Our declared enemies are not the only ones, though: there are also the fellow travellers. After Paris some of them, such as the Stop The War Coalition — which should really be renamed Start The Jihad — came out in their true colours, blaming the victims and denouncing the West. Others, such as the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, were more circumspect — but their true sentiments were made plain enough.
Europe has long been more defeatist than America, of course, even if Obama seems out of step with ordinary Americans on his own failure to take the fight to the enemy. Hillary Clinton, as Obama’s Secretary of State, shares responsibility for that failure with him. We are only now seeing the terrible consequences of America’s retreat from responsibility. More will follow unless there is a radical change of course under the next president, such as Bret Stephens outlines in this month’s issue.
Another effect of Paris has been to demonstrate the huge danger posed by thousands of potential terrorists lurking among the millions of migrants now entering Europe from Syria and elsewhere. David Cameron should immediately halt his programme of resettling 20,000 people in Britain from the refugee camps. The risk is just too great and he should revert to his policy of keeping refugees in their own region.
Rightly, Europeans are wary of the Islamic world and especially Islam in Europe. If a reaction against Muslims is to be avoided, their representatives must clearly reject any moral equivalence between IS terrorists and those who fight them. That includes Israel: as John Ware reports, those paid to deradicalise are often anti- Zionists. It is right to expect from Muslim neighbours an openness to integration, tolerance of criticism and intolerance of extremism. “Moderate” rejection of the West and even support for IS are common. That has to change.
Paris, sadly, has a sanguinary history. From the jacqueries of the Middle Ages and the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572, to the Terror of 1793 and the Commune of 1871, the French capital has witnessed many bloodbaths. Worst of all was the Vichy regime’s role in the Shoah. Even compared to these crimes, the Paris massacres of 2015 will inspire fear as a mene tekel. Unless we learn from Paris that IS must be annihilated, London will suffer the same fate — and sooner rather than later.
Europe has long been more defeatist than America, of course, even if Obama seems out of step with ordinary Americans on his own failure to take the fight to the enemy. Hillary Clinton, as Obama’s Secretary of State, shares responsibility for that failure with him. We are only now seeing the terrible consequences of America’s retreat from responsibility. More will follow unless there is a radical change of course under the next president, such as Bret Stephens outlines in this month’s issue.
Another effect of Paris has been to demonstrate the huge danger posed by thousands of potential terrorists lurking among the millions of migrants now entering Europe from Syria and elsewhere. David Cameron should immediately halt his programme of resettling 20,000 people in Britain from the refugee camps. The risk is just too great and he should revert to his policy of keeping refugees in their own region.
Rightly, Europeans are wary of the Islamic world and especially Islam in Europe. If a reaction against Muslims is to be avoided, their representatives must clearly reject any moral equivalence between IS terrorists and those who fight them. That includes Israel: as John Ware reports, those paid to deradicalise are often anti- Zionists. It is right to expect from Muslim neighbours an openness to integration, tolerance of criticism and intolerance of extremism. “Moderate” rejection of the West and even support for IS are common. That has to change.
Paris, sadly, has a sanguinary history. From the jacqueries of the Middle Ages and the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572, to the Terror of 1793 and the Commune of 1871, the French capital has witnessed many bloodbaths. Worst of all was the Vichy regime’s role in the Shoah. Even compared to these crimes, the Paris massacres of 2015 will inspire fear as a mene tekel. Unless we learn from Paris that IS must be annihilated, London will suffer the same fate — and sooner rather than later.
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