Why Do Radical Muslims Want to Kill Europeans?

by Khaled Abu Toameh


How true is it that Al-Qaeda's terror attacks around the world are directly linked to the Israeli-Arab conflict?

Some Middle East and terror "experts" have long maintained that the West's support for Israel was one of the main motivations behind the attacks of Al-Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalist groups.

These "experts" have naively and foolishly endorsed Al-Qaeda Chief Osama bin Laden's argument that the terror attacks against the US and Western targets are the result of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

In the past, bin Laden justified his organization's attacks on Americans by citing continued US support for Israel as the main reason.

But now that it has been revealed that Al-Qaeda is also planning a new wave of terror attacks in Europe, it would be interesting to hear what excuse bin Laden would have this time.

If the Americans deserve to be murdered because of Washington's "bias" in favor of Israel, why are countries such as France, Britain and Germany -- which have, generally speaking, been very supportive of the Palestinians -- now on the black list of radical Islamic groups?

The Europeans are being targeted for the same reason the Americans are: for being "infidels" and enemies of Islam and for the Western values they represent. They are being targeted because of their failure to transform into Islamic countries. Those who think that solving the Israeli-Arab conflict will undermine Al-Qaeda and its allies do not know what they are talking about.

Bin Laden, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hizbullah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah are actually waging a war against Arabs and Muslims who are involved, directly and indirectly, in the Middle East peace process.

Al-Qaeda was established in 1989 in Afghanistan, and not in the West Bank and Gaza Strip or any Arab country.

Al-Qaeda was one of the by-products of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and not the creation of the Jewish state in mandatory Palestine in 1948.

Al-Qaeda was established with one goal in mind: to defeat the all the non-believers, including the US and its Arab, Muslim and Western allies.

Bin Laden and his friends want to kill Europeans not because of settlement construction in the West Bank ,or the blockade on the Gaza Strip; they want to kill Europeans because Europeans are not Muslims and have different values.

The Europeans need to understand that their support for Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular will not help them avoid "punishment" by radical Muslims.

The policy of appeasing Muslim terror groups also will not help. On the contrary, each concession by the US and its allies to Al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hizbullah will be interpreted as a sign of weakness that will subsequently lead to more violence.

The only connection between the Muslim terrorists and the Middle East conflict is their dream of destroying Israel.

They want to destroy Israel not because they love the Palestinians, but because they regard Jews as "infidels."

They want to destroy Israel because they believe that all of Palestine is Muslim-owned land that belongs only to Muslims.

Those who think that solving the Israeli-Arab conflict will undermine Al-Qaeda and its allies do not know what they are talking about.

Bin Laden, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hizbullah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah are actually waging a war against Arabs and Muslims who are involved, directly and indirectly, in the Middle East peace process.

Renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have only increased the terror groups' appetite to carry out their schemes.

The only way to deal with the terror threat is by stepping up the war against Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other radical Islamic groups.

Khaled Abu Toameh

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.