Some call them the Salafist police. Others say they are just ordinary extremists. Either way, they are terrorizing other Muslims in the Netherlands, radicalizing Muslim youth, and working to undermine the secular democratic system – not just in Holland, but in Belgium, France, and elsewhere across Europe.
While America seems to have largely forgotten the threat of radical Islamism, jihadism, according to Dutch intelligence agency AIVD, remains the greatest security threat for Europe. That threat exists not only in the form of terrorist violence, but in the effect of online propaganda, Salafist-run schools, intimidation on social media, and ongoing efforts at polarizing European society as Salafist groups and charismatic activists urge fellow Muslims to reject Western democratic mores.
Now a report by Dutch newspaper Telegraaf has Parliament asking questions: what, some members want to know, can security agencies do to prevent that kind influence and the threats against moderate Muslims (and non-Muslims) by extremists, both in person and online?
The disturbing answer: not much. At least, not just now.
According to the Telegraaf, Salafist extremists, including younger, second- and third-generation Muslims born and raised in The Netherlands, are loudly condemning everything they consider "too Western" – from listening to music and watching soccer games to wishing others "happy Christmas" or, more shameful still, allowing wives and daughters to appear in public without a veil or hijab.
"Whoever they perceive as crossing the line," the Telegraaf reports, "will soon find himself denounced and condemned online." Some offer rewards for the addresses of "evildoers." Children threaten their parents. And still the recruitment continues. "Although the group is relatively small, its members can have a disproportional influence on the Islamic community of the Netherlands," the AIVD report for 2022 noted.
That influence is not limited to social media and the mosques, or even local communities. For years, the AIVD and its sister organization, the National Coordinator for Terrorism and Violence (NCTV), have cautioned that the growing number of Salafist schools are shaping the minds and ideologies of hundreds, if not thousands, of Dutch Muslim children.
And often, parents are at a loss to fight it. "The first generation of Muslims in The Netherlands followed a more moderate interpretation of their faith," the AIVD wrote in 2021. "Parents from the second- and third generation...are more vulnerable to a strict form of Islam. If a follower has enough theological knowledge and charisma, parents are sometimes unsure how to work against that."