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| Sydney hostage crisis 15/16-Dec-2014 |
By Benjamin David Baker
The recent terror attacks in Paris are dividing Canberra’s politicians. How should Australia react to terrorism?
The world’s attention is fixated on two topics today: the fight against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the ongoing refugee crisis. These two issues are in many ways interlinked, in that ISIS is the motivating cause prompting many Syrians and Iraqis to flee to surrounding Middle Eastern states and Europe. Furthermore, there is a reoccurring fear in many intelligence agencies throughout the world that violent jihadists will infiltrate European states, specifically in order to carry out terrorist attacks. (There has been some speculation that one of the terrorists who participated in the Paris terror attacks on November 13 was a Syrian refugee who arrived in France this autumn, although this is still far from confirmed.)
Like much of the developed world, Australia is also struggling with the challenges associated with extremism. Two days ago, the wife of one of Australia’s most notorious deceased ISIS fighters, Mohamed Elomar, pledged guilty to charges of abetting foreign fighters in Syria. Something like120 Australians are currently in Syria, fighting for ISIS and other militant groups.
Australia has also seen a few instances of small-scale homegrown terrorism. Roughly a month ago, Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad, a 15-year-old Australian-Iranian, shot and killed a police accountant in Syney’s Parramutta suburb before being killed in a shootout with police officers. According to the police, Mohammed was a radicalized youth who had been in contact with ISIS before his attack. Last year, Sydney was the scene of a hostage crisis, perpetrated by a man who supposedly was inspired by ISIS (the terrorist organization later claimed responsibility for the attack, although the veracity of this is unclear).
Read the full story at The Diplomat