Assadollahi warns that immigration is a serious issue, particularly for multicultural Canada. She suggests that a first step is understanding the nature of terrorist regimes and how they use infiltration to achieve their goals.
The West is falling short in understanding the layers and complexity of the problem of Muslim radicalization. A Government of Canada report on “Radicalization of Homegrown Violent Extremists” states that terrorism is not a new tactic, and points out that Sunni Islamist extremism poses the “leading threat to Canada’s national security,” which has proven to be “adaptable and resilient.”
The report also pinpoints Canada as a target for attacks; identifies the radicalization of the homegrown Toronto 18 and goes on to explain the propaganda drives, the raising of funds and the establishing of connections with extremists in Canada, as well as the efforts that enabled them to travel to foreign conflict zones.
As former U.S. Republican Representative Allen West said, referring to the Boston Marathon bombings, “The terrorist attack in Boston and evolving events indicate we have a domestic radical Islamic terror problem in America.” He went on to advise: “No more excuses. No more apologies. We are in a war of ideological wills and we shall prevail.”
Racism is a separate phenomenon. Both Canada and the U.S. would do well to abandon the self-guilt rhetoric and pay attention to the reality at hand. It would help if they recognized that the problem is not with Western citizens making Muslims feel unwelcome, or with angering them through foreign policy. We need to accept that the problem arises out of Islamic extremism that fuels victimology while teaching a vitriolic hatred of Jews, Christians, Hindus, all infidels, and the West.
Originally published at the Gatestone Institute.