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March 19, 2004/Adar 26 5764, Vol. 56, No. 26
Madrid blasts raise concern
Jews fear more European attacks
PHILIP CARMEL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
This time it was Spain, one of the principal European allies of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and a strong supporter of Israel's efforts against Palestinian terrorism.
Following last week's suicide bombings in Madrid, which left more than 200 people dead and some 1,400 wounded, even countries opposed to the Iraq war feel exposed to the threat of Islamic terrorism.
Within hours of the bombings, which struck trains in the center and suburbs of the Spanish capital on March 11, security was beefed up in cities across the continent as news of the carnage left Europe as shell-shocked as the United States was on Sept. 11, 2001.
Across the continent, Jewish communities wondered how the attacks would affect European attitudes toward the Middle East and the war on terrorism.
Some feared that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and by extension, local Jews - would be blamed for bringing terrorism to a European capital. Others said the attacks would make Europe more vigilant against the Islamic terrorist threat that Israeli leaders have been warning about for years.
Even as the European Union hastily announced that it would push for stricter measures to combat terrorism, there was substantial political fallout from the Madrid attacks.
The fallout was felt principally in Spain, one of the most vociferous supporters of the war in Iraq. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar saw his Popular Party upset by the opposition Socialists in the March 14 general election.
Plaudits for the Socialist victory - as well as the announcement that the new Spanish government is set to withdraw its troops from Iraq - came from many sources in Western Europe.
As a first stage, though, European leaders are setting about reorganizing how the European Union coordinates the battle against terrorism.
The E.U.'s Irish president has called for an extraordinary meeting of European justice ministers for March 19 with the aim of agreeing on a joint response to the Madrid attacks. The meeting is expected to result in a package of anti-terrorism measures to be approved by European heads of state a week later at a March 25-26 summit.
European terrorism experts also will gather on March 19 for an emergency workshop on "the lessons of Madrid" at the American Jewish Committee's new Brussels institute. Experts from Spain, Germany, France and Belgium are expected at the Transatlantic Instititute, said Deidre Berger, head of the AJCommittee's Berlin office.
One senior Jewish leader remarked that he was "already concerned at the reaction of the Europeans, as if they have suddenly discovered that terrorism can strike anywhere and they're completely naked to deal with it."
In Italy, Andrea Jarach, president of the Federation of Italy-Israel Associations, told JTA he was pessimistic about how fallout from the Madrid attacks would impact Israel and Jews.
On the popular level in Europe, "they will say even more than they do now that if the 'Jewish problem' did not exist, there would not be terrorist attacks," he said. "It's terrible, but I fear that the expansion of Al-Qaida activities into Europe will be a further step that cannot but harm the Jews of the world and Israel in particular."
But that same notion - that the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one reason terrorism has come to the heart of Europe - could produce some positive results, the AJCommittee's Berger said.
"I think this could create a dynamic where there will be more interest in Europe in helping to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because many here in Europe see that as one of the critical incitements to terror," she said.
Some commentators, though, doubt that the Madrid attacks will lead to major changes in the E.U.'s Middle East policy.
According to Jean-Luc Marret, a leading expert in terrorism at the Paris-based Strategic Research Foun-dation, "Europe does not have a security strategy for the Middle East" but would rather pursue its political goals through "incentives to the region in aid and develop-ment."
In Britain, perhaps Wash-ington's closest ally in the Iraq war, insiders predicted that the Madrid attacks and their political aftermath would not change the government's course.
Lord Greville Janner, a veteran politician with the governing Labor Party, told JTA that Cabinet ministers already assume that the United Kingdom is a target for Islamist terrorists.
"We have been appre-hensive since 9/11. Anyone who thinks it can't happen here doesn't know the situation," he said.
But Prime Minister Tony Blair will not alter the government's course in hopes of lessening the risk of terrorist attack because of his strong personal commitment on matters from Israel to the war in Iraq, Mencer said.
And London has long been quietly supportive of Israel's hard line against terrorists, sources say.
In fact, much of the new policy set for the European Union is likely to please supporters of Israel - provided it doesn't include nuances distancing Europe from Israel in the hope of reducing the terrorist threat.
One senior Israeli diplomatic source in Europe said the Jewish state might gain both sympathy and empathy
in Europe following the Madrid attacks.
"It's like after 9/11, when Americans started to realize what Israelis face everyday," the source told JTA on condition of anonymity.
JTA Correspondents Ruth Gruber in Rome, Richard Allen Greene in London, Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid and Toby Axelrod in Berlin contributed to this article.
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