EU warns of ‘huge risk’ of terrorist attacks before Christmas
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There is a “huge risk” of terror attacks in the EU ahead of Christmas, European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson warned on Tuesday, linking the threat to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
“With the war between Israel and Hamas, and the polarization it causes in our society, with the upcoming holiday season, there is a huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union,” she told reporters before the start of the Justice and HomeAffairs Council.
Johansson’s comments follow an attack near the Eiffel Tower in Paris last weekend during which a German man was killed, and others injured, by a manwho had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, according to a French prosecutor. “We saw it recently in Paris, unfortunately we have seen it earlier as well,” Johansson said.
The EU was making an additional €30m (£26m) available for additional security, Johansson said.
Pressed repeatedly by reporters after the meeting, Johansson said that she drew the threat conclusion herself based on the high security levels in some of the 27 EU member countries and an increase in reports of antisemitic incidents, as well as more hate speech and extremist content online.
“Taking all this together, I do the assessment that yes, the threat is significant,” she said. She declined to offer any security advice to shoppers over the festive season or people going to Christmas markets, saying that this was the responsibility of national governments.
“We saw it recently in Paris, unfortunately we have seen it earlier as well,” she added ahead of a meeting of EU interior ministers.
A similar warning came from German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser who told reporters the EU had to keep a close eye on threats and propaganda, as there was a high “risk of further emotionalisation and radicalisation of violent Islamist perpetrators”.
In October, a French teacher was stabbed to death in a knife attack at a school in Arras which the French authorities treated as a terrorist incident. In late November Germany’s domestic spy agency also said the war between Israel and Hamas has fueled an increased risk of attacks by radicalized Islamists inside Germany.
Several European countries have seen an increase in the number of antisemitic crimes since Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack against Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. That sparked a massive retaliation by Israel against Hamas in Gaza which has killed more than 15,000 Palestinians so far, according to both the Palestinian Authority and Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The head of German domestic intelligence in the eastern state of Thuringia, Stephan Kramer, has warned of the “considerable potential for danger” posed by Hamas-sympathisers, not just to Christmas markets but to major sporting events such as the Paris Olympics and the Euro 2024 football championships next year.
