“What do they want? Just to destroy the West”

Over the weekend (17–18 October, ed.), France turned into a war zone, writes Melanie Phillips in The Times. “What began peacefully degenerated into a frenzy of violence, looting and destruction of property in Paris and dozens of other places. The Palestinian flag was flying everywhere. The French are accustomed to taking to the streets to protest against policies they dislike. These riots, however, bore more resemblance to an insurrection. President Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance have blamed immigrants who fail to assimilate. It is more complicated than that.”

The red-green alliance – an unholy collaboration between the far left, Islamists and supporters of the Palestinian cause – erupted on our streets immediately following the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023. However, the Palestinian cause has become the driving force and symbol of a broader revolutionary movement in the West, whose underlying aim is its destruction. Unrest similar to the French riots broke out over the weekend in Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Albania. Belgian Home Secretary Bernard Quintin described the violence in Brussels as an organised attempt to destabilise society. In other words, we are witnessing a challenge far broader and deeper than a mere crisis for France. It is a war against the West waged by groups with disparate agendas who are taking advantage of a civilisation in grave difficulty.

These insurrectionists are seizing their moment in a society that has become demoralised in every sense. It has lost both knowledge of and respect for its own historical and cultural identity. Its governments are failing to ensure economic prosperity whilst channelling ever more money into the welfare state. They are floundering in the face of mass immigration, Islamisation, anti-Semitism and growing extremism. They are faced with a huge and growing number of young people who have been taught to hate their own country and who have been indoctrinated by propaganda against white people, capitalism and the West. Radical movements such as Black Lives Matter, Occupy, Extinction Rebellion and Palestine Action have launched increasingly brazen challenges to the law, with a growing sense that the police are overwhelmed. At the same time, an increasingly dangerous tide of mass protests – sometimes violent – against immigrants is building. When the public loses faith in democracy, chaos invariably follows.”