Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
The horrific shootings of soldiers in southwest France, followed by the killings at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse, led to a massive manhunt for the killer(s) of seven people.
As of yesterday, we were told that "The massive police manhunt is focusing on far right extremists; including three former soldiers."
Henry Samuel of the Telegraph blamed the killings not just on far-right extremists but the political climate saying we must ask ourselves:
whether politics has anything to do with, if not the shootings themselves, then at least the creation of a climate that could have triggered the acts of a clearly unhinged individual.
In recent days, an unsavoury battle for far-Right votes has erupted between Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-Right incumbent, and Marine Le Pen, running for the nationalist, anti-immigrant National Front party.
Turns out that the far-right extremist meme may have been in error.
The Associated Press report that was yesterday headlined "French hunt school killer, suspect neo-Nazi ties" now takes you to a story headlined "Report: French police prepare to storm building."
Turns out the suspect is an al Qaeda-linked Islamic terrorist. The Telegraph reporter who yesterday blamed the right now sadly notes today's news is an "election gift" for Le Pen.
Melanie Phillips at the Daily Mail notes:
Jews throughout the world are all potential targets for attack in a terrifying manifestation of global incitement to murder...
Yet all this is ignored by the mainstream media. Desperate to sanitise Muslim genocidal terrorism and prove that racism and Jew-hatred is confined to white people and the ‘far right’, the media simply did not entertain the possibility that the perpetrator of the French killings might have been a Muslim. So a range of likely perpetrators was canvassed – but they were all variations on white racists.
And even when the perpetrator turned out to be an Islamic terrorist the media were still trying to spin it away, with Sky News stressing the deprivation of the killer and his family and interviewing a French female journalist living in London who claimed that this was ‘an attack against diversity’.
There are many murderous elements in the world today and some of them are unhinged individuals while others kill for political gain of various stripes. It's wise of the media to show restraint before facts are known in a case but sometimes it seems as is they have a rather blatant blind spot when it comes to the possibility of Islamic terrorism.
That the alleged killer claimed to act in "revenge for Palestinian children" is a further reminder that the media need to report more responsibly about the situation in the Middle East.
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Comments:
Jun '11
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.: The horrific shootings of soldiers in southwest France, followed by the killings at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse, led to a massive manhunt for the killer(s) of seven people.
As of yesterday, we were told that "The massive police manhunt is focusing on far right extremists; including three former soldiers."
Turns out that the far-right extremist meme may have been in error.
There are many murderous elements in the world today and some of them are unhinged individuals while others kill for political gain of various stripes. It's wise of the media to show restraint before facts are known in a case but sometimes it seems as is they have a rather blatant blind spot when it comes to the possibility of Islamic terrorism.
Mollie, I think you just uttered the understatement of the year.
And the blind spot doesn't seem to respond to corrective lenses when it comes to the possibility of Islamic terrorism.
Jan '11
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
I'm not so sure which is worse: the fact that they missed the possibility of an Islamic connection, or the fact they were immediately drawn to suspect the Right of murders. In this case, they displayed multiple biases.
That was France; in the US, it's not so different. I'm reminded of Paul Krugman, who was certain that Gabrielle Giffords was shot by some right-winger.
Oct '10
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
All terrorist acts are viewed as political opportunities by the left. Ever since Bill Clinton turned the Oklahoma City bombings into a political plus, left-partisans everywhere salivate every time an unhinged lone gunman appears. It's sickening.
Edited on March 21, 2012 at 3:11pmApr '11
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
Yea, that's class warfare, zero-sum game, lousy math, and too preachy! What the heck is his argument any way? That somehow we through paying more in taxes we can pay down the out ogf control sendin
Jun '10
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
The press didn't miss anything. Their reporting is a deliberate attempt to obfuscate and misdirect. The narrative must be maintained despite all evidence to the contrary. The "right" is always presumed guilty. Even if a Muslim committed the atrocity, he was provoked by right-wing racism and Islamaphobia. Got it?
Feb '12
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
A fellow named Mohammed seems to have murdered soldiers who fought in Afghanistan and several Jews.
"I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts." - Pres. Obama
Nov '10
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
I agree with all of the above comments: the news purveyors uniformly sing the song of the latest events to the tune of the Internationale. Were it not for the Internet (thanks, Al Gore) the second looks at the facts now more common than before would never be publicised.
Dec '10
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
The victimology (soldiers only of North African origin, Jews) pointed to a white supremacist/European nativist motive - but what the media failed to point out is that it also pointed to an Islamicist jihadist motive to kill "enemies of" and "traitors to" Islamicism.
Feb '12
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
I would phrase this a little differently: The authorities' ignorance of history led them to believe that "the victimology pointed to a white supremacist/European nativist motive."
If they could ever find room in their brains for facts, they would realize that, in the last century and probably well beyond, the greatest killers of Muslims have been other Muslims. Supremacists don't come anywhere close.
Apr '11
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
Joseph Eagar: All terrorist acts are viewed as political opportunities by the left. Ever since Bill Clinton turned the Oklahoma City bombings into a political plus, left-partisans everywhere salivate every time an unhinged lone gunman appears. It's sickening. · 7 hours ago
Edited 7 hours ago
It's sickening if it were merely that, but the immediate accusations have a way of sticking even after being disproved.
Aug '10
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
I'm bothered by the use of "Right" to describe racists, be they KKK, National Front or any other such mutant group. It definitely allows the left (one seldom hears of the "far left" outside America) to lump social, economic and/or political conservatives in with racist extremists. So you have the Tea Party painted and perceived as out and out racists (although Ron Paul is much admired by the Irish left). I called a national radio station to complain when Brevik was being called a "Christian Fundamentalist" but got very short shrift. As with Loughner, the pattern is consistent: seize the opportunity, set the narrative, move along. Meanwhile,in the horror ("tragedy?") in Toulouse and commentary thereon we see in stark relief the unique position of the Jew, uniting Left and so-called Right in shared disdain, sometimes hate.
Re: Toulouse Murders The Work Of Al Qaeda?
I'm looking at this thread with some puzzlement. Since this story broke, I've been following it through quite a number of news sources; all immediately reported theories that the perpetrator might be a Muslim--it was one of three theories mooted within about 15 minutes of the initial news reports (Islamist motivation, neo-Nazi motivation, "serial killer"). All seemed reasonable speculations given the information available, and it seemed to me the reporting evolved as more information was released by the French authorities.
I'm certain the idea was immediately voiced in many news outlets. There was no blackout on the speculation.