For some years, there has been speculation in security circles about what will replace Islamic State. The terror group was smashed by an American-led coalition five or so years ago – a campaign that incurred, by the way, a heavy civilian death toll but provoked no protests in the west. Although it remains active in Africa and the Middle East, it is no longer the threat that it was. Its absence left a vacuum. The question was what would fill it.
Now we may have the answer. Welcome to the era of Hamas International, a period which is likely only beginning. Yesterday, it was revealed that a plot by the terror group to kill Jews in Europe was foiled by German and Danish police, with Denmark’s prime minister saying it was ‘as serious as it gets’. Hamas, it seems, is going global.
The charisma of Hamas raises the spectre of an even more elusive threat: the lone wolf
This is quite the development for an indigenous Palestinian terror group that gained popularity precisely on the back of its local appeal.
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