France’s fear of its enemy continues 10 years after the Bataclan Hall massacre

image source, Getty Images

photo caption, The attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on the night of November 13, 2015 was the deadliest attack in French history, killing more than 130 people.

- author, hugh schofield
- author title, BBC News, Paris
20 minutes

Exactly 10 years after the Bataclan massacre in France, it is yet another reminder that the jihadist threat continues.

The former partner of the only surviving jihadist from the November 2015 attack has been arrested on suspicion of planning another attack.

The woman, a 27-year-old French woman who converted to Islam and called herself Maeva B., began a correspondence with Salah Abdeslam, 36, who was convicted in 2022 and is serving a life sentence in a prison near the Belgian border.

When guards discovered that Abdeslam had been using a USB flash drive containing jihadist propaganda, they traced its origin to Abdeslam’s personal encounter with Maeva B. Robinson.

Detectives later examined Maeva B.’s computer and mobile phone and found signs that she may have been planning a jihadist attack, and on Monday she was placed under judicial investigation along with two accomplices.

Worst terrorist attack in French history

On the 10th anniversary of France’s deadliest attack in modern history, the arrests shine a spotlight on France’s persistent enemy.

On the night of November 13, 2015, armed groups and suicidal jihadists carried out a series of coordinated attacks, culminating in a bloody attack on the Bataclan concert hall in eastern Paris.

Bataclan night people — photo caption, In addition to the dead, more than 400 people were injured or required medical treatment.

Three suicide bombers first detonated themselves in front of the Stade de France, where an international soccer match was being held, before other members of the group opened fire with Kalashnikovs at people in bars and cafes near the Bataclan.

There, a concert by the American group Eagles of Death Metal had just begun. At that moment, three jihadists burst in and fired indiscriminately inside the room. They took hostages and detonated themselves when the police arrived.

A total of 130 people died, 90 of them at the Bataclan, more than 400 were treated in hospitals, and countless others suffered psychological trauma.

Since then, the word Bataclan has become synonymous with attacks by Islamic extremists in France, similar to 9/11 in the United States.

There have been other attacks since then, including the mass truck crash in Nice in July 2016 and the beheading of Professor Samuel Paty in October 2020, but the scale and organization of the November 13, 2015 attack was very different from this one.

Ten years later, a lot has changed.

The disappearance of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) as a major force in Syria and Iraq has significantly reduced the resources available to conceive, plan and execute complex terrorist projects.

In memory of the Paris attacks — photo caption, Since the 2015 Paris attacks, the word Bataclan has become synonymous with radical Islamist violence in France.

‘Internal and much younger’ threat

The Bataclan attackers, mostly young men from North Africa, were recruited in Belgium and France, trained in Islamic State territory in the Middle East, and then returned to Europe hidden among large numbers of immigrants.

No matter where they were, they relied on support networks to provide shelter, transportation, and money.

According to Jill Kepel, a leading Middle East expert, intelligence agencies have become highly effective in controlling radicalization on the internet.

“They now have access to computer resources…which allows them to detect many separate and often non-trivial efforts and stop them before they come to fruition,” he declared in an interview. Figaro.

But the danger now, according to Kepel, lies in what he calls “environmental jihad.”

“The threat is now internal and much younger. Threats are nurtured by the friendships and social networks of like-minded people, without necessarily someone giving or following orders.”

Eiffel Tower in colors of the French flag — photo caption, At the end of Thursday’s event, the Eiffel Tower will be lit up in the colors of the French flag.

He said the threat is even more concerning because of its pervasiveness. Events in Gaza and Israel have had a “traumatic impact” on the minds of many people and are being “exploited by those intent on venting their anger”.

He argued that France’s current political crisis has also exacerbated the danger, with an ineffective president being replaced by a partisan parliament in which extremists on the left and right are gaining influence.

“If what divides us becomes more important than what unites us as French people and tears apart our national consensus, an abyss will open beneath our feet and the limits of violence will become less and less,” he warned.

Genocide anniversary

Remembrance events this Thursday will be held throughout the day at various locations at the site of the attack, culminating on November 13 with the inauguration of a garden near Paris City Hall.

At night, the Eiffel Tower lights up in the red, white, and blue colors of the French flag.

French media reported numerous testimonies and memories from survivors describing how their lives had changed.

person placing flowers at a monument — photo caption, In recent days, survivors of the Paris attacks have told how their lives have changed over the past decade.

Unexpectedly, Salah Abdeslam, through her lawyer, announced her intention to cooperate with restorative justice efforts, a process in which the victim and perpetrator meet to analyze the impact of the crime.

Some families have considered the idea, while others are vehemently opposed.

Cartoonist Laurent Sourisseau, known as Rhys, said he was shot and injured in the attack. charlie hebdo Months before the Bataclan massacre, Abdeslam’s offer was “perverted.”

He argued that “restorative justice exists for other types of crimes, crimes in general.”

“But terrorism is not a common crime. Salah Abdeslam would like us to believe that his crimes were like any other, but they were not.”