French Jews not reassured by « important terrorist’s » arrest at Paris airport.
Mourad Fares, a 30 years old jihadist, was arrested on September 11 by DGSI, the French domestic security agency, upon his arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. He had been extradited from Turkey, where he had been arrested one month earlier at the French police’s request. The French Interior ministry describes him as « very dangerous ». But many observers wonder whether this is indeed the case.
On the face of it, Fares was a key agent in recruiting volunteers for jihad among French Muslims and organizing for their transfer to Turkey first, and then to Syria and Iraq. However, he gave much publicity to his activities, both on Facebook and in interviews with Le Nouvel Observateur, a leading weekly magazine, and Vice, a trendy news website. He went so far as to claim most young French known for joining the jihadist fighters in the Middle East as his own personal contacts. According to experts, this is not exactly the behavior what would be expected from an activist involved in that kind of work.
Moreover, Fares conversion to the jihadist cause was fairly recent. Born in a moderately religious Moroccan family in Thonon-les-Bains, a pleasant spa resort on the Geneva Lake, he was a successful student at highschool and then joined a school in Lyons specializing in the hotel industry. He left for the Middle East during the winter 2013 only, allegedly after « a cousin’s sudden death ». He produced there videos calling French-speaking Muslims to join the holy war and support the new Caliphate.
Fares contended in his Vice interview that, once in Syria, he deserted the Islamic State organization for Al-Nosra, the local branch of Al-Qaida. According to his family, he had quickly given up any real faith in jihadism and in fact went back to Turkey to give himself up to the French. « Anyhow, he has never been a big fish in terrorism », his family says.
Whatever the Mourad Fares case, the fact that over one thousand young Muslims from France have joined the jihadist organizations in the Middle East is hardly disputed. Nor is the even more worrying fact that many of them come back to their country of birth as trained terrorists. Both the French police and the Jewish community are concerned about the synagogues safety during the coming High Holidays.
According to the Representative Council of French Jewry (Crif), antisemitic incidents have increased by 91 % in the seven first months of 2014, as compared with 2013. And violent agressions are growing faster (+126 %) than mere threats (+79 %).
© Michel Gurfinkiel & The Jewish Chronicle, 2014