After Random Stabbings in Rotterdam, a Comic Opera Ensues

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Centuries from now, historians will look back at the first quarter of the twenty-first century and shake their heads in wonder. “This was an age,” they will say, “when people were at war with reality. They actually thought that if they believed fervently enough in falsehoods, their cherished untruths would become true. They thought that if everyone was forced to play along, men could become women. They thought that if they refused to accept unwanted realities, those realities would disappear.” An incident on the venerable Erasmus Bridge in the Netherlands’ old port city of Rotterdam late Thursday night bears that out.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that “one person was killed and another seriously wounded in a stabbing incident” in Rotterdam, and that the local cops arrested a man in connection with the stabbings. So far, this is a fairly straightforward account of a type of crime that has become distressingly common all over Western Europe: a man in a busy city center begins stabbing people at random, killing as many as he can. In this case, an eyewitness said that the attacker was “out to attack as many people as possible.”

But here’s where this story takes a sharp left turn into one of our most popular modern-day fantasylands. A spokesman for the Rotterdam police, Wessel Stolle, “said there was no immediate word on a motive, but ‘we look into all possible scenarios.’” Well, not so fast, Wessel. The AP report goes on to say that “Dutch daily De Telegraaf, citing witnesses at the scene, reported that a man attacked people at random with two knives while shouting Allahu Akbar, the Arabic phrase meaning God is great.”

“Allahu akbar” doesn’t actually mean “God is great.” It means “Allah is greater,” that is, greater than your god. It’s a declaration of the victory and supremacy of Islam that Islamic jihadis often shout while they are in the midst of an attack, as they believe that the phrase strikes terror in the hearts of non-Muslims, which the Qur’an commands them to do (8:60). The jihadis believe that their violent attacks manifest the victory and supremacy of Islam, and so it’s the perfect time for them to proclaim that fact.

When the attacker at the Erasmus Bridge shouted “Allahu akbar,” he was helpfully providing police with all the information they really need about his motive. And the police most definitely are in possession of this information: Stolle, who is no empty Wessel, “said police at the scene also had heard that the man shouted the phrase, and that ‘it’s part of the investigation.’”

The circumstances of the attack also indicate that this was yet another incidence of jihad. Spotting the attack, a man intervened; he “said he hit the attacker with two sticks after seeing him attack somebody and managed to take the knives and throw them away.” This heroic bystander “initially thought it was a fight, ‘but when I started running in that direction I saw that it wasn’t a fight. It was a man with two long knives who was stabbing another young guy and when I started shouting he turned around and started approaching everyone who was around him.’”

Stabbing random people on the street in an effort to kill as many as possible is an all too common practice among jihadis all over Europe. Nevertheless, despite possessing several strong indications that this was a jihad attack, another police talking head, Kristel Arntz, “said it was too early in the investigation to establish a motive.” Oh, really?

Arntz explained: “We have arrested a suspect, we are going to question him. We will look at all the witness statements and then we will look at what the possible motive was.” Terrific. Maybe the Rotterdam police will also find their way back to their police station if someone guides them there step by step and points out the big building that says “POLICE” on it. But we cannot take that for granted. The Rotterdam cops may be wandering lost for days.

It is not that Dutch authorities are searching for the attacker’s motive because they think the attacker might have known his victims and had some personal reason for attacking them. They know the stabbings were random. And it’s not that they’re searching for the attacker’s motive because some people say he screamed “Allahu akbar,” but some say he didn’t; even the police heard him scream “Allahu akbar.”

They’re searching for the attacker’s motive because, while that motive is blazingly obvious, it cuts against the authorities’ most cherished beliefs about Islam and peaceful coexistence, and so they have to struggle mightily to pretend that they don’t see it, and try to find something else upon which they can blame the attack. There is no way that this resolute refusal to face reality can end well.