Search
Close this search box.

Islamic terrorism

Large Muslim communities have formed in Western countries in recent decades. The terror attacks in France and Austria over the past few weeks again highlight the debate over the role of a multicultural, liberal, tolerant approach to separate, alienated minority communities, a small number of whose members support or perpetrate terror attacks.
France has declared a state of emergency following the recent terrorist attack in Nice, and violent demonstrations are being held across the Arab and Muslim worlds amid calls for boycotts and terrorist attacks against France. Exacerbated by the severe economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, this crisis reflects France’s failure to integrate its Muslim minority and to set and enforce clear boundaries against anti-democratic and separatist tendencies within it.
France has insoluble problems with part of its Muslim population. This recently became apparent once again when a high school teacher who had shown controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his students was beheaded by an 18-year-old Muslim. The French government’s current skirmishes with radical Islam will ultimately be seen as a footnote in a massive and lengthy battle.
The beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty, which occurred two weeks after a momentous speech by President Emmanuel Macron in which he unveiled a plan to defend French secular values against “Islamist radicalism,” marked the start of what might turn out to be an all-out war between France and the Islamic world, with Turkey’s Erdoğan leading the Muslim charge. By taking a stand against Muslim extremist violence and suppression of freedom of speech, Macron might find himself facing a new wave of Islamic terror.
Wahhabism is a fundamentally violent doctrine of Islam. It teaches that people fall on one of two sides: the Wahhabis, the chosen who will ascend to heaven; and the rest of humanity, including all other Muslims—all of whom are infidels who are to be hated, persecuted, and even killed. Wahhabis have killed people in Algeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, London, New York, and now Pensacola. Their essential, intractable violence must be acknowledged if it is to be effectively dealt with.

Accessibility Toolbar