Western Complacency and Denial to Remain Unscathed After #CharlieHebdo Attacks

From Melanie Phillips, at the Jerusalem Post, "As I See It: The Paris massacre and Western funk":

Is this a tipping point? Has the West finally been shaken out of its complacency? The horrific massacre in Paris, in which al-Qaida terrorists systematically targeted and gunned down journalists, cartoonists, and policemen at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in revenge for its mockery of Islam, has shocked Europe by its barbarism and its symbolism.

A core western value, freedom of expression, was snuffed out with contemptuous ease along with 12 innocent lives, among them some of France’s most iconic and beloved cartoonists.

The emotion behind the “Je Suis Charlie” demonstrations, as an expression of solidarity with the murdered Charlie Hebdo staff, was very understandable. But did anyone actually mean it? For what Charlie Hebdo did was what very few people have ever done. In continuing to publish its scurrilous images of Islam and Islamists, Charlie Hebdo had refused to be cowed by Islamist terrorism.

Plainly, therefore, very few people indeed mean “Je Suis Charlie,” since the media response to the massacre has been carefully to obliterate the images Charlie Hebdo published that so offended al-Qaida.

The French have also been declaring defiantly that free speech will never be surrendered. But there has been no free media expression about Islam ever since the 1989 Iranian fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie over his book, The Satanic Verses.

That was when the West sold the pass. In Britain, people supporting Rushdie’s murder were never prosecuted.

As his book was burned on British streets, establishment figures turned on the author for having offended Islam.

In 2006, riots following the publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons left scores dead around the world. But virtually every media outlet – except for Charlie Hebdo – refused to republish them.

In 2004, the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered on a Netherlands street for making a film criticizing Islam. In 2012, Lars Hedegaard, who founded the Danish Free Press Society after the Muhammad cartoons affair,was shot point blank on his doorstep, although he miraculously survived.

To all these outrages, the West responded by blaming the victims for provoking their attackers. After this week’s Paris massacre, commentators on CNN observed that Charlie Hebdo had been “provoking Muslims” for some time. On The Financial Times website, Tony Barber wrote that “some common sense would be useful at publications such as Charlie Hebdo... which purport to strike a blow for freedom when they provoke Muslims, but are actually just being stupid.”

(That last clause was subsequently removed).

The fact is that Islamic terrorism and intimidation against the West have been going on for decades, matched by displays of Western weakness which merely encourage an enemy it refuses properly to identify.

Over and over again, the West denies that these attacks have anything to do with Islam. First it blamed poverty and exclusion among Muslims. Then it blamed grievances around the world – Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine.

Then it blamed isolated madmen whose Muslim identity was irrelevant.

In France before Christmas, attacks in which cars were used as battering rams against crowds amid shouts of “Allahu akbar” were said by French authorities to be unconnected with each other.

Yet Muslim violence in France has clearly been out of control for years. Just look at the repeated Islamic pogroms against French Jews, which have driven thousands of them to emigrate. Yet none of those attacks provoked the kind of outrage that followed this week’s atrocity. Is free speech more important than the lives of French Jews? But the West refuses to join up the dots. The Charlie Hebdo attackers shouted “Allahu akbar” and “We are avenging the Prophet Muhammad.”

Yet Obama, Cameron, and Hollande condemned the attack as merely “terrorism,” carefully omitting to say what kind of terrorism this was.

This follows their absurd statements that the Islamic State terrorist group has “nothing to do with Islam” and that “no religion” condones that kind of barbarism.

Really? What links Islamic State, al-Qaida, Hamas, and Boko Haram? It’s a religion beginning with the letter I and ending with M.

A very senior British civil servant once told me that Islamist terrorism couldn’t be about Islam, because that would “demonize” all Muslims. This absurd non-sequitur was like saying the Inquisition had nothing to do with Catholicism, in order not to demonize Catholics.

For sure, many Muslims are not only opposed to Islamist terrorism but are its principal victims. But to pretend that it is not rooted in a legitimate interpretation of the religion, backed up by the historical evidence of centuries of aggressive and violent Islamic conquest, is ridiculous.

If the West cannot even bring itself to acknowledge what it is up against, then it will surely be defeated by it...

Still more.

Europe's Anti-Semitism Rises — From the Precincts of the Islamo-Fascist Left

Something I've written about quite a bit, sadly.

At the New York Times, "Europe’s Anti-Semitism Comes Out of the Shadows":

SARCELLES, France — From the immigrant enclaves of the Parisian suburbs to the drizzly bureaucratic city of Brussels to the industrial heartland of Germany, Europe’s old demon returned this summer. “Death to the Jews!” shouted protesters at pro-Palestinian rallies in Belgium and France. “Gas the Jews!” yelled marchers at a similar protest in Germany.

The ugly threats were surpassed by uglier violence. Four people were fatally shot in May at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. A Jewish-owned pharmacy in this Paris suburb was destroyed in July by youths protesting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. A synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany, was attacked with firebombs. A Swedish Jew was beaten with iron pipes. The list goes on.

The scattered attacks have raised alarm about how Europe is changing and whether it remains a safe place for Jews. An increasing number of Jews, if still relatively modest in total, are now migrating to Israel. Others describe “no go” zones in Muslim districts of many European cities where Jews dare not travel...

Keep reading, but note: Once again, the mainstream press whitewashes Islamic anti-Semitism, raising the specter of "right-wing" parties, blah blah.

No. It's leftist Islamo-fascism that's the threat to Jews in Europe today. The media's only making things worse. And that's even more sad.

What’s Behind Germany’s New Anti-Semitism

From Jochen Bittner, at the New York Times, "The ugly truth is that much of today’s anti-Semitism originates with people of Muslim background":

HAMBURG, Germany — Europe is living through a new wave of anti-Semitism. The president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews calls it the worst the Continent has seen since World War II. He may well be right. Attacks on synagogues are an almost weekly occurrence, and openly anti-Semitic chants are commonplace on well-attended marches from London to Rome. And yet it is here, in Germany, where the rise in anti-Semitism is most historically painful.

On Sunday, thousands of people marched through Berlin in response, and heard both Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck denounce the resurgence in anti-Jewish hatred.

We’ve seen this before, of course. But there’s an important difference this time. The new anti-Semitism does not originate solely with the typical white-supremacist neo-Nazi; instead, the ugly truth that many in Europe don’t want to confront is that much of the anti-Jewish animus originates with European people of Muslim background....

Of course, anti-Semitism didn’t originate with Europe’s Muslims, nor are they its only proponents today. The traditional anti-Semitism of Europe’s far right persists. So, too, does that of the far left, as a negative byproduct of sympathy for the Palestinian liberation struggle. There’s also an anti-Semitism of the center, a subcategory of the sort of casual anti-Americanism and anticapitalism that many otherwise moderate Europeans espouse.

But the rise of Muslim anti-Semitism is responsible for the recent change in the tone of hate in Germany...

Actually, just narrow it down to Muslims and their leftist Islamo-enablers and you've nailed the locus of contemporary anti-Semitism. Now the important thing is to stamp it out, and that will mean destroying political Islam and permanently consigning the radical left to the dustbin of history.

But keep reading.

VIDEO: Anne Bayefsky Blasts United Nation as the Leading Global Purveyor of Anti-Semitism

Watch, at Israel Matzav, "Into the belly of the beast: Anne Bayefsky blasts the UN as the leading global purveyor of anti-Semitism."

Belgian Women Pour Fake Blood in Airport to Protest #Israel Arms Transport

Well, at least it was fake blood.

Sheesh.

At the Times of Israel.

Belgian women pour fake blood in airport to protest Israel arms transport http://t.co/dv9VkmUALv

— TOI Jewish Times (@TOIJewishTimes) September 1, 2014

New Child Fashion Necessity for In-Style Leftist Families: Striped 'Star of David' Holocaust Tees

Perfect leftist fashion item with a 1940s flair.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Zara pulls plug on 'Holocaust shirt' for kids."

The company released a statement, indicating that the tee-shirts, with the "Star of David" on them, will be "exterminated":

The item in question, part of the Cowboy Collection for babies, was inspired by the character of the sheriff in Wild West movies. The word ‘Sheriff’ is visible on the star at the front of the item. Nevertheless, we can understand the sensitive context and connotation that was created. The item does not exist in Israel and as soon as the issue became clear, it was decided the product will be removed from shelves across the world and exterminated.

We sincerely apologize if, as a result, we have offended the feelings of our customers.

Yes, "sincerely." I'm sure.

Zara will destroy all of these shirts: http://t.co/a8ANyLkyYu pic.twitter.com/MoE2KNU46H

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) August 27, 2014

Obama Must Resist #ISIS and Hamas

From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:

The brutality of ISIS must be ended, and so must Hamas’s aggression against the State of Israel, and the accompanying disease of anti-Semitism.  Palestinians, including people from Fatah and the Palestinian Authority as well as Hamas, are prone to compare actions of Israel with those of the Nazis.  Speeches by their leaders and news reports speak of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza as a Holocaust, and of the Israeli Nazi mentality.  This rhetoric provides the excuse for Palestinian violence against Israeli citizens, and for anti-Semitic actions.

American and European leaders are dramatically aware of the horror of ISIS and are preparing to take some further action against its rise. They must now assess the aggressive nature of Hamas and act accordingly. Both ISIS and Hamas must be defeated.

RTWT.

Hamas Solidarity Protester: Hitler Should Have Finished the Jews

Video at Breitbart, "PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTER: HITLER SHOULD HAVE FINISHED THE JEWS."

Vile Anti-Semitism at Code Pink Protest in Oakland

From the San Francisco Voice for Israel, which covered the protest today in Oakland.

Vile signage at @codepink's protest at Sen. Barbara Boxer's office pic.twitter.com/HUPJY6kaUE

— SFV4I (@SFV4I) August 20, 2014

Chants from todays @codepink protest in Oakland included "We support the Intifada" and "Go back to Germany"

— SFV4I (@SFV4I) August 20, 2014

VIDEO: Suspect Shown Spraying Anti-Semitic Graffiti Outside Staten Island School

This is more common with the Obama-Democrats in power.

Sick.

At CBS News New York, "Police: Suspect Sprayed Anti-Semitic Graffiti Outside Staten Island School."

Supporting #Hamas is Anti-Semitic

Of course.

Supporting Hamas is racist eliminationism.

See Alan Dershowitz, at the Gatestone Institute:

There is no way around it: Supporting #Hamas is supporting anti-Semitism: @AlanDersh http://t.co/8sYDEMnVGE pic.twitter.com/Y4Hwfd25DY

— Gatestone Institute (@GatestoneInst) August 15, 2014

PREVIOUSLY: "Pro-Terror #ANSWERLA Organizers: 'We Stand with Hamas!'"

The Banality of Anti-Semitic Violence in Europe

From William Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection, "Bubbling to the surface so often it’s now just part of the landscape in Paris and elsewhere."

Coming Face-to-Face with Anti-Semites in Paris

Well, I've come face-to-face with anti-Semites in Los Angeles. It's not for everyone but somebody's gotta do it.

In any case, from Cnaan Liphshiz, at the Times of Israel:

My friend Alain Azria gave me a puzzled look when I told him, with some indignation and disbelief in my voice, that I had just heard talk of killing Jews at an unauthorized anti-Israel demonstration last month in Paris.

A young black man with a Parisian accent told a dozen friends loudly, but without shouting, “OK, guys. Let’s go hunt some Jews.”

His friend answered, “Let’s break their heads.” To which the first speaker replied, “Catch them fast, kill them slow.”

The group blended into a mass of thousands of people who were marching toward the Gare du Nord train station while shouting slogans accusing Israel of genocide.

My shock stemmed from the fact that while anti-Semitic violence accounts for a fair share of my reporting here in Europe, I have personally been insulated from it — perhaps because I live in Holland, where such occurrences are rarer, or maybe because I had lived most of my life in Israel, where one receives only a theoretical understanding of the phenomenon.

But for Alain, a freelance news photographer who specializes in documenting France’s anti-Semitism problem, this was just another day at the office. Which is to say he didn’t really have time for my astonished discovery of the banal.

“OK, OK, welcome to Paris. Now let’s move it along,” he said as he took us on a shortcut designed to reach the station before the procession...

Heh, from the mouths of babes.

Keep reading.

Israel in the Face of Aggression

From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:

At the outset the obvious should be stated, as Abraham Lincoln stated it in his Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865. There was no moral equivalence between the two sides in the Civil War. One side would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.

There is no moral equivalence between the objective of the terrorist group Hamas to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible and the response of Israel to stop the flow of thousands of rockets directed against it. The directive to massacre all Jews is unmistakable in the Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) broadcast of July 20, 2014. It called on Jihad fighters “to enter settlements (towns in southern Israel) to kill them all… they are all invaders, they are all criminals… have no mercy on them.”

Nor is any moral equivalence present in the desire of Israel to settle the Arab Israeli conflict by peace negotiations without conditions, and the refusal of Palestinians authorities to do so.      

On one side of the equation is the focus of Hamas, whether its political or military wings or its religious council (Majlis al-Shura), on destruction, and continuation of violence, even massacre, against Israeli citizens, rather than concentration on building a progressive prosperous society, in spite of obvious problems. The fighting in Gaza has revealed the wastage by Hamas of the human resources and the material, bought from funds given by the international community.

The funds have been used to buy sophisticated machinery and thousands of tons of cement and other materials in order to obtain rockets and to build a network of underground tunnels from which to attack Israeli civilians. The network of the tunnels, of which so far 32 have been destroyed, has cost at least $90 million. Each tunnel has used amounts of construction materials that could have been used to build 86 homes, seven mosques, six schools, or 19 medical clinics. In addition, 160 exploited children have died while being used to build them.

On the other side, if not without blemish and being subject to objective and appropriate criticism, is the constructive record, the process of nation building, of the State of Israel. Since 1948 this has continued in spite of the relentless hostility of the Arab world, of bigoted bias, discrimination, and use of double standards by the “international community,” and the deceptive Palestinian Narrative of Victimhood that projects Palestinians as the most grievous victims in the world.

That process of successful nation building with all the diversity -- religious, ethnic, and economic -- in Israeli society, continues even though unacknowledged by much of the media, mainstream churches, human rights activists who decry Israel’s attempts at self-defense. Little or no attention is paid to the remarkable innovative activity of Israel, in areas of high tech companies, medical research, pharmaceuticals, health care, cyberspace, drip irrigation, electronics, or academic scholarship.

Of the making of books on Israel there is no end, but, in view of the Hamas brutality and hatred, it is refreshing to read a new book, Israel since the Six-Day War, written by Leslie Stein, the Australian historian. It provides an up-to-date broad survey,  precisely and clearly written, of the struggle of Israel to overcome the Arab aggression against it and survive as a Jewish state. Based on secondary sources, the book, though it has a long chapter on social and economic developments, is essentially concerned with Israel’s actions and policies in dealing with the threats against it and the efforts to reach peace with the Arab states and the Palestinians.

Those threats have been based on hatred of Israel, and often of Jews. That hatred has been inculcated from Palestinian kindergartens on. Schoolbooks show maps of “Palestine” that include all of what is Israel. It is sickening that Palestinian groups engage in Holocaust denial or distortion. Palestinian Authority broadcasts have denied the Holocaust death camps and excused them as “disinfecting sites,” and that Hamas documentaries explained that it was Jewish leaders who planned the Holocaust...

Continue reading.

Threatening Racist Flyers with Swastikas Plastered at Jewish Business Near UCLA (VIDEO)

More of the logical consequences of the global left's war on Jews. I mean seriously, in Los Angeles?

It's like we're back in the 1930s, and it's a definite transnational scourge.

At KCBS‑TV Los Angeles:

London Tricycle Theatre's Hateful Anti-Israel #BDS

Louise Mensch tweeted about this the other day:

The Tricycle Theatre should be boycotted by every decent person in North London and especially every Jew or friend of Jewish people.

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) August 5, 2014

Crowds singing & chanting in protest outside the #TricycleTheatre in #Kilburn... The issue: http://t.co/4frl7daF95 pic.twitter.com/RvI5A64Ng1

— Cat Grant (@kittyonwheels) August 7, 2014

And here's a roundup:

* From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker, "The Show Should Go On in London."

* From Seth Mandel, at Commentary, "Cultural BDS and the Tricycle Theater."

'Sweden ever so quickly has gone from so-called anti-Zionism to open anti-Semitism...'

At Legal Insurrection:

Swedish Jew visiting Israel told by friend: “Don’t come back here, you have no idea how bad it has become since you left.”

Hypocrisy Over Gaza

From Pat Condell, via Blazing Cat Fur.

Fanatical Anti-Israel-Hate-Fest in Chicago: 'Israel you will pay, your annihilation is on its way...'

Just when you think the left's eliminationist Jew-hated has gone DEFCON 2, here comes a new round of murderous anti-Zionism to take the hate to unprecedented levels.

At Progressives Today, linking Jonathan Hoenig, "Arabs Call For Destruction Of Israel In Massive Chicago March & Rally":

Fox News Contributor, Jonathan Hoenig, attended Sunday’s pro-Palestinian march in Chicago. He tweeted some vile images of the anti-jew hatred seething from some in America’s Arab-Muslim community.

Michigan Ave., Chicago, today. RT @JonathanHoenig "Israel you will pay, your annihilation is on its way" pic.twitter.com/zyUPzcvXh5

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 10, 2014

More at the link.

VIDEO: Obama Monitors His Golf Game in Martha's Vinyard While Genocidal Iraq Crisis Escalates

Here's the dramatic banner headline at the Washington Post, "Political crisis escalates in Iraq: Maliki remains defiant as new prime minister is named."

And here's CBS News This Morning's report on the president "monitoring" the genocidal crisis from the links.



More from the New York Times at Mememeorandum, "Political Crisis in Iraq Deepens as President Nominates a New Prime Minister."