Paris Aftermath: Will The Narrative Finally Change?

 

Murdered Editor of Charlie Hebdo magazine: "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees"

 

The Paris Massacre and the West - Melanie Phillips

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

The fact is that Islamic terrorism and intimidation against the West have been going on for decades, matched by displays of Western weakness. First the West blames poverty and exclusion among Muslims. Then it blamed grievances around the world - Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine. Then it blamed isolated madmen.
     

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.

(Jerusalem Post)

Radical Islam Against Western Culture - Dan Margalit

A lot of French people believed that Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorists would only target places like the Jewish school in Toulouse or the Jewish museum in Brussels. But in reality, radical Islam is against Western culture and Christianity. The Jews are just an excuse. The extremist Muslim killers seek to enslave all of humanity and crush human dignity and liberty.
    
There will always be nations and governments that believe that if they only sacrifice the Jews they can achieve peace for themselves. But they would be deluding themselves.
(Israel Hayom)


Jihad in Paris - Eyal Zisser

Charlie Hebdo recently printed a cartoon featuring a jihadi decapitator cutting off the head of the Prophet Muhammad. When close to a fifth of France's Muslim population sympathizes with ISIS, it is easy to understand the kind of atmosphere that gives rise to radical Islamist terrorism in France. Paris has preached to Israel for many years to try to understand the motives behind Palestinian terror attacks. Now they are learning the hard way that terrorism must be fought unflinchingly.
     
It is interesting to learn that the biggest advocates of free speech when it comes to criticism of Israel or Jews who support Israel are now calling for censorship out of consideration for the feelings of Muslims who are offended by anti-Prophet cartoons.
    
The mass migration of millions of Muslims to Europe and the establishment of large Muslim communities on the fringes of European societies have created a new reality: Many young Muslims don't want to wage jihad in Syria or Iraq, but rather in Paris. Anyone who thought that France's pro-Palestinian efforts in the UN would provide them with credit in the Muslim world was surprised to learn that radical Islamists have a much wider agenda.
Prof. Eyal Zisser is former director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. 
(Israel Hayom)


How Terrorism Harms Radical Islam - Daniel Pipes, PhD

As a rule, terrorism leads not to intimidation but to anger and hostility. Instead of cowing a population, it raises consciousness and provokes hatred for the Islamist cause among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Rather than advance the Islamist cause, high profile acts of violence harm it.

Some prominent examples:

• 9/11 removed Islamism from the shadows where it had flourished, stimulating an American-led "war on terror" and a large increase in anti-Islamic sentiment;
• The 2004 massacre of school children in Beslan poisoned Russian attitudes toward Muslims and helped Vladimir Putin consolidate power;
• The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing locked down a large metropolitan area, giving millions a first-hand taste of Islamist oppression.
• Wednesday's killing of twelve in Paris created a national mood of defiance that put Islamists on the defensive as never before. If the first hours anticipate future developments, a significant portion of the French electorate will demand more effective measures against radical Islam.

In the long term, then, these acts of violence do immense damage to the Islamist cause. Turned around, the victims of that violence – some 10,000 fatalities in 2,800 attacks in 2013 alone – did not die in vain but unwittingly sacrificed their lives in a dreadful war of wills. Targeted assassinations, such as those against the French cartoonists, have an outsized impact on public opinion.

In sum, self-indulgence and strategic ineptitude are the hallmarks the Islamist campaign. The catastrophe of the Islamist program is matched by the ineptitude of its tactics. And so, I conclude, its fate will be the same dust-heap of history where fascism and communism can be found. Like those two other totalitarianisms, it promises terrible destruction and many deaths before ultimately failing. The war will be long and painful but in the end, again, the forces of civilization will vanquish those of barbarism.

The recent drumbeat of terrorism in the name of Islam may appear to help the Islamist cause. In fact, it brings its agenda closer to a deserved collapse.
[Washington Times]

 Bill Maher shares his thoughts on the terrorist attack in France