Europe facing ‘huge risk of terror attacks’ during Christmas season, EU warns
European Union officials are concerned the ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas sparked by the Oct. 7 attack will increase Islamic terrorism on the continent.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson spoke to reporters about the rising threat following a fatal terrorist knife attack near the Eiffel Tower over the weekend.
"With the war between Israel and Hamas, and the polarization it causes in our society, with the upcoming holiday season, there is a huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union," said Johansson.
"We saw [it happening] recently in Paris," she added. "Unfortunately, we have seen it earlier as well."
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reportedly told TF1 television on Sunday that the country was "durably under threat from Islamist terrorism" after a prosecutor identified the French 26-year-old born to Iranian parents accused of fatally stabbing a German tourist and injuring two others steps away from the Eiffel Tower in Paris over the weekend.
At a news conference on Sunday, France's top anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said suspect Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, a French national, recorded a video speaking in Arabic before the attack in which he swore allegiance to the Islamic State group.
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He used a name to introduce himself that referred to the Islamic State in Afghanistan and expressed support for Islamic extremists and jihadists operating in various areas around the world, including in Africa, Iraq, Syria, Egypt's Sinai, Yemen, Iran and Pakistan.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed deep concern about the heightened risk of Islamic terrorism in continental Europe.
"Our security agencies are working very closely together. We must keep a particularly close eye on the Islamist threats right now and take action against Islamist propaganda together with neighboring countries," said Faeser.
Ricard said the suspect had a history of contact via social networks with one of the two men notorious for the gruesome killing of a priest during Mass in 2016 in Saint-Etienne du Rouvray.
He said the suspect was also in touch with the man who killed a police couple at their home in Yvelines, west of Paris, a month earlier.
On Sunday, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called a special cabinet meeting with key ministers and officials charged with security "to provide a full update on the security arrangements in place, the treatment of the most dangerous individuals and the aftermath of this fatal attack," her office said, according to The New York Times.
Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.