July 20, 2016

ISIS claims train attack in Germany. Why shouldn't we change tack?

editor:	Vanessa Ellingham

The first attack in Germany to be claimed by ISIS took place on Monday night when a teenage boy stabbed passengers on a train in southern Germany. Thankfully there have been no casualties, but three people remain in a critical condition.

But whether ISIS was really involved in the attack, whether the boy was really from Afghanistan, whether he was a refugee: all these things are yet to be confirmed.

Of course that doesn't stop the media and the public from jumping ahead. All these possibilities together paint a convenient picture for those wanting to restrict immigration and drum up fear. The same aspects are what stoke ISIS's flames.

In a country which had, until now, escaped the terror meted out to its neighbours by ISIS, there may have been a self-assuredness that Germany was not a target due to the way it treats refugees or Muslim residents, or for its relatively passive role in the fight against the Islamic State. That it might have escaped targeting by showing it couldn't be drawn in to war rhetoric.

So what now?

Even when the attacker's identity is confirmed, and whether we discover he had refugee status, whether he was from Afghanistan or Pakistan and whether he was really involved in ISIS or acting as a lone wolf, Germany cannot afford to veer off its course.

Descending into war talk, stopping asylum seekers, and buying into rhetoric that resents refugees and those who are different is never going to be the way to stop ISIS.

Keep security tight, of course. But also hold true to those values of inclusion, solidarity and understanding. This is exactly what ISIS doesn't want.