Social media, sympathy & shocks

Sympathy

In January last year we saw quickly arisen sympathetic reactions for what happened at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters, which sparked three days of bloodshed in the French capital. After the subsequent shootout at the Bataclan theatre in November — sympathisers channelled their grief through Twitter.

This year it happened again, less than half an hour after news of the first blast, at Brussels Airport during morning rush hour, the first reference of #PrayforBrussels emerged.

The former headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo weekly (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It echoed the #PrayforParis hashtag which was trending for days after the November attacks. In January 2015, #JeSuisCharlie and #JeSuisParis became the blueprint for showing solidarity on social media, frequently being adopted for compassionate — and even humorous or sarcastic — purpose at a range of global events.

The varied spellings of Belgium’s capital city and the different languages spoken meant numerous hashtags were used to convey the same message.

In Belgium itself, the hashtag #Ikwilhelpen — “I want to help” — began trending as stunned locals sprang in to action to offer assistance to stranded travellers caught up in the mayhem caused by the city, and its transport network, being in lockdown. Somehow so many people got in contact with others to provide transport back home or to give shelter for the night. Offering places to sleep was spread by the hashtags #openhouse in English, French, and Flemish.

We can see the population all over the world reacting very quickly. In a few hours time we heard and saw buildings all over the world changing in the three coloured flag of Belgium.

When the public manages to spread ideas and texts so quickly and when they manage to communicate so easily it looks so strange that international security secret services and police forces are not able to do the same. From Parliamentarians and official spokesmen we would also expect them to be abreast of things.

Comrades

Yesterday we were shocked by two news facts, which seemed to be confirmed by eastern sources. It made us wonder how it can be possible that those in charge where not informed.

An Iraqi intelligence official says sources in the Syrian city of Raqqa have told them that the Islamic State group has been planning terrorist attacks in Europe for two months which would “target airports and train stations”.

“Daesh [IS] was behind this operation and it was planned in Raqqa two months ago and there are three suicide attackers who will carry out another attack”.

another senior Iraqi intelligence official said.

Because of the detention of Salah Abdeslam the Belgian intelligence forces should have known that this Paris attacks suspect arrested last week in Brussels would trigger strong actions from Jihadist cells.

Intelligence officers described the attacks as “sadly expected” both as a “revenge” for the arrest of Europe’s most wanted man but also because jihadists were aware he could betray them.

It would be naive to think Abdeslam twice “pulled back” from killing himself by triggering a suicide vest — once in Paris and then on the day of his arrest, that this man would talk and betray his comrades in time, before they would do something.

Intelligence officers may have seen a weakness, a desire to live which would have been played on during questioning but the anti-terror specialists did not manage to see clear what was going on at the time.

Naturally it also can well be his comrades knew him very well and became afraid he could talk and bring them in danger to be caught. Abdeslam when a man showing not enough inner strength and the capacity to withstand interrogation, was clearly a danger for the terrorist cells. This meant that if those involved in Tuesday’s attacks were known to him they believed they had to activate their plans before they too were arrested and their weapons seized.

Troublemakers

The Belgian citizen of Moroccan descent, Najim Laachraoui, was already known from childhood to be a troublemaker, not afraid to shoot at the police like he did a few years ago by an arrest after an armed robbery. According to the Turkish president and Turkish intelligence forces he was arrested by Turkish police, on his way to Syria to join IS. Strangely enough he got to chose to which country he would be returned. He was sent to the Netherlands, though without being monitored by the security services.

It is very strange that Turkey did not warn the Belgian authorities or that in case they where warned did not react appropriate. Worse is it when we do get to know that his DNA was later found on one of the suicide belts used in the Bataclan theatre massacre in Paris last year. You would think such a dangerous figure would not only be kept an eye on, but would be detained straight ahead.

Also Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, had entered Turkey with the intent of joining Islamic State in Syria. Being stopped by the Turkish authorities he too was sent back to Europe. again this jihad fighter was able to enter the Netherlands in 2015 without any problem. Again the Belgian authorities failed to follow up. Apparently travelling to Syria for such clandestine militancy was not deemed a serious terrorist threat.

When it is known that Khalid el-Bakraoui, Ibrahim’s sibling, had helped to lease safe houses for the Paris attackers, including Salah Abdeslam, who was captured last week, we wonder why he was not taken in custody and seriously interrogated.

Belgistan

Not for nothing Belgium is often referred to as Belgistan in certain Belgian papers and in foreign press. It is impossible to think the Belgian government would not have been careful enough concerning the active participants in the ongoing military intervention against ISIL, during the Iraqi Civil War. Belgium has more nationals fighting for jihadist forces (as a proportion of its population) than any other Western European country, with an estimated 440 Belgians having left for Syria and Iraq as of January 2015. {see also my previous postings, Hard questions , Nina Elbagir; Bharati Nailk; Laila Ben Allal (22 March 2016). “Belgium: Europe’s front line in the war on terror”. CNN. Retrieved 22 March 2016 & Neumann, Peter. “Foreign fighter total in Syria/Iraq now exceeds 20,000; surpasses Afghanistan conflict in the 1980s”. ICSR. Retrieved 23 March 2016.}

Matthew Dalton and Margaret Coker wrote already about Nabil Kasmi and 45 other Sharia for Belgium members who left for Syria, on September 28, 2014 in the The Wall Street Journal. They expressed their view how “ Belgium became a Jihadist-Recruiting Hub”.
This “hotbed of jihadist ideology” was also noticed by many foreign television channels. The quaint but bustling capital of Belgium and of Europe, famed for its picture postcard squares, its chocolate and its beer was rapidly becoming infamous, too, as a fertile recruiting ground for jihadi fighters.

Integration or comedy and Muslim community

The then 27-year old Belgian comedian who performs with a humorous theatrical group that calls itself the “Muslim Raiders,”said in January 2015 he feared young Belgian-born Muslims which could become victims of a backlash after the raid in Verviers.

El Hajjaji, the director of l’ Espace Poincare, opened little more than two years ago, with the goal of promoting a peaceful and productive blend of European and Islamic values, said in January 2015, soon after French jihadis massacred cartoonists in the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, that they had threatened this vision of moderation and integration.

“We condemn what’s happened. This is not our vision, our understanding of our religion,”

he said in French-accented English, and explained how Belgium’s Muslim community was finding itself increasingly trapped between two ideological extremes.

“We face [Islamist] radicalisation. But we also face the increase of Islamophobia in Belgium,”

El Hajjaji said.

“We know that stigmatisation, Islamophobia, discrimination help this radicalization of young Muslim people here in Belgium.”

Once more those terrorist attack bring pressure on the relations between Belgian natives and those generations of immigrant families, atheists, Christians and Muslims.

Belgian natives, immigrants and Sharia

You would expect members of the Belgian government taking care they would have enough people infiltrated in the different groups to come to know what was going on and to provide enough information about those different groups.

It is also incredible to believe that Belgian law enforcement officials questioned terror suspect Salah Abdeslam only for about one hour between the time of his arrest Friday and the Brussels attacks Tuesday. {according to Abdeslam’s attorney Sven Mary, whose clients include Fouad Belkacem, spokesperson for the radical Salafist organisation Sharia4Belgium}

Ministers under pressure

Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens had both offered to quit after different matters, of jihadists crossing countries, became known by the general public. Given publicity the day before yesterday again pressure was placed on the Belgian government where a wise prime minister refused the resignation of those ministers at this critical moment.

Knowing now that a raid on one of the safe houses in Brussels prior to Abdeslam’s capture was botched, leading to the escape of some suspects and that the Bakraoui brothers may have been among those who got away, it shall be looking for the loopholes and demanding to take measures to avoid such failing incidents.

According to Jean-Charles Brisard, who chairs the Paris based Centre for Analysis of Terrorism,

“this is something that should never have happened.”

Night and day

Also problematic is that shortly after the Paris attacks, Abdeslam was located in a flat in Molenbeek. But because of a 50 year old rule prohibiting police raids between 9pm and 5am unless a crime was in progress, the police had to wait until dawn to try and capture him. By the time they arrived, Abdeslam had already fled. Luckily this absurd law has been changed … but too late.

Today the Belgian police force should also question their interrogation techniques. Do they really think just a little hour would be sufficient to get enough out of a suspect? To mention that he was

too tired to be questioned for any longer

is an absurd excuse. In such a critical situation as this, having had already several times a high alert in this country, even having had the highest alert (Alarm 4), being like at war this looks ridiculous. The situation now comes near to having a war zone and should be treated as such.

Bureaucracy and Incompetence

No wonder the foreign press laughs at the Belgian justice system and blames them to be incompetent. Though I am sure many people in those forces are doing sincere hard work, but they are bounded on the strings of certain very old Napoleonic laws and chained by bureaucratic rules and situations.

When the authorities in Belgium are guilty of a major failure of intelligence, they should be punished in time. But clearly the problems in the country run much deeper than this.

We should know that scum, thief’s, robbers, murderers are very well protected under Belgian Law which tries to follow humanitarian rules and wants to protect the human rights of those wrongdoers, but often forgetting the right of the good, honest civilians.

A divided country

Problematic in this country are also the many different regions and their multiple police forces and security agencies. The discontinuance of the Marechaussee/Gendarmerie, the former paramilitary police force or state police a few years ago, replaced by the Federal Police and the Local Police, not bringing any consolation.

The numerous languages spoken in the country and the endemic social frictions between its Flemish and French speaking people is also not helping the case. It can be said that the resulting discord has created a dysfunctional state that can barely operate in any centralised capacity.

On top of that it seems clearly the case that there is not only a communication problem between the forces in Belgium but there is alleged to be poor intelligence sharing with outside countries as well.

Loopholes and Chaos

No wonder when it often takes time before the bureaucratic mills of government turn, many see lots of changes to slip through the net. The immigrants and/or all sorts of refugees when entering this country very well know the Belgian Law. They cleverly make handy use of finding loopholes.

Not only is there the administrative chaos in this small country which has become a leading hub of jihadist radicalism. In several city quarters with growing Muslim populations there are a highly radicalised minority that rejects western norms and liberal values. The policeman on the beat nor the social and street workers seem to get a grip on those radicalised youngsters. Some poor districts or slums are “no go” zones for the police. For much too long the forces allowed such ‘segregated areas’ to exist. And the danger is that certain measures of N-VA minister Liesbeth Homans (Wonen en Steden) limiting those able to get a council flat makes it worse. Such measures excluding teachers and healthcare workers from social housing and all those who earn too much, though still not enough for the private housing market, shall make it more convenient to create getto’s and banlieus, like France has already enough trouble with such neighbourhoods. The governments should take care that those boroughs are inhabited with more diversity of different cultures and different classes of people.

Names, jobs, recruiters and prospects

In such execrable quarters those without job prospects will feel they have no future in Belgium as and are no part of the Belgian state. this they feel increasingly when looking for a job with a name as Mohammed, Aisha or any other Muslim (or Arabic sounding) name.

Has it become too late?

Molenbeek has become a particular focus of attention in recent weeks. According to Jmal Habbachich of ‘Molenbeek Mosques’,

‘At the time when the Syrian crisis started, no one paid attention to the danger of radicalism’ or to ‘the danger or upsurge of recruiters’ who were left ‘uncontrolled’ in the streets.

In other words, Molenbeek has become a no go area in which jihadists operate with impunity. Such segregation remains a stark symbol of the failure of multiculturalism.

Again we have to bring up questions by list with the names and addresses of 80 people suspected of being jihadist militants which was given to the Mayor of Molenbeek, Francoise Schepmans, a month before the Paris attacks. It included the name of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged architect of the Paris plot, and two other key terrorists.

Schepmans did nothing, claiming later:

‘It is not my job to track possible terrorists’.

But is it not expected of a mayor to care for the safety of his flock? His reply gives the indication that there is something wrong with the attitude of the mayors in Belgium. One could say

Such a response typifies the catalogue of indifference, incompetence and dysfunctional behaviour of the Belgian authorities in dealing with this problem.

Patchwork country to be alert

The patchwork country has to be on the lookout not becoming a literal crazy quilt. Those who wants to divide the country in different independent countries forget that such a diversification can make the things even worse.

The idea of having several federal states making up Belgium is not a bad idea when there is made better work of co-operation and communication of the different ‘states’ and their own federal forces.

With these attacks and the ones still to come we can only hope that the Belgian politicians do take their responsibility and that the whole country awakens to make work of a real integration and a respectful acceptance of the multitude of nationalities living at those few thousand square miles.

It is really a shame that every day we are confronted with fresh revelations about the criminal incompetence of Belgium’s security services and the Belgian politicians who seem to be more concerned in assuring their posts and in getting enough money from the citizens. Those failures represent a major political and intelligence blunder which has only encouraged the murderous extremism of Daesh or Islamic State (IS).

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Please do find also related articles:

1. Syrian but also Belgian connection to French attacks
2. Live: Follow the latest developments here
3. How will Paris cope?
4. A new type of terrorism?
5. Terrorism and fear stalk city
6. Images of aftermath of shootings
7. Eyewitness accounts from the scene
8. How the terror attacks in Paris unfolded
9. Paris Attacks: ISIS Claims Responsibility, France Vows ‘Merciless’ Response
10. Paris attacks: ISIS claims responsibility for gunfire, blasts that killed 128 people
11. Paris attacks darkening the world
12. Attacks in Paris: Live Updates From France
13. Paris attacks: police raid property in Belgium ‘linked to Isis assault’ – live
14. Twitter: Paris attacks
15. The latest news and opinion on the attacks across Paris on 13 November 2015
16. A sleeper cell of militants was said directing attackers sent back to France from Islamic State’s de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria
17. Abdelhamid Abaaoud brain of Molenbeek’s network dismantled in their hideaway at Verviers
18. March 22 2016, attacks in Brussels at airport and metro
19. Daesh hits heart of Europe
20. A Black day for Belgium – Brussels Airport ravage
21. Knife-trust in democratic sore back
22. Tears for Belgium
23. For those who call the Brussels Airport attacks a fake or a conspiracy of the government
24. What Associated Press released on Wednesday 23 March 2016
25. Iranian media implicitly accuse Erdogan to have known of the Bruxelless attacks in advance
26. Hard questions
27. What we do
28. U.S.A. President Barack Obama condemns the outrageous Brussels attacks
29. A darker and stranger place
30. Il terrorismo e lurlo di un bambino al buio
31. Bruxelles ma belle
32. Black box revelation un 23 mars 2016
33. Het raadsel Salah Abdeslam
34. Grunberg is nodeloos ongerust
35. AD – Nederlander lichtgewond bij aanslag Brussel airport
36. Brussel mijn thuis – de dag van de aanval
37. Belangrijke onderbreking
38. In tijden van gemeenschappelijk verdriet
39. Overdenkingen: Hoe te reageren
40. Dankbaar
41. De getuigen bij Pauw zijn bekende uit dezelfde hoek

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Other related articles:

1. Brussels attacks: IS changed plans after Abdeslam held
2. No wonder they call it ‘Belgistan’
3. Salah Abdeslam’s lawyer to sue France prosecutor
4. Sven Mary, the celebrity lawyer defending Salah Abdeslam
5. Speaking in Hashtag
6. Riding the Hashtag Trend
7. The Hashtag Hoopla
8. #The Powerful Hashtag
9. Viral Hashtag Spread Love, Hate
10. Activists Use Web to Spread Feminist Message Efficacy of Hashtag Activism…

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