Is Hamas preparing terrorist attacks in Europe? Europeans don’t believe it

The Islamist terrorist attacks carried out on European territory, from those of the 70s and 80s (minor and sporadic) to the wave of the first twenty years of this century (Madrid 2004, Paris 2015, Brussels 2016) were committed by radicalized Muslims in Europe itself or who had travelled, for example, to conflict scenarios such as Syria. The conflict in Palestine He 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 prepares terrorist attacks in Europe. If it’s true, it would be the first time. But Europeans don’t believe this is true.

Community sources consulted this Thursday in Brussels, after speaking 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 the block the threat is believed not to be real that Israeli reports reveal and that if there had been jihadist attacks, Hamas would not have been involved.

Last weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a thread about foreigners to this end attack innocents around the world”. In Brussels, even if no one officially comes forward to deny Netanyahu, Nobody even gives him credibility.

Is Europe safe from attacks?

The story of the last six or seven decades proves that not. There has been Islamic terrorism (ISIS, Al-Qaeda), far-left terrorism (Italian Red Brigades, German Baader-Meinhof) and far-right (also in Italy or Belgium), white supremacist terrorism (Breivik in Norway ) and terrorist terrorism. in regions with separatist movements (Spanish and French Basque Country, French Corsica, also in Catalonia with Terra Lliure in the Spanish democratic transition in the late 1970s and early 1980s). But not by Palestinian Islamic groups like Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Yes, there is, the Brussels sources themselves acknowledge, increased risk of attacks, but not because Hamas is preparing them, but because of the conflict it fuels a polarization that inflames souls to the point that some “lone wolves” could take justice into their own hands, as when a Tunisian killed two Swedes in Brussels because Sweden allowed the burning of the Koran during far-right demonstrations.

The European Interior Commissioner, 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 claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people, European authorities began to strengthen security at Jewish places such as schools, synagogues and cultural centers. Police presence and surveillance were increased. Protection of Israeli embassies in the European Union and in most European capitals has also been strengthened.

There was only one case that could be directly linked to Hamas. Germany dismantled a network of men who had had contact with Hamas members. No weapons or explosives were found on them, but the police assures this 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 organisation”.

‘El Confidencial’ recalls Hamas is on the European list of terrorist organizationsthat it has no representation in Europe (only in Lebanon and Qatar, as well as Palestine) and that none of its possible sympathizers in Europe “have been involved in terrorist activities”.

Hamas has never committed attacks outside of its conflict and the Palestinian terrorism that attacked Europe several times in the 1970s. He was not an Islamist but a left-wing extremist. and sought to attack Jewish and American interests.

Cold War tensions had a lot to do with those attacks. Many reasons that explain the why of the European authorities They do not give credibility to the reports of the Israeli secret services in these cases.