We are not Fearful. We are not Hateful. We are Free!

Justine Frangouli-Argyris

Walking the streets of Paris last year, after the murderous attack on the offices,I had the feeling that fear had descended like a cloud, blanketing the "city of light." The hundreds of police cars roaming the streets and the numerous blockades everywhere signified the terror felt by all Parisians. In the cinemas, detectives searched handbags while the air wafting around the Seine smelled of gunpowder. My son would head home early from work, as would his friends. 

 Sadly, Paris was well aware that another attack was taking shape, somewhere in the hollows of some deprived Muslim neighborhood.  As such, the authorities were supposedly hard at work, stepping up their checks and counter-checks on persons known to have contacts with any nefarious Islamic organization.

 The attack on the French train last summer which those brave American soldiers were able to derail given their familiarity with the fight against terror, averted another tragedy. Undaunted, the "Islamofascists" were preparing a new, more sophisticated attack with its plotters freely commuting between Paris and Brussels without anyone so much as batting an eye.

 Until this past Friday the 13th when they simultaneously hit numerous sites around the capital. At the Stade de France where President Hollande was in attendance, in the restaurant, at the bar and in the Bataclan concert hall, the terrorists struck with precision, in suicide bomber fashion, replete with explosives strapped to their bodies. The count currently stands at 129 dead, a result of the extremist religious fury of young Islamists, "heroes" of their own delusions.

 Today, Europe is, once again, stained in blood while, at the same time, thousands of boatloads of Syrians continue landing on Greece's shores without any control of note while, to no one's surprise, it was ascertained that one of the Parisian assassins had crossed into the continent < via the Aegean island of Leros.

 With Turkish traffickers guiding them westward without any regard as to who may be on board, only for what profits are to be had, it is a simple task for any terrorist to hide among the migrants. And, of course, the Greek government, saddled with the tribulations of its debt crisis, is unable to stand up to its European lenders who insist on quickly settling < 50,000 refugees in the country.

 As a Canadian citizen, on the other hand, I am troubled by the insistence of our newly elected Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to make good on his promise of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to this country by year's end. The timeframe for such an undertaking is very short in order to perform the requisite background checks of those seeking political asylum. The authorities, who normally take years to award temporary residence permits, should not view the issue on political or humanitarian terms alone.

Even before last week's tragic events, the Canadian public was clamoring for a thorough investigation of all refuge claimants to the country.  For, as we have seen, there is no room for error as even the smallest oversight can result in the spilling of innocent blood, even in this socially progressive and peaceful bastion in North America.

 As such, I will continue my relentless criticism of this massive, political and uncontrolled, invasion of refugees to Europe and America. Compassion for the migrants is undertsandable but one must weigh the risks involved.

 In any event, I must confess that I  do not fear the Islamofascists, nor will I hate them. However, I have a profound regret that the west continues to turn a blind eye to the spreading of the snake's nest in its midst with the naive immigration policies and minimal safeguards it has adopted over the years. I am saddened that Islam continues to be used by many elements, radical or not, as a homicidal religion thousands of years after its origin.

 Make no mistake. These terrorist attacks are not the result of simple religious fanaticism but, rather, a deeply-rooted hatred by Islamic extremists against the prosperity and progress of the western world. And this hatred often becomes a symbol among young migrants in their host countries. And this hatred often leads to a dance of death!

 It's time to put it bluntly. The Hydra must be beheaded, now! With weapons and war, we must make a Hercules out of Europe! We will no longer tolerate living under the threat of the ISIS.

We are not afraid. We do not hate. We are free!