Dutch Muslims tired of hate-mongering

A fascinating report from the Dutch National Anti-Terrorism Co-ordinating Office indicates that Dutch Muslims seem to be losing interest in the debate about Islam and international jihad.

The “threat analysis” report says: “A certain passivity seems to have fallen over broad sections of the Muslim population in the Netherlands in the debate about Islam. Even on (the) internet some young Muslims display a sort of resignation and react far less strongly than previously to certain comments.”

Dutch paper NRC Handelsblad reported yesterday that there is no evidence that the international jihad message is receiving much support among Somali, Iraqi, Afghan and Chechen communities in the Netherlands. The involvement of these groups in conflicts in their “home countries” is mainly based on humanitarian concerns and does not focus on the religious struggle in those nations, the newspaper said.

Two months ago the anti-terror coordination office lowered the threat of a terrorist attack to the Netherlands from “substantial” to “limited.” The main reason, according to the official report, was that some jihad networks had “collapsed due to both government intervention and their own lack of leadership and internal divisions.”