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Looking at the recent tragic bombing that struck the Belgian capital, Brussels, it was informative to see how people in the Western world reacted to ISIS’s role in the bombing, especially when one considers how people reacted to the incident on the one hand, and Western governments on the other.

Government apologetics, specifically, were a matter of concern. After all this was an attack that left dozens of casualties, and yet ISIS was alone to blame. It is of course, expected, as ISIS was the culprit, but digging just a bit deeper one must take into consideration the formative process that led to this attack.

Belgium has for decades been a hub for Wahhabi extremism. This extremist interpretation of Islam espoused by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been at work in Brussels (and indeed in many European cities) for many years now. The matter goes back to the 1960’s, when Saudi King Faisal, who was at the time visiting Belgium, struck a deal with then King Baudouin to allow the Saudis to set up a mosque in Brussels, and hire Gulf-trained clerics (Wahhabi clerics, naturally) in order to secure Oil contracts in return.

Although the mosque was named the “Islamic and Culture Center of Belgium” (ICC), it would not be a place for all Muslims, but rather a place wherefrom Wahhabi ideology can be spread. This proved to be an extremely convenient undertaking with immigrants flooding from all over the Arab world, particularly Morocco. This first wave of immigrants and the generation that followed would prove to be the most affected by the Wahhabi ideology, even though many come from schools of Islam that differ from the latter.

This relationship with the indoctrinated immigrants would prove to be particularly fruitful in the aftermath of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. The U.S in particular played the most important role in the presence of Wahhabism in Europe, (Link in Arabic) because they were able to mobilize many of the European youth to fight against the USSR, as speeches blasted from Saudi-funded mosques against the “Communist USSR”, and the “evils of Christian Orthodoxy.” Brussels in particular was THE nest of mobilization for jihad in Afghanistan.

After the war the relationship with these extremist war veterans would prove to be strenuous, until the war in Syria would again prove opportune for these people and European governments, who would against see them as allies of convenience, and would again tolerate them. A 2007 U.S cable leaked by WikiLeaks shows that the Saudi Embassy was providing funding for these mosques and provided religious training for their imams.

Seeing as timing is everything, a look at the Brussels attacks, and a quick peek into the past can prove very informative. On January 6, Belgium declined arms sales to Saudi Arabia amidst its war on Yemen, where it has committed atrocities and war crimes on a fairly regular basis for a year now, bombing schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and civilian houses, not to mention an inhumane blockade that has led to the deaths of a great number of people because of a lack of food, medicine, and power.

The attacks also come four days after the arrest of Salah Abdel-Salam in Belgium. Abdel-Salam is thought to be the mastermind of the Paris attacks that took place on November 13 2015, leaving 130 dead. The attacks also come as Saudi Arabia mounts an important campaign to drive attention away from itself, as it is increasingly coming into question for its links to international terrorism, and its funding of extremist groups such as ISIS, particularly in Syria and Iraq, the latter’s hotbed.

One also has to keep in mind that the EU is not entirely innocent in this matter. After all, the policy led by a number of EU countries, most importantly Britain and France, with regards to wars in the Middle East, namely Syria and Libya, has left them quite vulnerable in return. When you allow thousands of youth to be indoctrinated by Saudi-funded Wahhabi teachings, knowing full well the dangers this would pose, in order to benefit from Oil contracts and lucrative arms sales to Saudi Arabia, you get war veterans coming back home with a chip on their shoulders, and countless more desperate impoverished refugees; a perfect breeding ground for extremism. The chickens will eventually come home to roost.

The solution? Unless Europe decides to deal with the core threat, then all efforts to tackle ISIS amongst them will be fruitless. These Wahhabi schools are the source of the problem and the breeding ground for these extremists. One the one hand, the Wahhabi textbooks used to spread their ideology must be banned, and on the other, some serious efforts at social engineering are required; not just to contain the spread of extremism, but to counter it as well.

Europe must also be ready to cooperate with countries (another link in Arabic) that have been more successful in combating extremism, and are thus more experienced, namely Russia, Syria, and Iran.

Recently, on March 15th, the Dutch parliament voted to ban weapon exports to Saudi Arabia. Will it also receive a message like the one sent to Belgium? Only time will tell…