After the recent spate of killings in Paris, French President François Hollande said that, “these fanatics have nothing to do with the Muslim religion.”[1] Hollande’s words whitewash rather than clarify the problem, but his statement was just one of the many events in the aftermath of the Paris murders which merit further attention.

Among world leaders, Hollande is not alone in whitewashing the Muslim identity of criminals. In a speech about the Islamic State movement, President Barack Obama said it was “not ‘Islamic’” and added, “No religion condones the killing of innocents.”[2]

This sentiment about the extreme Muslim movement was shared by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who stated, “They boast of their brutality. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense. Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslims, they are monsters.”[3]

The fact that the Paris murderers were very much Muslims was made even clearer when a variety of Muslim religious leaders and organizations in the Middle East identified with them.[4] One does not even need to go that far. Many Muslim pupils in France refused to participate in the minute of silence, held at schools out of respect for the victims.[5]

The murderous events in Paris and the subsequent reactions are still too fresh to allow for a full-fledged assessment. Yet there are already a number of aspects which can be pointed out in the meantime, even if they merit further investigation.

First of all, between the two main killing sprees, there were marked differences in motive. The Charlie Hebdo journalists were killed for what they wrote and drew; the Jews in the supermarket were killed for who they were.

There is great symbolism in the four Jewish victims having been buried in Israel, even though they are Frenchmen. France has deceived them. The betrayal started long ago. France gave entry to millions of immigrants from a culture hostile to Jews. Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco are among the ten most anti-Semitic countries in the world. These results are from a 2014 ADL study on classic anti-Semitism in the world.[6]

The situation in France would have been radically different had there been 500,000 Muslims in the country instead of the actual five million. The number of jihadis could then have been counted in the hundreds, rather than in the thousands, as is now the case. This unselective immigration policy of large anti-Semitic populations might be considered an unconscious form of state anti-Semitism. To make matters worse, only a part of these people have integrated into the general French population and thousands of them have become radicalized.

There were other acts over the past few days that carried symbolic meaning. It is understandable that on Friday afternoon the French authorities asked Jewish shop owners to close down their shops, because it wasn’t clear whether or not there were other Muslim killers on the loose. However, the closure of the Great Synagogue of Paris on Friday night by the authorities last happened during the German occupation. Many noticed its symbolism.[7]

The only vaguely similar precedent of synagogues closing on the Sabbath, due to threats, is a cancelled synagogue service in 2010 in the small Conservative synagogue of the town of Weesp, in the Netherlands. In this case, the decision was taken by the community leaders after they received a threat.[8] In 2006, on one occasion, the Jewish community of Malmö, Sweden moved the service from the synagogue to a secret location.[9]

The Paris unity march, its positive message and the number of participants was impressive. Yet by inviting a variety of dictators who actively suppress freedom of the press, it became tainted. Reporters Without Borders mentions the participation of leaders from Egypt, Russia, Turkey, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. These are all countries where freedom of the press, among a variety of other freedoms and human rights, are suppressed.[10]

The invitation sent by Hollande to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas was a direct offense to Israelis and to the Jewish people. Abbas has massively glorified the murder of civilians, Israelis, Jews, and others. Abbas should not have been invited by the French to begin with, and certainly should not have been put in the first row.[11] It was a symptom of France’s recurrent duplicity.

It has been said that Netanyahu was hurting the French by calling on all French Jews to immigrate to Israel. In referring to Jews who are native French citizens, the form in which it was initially done was tactless; the call for Aliya should have been phrased differently.[12]

Netanyahu could also have remarked to the French leaders that Israel has gone through a period where every restaurant has been obliged to have an armed guard. In the current French reality, police or soldiers are now guarding Jewish day schools so that children can go to class. It would not be an exaggeration to take such measures to protect Jewish restaurants and major shops in France, as well.

When the hostage situation in the kosher supermarket became publicly known, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, a socialist, came to the scene of the crime.[13] This minister said during the past summer’s Protective Edge campaign that he would have participated in pro-Gaza demonstrations had he not been a member of the government.[14] In other words, Cazeneuve would have supported the Islamo-Nazi Hamas movement.

Finally, France recently backed the Jordanian UN resolution for the establishment of a Palestinian state. France’s ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, claimed that there was an “urgent need to act”. He added, "Our efforts must not stop here. It is our responsibility to try again, before it's too late."[15]

It would have been far more truthful for Delattre to admit that France had voted for the resolution primarily to reward the Muslims who had voted massively for Hollande in the last presidential elections.

As far as “an urgent need to act” is concerned, the French need to act urgently at home against the extreme violence perpetuated by criminal elements of its Muslim population. This need seems to be far more urgent than their involvement in the Middle East through messing up the Palestinian-Israeli conflict even further.

Sources:

[1] “12-French forces kill newspaper attack suspects, hostages die in second siege,” Reuters, 10 January 2014.

[2] “Statement by the President on ISIL,” The White House, 10 September 2014.

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFmCkJ92DRw

[4] “Algerian Terrorists Linked To ISIS, Al Qaeda, Charlie Hebdo Massacre Was Forewarned By Algeria,” Inquistr, 11 January 2015.

[5] Mattea Battaglia and Benoit Floc’h, “A Saint-Denis, collégiens et lycéens ne sont pas tous ‘Charlie,’” Le Monde Campus, 12 March 2015. [French]

[6] “ADL Global 100: A Survey of Attitudes toward Jews in Over 100 Countries around the World,” Anti-Defamation League, 2014.

[7] Michael Wilner, “Landmark Paris synagogue closes on Shabbat for first time since World War II,” The Jerusalem Post, 9 January 2015.

[8] Karel Berkhout ‘Synagoge schrapt viering sabbat na dreiging’, NRC Handelsblad, 9 June 2010. [Dutch]

[9] Mikael Tossavainen, “Arab and Muslim Anti-Semitism in Sweden,” in Manfred Gerstenfeld, Behind the Humanitarian Mask – The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews, (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2008), 97.

[10] Mark Tran, “Presence at Paris rally of leaders with poor free press records is condemned,” The Guardian, 11 January 2015.

[11] Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Abbas Hypocrisy: Participated in the Anti-Terror march in France, while PA glorifies terrorists who kill Israelis, Palestinian Media Watch, 11 January 2015.

[12] Piotr Smolar, “Le nombre exceptionnel de départs vers Israël traduit une lame de fond,” Le Monde, 11 January 2015. [French]

[13] Marion Souzeau, “Epicerie casher de la porte de Vincennes: les otages ‘vraisemblablement’ tués avant l'assaut,” Le Parisien, 13 January 2015. (French)

[14] “Rassemblement pro-Gaza: Cazeneuve aurait manifesté s’il n’était pas ministre,” Le Point, 15 August 2014. (French)

[15] AFP, “Palestinian Resolution Fails at UN Security Council”, Mail Online, 31 December 2014.