The Threat Europe Refuses to Name
Outside the European Parliament in Brussels, I sat down with Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli following the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism.
And his warning was blunt:
“Belgium will be the first European state to become Muslim.”
According to Chikli, Europe’s leaders continue refusing to confront what he sees as the central threat facing the continent: radical Islam combined with mass migration and political cowardice.
“Take political correctness and throw it in the garbage,” he told me. “If you cannot even say radical Islam is the threat, there is no way to solve the problem.”
Europe’s Open Borders Crisis
During our discussion, Chikli drew a sharp contrast between countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic and Western European states like Belgium and the Netherlands. The difference, he argued, comes down largely to immigration policy.
“If you open your borders and invite everyone because you are so kind, you are committing suicide,” he warned.
According to Chikli, many migrants arriving from countries such as Syria and Pakistan do not share the liberal democratic values Europe was built upon - freedom of speech, freedom of religion and equality under the law. He argued that Europe failed to distinguish between people seeking to integrate and ideological movements seeking long-term cultural and political influence.
Chikli specifically referenced Yusuf al-Qaradawi and the Muslim Brotherhood strategy of gradually transforming Europe through migration and demographic growth rather than open military conflict.
Qatar, Islamism and Influence
One of the central themes of our conversation focused on Qatar and the spread of Islamist influence across Europe.
Chikli pointed to the Qatar corruption scandal in the European Parliament, where politicians were accused of taking money linked to Qatari interests in exchange for political influence regarding the World Cup and human rights criticism.
But according to him, that operation was only the visible part of a much larger influence campaign. Qatar, he argued, has spent years funding Islamist networks, universities, media operations and influencers across Europe and the West.
“They bought politicians 10 or 15 years ago,” Chikli said. “Now they are doing the same thing with influencers and political figures.”
He also accused parts of the Western political and media establishment of refusing to confront Islamist ideology honestly out of fear of appearing intolerant or politically incorrect.
A Battle for Western Civilization
Perhaps the most striking moment of the interview came near the end.
“If we fail in this battle,” Chikli warned, “we can lose our countries. We can lose Western civilization.”
He described radical Islam not simply as a Jewish or Israeli problem, but as a broader civilizational challenge facing Europe and the West itself. And while he acknowledged anti-Semitism on both the far right and far left, he insisted that the immediate and most dangerous threat comes from Islamist extremism.
For Chikli, the solution begins with political honesty: Naming the ideology. Controlling borders. Rejecting political correctness. And recognizing that Europe’s future may ultimately depend on whether its leaders are willing to defend the civilization they inherited before demographic and ideological transformations become irreversible.
