International Business Times: “Muslims Fear Backlash After Brussels Attack”

This is a typical “backlash” story, of the kind that invariably appears after a jihad attack or foiled jihad plot. It attempts to deflect attention away from the jihad terror and onto Muslims as victims, their religion unfairly demonized. One bad apple shouldn’t be taken as spoiling the bunch, we’re told. The real problem is not the jihad mass murders, but the imagined response from the “far right”: “It’s starting again, prepare yourselves, Arab Muslims.”

Nothing ever really does start, but that doesn’t keep the mainstream media from turning out these stories. Sidestepped here, as is always the case in these weepy creepy “backlash” stories, is the fact that Islamic jihadis can and do point to Islamic texts and teachings to justify their actions and make recruits among peaceful Muslims. No mention is made of the fact that Muslim clerics have been involved in jihad terror activity and have exhorted Muslims from the pulpit to commit acts of violence.

If Muslims really fear “backlash” and the “demonization of Islam,” they should be the first to act against such clerics, and would be working publicly and honestly to reform those teachings. Mosques and Islamic schools would be implementing programs to teach against the understanding of Islam that justifies hatred and violence. But “backlash” articles never deal with any of that — they’re all always just about how Muslims fear reprisal attacks. Meanwhile, FBI statistics show that anti-Semitic attacks are far more common than attacks against innocent Muslims. Yet you never see articles about that.

“Muslims Fear Backlash After Brussels Attack: Far-Right, Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Often Follows Violence,” by Michael Kaplan, International Business Times, March 22, 2016 (thanks to Daniel Greenfield):

The attacks in Brussels Tuesday morning come as far-right nationalist parties across Europe have been gaining support by raising alarm over Europe’s porous borders and purported rising extremism among Muslim communities. Muslims across Europe fear that the terror attacks, which left at least 26 people dead, could lead to a new wave of anti-Muslim sentiment and violence, Vocativ reported Tuesday.

 “It’s starting again, prepare yourselves, Arab Muslims,” one European Muslim reportedly tweeted. A Syrian boy held a photo, posted on Twitter, apologizing for the attacks.

Belgium is home to millions of Muslims, as are the neighboring Netherlands, France and Germany. A vast majority of Muslims are believed to be moderate, opposing such violence in their countries and overseas. But radicalization has become a growing problem among Muslim communities in Europe. Hundreds of Belgians have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

Following the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, which claimed 130 lives, far-right parties pointed toward the violence as examples of threats posed to the European Union from migration into the continent. While many have raised security concerns over the hundreds of thousands of Syrians and migrants from elsewhere who have crossed into Europe in recent months, Muslim communities across Europe have come under growing scrutiny.

“Those who said yes to immigration, who transported immigrants from war zones, those people did not do everything for the defense of European people,” said Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban following the attacks in Paris.

Pressure is likely to intensify following the attacks in Brussels, which targeted a subway station and the airport, wounding at least 130 people in addition to the 26 who were killed. It is still unconfirmed whether ISIS was responsible for the violence.

Muslim organizations in Europe typically come out quickly to condemn terrorist attacks, fearing backlash. Many distance themselves from the attackers and seek to assure their compatriots that Islam is a religion of peace.

Source: International Business Times: “Muslims Fear Backlash After Brussels Attack”