Guest
Column: Hidden Terror in Europe
by Abigail R. Esman
Special to IPT News
October 1, 2014
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 Europe is in
trouble.
Even as America and its European allies begin their war campaign against
ISIS and its self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, European
Muslims are increasingly showing their support for Islamic terror groups
and their jihad. With the number of Muslims heading to Syria to join ISIS
and Al Nusra (the Syrian branch of Al Qaida) on the rise, those who remain
behind in countries like Belgium and the Netherlands are now working to
raise funds to support their families, and to defend other European Muslims
accused of plotting terrorist attacks at home.
In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal,
"Europe is increasingly becoming a recruiting ground for jihadists
heading [to Syria and Iraq] to join terrorist groups like Islamic
State." So far, the number of Europeans who have already joined the jihad in Syria is estimated to be
between 2,500-3,000, with the largest number per capita coming from Belgium
and from France.
But others, according to a recent article in Dutch national daily Trouw,
are working for the jihad in different ways, largely through fundraising
efforts. In the Netherlands, for instance, many in the Muslim community are
now raising collections to assist the spouses and children of jihadists
with cash, food, and other necessities. According to the jihadists, reports
Perdiep Ramesar, who penned the article in Trouw, "the families
need assistance because their welfare payments have been stopped, their
assets frozen, and legal costs are too high."
Funding jihad, or taking care of jihadists' families is not really new.
There's a hadith calling for it:
It has been narrated on the authority of Zaid b. Kbalid al-Juhani that
the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Anybody who equips a
warrior (going to fight) in the way of Allah (is like one who actually)
fights. And anybody who looks well after his family in his absence (is also
like one who actually) fights.
It was invoked in the United States 23 years ago during the Palestinian
Intifada. Fawaz Damra, a Cleveland imam since deported, was raising money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
routing the money through a charity called the Islamic Committee for
Palestine. Giving money, he told his audience, was as good as taking to the
battlefield.
God says, the Messenger, God's blessing and peace be upon him, says,
'Whoever equipped a raider for the sake of God, has himself raided.'
Whoever donates for a mujahid so that he may throw stones, is as if he too
is fighting the Holy War, and will be rewarded like him, even if he stays
home. 'Whoever equipped a raider for the sake of God, has himself raided'
... This is the Islamic Jihad Movement. I say to you to donate, so that
this money will serve you with God.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, contributions, which are gathered
through social media efforts, are directed exclusively at terrorism
suspects, Ramesar writes, pointing to Dutch and Belgian Twitter and
Facebook fundraising campaigns such as "Free Aseer" and "Project A."
Dutch authorities earlier this year agreed to stop all welfare payments
to those who had already gone to Syria, as well as to some arrested on
charges of planning to make the trip. Muslim radicals convicted of
terrorist activity have also had their accounts frozen or seized. Often,
the wives of these jihadists are unable to support themselves and their
children, either because they have toddlers at home to care for or – more
often – because their own extremist views restrict them from working.
Among those receiving aid are the family of Mohammed Bouyeri, the
convicted killer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh; Samir Azzuz, a co-member
with Bouyeri of the Dutch extremist Hofstadgroep, who served eight years on
suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in the Netherlands – and whose
assets remain frozen even after his release; Umm Haneefa, a Belgian woman accused of "taking part in the activities of a
terrorist organization"; and Sharia4Belgium leader Fouad Belkacem,
currently being tried in Antwerp courts along with 44 other Sharia4Belgium
members on terrorism charges.
How much has been collected to date is unclear, Ramesar writes, though
"sources close to" the various families confirmed receiving
financial assistance through these campaigns.
But in the end, that number isn't what really matters. More significant
is what the success of such fundraising efforts reveals: a European Muslim
community that increasingly supports radical Islamic, pro-sharia movements,
and willingly underwrites their jihad. It is a kind of silent jihadist movement,
a form of terror funding that slips beneath the radar, and between the
laws.
More, it demonstrates the urgency of what we are facing now in the West.
Yes, we were far too late in recognizing the threat of ISIS in Syria and in
Iraq. But Europe – and America – can no longer afford to underestimate the
insidious and growing threat it poses to us here at home.
Abigail R. Esman, the author, most recently, of Radical
State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West (Praeger,
2010), is a freelance writer based in New York and the Netherlands.
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