The new jihad: more threatening than ever

When the terrorist attack took place in Barcelona on August 17, 2017, despite how horrible it was (13 dead, 130 wounded), the jihadists did not consider it a success. They had a more lethal project. They wanted to fit vans loaded with explosives against the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia and two other tourist areas of the city. However, that was the last major jihadist attack in Europe. The Manchester bombing was two months before, on May 22, 2017; the attack in Nice (France) took place on July 14, 2016, and the attack in Orlando (Florida), on June 12, 2016.

The destruction of the Islamic State has not only deprived the jihadists of what had become a sanctuary and training ground; it also deprived them of the idea that they could quickly defeat the West.

Immediately, the awareness of the danger that embodies radical Islamism faded in the United States and was largely erased in Europe. The attacks with a knife and the murder of the passers-by in France or Great Britain did not receive greater relevance. The jihadist assassins used to be defined immediately by the authorities as mentally deranged. In Europe, the name of the murderers was often hidden to avoid the possibility of unleashing "prejudices" against Muslims and migrants.

Events in other parts of the world rarely make the headlines and are usually treated as a local problem. Stabbing the Israelis and launching rockets and comets and incendiary balloons from Gaza to Israel is considered strictly as a part of the "Middle East conflict". The attacks against the Coptic Christians in Egypt are defined as an Egyptian problem. More than 1,800 Christians massacred in Nigeria but hardly mentioned in western news. The death sentence for blasphemy in countries like Pakistan is not mentioned at all.

Radical Islam may be on the defensive, but its offense has not stopped. The main Islamist organizations seem to be waiting for the moment to attack again. Al Qaeda was recently described in a UN report of January 2018 as "strong", "influential" and "resistant". The Islamic State may have lost territories in Syria and Iraq, but, according to the UN report, "the organization continues to transform itself into a terrorist organization with a flat hierarchy, with cells ...and act with increasing autonomy".

Islamist jihadist groups are still active in Libya, where they control human trafficking activities and infiltrate their operations among immigrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. The police continue to seize components used to make explosive devices and have thwarted attempted attacks on European soil, but videos with instructions are still circulating.

It is important to emphasize that radical Islamists use other means of power than terrorism to gain ground. The Muslim Brotherhood, the main Sunni Islamist organization, has never rejected violence but says it prefers the da'wa (proselytism, infiltration, and influence) to achieve power in the Muslim world and beyond. Sayid Qutb, their leader in the 1950s, said that the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood was to "establish the Islamic regime" wherever possible, by "any means". Its members may have thought they were achieving their goal during the revolt that journalists called "Arab Spring." Unfortunately for them, the attempt by former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to turn Egypt into a totalitarian Islamic State, and the economic crisis that followed, led to a takeover of the Government by the current President of Egypt, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and repressions that eradicated the organization there. The Muslim Brothers, however, have not disappeared. They continue to have the support of Turkey and Qatar, and Hamas was founded as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The latest reports indicate that the members of the Muslim Brotherhood can now turn to an affiliate network in more than 70 countries. They maintain their hope of winning throughout the Muslim world, but their main objective seems to be the transformation of the West.

The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood seem to think that if the West falls, the rest of the world will fall too. In the US, the Muslim Brothers have unofficial branches, hiding, but very active; These include the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

The Muslim Brotherhood has a strong presence in Western Europe, where they control many charitable organizations and associations that do everything possible to hide what they truly are. These include "The Islamic Community of Germany", the Muslim Association of Great Britain and "The Muslims of France". The Muslim Brotherhood has also created vast networks of mosques and schools that recruit, indoctrinate and affirm that the future of Western Europe will belong to Islam and that Europeans will continue to submit.

This week, the unelected judges of the European Court of Human Rights submitted to the demands of the Sharia blasphemy laws and decided not to allow criticism of Muhammad, lest they hurt the feelings of the Muslims. The Court truly decided to violate the freedom of expression and the truth. It's probably time to "deselect" these unelected judges.

Islamist organizations are present and growing. Often, they join forces to promote intimidation campaigns and pressure governments, the mainstream media and universities to prohibit all criticism of Islam and impose a growing Islamization of everyday life. Examples include efforts to change academic programs to present Muslim civilization in a more attractive light; efforts to have hospitals that accept that Muslim women be examined only by female doctors and that social service agencies must respect polygamy.  They want, and they get results.

Western European politicians left and right, increasingly rely on the Muslim vote to be elected: they think that birth rates (which are now lower than replacement levels) and migratory flows create a change in the population; They estimate that being too hostile to Islam could lead to their political defeat.

Although the Swiss Islamist writer Tariq Ramadan is still in prison in France for rape, his books continue to climb on the best-selling lists. Islamic bookstores are increasingly numerous. They sell anti-Semitic and anti-Western books that incite violence. Exclusion zones continue to proliferate in France, Great Britain and now in Germany. In his book No Go Zones, Rahim Kasam shows female genital mutilation, sexual assaults and sometimes honor killings.

A few politicians - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz - are trying to defend Western civilization. They are dragged into the mud by Merkel, May, Macron and other Globalists. The chance of Orbán, Kurz, and Salvini to win the fight in the short term is limited by the rapid aging of the populations of the citizens in their countries.

It is still allowed to criticize Islam in Western Europe, but all who dares, with some exceptions, such as Éric Zemmour in France or Thilo Sarrazin in Germany, are almost totally ignored by the mainstream media. All of them have been harassed by the Islamists and sometimes through prosecutions. Anyone who has abandoned Islam risks of being killed. Some have chosen to escape to a safer part of the world. Ayaan Hirsi Ali left the Netherlands in 2006 and is now a US citizen. Others who have remained in Europe have to live under police protection. Hamed Abdel-Samad, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood who now lives in Germany, is the author of Islamic Fascism. Abdel-Samad says what Western European leaders refuse to see: "Islam is a religion of war." In a recent interview, he added that when a non-Muslim country is strong, "Islam may end up agreeing to live together", but when a non-Muslim country is passive "war appears" on the horizon. This war, he continued, "can be violent. It can be non-violent. Western European countries show all the symptoms of being passive.

The Islamists are also very active in the US. Some work in mosques and incite violence. They find support. They intimidate the institutions. In April 2018, M. Zuhdi Yaser, medical practitioner and founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, which advocates the separation of religion and state, was invited to speak at Duke University. Due to pressure from the Islamist students, the invitation was canceled.

In 2014, when the Brandis University wanted to pay homage to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a writer who abandoned Islam, Islamic and "progressive" organizations demanded that Brandéis renounce the invitation. She was "disinvited" and the invitation was not extended again.

The United States is stronger then Europe.  But will it continue to be a safe haven for ex-Muslims and freedom of expression?