William Molinié / Photo credits: OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP
According to French counter-terrorism, if the supporters of the Hexagon of jihadist theses were delighted with the attack of October 7 in Israel, they do not plan to leave to fight and support the Palestinian cause in an operational manner in the area. .
French intelligence services are closely following the consequences in France of the war between Israel and Hamas. According to information from Europe 1, if the Palestinian cause has always been an “ideological pillar” of the French-speaking jihadist movement, it arouses little operational interest. According to a recent intelligence note that Europe 1 obtained, French terrorists do not intend, at this stage, to join the Palestinian territories to fight the IDF.
Three attack plans foiled
Unlike the Iraqi-Syrian zone in the early 2010s, French jihadists favor national territory to attack Jews. Since 2012, French counterterrorism has recorded four Islamist attacks specifically targeting the Jewish community which left eight dead and two injured. Three other planned attacks were foiled.
Few French-speaking jihadists have attempted to join a terrorist group there
In a note that Europe 1 obtained, intelligence observes that the French jihadists, if they welcome the attack of October 7, they demonstrate “vigilance” in their declarations, at least those intercepted by telephone tapping or social media tapping. No doubt, analyze the editors of this note, “for fear of prosecution for advocating terrorism”. The Palestinian cause remains a “powerful ideological pillar” for them but very few French-speaking jihadists have attempted to join a terrorist group there.
The most emblematic case is already old since it dates back to the beginning of 2008. Farouk Ben Abbes, a Belgian-Tunisian, close to Mohamed Merah, then entered Gaza and joined a small pro Al-Qaeda group, which he has always denied during his interrogations, claiming a humanitarian trip.