Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Hamas Finds Support in the Streets of Europe’s Major Cities

By Itxu Díaz

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

 

The West has been shaken by the attacks of Hamas terrorists in Israel. Yet in capitals all over Europe, official communiqués of condemnation coexist with antisemitic celebrations in Arab neighborhoods and elsewhere.

 

The European Commission has initiated a “review” of EU aid to Palestinians (pulling back from one commissioner’s claim that the aid would be suspended), and EU governments have mostly condemned the attacks. Meanwhile, both the United States and Europe have seen pro-Palestinian demonstrations in their cities. The difference is that in Europe, the pro-Hamas Islamist awakening has highlighted the danger that a policy of mass immigration, endorsed by European political elites, has brought home. Those good Europeans — the ones who hung “refugees welcome” from their balconies — suddenly face a painful reality. As Giorgia Meloni and others have been warning for years, the European migration policy, driven above all by Angela Merkel, is a time bomb for the West.

 

The case of Greece is paradigmatic: The island of Samos, with funding from the EU, contains a large immigrant-reception center with controlled access. This weekend, many of the immigrants housed there celebrated the Hamas attacks against Israel, as leaked videos showed them chanting antisemitic slogans and shouting “Allahu akbar.” The center tried to avoid this image, insisting over loudspeakers that no recordings be made with cell phones, no doubt suspecting the potential that the very people seeking asylum might celebrate the brutal Islamist attacks.

 

In recent days, two types of protesters have converged in the streets of Europe: Islamist immigrants and members of the extreme left. Both groups are united in their hatred of the West and a romanticized view of Islam.

 

On Sunday, in Berlin, police acted when Muslim immigrants began chanting “forbidden slogans” and displaying Nazi symbols. Hours earlier, the pro-Palestinian organization Samidoun was handing out cakes in the streets to celebrate “the resistance of the Palestinian people.” It is hard to believe they did not get indigestion after seeing the barbaric images surging across social media since Saturday.

 

In Vienna, Austria, a march traversed the city’s commercial artery and ended in front of the Federal Chancellery; neither the swastika banners, nor the violent slogans, nor the dancing of the participants were enough to warrant police intervention.

 

None of the organizers condemned the violence against civilians or the videos in which young Hamas militants desecrate and exhibit as a trophy on the streets the body of a young woman kidnapped shortly before at a music festival.

 

Along London’s Edgware Road, known for its Arab population, Islamists reportedly dressed in Palestinian flags and beeped their horns while hanging out of car windows as if they had won a World Cup.

 

In Copenhagen, a security camera caught Hamas supporters removing the bouquets of flowers that had been placed next to the Israeli embassy in support of victims.

 

In Paris, authorities have so far confirmed ten law-enforcement interventions due to incidents or threats against the Jewish community.

 

And in Madrid, the Puerta del Sol was lit up in the colors of Israel, provoking pro-Palestinian marches by the extreme left, with little Arab participation. In Spain, the highest-level defense of terrorism was made by the communist vice president of the government, who responded to the attacks by demanding Israel “put an end to the occupation” so that “Palestinians can live with dignity.”

 

Germany, Italy, France, and Spain have begun to deploy extraordinary security measures to protect Jewish synagogues. The EU fears Islamist attacks, but above all it fears what the continent’s uncontrolled migration policy has created: a tinderbox in Europe, at the worst time.

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