The Molenbeek district in Brussels Belgium has been the eye of the European terrorist storm since it emerged that it was home to core members of the Paris attack squad. Police arrested Salah Abdeslam on Friday, 18 March, 2016 just a block from the family home in Molenbeek, a district where he once ran a bar with his brother Brahim - who blew himself up during the attacks in the French capital in November, 2015. The suspected Paris ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, also hailed from Molenbeek and was a friend of Salah Abdeslam. As far back as 2001, it was in Molenbeek where the assassins of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud had stayed. It was also home to one of the 2004 Madrid train bombers and the main suspect in the 2014 Jewish Museum attack in Brussels, while the perpetrator of a foiled attack in August, 2015 on an Amsterdam-Paris train stayed in Molenbeek with his sister before boarding in Brussels. But it is the sheer size of the network in Belgium that has emerged since the Paris attacks which has most alarmed officials. Not only was Abdeslam allegedly helped by several people after fleeing back to Brussels after the attacks, but the Paris cell had rented at least three properties around the country which were used to prepare the attacks. In the days after Abdeslam's arrest, Belgian authorities feared that a terror plot was afoot. "He was ready to restart something in Brussels, and it may be the reality because we have found a lot of heavy weapons, in the first investigations and we have found a new network around him in Brussels," FM Didier Reynders said. A grim-faced PM Charles Michel said on Tuesday: "We feared a terror attack and it happened." (INN) [Comment]

Brussels has become infamous as a hotbed of Islamic extremism because of links to a series of recent attacks in Europe, and now the Belgian capital itself has suffered the worst ever terror attack in its history. ISIS attacks on the Brussels airport and metro system in which terrorists murdered around 34 people came just days after Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in November's 2015, ISIS Paris attacks, was captured in the city after four months on the run. A large and often poorly integrated Muslim population with high levels of unemployment and crime - especially in the gritty district of Molenbeek where Abdeslam was found near his family home - has created a breeding ground for extremism. Analysts say that has metastasized into a dedicated terror network in Belgium as many hardened jihadists return from fighting in Syria with ISIS and other extremist groups. "It is very likely that this attack will have been planned and prepared well in advance of last week's arrest of Salah Abdeslam, one of the central figures in the Paris attacks from last November," said Shiraz Maher, Senior Fellow at International Center for the Study of Radicalization, King's College London. "It therefore points to the existence of a broad and sophisticated terrorist network in Belgium. Our research shows that, per capita, Belgium has the highest number of foreign fighters in Syria of any European country.” (Arutz-7) [Comment]

A clear set of rules for Belgian Purim celebrations were released on Wednesday, 23 March 2016, in a press release from the office of the High Commissioner of the Antwerp Police in light of the terrorist attacks that took place in Brussels the previous day. Due to heightened security concerns, police have requested that the Jewish community avoid wearing masks that cover the face in public on Purim and requested that no toy weapons be carried even by children. Additionally, the police requested that no fireworks be set off and to avoid using any device that may cause a loud banging sound. The Jewish Crisis Management Team of Antwerp urged the community to comply with these rules and declared the next three days to be days of mourning in which celebrations and public feasting are strictly forbidden. "With police and army on very high alert, all these cause confusions and are potentially dangerous," said the Crisis Management Team. (J.Post) [Comment]

Belgian police are hunting an ISIS suspect seen with two supposed suicide bombers shortly before they struck Brussels Airport in the first of two attacks that also hit the city's metro, killing at least 34 and wounding hundreds. An unused explosive device was later found at the airport. Najim Laachraoui, 25, is believed to be the man seen on CCTV pushing a baggage trolley alongside the bombers and then running out of the Brussels airport terminal. Laachraoui is wanted in connection with the Paris attacks. His DNA was found on at least two explosives belts used in those attacks and at a Brussels hideout used last week by prime Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested last Friday,18 March, after a shoot-out with police. (Reuters) Pray that Najim Laachraoui and any others involved in the latest terror attacks in Brussels will be tracked down and brought to justice. [Comment]

Federica Mogherini, the EU Foreign Policy Chief, cut short a news conference in Jordan and began to weep as she spoke of the Brussels bombings Tuesday, 22 March 2016. Mogherini was holding a joint press conference with Jordanian FM Nasser Judeh in Amman. "It is a very sad day for Europe as Europe and its capital is suffering the same pain that this region has known and knows every single day," said the EU commission’s vice-president. She appeared to be trying to contain her emotions, but these eventually got the best of her. She stepped toward Judeh, who embraced her, and the two left the room at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together. If Mogherini’s statements reflect a true new-found identification with the victims of Islamism in the Middle East, it remains to be seen whether this will be translated into greater solidarity with Israel. When PM Netanyahu met Mogherini in January 2016 he suggested that European countries treat the Jewish state the way the moderate Arab countries do, but did not elaborate. Netanyahu told Mogherini that the EU has "double standards” when it comes to Israel. His comment came several days after the EU reaffirmed a decision to differentiate between products made within sovereign Israel and those manufactured in the Jewish communities of Judea & Samaria. In response, Mogherini maintained the EU was not boycotting Israel. (INN) May weeping bring reality and understanding to Federica Mogherini of what Israel faces on a daily basis. [Comment]

 The UN on Tuesday, 22 March 2016 strongly condemned the terrorist bombings in Brussels, extending condolences to the victims and their families while expressing solidarity with the people and Government of Belgium. The 15-member body stressed in a statement the need to intensify regional and international efforts to overcome terrorism and violent extremism, while reaffirming that "terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.” (INN) [Comment]

Israel’s PM Netanyahu on Tuesday, 22 March 2016, spoke by phone with Belgian PM Charles Michel, offering condolences to the families of the victims in the deadly Brussels attacks and Israeli assistance to combat terror. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, also on Tuesday, contacted Belgium's Ambassador Benedicte Frankinet, in order to convey the condolences of the state of Israel in the wake of the lethal ISIS terror attacks in Brussels earlier in the day. "All of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the people of Belgium," said Danon. "Our citizens know all too well the pain and the loss that terrorism inflicts on families and communities and we wish you better days ahead. Terrorism does not differentiate between Turks and Americans or between Europeans and Israelis." Danon concluded by saying, "now is the time to stand together and unite in a joint battle to eradicate international terrorism." His words followed those of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who after the attack said the world is facing "World War III" against radical Islamist terror and called on the free world to band together and defeat it, because "we have no other option." In the attacks on Tuesday, ISIS terrorists launched twin suicide bombings at the local airport and shortly afterward bombed a metro station, murdering a total of 34 victims and wounding as many as 250 others. (Arutz-7) Pray that governments throughout the world will recognize and be united against Islamist incitement to carry out acts of terror and that the nations will honor rather than demean Israel for its stand against Hamas, militant branches of the Palestinian Authority, and Hezbollah terrorist entities. Pray these murderous groups, along with ISIS and all organizations like them, will be utterly defeated. [Comment]

The chain of attacks from Paris to San Bernardino to Istanbul to the Ivory Coast and now to Brussels, and the daily attacks in Israel - this is one continuous assault on all of us. In all these cases the terrorists have no resolvable grievances. It's not as if we could offer them Brussels, or Istanbul, or California, or even Judea & Samaria. That won't satisfy their grievances. Because what they seek is our utter destruction and their total domination. Their basic demand is that we should simply disappear. The only way to defeat these terrorists is to join together and fight them together. That's how we'll defeat terrorism - with political unity and with moral clarity.

At the UN, Israel is subjected to consistent, discrimination. Why would anyone think that the UN could decide on a fair and secure peace for Israel? Yet amazingly, there are some who believe exactly that. They seek to impose terms on Israel in the UN Security Council. Such an effort in the UN would only convince the Palestinians that they can stab their way to a state. A Security Council resolution to pressure Israel would further harden Palestinian positions, and thereby it could actually kill the chances of peace for many, many years. Peace won't come through UN Security Council resolutions, but through direct negotiations between the parties. If the international community really wants to advance peace, it must demand that the Palestinians stop poisoning the minds of their children. If the international community wants to advance peace, it must address the true core of the conflict: the persistent Palestinian refusal to accept a Jewish state in any borders. (PM's Office) Pray against ongoing UN discrimination against Israel. May the tragic European terrorist attacks be a wake up call to Western nations to join rather than to thwart and frustrate Israel’s measures against terrorists and the Islamist leaders and communities that glorify terrorist murder and violence.

MOSCOW (AP) — Authorities in Europe and across the world tightened security at airports, railway stations, government buildings and other key sites after deadly attacks Tuesday on the Brussels airport and its subway system.

With Brussels in lockdown and the French prime minister saying that Europe is "at war,” European leaders held emergency security meetings and deployed more police, explosives experts, sniffer dogs and plainclothes officers, with some warning against travel to Belgium.

The nervousness was felt far and wide. In New York City, authorities deployed additional counterterrorism units to crowded areas and transit locations.

After a string of extremist attacks targeting the heart of Europe over the past year, some analysts say Europe will finally have to implement a much tougher level of security not only at airports, but also at "soft targets” like shopping malls — the kind that Israelis have been living with for years.

A picture taken off CCTV purporting to show suspects in the Brussels airport attack on March 22, 2016. (Twitter)

"The threat we are facing in Europe is about the same as what Israel faces,” said Olivier Guitta, the managing director of GlobalStrat, an international security consultancy. "We have entered an era in which we are going to have to change our way of life and take security very seriously.”

Strong criticism of Belgian security came on Tuesday from Pini Schiff, a former security director at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, which is considered among the most secure in the world. After Palestinian attacks on Israeli planes and travelers in the 1970s, Israeli officials put in place several layers of security at that airport in Tel Aviv, meaning an attacker who escapes notice at one level of security would likely be captured by another.

Schiff said the attacks at the Brussels airport mark "a colossal failure” of Belgian security and that "the chances are very low” such a bombing could have happened in Israel.

There are some, however, who fear that little more can realistically be done.

"The public needs to understand that if we are to continue enjoy living in a free society we have to respond in a proportional way,” said Simon Bennett, director of the Civil Safety and Security Unit at the University of Leicester, England. "In my opinion, airport security is as tight as we can reasonably make it in a free society.”

Firefighters arrive at a security perimeter set in the Rue de la Loi near the Maalbeek subway station, in Brussels, on March 22, 2016. (AFP / Belga / LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ / Belgium OUT)

Philip Baum, author of "Violence in the Skies: A History of Aircraft Hijacking and Bombing,” said "putting people through more hoops,” isn’t the answer to the ever-evolving threat. He said security personnel need to start using behavioral analysis to focus on negative intent. He also said they need better training, more flexibility and should start using more animals.

"It’s all about making security less predictable,” Baum said.

In Moscow, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told Russian news agencies that authorities will "re-evaluate security” at Russian airports, although its measures are already among some of the toughest across Europe. There have been mandatory checks at the entrances to airports since a 2011 suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport that killed 37.

Security was high at all Paris airports and at Gatwick and Heathrow in London, among many others.

At Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, sniffer dogs were deployed in the check-in areas, while at Milan’s Malpensa airport police in carts were patrolling the areas before security checks.

In Germany, the state rail system, Deutsche Bahn, halted its high-speed rail service from Germany to Brussels, stopping them at the border city of Aachen.

Meanwhile, the international high-speed train operator Thalys suspended all of its train traffic Thursday and urged travelers to postpone trips to Belgium. Last year, an attack on a Thalys between Brussels and Paris was foiled by three Americans and a Briton traveling on the train.

Egypt also said it was increasing security, with top security officials asked to personally handle security checks inside airports and in outside areas like hotels and car parks.

Egypt has been working to improve its security after a Russian jet was brought down last October by extremists after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, killing all 224 people on board. Moscow said it was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for planting it.

In Greece, police added additional security at airports, metro stations and embassies with uniformed and plain-clothed officers. But government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili said there were no additional security measures being taken for refugees and migrants following the Brussels attacks.

"We are not making any linkage between those two issues. That would be a defeat for Europe,” she said.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.

Islamic education curricula in the United States contain a clear "us versus them” paradigm that projects hostility toward Israel and distorts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a study conducted by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education. The report, which surveys five Islamic Studies curricula studied in the USA and Canada, also showed that Israel is often delegitimized. "Israel is presented by the curricula as a usurper and referred to on occasion as Palestine. There is no discussion of peaceful solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the report states. In two of the curricula, Israel appears on some maps, while others omit the name entirely. One textbook even states that Israel has no historic claim to the land, while another places anti-Israel activities at the center of its call for political activism [terrorism]. "It seems that Israel is the place where tolerance and acceptance stop as far as Islamic education in the USA is concerned,” Marcus Sheff, CEO told media sources last week. Sheff explained that the narrative about Israel and the Palestinians is simplistic, one-sided and unhelpful. "History is distorted and Israel is demonized,” he said. "Imagine the possibilities of educating young Muslims in America as to the real issue, to the fact that the conflict is complicated, and then presented with these difficulties, we would open the dialogue, between young Muslims and young Jews in the United States” he continued. "If such dialogue existed at a young age," Sheff said, "it would solve many problems later on in universities, such as conflict between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students." (Jerusalem Post) [Comment]