Police in Austria and Bosnia several months ago arrested two separate groups of Afghan and Syrian refugees who were planning terror attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The previously unreported investigation revealed that some of the suspects, who had Kalashnikov assault rifles and pistols in their possession, had pictures of Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on their phones.

The WSJ report, entitled A New Terror Threat Is Emerging in Europe Linked to Iran, Gaza War, added that the arrest followed the arrest late last year of a group of refugees from Tajikistan who were planning attacks on churches in Germany and Vienna during the holiday season when hundreds of people attend services.

The most recent reported terror incident in Europe happened on Monday in Italy, where police arrested three Palestinians planning suicide attacks against civilian and military targets in Europe.

According to the report, investigators say that the separate incidents indicate that not only is the terror threat in Europe increasing but it’s also stemming from new sources. The wave of terror attacks that hit Europe beginning in 2015 was inspired by Islamic State but now the threats stem not only from Islamic State Khorasan, Islamic State’s Afghanistan-based successor organization, but also from Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah and Hamas.

Late last year, German and Dutch police arrested four suspects who were allegedly acting on an order from Hamas to open a “secret cache of weapons” and attack Jewish targets in Berlin and other locations in Western Europe. According to German police, Hamas buried weapons underground in Europe years ago but the suspects, all seasoned Hamas members, refused to reveal where. In addition, German security officials say that donations in Europe for Hamas and Hezbollah have dramatically increased since October 7th.

Years ago, Europe was mainly used as a “fundraising hub and a safe house for operatives” but in recent years, terrorist groups, mainly directed by Iran, have been planning assassinations and attacks in Europe, mainly of Jewish and Israeli targets. The article lists the German police’s raid of the Islamic Center in Hamburg in November for allegedly supporting Hezbollah, the arrest of an Iranian man in Germany in December for attempting to bomb a shul in Bochum on behalf of Iran, the 2021 arrest of the Afghan “refugee” couple in Sweden who plotted to murder three prominent Jews in the country on behalf of Iran, and the sentencing of a Pakistani student in Berlin in 2017 for plotting to assassinate the former president of the German-Israeli Society on behalf of Iran.

It’s very intriguing how despite these and other incidents and the plethora of intelligence linking Palestinian groups to Iran’s Axis of Resistance, Sweden and other European countries continue to support the Palestinian Authority and the UNWRA.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)