Vol. 16, No.

11

July 20, 2016

Why Is France the Preferred Target for Terrorists?

Amb. Freddy Eytan

After the murderous attack in Nice, France is sinking deep into depression; the
Republic itself and its values sustained a heavy blow on the holiday of freedom.

The French people still have not totally internalized the fact that they are in an
existential war, and they are having trouble recovering from the recent wave of
terror.

France is the symbol of freedom, enlightenment, and democratic values, which

stand in complete contrast to the dark, barbaric ideology of global terror
organizations.

France was in the past a colonialist empire that exploited the natural resources of its
colonies and repressed the local population.

The presence in France of eight to ten million Muslims strongly affects decisionmaking in both the political and intelligence domains. Unlike Germany, where most
Muslims are Turks, or Britain, where most are from India and Pakistan, in France the
overwhelming majority are of North African extraction.

The Europeans, and especially the French, must understand once and for all that
jihadist terror cannot be completely uprooted because there is no single, specific
target. It is the ideological and religious dimension that holds sway, and it is an entity
without borders in all regards.

The terror attack in Nice occurred in the middle of the July 14 Bastille Day celebrations
and just a few hours after President Franois Hollande stated in a television interview
that there has been a certain letup in terror activities, and in the coming days the state
of emergency will be lifted. Hollande added that he would be ramping up his war
against Islamic State strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
President Hollande and the French security services fully believed they could uproot
terror in places far from their country. After all, the UEFA European soccer
championship passed without incident two weeks earlier despite threats by radical
Islamic organizations to mount spectacular attacks.

Promenade des Anglais, the site of the truck attack, in Nice, France. (Wikipedia)

Now, after the murderous attack in Nice, France is sinking deep into depression; the
Republic itself and its values sustained a heavy blow on the holiday of freedom. The
Muslim terrorist succeeded, in subverting the fundamental tenets of the French

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Revolution: liberty, equality, and fraternity. The French people still have not totally
internalized the fact that they are in an existential war, and they are having trouble
recovering from the recent wave of terror.
After Paris, the city of light and culture, had undergone several mass terror attacks,
suddenly Nice, city of the Blue Beach, which as usual in July was teeming with tourists
and French enjoying their summer vacation, turned overnight into a ghost town, a
deserted island with roving policemen and soldiers. The number-two city for tourism
after Paris is suddenly a place of gloom, deep mourning, and memorial gatherings. For
the first time since World War II, (apart from a few days during the Algerian War) France
is again under curfew and normal traffic has come to a halt.

Major Attacks on French Soil Since 2012:

March 2012: A French terrorist of Algerian extraction, Mohammed Merah,

murdered seven people in Toulouse, including a Jewish father and three of his
children at the entrance to the Ozar Hatorah School. The terrorist was known to
the security services.

January 7, 2015: Jihadists with French citizenship massacred the staff of the
satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and Jews who had come to buy Sabbath bread
in a nearby kosher supermarket. The next day saw a mass solidarity
demonstration in which heads of government, including Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, took part.

February 3, 2015: Three French soldiers guarding a Jewish community center

were attacked by a man with a kitchen knife.

April 19, 2015: An attempt to blow up a church in Villejuif, a neighborhood in the

southern suburbs of Paris, was thwarted at the last minute. The terrorist, of
Algerian extraction, was known to the security services.

June 26, 2015: The manager of a factory was beheaded by a Muslim terrorist. At
the last minute this same terrorist was prevented from detonating a vehicle
laden with gas cannisters.

August 21, 2015: Thanks to the quick reaction and bravery of American soldiers
on leave, a Muslim attacker on an express train traveling from Amsterdam to
Paris was neutralized.

November 13, 2015: Simultaneous attacks were mounted on restaurants, the

Stade de France stadium, and the Bataclan concert hall. A national state of
emergency was declared. The death toll was 130, with 350 wounded.

Makeshift memorial outside of Kosher Hyper Cacher Market in Paris, January, 2015 (Wikipedia)

January 7, 2016: An attack on a Paris police station was thwarted. A terrorist

clutching a butcher knife shouted Allahu Akbar! at the policemen.

June 13, 2016: A Muslim murdered a police-officer couple in their home, and the
woman was beheaded. Police officers then demonstrated in the street and called
for additional resources and beefed-up security.

July 14, 2016: A truck driver known to the police as a dangerous and serious
criminal perpetrated a massacre in Nice. He had allegedly recently undergone
brainwashing by Muslim preachers. The attack claimed the lives of 84, including
10 children, and wounded 300, including 50 who are still fighting for their lives in
hospitals. The Islamic State took responsibility for the massacre. Security forces
have launched an investigation of the terrorist, who was of Tunisian extraction,
to determine whether he had indeed sworn allegiance to the Islamic
organization and if he had accomplices.
In this case as in others, the question is why were appropriate, drastic steps not
taken to prevent further attacks? Why has France still not internalized the fact
that the response to radical terror must be all-out war? It is also hard to
understand why the driver of a 19-ton truck was allowed to take his vehicle into
the heart of the Riviera during Bastille Day festivities. Why did police officers
believe the driver when he told them he was hauling ice cream for the
holidaymakers? Why was the truck not subjected to a thorough inspection?

Why Has France Become a Major Target for Islamic Terror?

France is the symbol of freedom, enlightenment, and democratic values, which

stand in complete contrast to the dark, barbaric ideology of global terror
organizations. The Bastille Day attack undoubtedly constitutes a devastating blow to
the values of the French Republic and of Frenchness itself.

France is a Catholic country that separates religion and state. It is a secular national
republic in which freedom of expression and of the press is a supreme and absolute
value, anchored in basic laws. Apparently, the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
that sparked the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January 2015 have not deterred
journalists and authorities from continuing in their work.

France was in the past a colonialist empire that exploited the natural resources of its
colonies and repressed the local population.

France is a signatory to the Sykes-Picot Agreement signed a century ago. Even today
France tries to sustain the boundary-setting agreement precisely while Islamic
organizations seek to invalidate the articles that were signed and erase the borders
that were laid. Western states, and especially France, have failed to take into
consideration the national sentiments of the locals and tribal complexities.

France has sought to preserve Lebanons sovereignty and is fighting the Assad
regime which it believes must be overthrown at any price. Yet, at the same time, it is
intensifying its war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as well as in Africa.

The Algerian war is still alive in French memory. Young people from the Maghreb
(north Africa) who were born in France harbor deep resentment and a sense of
frustration toward the authorities. Some of them join the Islamic State and other
Islamic movements with vengeance as a goal.

The presence in France of eight to ten million Muslims strongly affects decisionmaking in both the political and intelligence domains. Unlike Germany, where most
Muslims are Turks, or Britain, where most are from India and Pakistan, in France the
overwhelming majority are of North African extraction, particularly Moroccan,
Tunisian, and Algerian. Amid the chaos reigning in Libya, along with Islamic States
conquest of part of the country, France will undoubtedly be endangered in the near
future by terror attacks committed by Muslims coming from Libya.

In the 1970s and 1980s, France was generous to North African immigrants; today it
receives ungratefulness in return. As long as Muslims in France fail to internalize the
fact that they need to fit in as regular citizens, Muslim religious incitement will
continue to provoke strong interest as well as further terror attacks.

What is occurring is a clash of civilizations and values between radical Islam and the
West, between people of darkness and people of spirit and light.

It should be noted that the Nice massacre was perpetrated exactly one year after
the nuclear agreement with Iran was signed in Vienna on July 14, 2015, with France
as one of the signatories. Can French authorities rest assured that the terror attacks
mounted by Hizbullah in the 1980s against French paratroopers in Beirut or against
targets in Paris will not repeat themselves?

Why, then, did the French foreign minister choose to meet with Hizbullah members
during his most recent visit to Beirut? Is he truly aware of the intentions of the
Lebanese Shiite militia?

The French political leadership must completely change the rules of the game. At
first it will be difficult for the French to absorb this fact and alter their very
longstanding, comfortable way of life. However, they have no choice, and until
further notice they must live with the daily threat of terror that Israelis have
experienced for many years.

Although a state of emergency has been declared in Paris and the provincial towns,
the presence of soldiers and policemen at every street corner will not suffice to
deter the hate-ridden terrorists. France needs to adopt the comprehensive
measures Israel has taken. Those include surprise roadblocks, and not refraining
from entering dangerous neighborhoods where at present Muslims have a free hand
to do whatever they want. A war without hesitation and without illusions must also
be waged against incitement in the social networks and in mosques.

Although France has good intelligence services and advanced military and
technological capabilities, in the case of the Nice attack, as in previous ones, all the
systems failed. Clearly an intelligence and surveillance failure occurred that must be
thoroughly investigated. The most recent report on the terror attacks issued by a
state investigatory committee confirmed the failures of security and intelligence
services and the lack of coordination between the police, the gendarmerie, and the
secret service. It also shed light on the ego wars between these services, including
the power struggles among the different professional organizations.
France must also invest massive resources in intelligence and skilled manpower. It
should be noted, however, that owing to a certain arrogance, France refused for
years to cooperate with Western countries, including Israel. Today the situation has
indeed changed for the better, and ties are very close on all levels.

There are still many intellectuals, philosophers, and bleeding hearts in France who
see terrorists as freedom fighters, underground activists who wage a just battle
against all occupation and oppression. That attitude is particularly evident on the
issue of solving the Palestinian problem, even though there is no direct connection
to our conflict.

The irony is that France, considered a friend of the Arab world and long supportive
of its struggles, including taking initiatives to solve the Palestinian problem, always

7
suffers a boomerang effect in the form of waves of terror in which it becomes a
preferred target.
In recent years we have warned more than once about the dangers confronting
France. But the authorities, for various and peculiar reasons, including electoral
considerations, have opted to turn a blind eye. They were of course mistaken when
they were reluctant to call the perpetrators of the terror wave Islamic terrorists in
the full sense of the term. They cannot ignore the fact that those who carried out
the attacks in Paris and in Brussels were Muslim French citizens. Some of these
operatives had also undergone training in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The Europeans, and especially the French, must understand once and for all that
jihadist terror cannot be completely uprooted because there is no single, specific
target. It is the ideological and religious dimension that holds sway, and it is an
entity without borders in all regards. It cannot be fought by using enlightened
Western methods and holding pointless discussions and memorial assemblies after
every massacre. The struggle will go on for years and involves changing a mentality.

France, which has implemented the correct measures in Africa and Afghanistan, and
is currently doing so against the Islamic State, must engage in some real soulsearching. The terror has now crossed the Mediterranean and is pummeling Europe.
France must forthrightly alter its strategy along with its nave and obliging attitude
toward radical immigrants. It must also take drastic and legal steps against
incitement in the mosques, along with far-reaching measures even if these
compromise individual freedoms. The actions must fit the circumstances. What is
required is a total war to be waged until victory is won, while, of course, maintaining
the basic values of an enlightened democracy.

Finally, it should be underscored that even though Israel is disappointed with

Frances diplomatic behavior toward us, especially on the Palestinian issue, we stand
united today with the French people in their mourning and their struggle against
terror, and encourage the authorities to take all necessary measures. Israel, having
accumulated great and painful experience, will always be prepared to offer succor
and assistance.
***

Amb. Freddy Eytan, a former Foreign Ministry senior advisor who served in Israels
embassies in Paris and Brussels, was Israels first Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of
Mauritania. He was also the spokesman of the Israeli delegation in the peace process with
the Palestinians. Since 2007, he heads the Israel-Europe Project at the Jerusalem Center,
which focuses on analyzing Israeli relations with the countries of Europe and seeks to
develop ties and avenues of bilateral cooperation. He is also the director of Le Cape, the
Jerusalem Center website in French. Amb. Eytan has written 20 books about the Israeli-Arab
conflict and the policy of France in the Middle East, including La Poudriere (The Powder Keg)
and Le double jeu (the Double Game). He has also published biographies of Shimon Peres,
Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, and a book, The 18 Who Built Israel.

This Jerusalem Issue Brief is available online at:

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