By Shimon Refaeli | Deputy Head of the Institute for Security Policy, Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF)
Many citizens around the world are watching with astonishment and concern the disturbing scenes unfolding in the streets of France, as well as in England, Spain, Ireland, and Italy. The reality emerging through the smoke of burning tires and shattered windows is generally portrayed in the media as an authentic social protest against the rising cost of living, energy prices, or the economic hardships weighing on the middle class.
However, a clear-eyed analysis of what is happening quickly strips away this façade and reveals a much deeper truth. The riots sweeping European cities are not local, domestic, or fundamentally economic events. They are the eruption of a profound strategic process: the rotten fruits of the strategic and ideological alliance between radical Islam and the far left, what can be defined as the “Red-Green Alliance.”
An outside observer must ask a fundamental question: What is the connection between a protest over food prices and rent in France and the mass waving of Palestinian flags? Why, at the heart of a protest supposedly concerned with the welfare of the general public, are the French tricolor and the flags of European nation-states almost nowhere to be found, while symbols of a radical struggle overseas are waved passionately in their place?
The answer lies in the fact that, over the past several years, a number of European countries have chosen to grant unilateral recognition to a Palestinian state, while others have entertained the idea or demonstrated a hesitant and feeble position that failed to stand unequivocally alongside the State of Israel and the fundamental values of the West. In doing so, those countries sent an extraordinarily destructive message to all the forces of chaos and terror: that violence, terrorism, and the disruption of public order are effective tactics that produce results. In this way, several European countries, led by France, encouraged and incentivized systematic violence as a means of achieving objectives. The logic is simple: If radicalization produces results, why would radicals choose moderation?
Sir Winston Churchill sharply defined this when he described appeasers as those who feed a crocodile in the hope that it will become full or satisfied; in reality, however, this only makes it bigger, stronger, more demanding, and far more dangerous.
This is precisely the mechanism we are witnessing in practice today. The capitulation and appeasement of European capitals in the face of the very organizers of violent demonstrations since October 7, and their repeated criticism of Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorist organization, have neither brought stability nor produced a period of calm. On the contrary, they have incentivized violence, granted legitimacy to rioters, and demonstrated to them that the West is weak and in moral and ethical retreat. This is the central reason why these riots are erupting with such intensity precisely in countries such as France, Spain, Britain, and Ireland, and even in countries such as Italy, where some believed that neutrality or a hesitant position would protect them from the wave of destruction.
The State of Israel has served as the litmus test for Western civilization as a whole. The rioters setting streets ablaze in Paris and looting property in European cities do not hate only the Jewish state; for them, Israel is merely the forward outpost of Western civilization. These same forces seek to undermine the rule of law, individual freedom, tradition, and the liberal values that Europe has cultivated over centuries. The French president, who believed that wavering in his support for Israel would appease the extremists and calm tensions, is now discovering that the fire he sought to appease has reached his own doorstep.
And what we are witnessing in France today may be a preview of what awaits Western Europe and the democratic states across the United States as a whole. Surrendering to the forces of chaos, attempting to contain violence, or weakening the moral backbone will not guarantee the security of the West. The West must understand: The forces that justify terrorism against Israeli civilians in the name of a revolutionary ideology may tomorrow justify violence against their own citizens in the name of that same worldview. The only way to restore security, stability, and the rule of law to the streets is to stand firmly, resolutely, and uncompromisingly against radical Islam and its allies on the far left, while standing unequivocally for the shared values and heritage of free civilization. And just as Israel learned at the cost of bloodshed, Europe too must understand: Surrender to extremism does not buy peace. It only raises the price of the next confrontation.
