To many, the jihadist attack on the Louvre was just another in a very long line of Islamic terrorist attacks on the West – and France in particular. An Egyptian named Abdullah Reda Refaei al-Hamamy attacked French soldiers guarding the world famous facility – and was shot and subsequently hospitalized. Police traced his activities and discovered he had flown into Paris in January 2017. He rented a high-end hotel room in Rue de Ponthieu near the Champs-Elysees. Not surprisingly, he had no identification and it is presumed that this was a suicide attack and part of a plot.
What is significant is that Abdullah was carrying a cell phone and paint bombs as well as the machete he used on the French guards. This very unusual combination of items has led French authorities to speculate that his intent was not just to kill people but also to kill the foundation of the Western world. Had he succeeded even to a small degree, he might have erased from history iconic and beloved treasures of European culture. (By way of reminder, the Louvre contains the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphel, Vermeer and others.)
His act, if he had been able to accomplish it, was not unlike what ISIS is doing throughout Syria and Iraq. These barbarians have already destroyed temples, artwork, ancient towns, and more in their crazed attempts to cleanse the Middle East and prepare the way for their new caliphate. History is of little concern and nothing deemed unworthy is left. This is the scorched earth destruction of cultural memory. Abdullah was a martyr to this cause.
In conclusion, President Trump’s immigration ban might or might not have stopped this type of attack on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or the Smithsonian Institution complex in the District of Columbia. However, it is a first step of many aimed at getting control of the chaotic and uncontrolled immigration situation left by Obama. The anarchists, socialists, and other thugs of the left don’t seem to see the terrorist related damage they are encouraging and facilitating. Or maybe, in their drive to undermine America, nothing else matters.