The terrorist attacks of an Islamist nature carried out in European territory, from those of the 70s and 80s (minor and sporadic) to the wave of the first two decades of this century (Madrid 2004, Paris 2015, Brussels 2016) were committed by radicalized
Islamists in Europe itself
or who had traveled, for example, to conflict scenarios such as Syria.
The conflict in Palestine
never had anything to do with those attacks.
The Israeli government is now trying, with a report from its secret services (Mossad and Shin Bet), to make Europeans believe that
Hamas is preparing terrorist attacks in Europe
.
If true,
it would be the first time
.
But Europeans don't believe that's true.
Terrorist attack in Madrid, in Atocha, in 2004. Photo: AFP
Community sources consulted this Thursday in Brussels, after talking about a report signed by Ignacio Cembrero, veteran and prestigious journalist of a Spanish digital newspaper (El Confidencial), admit that, if in Germany there is some concern, in the rest of the countries of the bloc The threat
revealed by Israeli reports
is not believed to be real and that if there were jihadist attacks, Hamas would not have been involved in them.
Last weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had published a thread on foreigner in order to
attack innocents around the world
.”
In Brussels, although officially no one will come out to deny Netanyahu,
no one gives him credibility either.
Is Europe safe from attacks?
The history of the last six or seven decades
shows that it is not
.
There has been Islamist terrorism (ISIS, Al-Qaeda), extreme left terrorism (Italian Red Brigades, German Baader-Meinhof) and extreme right (also in Italy or Belgium), white supremacist terrorism (Breivik in Norway) and terrorist terrorism. groups in regions with separatist movements (Spanish and French Basque Country, French Corsica, even in Catalonia with Terra Lliure in the Spanish democratic transition in the late 70s and early 80s).
But not from Palestinian Islamist groups
like Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Yes, there is, the same sources in Brussels acknowledge,
a greater risk of attacks,
but not because Hamas is preparing them, but because the conflict
fuels a polarization that inflames tempers
to the point that some “lone wolves” could take justice into their own hands. , like when a Tunisian shot dead two Swedes in Brussels because Sweden allowed the burning of Korans in far-right demonstrations.
Europe admits that the risks of attacks have grown, but does not look towards Hamas.
Photo: AFP
The European Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson, said in December that “with the war between Israel and Hamas and the polarization it causes in our society, the risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union is enormous.”
The day after the Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel, which cost more than 1,200 lives, European authorities began to reinforce the security of Jewish places such as schools, synagogues and cultural centers.
Police presence and surveillance were increased.
The protection of Israeli embassies in the European Union and in most European capitals was also strengthened.
There was only one case that could be directly related to Hamas.
Germany dismantled a network made up of men who had had contact with Hamas members.
No weapons or explosives were found on them, but the Police do claim that
they were preparing attacks “against Jewish institutions
. ”
According to the German Prosecutor's Office, they were linked “to the military leadership of the” Palestinian terrorist organization.
'El Confidencial' recalls that Hamas
is on the European list of terrorist organizations
, that it has no representation of any kind in Europe (only in Lebanon and Qatar, as well as in Palestine) and that none of its possible sympathizers in Europe "have been seen." involved in terrorist activities.”
Hamas has never committed attacks outside of its conflict and the Palestinian terrorism that attacked several times in Europe in the 1970s
was not Islamist but extreme left-wing
and sought to attack Jewish and American interests.
The tensions of the Cold War had a lot to do with those attacks.
Many reasons explain why the European authorities
do not give credibility to the reports of the Israeli secret services
in these cases.