Vienna shooting in the spotlight
November 5th, 2020Left-wing commentators warn against racism in the wake of the Islamist terror attack in neighbouring Austria, while a conservative analyst suggests that jihadists are targeting countries that have taken measures against illegal immigration.
On 444, András Jámbor remarks that while a Muslim terrorist went on the rampage in Vienna, two Austrians of Turkish descent dragged a woman and a policeman to safety during the shooting. Muslims are sometimes killers, but sometimes heroes, he writes. He condemns those on the far right who use the horrible terror attack to stoke hatred against Muslims or immigrants in general.
In Népszava, Tamás Rónay condemns the deepening divisions within European societies. He believes this is what makes terrorism possible. Rónay is skeptical about the possibility of fully eradicating Islamist terror in the foreseeable future, but if our societies want to confront it and contain it, they must be united over and above all their internal differences, he concludes.
On Mandiner, István Pócza believes he has discovered a new pattern in international terrorism, after the terror attacks in France and in Austria. Austria has taken steps to curb illegal immigration, while France has announced that it will clamp down on human trafficking across borders and on Islamist propaganda in community centres and on the Internet. The conservative political scientist reads the latest events to mean that Islamist terror cells are now targeting countries that are trying to corner terrorists. Jihadists intend thus to intimidate the rest of the nation into being tolerant towards Islamist radicalism and illegal immigration, he claims. The only logical answer to such blackmail, Pócza writes, is “restrictions, restrictions, restrictions”.