Israel is protecting Europe from terror. PM Netanyahu and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Illustrative. Photo courtesy of: Avi Ohayon (GPO).
Israel is often at the forefront of the voices concerned about Islamic terrorism and the nuclear and non-nuclear threats from Iran. But Israel is also at the forefront of fighting back against those dangers, and it’s not just Israel that’s being protected by those efforts. Europe and the rest of the world benefit as well. On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the risk posed by radicals such as ISIS and Iran and what that means for friendly foreign powers.
“We are committed to blocking [radicals’] advance and in so doing, we are defending not only ourselves, but in many ways, defending Europe,” Netanyahu said in comments released by his office during a meeting with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.
“Israel is the great fortress, here at the edge of Asia, at the edge of the Mediterranean, that is preventing the forces of militant Islam from sweeping the region and sending millions and millions and millions of people into homeless wandering throughout the continents, especially the continent of Europe,” he continued. “The best way to deal with this is to deal with it here, to defeat these forces here. And Israel is doing more than its fair share in that regard.”
The civil war in Syria has notably impacted Europe by driving refugees into the western continent. Along with the legitimate Middle Eastern refugees, terrorists have used the chaos to sneak into Europe and launch attacks.
And while Islamic extremist terror attacks have become a disturbingly regular occurrence in Europe, it could have been even worse if not for Israel, Netanyahu noted in separate comments published by his office earlier this week. Speaking with a delegation of ambassadors to the United Nations from other nations, Netanyahu highlighted Israel’s achievements in this arena.
“We’ve prevented planes from being shot down from the sky. We’ve prevented maybe 40 major terrorist attacks in recent years in various continents,” said Netanyahu. “So I think that the quest on the one hand to have a better future, progress on the one side; and second to combat the forces that want to take the world back to a dark, medieval period, the forces of terrorism and fanaticism; that creates this basis for both regional cooperation and global cooperation on a vast scale.”
Israel’s counterterrorism efforts are a specific reason for partnering with central European nations, he stated. That partnership is “based also on the quest for security against terrorism that unites everyone here and many others. Because terrorism is a disease that is spreading from the various forces of militant Islam attacking Muslims, attacking Arabs, attacking Europeans, attacking Latinos, attacking everyone,” said Netanyahu on Sunday.
“So everyone wants to have that extra measure of security and Israel is very, very advanced in combating terrorism, in using intelligence and other sophisticated means to fight terrorism.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, February 6, 2019)