Australia’s Belgian ambassador criticizes PM Turnbull, says it’s dangerous to link terror with refugees


The Belgian ambassador to Australia Bodson called Australian Prime Minister Turnbull's remarks that linked the Brussels terror attacks with the Syrian refugee crisis as "dangerous" and called the terrorists Europeans.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Wednesday that Daesh terrorists sneak into Europe, taking advantage of the refugee crisis.

Europe had "allowed security to slip", as he questioned the EU's Schengen passport-free zone in the wake of the Brussels attacks.

"Recent intelligence indicates ISIL (Daesh) is using the refugee crisis to send operatives into Europe," Turnbull said.

Belgium's ambassador to Australia, Jean-Luc Bodson, responded to Turnbull and said that a clear distinction between migrants and terrorism has to be drawn.

"It's dangerous because it's precisely what ISIS (Daesh) wants — that we would make a confusion between terrorism and migrants and between terrorism and Islam," Bodson told ABC News.

He described the terrorists who committed the latest Paris and Brussels attacks as Europeans, and said that they had nothing to do with refugees.

"It has nothing to do with the refugee crisis and I think that is the main danger to assimilate that."