April 04, 2016
What ISIS Wants: Punishing Refugees for Brussels
On Tuesday, March 22, twin explosions at the Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek Metro Station rocked Belgium’s capital city of Brussels, killing at least thirty and injuring 230. This comes just days after authorities captured one of the key figures involved in the November 13 Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek. Pundits and terrorism experts alike will spend the weeks and months ahead outlining how Belgium and Europe need to strengthen their counterterrorism capabilities.
These ideas are important. But these events will also undoubtedly fan the flames of right-wing anti-immigrant rhetoric spreading throughout Europe, despite the fact that two of the three Brussels attackers were identified as Belgian citizens. Ultimately, this will harm the thousands of migrants arriving to Europe’s shores by the week who seek asylum from their war-torn homes. Rather than falling prey to inflammatory rhetoric from right-wing parties, which further fractures a delicate political climate, Europeans must present a united front and stand against these anti-immigrant and anti-refugee policies.
Read the full article in The National Interest.
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