Paris Attacks: The View from France

From Wikimedia Commons, accessed November 20 2014.

By Grace Dennis

November 19, 2025

PARIS, France -- Last Friday, the world witnessed the unimaginable happen both to Paris as a city and to France as a nation. 129 victims were killed by terrorist attacks. ISIS, the group that has claimed responsibility for these horrific attacks, has existed since at least 2004, under various names: al Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. For years, ISIS has employed its tactics of guerilla and conventional warfare to fight governments in the Middle East. Though it remains unclear how far up the ISIS hierarchy the planning of this attack, it does seem that with this move, the group has decided to shift its strategy to inflict terror on a global level.

Its reasoning behind doing so is, of course, complicated, but it is perhaps on the simplest of levels ideological. The goal of the Islamic State is to spread its version of Islam through the use of a jihad or “holy war.” Shifting its tactics to involve worldwide attacks has drawn increased attention to ISIS. The massacre of 129 people in Paris was far better publicized than the deaths that occur every day in Iraq and Syria (a number which has totaled over 250,000). It is this attention and worldwide response that ISIS seeks – from the “Bleu Blanc Rouge” buildings lit up worldwide to Facebook’s French flag profile picture.

At least one of the nine Paris attackers is believed to have entered France under the false pretenses of a Syrian refugee. In the face of current events, both France and the United States have intensified airstrikes in Syria. Refugees in the Middle East flee this very conflict. Despite this, many people fear potential future attacks if a similar scenario were to occur again, and as a result, the governors of more than half of US states, as well the House of Representatives, have called for a “pause” on accepting additional refugees. In response, however, Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says she is “deeply disturbed by the calls to shut our nation’s doors to properly vetted Syrian refugees fleeing terrorism and persecution in their native land.” It appears that French President Francois Hollande agrees; in spite of the attacks, France has made it clear it will honor its promise to welcome 30,000 more refugees in the next two years. It will be interesting to see how the policies across the world will react and adjust to address the refugee crisis and migrants in the future.

In the wake of these tragic and devastating events, it seems that both conflict and fear worldwide have only augmented. On November 18, President Hollande bravely and boldly remarked, “Our duty is to carry on our lives.” As difficult as it may, it is imperative to continue our lives with as much normality as possible. Letting fear evade our everyday lives is only a concession to ISIS’s goals. In an interview from the comedic French TV show Le Petit Journal, a father says to his son, “They’ve got guns but we have flowers.” This resilient sentiment encompasses the idea that love is the only way to fight hate. In spite of these despicable attacks, political leaders should show compassion to refugees who fear for their lives every day.