European countries have taken in hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern refugees–and, with it, they’re also taking in a terrorist ideology.
The latest casualty? Liberal, secular Sweden.
Graffiti sprung up this week in Gothenburg, Sweden, the second largest city in the country, with some haunting messages: “Convert or die” and “the caliphate is here,” along with ISIS logos and the letter “N” which has been used to identify Christians in ISIS-controlled territories, much like the gold Star of David was used to denote Jews in Nazi Germany.
Markus Samuelsson, who runs a bakery that was covered with ISIS graffiti, was scared by the attacks.
“I felt a sudden chill down my spine,” he explained. “It’s terribly painful, we feel threatened.”
Gothenburg has recently become a hot spot for Islamic terrorism, with more than 150 former residents leaving the city to join ISIS. They’re reportedly attracted to Sweden’s large Assyrian Christian community, which is the sect of Christianity that ISIS deliberately targeted in Iraq last year.
As more Middle Eastern refugees continue to pour into Europe–and European leaders continue to welcome them with open arms–it’s clear that the very character of a liberal, Western Europe has come under attack.
Across Europe, many leaders–especially German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been a leading voice in support of Muslim refugees–have been facing massive opposition. And some leaders, who are ardently opposed to welcoming refugees, have seen boosts in their popularity.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, for example, has continued to hammer the Islamic immigrant. “Spiritually, Islam was never part of Europe,” he explained, thumbing his nose at his fellow European leaders’ dream of a multicultural society. “It’s the rulebook of another world.”
He added, in response to criticism from other leaders, “We in Hungary decide what we want or don’t want… Not everyone is entitled to… a life in Hungary.” Hungary has since closed its border with Serbia, and has completed a fence along its Croatian border.
Regardless of the trouble brewing in Europe, ISIS–at least in the Middle East–may be in severe decline overall, after suffering staggering losses after repeated air strikes from both U.S. and Russian forces in Syria.
