French police outside kosher supermarket. 'Nothing to be proud of'
Photo: Gettyimages
French security services' colossal failure
Analysis: As long as Jews were the only ones getting killed, France avoided dealing with the Islamic terror. The red lights which should have been triggered several years ago didn't even flash for a second.
France has opened its arms to Islamic terror. And the bigger the failure, the larger and grander the mourning rallies. This is a rule invented by politicians to cover up their own failures.
But there is not a single protest or speech which can cover up the bitter truth: The Western European countries' security services in general – and France's security services in particular – are not prepared in any way for dealing with the radical Islamic terror. Not professionally, not legally and definitely not mentally.
The French security services' failure in the past week was colossal and shameful, and indeed, France and all of Europe are being swept away accordingly in mass mourning rallies and protests of millions.
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Four terrorists paralyzed large parts of France for three days. Such an event, once a week, is enough to bring France down on its knees in the face of the Islamist madness or make it go bankrupt.
So far, the French have had no real interest in the Islamic terror, as it focused on the Jewish issue. As long as Jews were the only ones getting killed, they didn't really care and could just go back to business as usual. Today they, and the entire Europe, are shocked because French police officers and journalists have been killed.
Suddenly it turns out that all those red lights which should have been triggered several years ago, when the Islamic terror killed Jews, did not even flash for a second. The French security services insisted on not touching the Islamic terror, professionally and fundamentally.
French police raid kosher supermarket. 'The Western European countries' security services are unprepared for dealing with the radical Islamic terror'
There is no legislation in France which makes it possible to deal with the hundreds of people who left France to fight along with the radical Islamic movements. There is no legislation which defines Islamic terror as a problem, and therefore there are no agents in the problematic mosques.
The French intelligence services have zero ability to do something with the information they receive from foreign intelligence agencies about dangerous Muslims who have returned to France. And so the terrorists had no problem travelling on a train in France with Kalashnikovs in their bags. There was not a chance in the world that someone would stop them.
The French intelligence services were likely familiar with the two Kouachi brothers and received warnings about them from foreign intelligence agencies. There is a reason why the French intelligence agencies are keeping silent now, and why all the information about the two brothers is coming from the media.
Today we already know that the murderer from Toulouse in 2012 was, to France's disgrace, a collaborator and informer of the French security services. It's possible that this time too, after going through the files, the French security services will be embarrassed again, if not disgraced.
What they knew and didn't know about the terrorists has yet to be published, but it's completely clear that they failed to provide a warning about terror attacks, costing 17 people their lives.
Who would have thought that the French people, who invented the modern intelligence, would reach such a low point. When France wants its intelligence to be extraordinary, it is. But it just didn't want, for political reasons, to deal with the Islamic terror, both because of France's involvement in Western world and because 10% of its residents are Muslim.
The French police's counter-terrorist task force has nothing to be proud of either, as the incident ended with a large number of casualties among the hostages.
The French intelligence services have another small problem, their ego. They don't like advice and offers to help. They will manage on their own. Even such a failure – which resulted in 17 dead people – will not change this mentality.
So until they learn and until they draw the lessons, the State of Israel has a problem. The radical Islamic terror's clear targets are Israelis and Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis travel to Europe every year. But Europe – which is under a global jihad attack – is no longer a pastoral and safe place, and that's how it should be treated.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sat with representatives of the Foreign Ministry and security services on Saturday for an evaluation of the situation in light of the Paris attacks. As far as Israel's embassies and official representatives are concerned, things are simpler and involve an increased security budget and tighter procedures.
The Israeli government can also tighten its intelligence cooperation with the local security services and law enforcement authorities, but the Israeli government cannot replace the effort which the hosting European country must make in order to defend Jews and Israelis.
The State of Israel can boost its aid to Jewish institutions and Jewish communities, but that will never reach the individual café or supermarket. And the State of Israel will definitely not be able to secure all the tens of thousands of Israelis who will arrive in Europe this year as tourists.
The West must wake up, because this is just the beginning of the wave. US President Barack Obama set a wrong strategy: The US will not fight the Islamic State through ground forces, but the Islamic State cannot be curbed only through air strikes.
In order not to get ISIS in Europe, it must be dealt with, through all means, where it is – in Iraq and in Syria.
