“You love life, we love death”—a phrase the French scholar Olivier Roy attributes to radical Islamists. Its relevance is starkly visible in the ongoing threats to Germany’s Christmas markets.
The toll of the two biggest attacks on such markets—Berlin in 2016 and Magdeburg last year—is devastating: 19 people killed and over 200 severely injured. The ongoing threat was underscored last week when authorities announced the arrest of five men—three Moroccans, an Egyptian, and a Syrian—in Bavaria for planning an Islamist-motivated vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the Dingolfing-Landau area. On the same day, the public learned that a 21-year-old from Central Asia was also arrested for planning a similar attack. These arrests follow many others throughout recent years.
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