
A couple of days prior to the attacks, Khaled Abu Toameh published an article urging the West to listen to Hamas:

“Hamas is openly stating that it will use any future Palestinian state as a launching pad to attack and eliminate Israel.

Hamas is not a small opposition party in the Palestinian territories that can be dismissed as a minor player. Hamas is a large Islamist movement, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that controls the entire Gaza Strip with its population of 1.8 million Palestinians. Hamas, not much different from Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, has its own security forces, militias, weapons and government institutions.”

So when France and others say that they are fighting ISIS and Al-Qaeda on one hand but on the other they support (both political and financially) a cause that is included in the Objectives of these terrorist organisations, they are only making a mockery of our Security.

Exert the Proper Pressure

The French leadership should also consider changing their stance towards the very nations that sponsor global jihad. The time has come for these countries to be held accountable for their ambitions. The first step would be to press wealthy Arab Nations to accept any and every Syrian migrant and refugee – after all the Quran commands them to take care of their brethren in need:

"Allah commands you to uphold justice and to do good to others and to give to the relatives." (Sura 16:90)

"(The true believers are those) in whose wealth there is a known right for the beggar and the destitute." (Sura 70:24-25)

The second step would be to openly admit that those sponsor-states are a problem the West needs to deal with. If there was once a political will to target Muamar Gadaffi when he sponsored several successful terrorist groups (including the IRA); why is there a resistance to publicly hold, for instance, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar liable – especially when they are losing energy-relevance?

Conclusion

Military operations and Holistic CT measures alone will not yield the proper fruits, we need a more concerted action:

• Fierce domestic counter-terrorism operations (in other words: clean the house for more than 3 months)
• A firm counter-ideology stance (or more plainly: calling things by their names and showing the courage to have a serious debate [free of political correctness] about Islam and Islamic Terrorism) and,
• A temporary increased Military role in National Security (to not only serve as a deterrent but mainly because Urban Warfare has reached Europe). 

How much disruption must we all bear and how many more lives have to be taken, by ISIS et al, before our politicians do the right thing?

(Image: Cairo Looking Towards the Desert of Suez - David Roberts)