Anti-Americanism abroad is hardly a new or rare phenomenon. I’ve experienced it myself as far back as the late 1980s when I backpacked throughout Europe. It wasn’t new or rare even then, but that was before countless neighborhoods and mass transit in western Europe were transformed by uncontrolled migration from Africa and the Middle East into increasingly Third World hellscapes.
A short video clip filmed at the beginning of February has made its way onto social media, showing a pair of vacationing mothers from Alabama and their two 12-year-old daughters, who were confronted and terrorized by a knife-wielding man aboard a train in Brussels, Belgium.
Amanda Hardy, one of the mothers, later told reporters that a man emerged from the train car bathroom and approached them, first asking whether the women were American. He then asked, Hardy recounted, “‘Do you like ICE?’ And we did not respond to that. He then pulled out a knife – our estimation is about 18 inches long or so. He then threw down a jacket and a scarf on the ground, and that’s when he said, ‘F__ ICE, I can shoot too. I shoot faster than Americans.’”
Hardy and her friend Courtney Sucher began hurrying their children to the far side of the train car. The jittery video shows the group fleeing with their luggage through the crowded train, screaming for help, while no other passengers appeared to intervene or assist.
The indispensable Libs of TikTok account on X posted a news report:
JUST IN: Two Alabama women and their children were attacked on a train in Brussels, Belgium for being American
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 13, 2026
The attacker reportedly approached them with a knife and asked if they were American, when they confirmed, he threatened to kiII them. pic.twitter.com/cD7Ybhxtsk
It took the women and their daughters an estimated three minutes to exit the train, Hardy said. “We don’t know how far he was chasing us, if he was chasing us at all, if he disappeared into the crowd or sat down. But he stood there and acted as if he had done nothing.”
After the group exited the train, four bystanders approached to offer comfort and assistance. “They were literally angels on earth. They stayed with us until we felt okay or at least, we thought we felt okay,” Hardy said.
One bystander suggested that the group contact the U.S. Embassy. Hardy spent 40 minutes on separate calls reporting the incident and requesting assistance with their travel plans. But the embassy response was anything but reassuring.
“I was literally pleading with our U.S. Embassy, saying someone tried to kill us because we’re American. Can you please send someone? But the response was, ‘It’s the weekend,’ and since you have your passports, this is generally not something we do,” Hardy said.
Hardy stated that two Brussels police officers who arrived were kind to them but others appeared skeptical of their story, defending the attacker as probably just being drunk:
The issue was the attitude of law enforcement toward what occurred. For example, one of the officers showed complete disregard for the assailant’s actions by saying he was intoxicated; and when he saw that one of us was wearing a New York hat, it upset him. That was incredibly frustrating, too.
The officers reportedly provided no assistance when the group needed to board the same train again to continue to Bruges. One officer even threatened to “detain” one of the daughters for addressing him. “If you talk to me again, I will detain you with the man that ‘tried to kill you’ [he said this while gesturing with “air quotes”] because that’s how you do it in America,” Hardy said.
Hardy has since vowed to advocate publicly for changes to emergency procedures involving children abroad. “There needs to be a review and change of emergency protocol when children are involved. We cannot abandon children in a foreign country when someone attempts to kill them because they’re American. We have to do better,” Hardy said.
The Brussels embassy finally reached out, according to Hardy in a Facebook post:
Today I received a phone call from the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, Bill White. He listened, apologized on behalf of the Embassy and on behalf of the President, and he took immediate action to change policies at the Belgium Embassy so that no other American family is left in that position. We could not have asked for more. Unfortunately, I did learn that, although the assailant was detained while we were there, he was almost immediately released by Belgium authorities. [emphasis added]
Hardy and Sucher reportedly believe this happened to them because they are American and because of their perceived political beliefs (hence the question about ICE). I think it’s clear that this is so.
As for the perpetrator: the lack of even a rough description in the media, the presence of an 18-inch knife, the casual terrorizing of women and children in public… Add an unsympathetic police force to the mix, and all this points to the usual suspects – and it’s not indigenous French men.
This incident thankfully ended with no physical harm to the women. There are certainly more disturbing recent examples of skyrocketing knife crime in Europe, but this incident reflects a disheartening reality of western Europe today that Americans abroad must bear in mind.
First, the increasing danger of taking mass transit in Europe – or sightseeing in any public space – thanks to a burgeoning underclass of unassimilated, military-age Muslim males who despise Westerners, especially Americans, and who treat Western women with undisguised, predatory aggression. On a train, you are trapped in an enclosed space, and with rare exceptions, fellow passengers will not come to your defense, even if you are a woman with a child, especially if they perceive that you are American.
Second: law enforcement in Western Europe is a mixed bag, with some officers just as likely to charge you with Islamophobia as take a violent migrant into custody – whom they will then release.
Third, American tourists cannot take for granted that their embassies abroad will be a safe haven just a phone call away.
In response to this news item posted on X, a female friend of mine wrote, “And this is why I refuse ever to return to Europe after having enthusiastically vacationed there over the past several decades.” Tragically, I’m coming to the same conclusion.