Dealing with Terrorism without Falling into its Trap | iNSS

The latest attacks in Paris and Brussels highlight Europe’s dilemma and its need to choose between strict preservation of various individual freedoms and a decision to eliminate the terrorist bases of fundamentalist Islam in Europe. In practice, this latter struggle will require closer supervision of religious institutions, heightened monitoring of various charity organizations, and strengthened security systems at public facilities. The cumulative effect of the reports about the Islamic State’s cruelty, the destruction and devastation it sows, and its terrorist operations in important European capitals are increasing the European public’s readiness to accept a breach, even if only partial, of hitherto sacred principles. In order to prevent a complete breakdown in relations between the majority population in Western Europe and the nearly 50 million Muslims living there, the European leadership must persuade the Muslim population and its leaders seeking to live in peace and integrate in the European system that the struggle against terrorism does not mean a struggle against Islam.