“Let’s call it what it is: Islamist terrorism”

“Enough. Enough with the clichés. Enough with the empty comments that, after every attack, resort to the same vocabulary and fail to name anything. Let’s call it by its name: it is Islamism.” So writes Ahmad Mansour, a German expert on Islamism, in X following the attack on Berlin Pride. “Not ‘radicalisation’ in a vacuum, not ‘violence’ with no source, not ‘a single, confused perpetrator’. It is an ideology with a name, with a list of enemies and a closed worldview that sanctifies killing. This list of enemies is long: Jews, Christians, liberal Muslims, atheists, gay people, queer people — anyone who celebrates life, rather than subjecting it to a precept.”

For three years now, we have been caught up in a wave of radicalisation, and the conflict in the Middle East acts as its catalyst: it provides the emotional fuel through which people are manipulated, mobilised and recruited – on the streets, online and in mosques. That is why the focus must not be solely on the perpetrators, but on the instigators – both men and women – who, in the name of tolerance, act with impunity and win people over to the cause of death. And we must be honest about why this is happening right here: Islamists feel at home in Europe, including in Germany. They scorn our social order whilst at the same time exploiting every freedom it offers them to spread their ideology. They invoke religious freedom to undermine the very society that guarantees them that freedom. This must stop.

Religious freedom protects faith — it is not a shield for a political ideology that spreads its poison in the name of God. It is no coincidence that the terrorist targets a queer festival. It is the symbol of the very order that the Islamist hates most. But this society has made averting one’s gaze a habit. It contextualises, it relativises. Tolerance that fails to name the enemy of tolerance ultimately protects only the enemy. Freedom does not die because of terror. It dies because of our silence afterwards. The dangers of Islamism are multifaceted. In addition to terrorist organisations, which continue to attempt attacks in Europe, there are two other actors – the Ayatollahs’ regime and Hamas – which seek to destabilise our societies through terror and covert operations. Added to this are the ‘lone wolves’: individuals who follow an ideology but do not belong to any organisation and act alone. It is they who feature in the statistics of the last two years – Arras, Brussels, Paris, Mannheim, Solingen, Munich, Villach, Mulhouse, Groningen, Bielefeld, Winterthur and now Berlin. Since 2024 alone, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has recorded six Islamist-motivated attacks in Germany. This series is not a string of coincidences. It is a pattern. Behind all this are the instigators. They do not wield knives, but they sharpen minds. They provide the worldview from which violent acts spring. And they usually go unpunished – in the name of tolerance. This is why the fight against Islamism must be waged at all levels and involve a specific strategy for each level. Anyone who sees only the perpetrator has already lost the battle before it has even begun.”