Terrorism expert says lax travel laws enable terrorists to plan attacks, move from country to country easily with EU passports, like reported by inn.com
Dr. Amira Halperin, an expert on terrorism at the Middle East department at Hebrew University, spoke with Arutz Sheva about the rise of the ISIS terrorist organization in Europe following the deadly ramming attack in Barcelona last week.
“ISIS is the head of the snake, and it can’t be cut off,” Dr. Halperin said. “They may be beaten in Syria and Iraq, but their ability to reach the West is great. They recruit the sons of immigrants and radical Islamists who were born in Europe. ISIS mobilizes them through incitement, telling them to fight the coalition nations.”
According to Dr. Halperin, the planning of Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe is facilitated by the ease of travel to and between European states. “It was just now published that the terrorist in Spain had been in Morocco for a short time and then returned to Spain. The same extremist groups operate in Morocco which train [the European terrorists].”
She expressed hope that European intelligence agencies will be able to track down potential terrorists in the future.
“In Europe they understand that they have become a terrorist target, even in light of the fact that there are Jewish communities there [which the terrorists might have targeted instead].
“There is incitement in the European mosques, and they are recruiting some young Islamists who are are the children of immigrants who were themselves involved in terrorism and found asylum,” she said. “European intelligence follows the activities of those young people, some of whom have nothing to lose. They also join [ISIS] for financial and personal reasons.”
“These young people are very familiar with the places where they can cause harm, and they are able to travel from country to country the a European passport.”
