Senior EU official warns of huge security risk in Europe over Christmas as Israel-Hamas war rages

BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe faces a “huge risk of terrorist attacks” over the Christmas holiday period due to the fallout from the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the European Union’s home affairs commissioner warned Tuesday.

The warning came as French investigators probe a fatal weekend attack near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Questions were raised about the mental health of the suspect, who swore allegiance to the extremist Islamic State group before stabbing a tourist to death and injuring two other people with a hammer.

“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,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told reporters.

“We saw (it happening) recently in Paris, unfortunately we have seen it earlier as well,” she said, as EU interior ministers gathered in Brussels.

The fallout from Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed about 1,200 people, and the ongoing Israeli military response that health officials in Gaza say has killed at least 15,890 Palestinians, has spread to Europe.

In several European capitals in recent weeks, tens of thousands of people have staged pro-Palestinian rallies and also marched in support of Israel and against rising antisemitism.

Pressed repeatedly by reporters after the meeting, Johansson said that she drew the threat conclusion herself based on the high security levels in some of the 27 EU member countries.