Danny Citrinowicz, senior research fellow at the Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy in Israel
Recently, following Islamist terrorist attacks in France and Austria, the discourse in Europe has increasingly turned to what can be done to monitor and curb those inciting such attacks by laying down the ideological basis for them. Naturally, since these attacks have come from the Islamic State (ISIS), most of the focus has been on those Sunni religious centers and mosques that have, directly or indirectly, assisted the terrorists.
However, the discussion currently taking place across the European Continent misses a key facet of the Islamist challenge by focusing exclusively on its Sunni component, and ignoring the institutions created by the Iranian revolutionary government across Europe, which allows them deep purchase within Shi’ite Muslim populations on the Continent, as well as inroads with disaffected Sunnis and even European non-Muslims drawn to the language and posture of anti-Western radicalism.
