ISIS uses Palestine as rallying cry in Molenbeek, residents say

EFD Senior Policy Advisor Dr. Murat Seyrek has been quoted in an article on Haaretz for his views on the Brussels terrorist attacks on 22 March. In the article, Dr. Seyrek provides his belief that the neighborhood of Molenbeek, where several of the Brussels and Paris plotters lived, was an easy target for radical Islamic movements.

The Islamists "took advantage of the weak social structure of the Moroccan community here, making the push factors towards radicalization beyond social factors such as unemployment easier,” he explains. “In Molenbeek, people don’t feel 100 percent Belgian, which made it easier for these groups to propose an alternative identity. There is a clear cultural explanation for this radicalisation,” Dr. Seyrek argues.

The article is in English and can be read here.