Why Belgium is Ground Zero for European Jihadis
by Soeren Kern • March 23, 2016 at 6:00 am
Growing numbers of Belgian Muslims live in isolated ghettos where poverty, unemployment and crime are rampant. In Molenbeek, the unemployment rate hovers at around 40%. Radical imams aggressively canvass in search of shiftless youths to wage jihad against the West.
"When we have to contact these people [European officials] or send our guys over to talk to them, we're essentially talking with people who are... children. These are not pro-active, they don't know what's going on. They're in such denial. It's such a frightening thing to admit their country is being taken over." — American intelligence official.
"Returned Syria fighters are a huge threat... It is absolutely unbelievable that our governments allow them to return... Every government in the West, which refuses to do so [lock them up], is a moral accessory if one of these monsters commits an atrocity. ... Our citizens are in mortal danger if we do not restore control over our own national borders." — Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
The terrorist attacks on the airport and metro in Brussels are casting a spotlight, once again, on Belgium's ignominious role as a European haven for jihadists.
Several distinct but interconnected factors help explain why Brussels, the political capital of Europe, has emerged as the jihadist capital of Europe.
Large Muslim Population
The Muslim population of Belgium is expected to reach 700,000 in 2016, or around 6.2% of the overall population, according to figures extrapolated from a recent study by the Pew Research Center. In percentage terms, Belgium has one of the highest Muslim populations in Western Europe.
In metropolitan Brussels — where roughly half of Belgium's Muslims currently live — the Muslim population has reached 300,000, or roughly 25%. This makes Brussels one of the most Islamic cities in Europe.
Approximately 100,000 Muslims live in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, which has emerged as the center of Belgian jihadism.
