Hijacking Charlie Hebdo

Inviting  Palestinian Authority “President” (his term expired years ago) Mahmoud Abbas to march in the anti-terrorist parade in Paris was like inviting the devil to Lourdes to give a blessing to the faithful. Even as Abbas’ intentions were being announced, his government was anointing five terrorists with the official status of martyrs.  Among them were Ghassan and Uday Jamal, of East Jerusalem, who entered a Jerusalem synagogue on November 18, 2014  and killed four men while they were at prayer and a police officer. Seven other worshippers were injured in the attack, three seriously.

The terrorists, now martyrs, were killed in an exchange of gunfire with Israeli security forces at the scene of the carnage. And rest assured, Abbas’ Palestinian Authority will be stirring others to follow in their blood soaked footsteps long after Abbas plays the hypocrite for the world’s media.

{mosads}Abbas did not incite specifically the terrorists in Paris, but granting martyrdom to those who kill men while they are praying to God or running over pedestrians (as the PA has also done) reinforces the belief that when it comes to  Jihad, there are no rules; there are only targets. It is part of the role model of Jihad that moderate Muslims denounce.

Abbas, of course, is not the only hypocrite to attempt to hijack last week’s tragic events in Paris.  A leaked memo from the Doha-based Al Jezerra Media Network, funded by the government of Qatar, showed how the most popular media outlet in the Islamic world sought to spin the tragic events in Paris. The massacre at the offices of the French satirical weekly, Charlie Hedbo, reminded  journalists, worldwide of their own vulnerabilities. But in the London offices of Al Jezerra, the sentiment was strikingly different.

English-language executive producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr in an email sent to his staff told them to rethink whether the attack on Charlie Hebdo really was an attack on free speech and a clash between European and non-European values. Khadr asked them to portray it as a clash between extremists. He was reaching for a narrative that would make the blood-soaked offices of Charlie Hedbo the equivalent of a pastel soaked caricature of Mohammed.

Here is Khadr in his own words: “Baiting extremists isn’t bravely defiant when your manner of doing so is more significant in offending millions of moderate people as well. And within a climate where violent response — however illegitimate — is a real risk, taking a goading stand on a principle virtually no one contests is worse than pointless: it’s pointlessly all about you.”

According to Khadr, the people at  Charlie Hedbo were responsible for their own murders. Journalism, literature, cinema, and any form of artistic expression now has to ask the question of whether it would offend millions of people, some of whom might want to kill you. And even if your death is illegitimate, just remember when the killers come for you, it was your narcissism that provoked them.

If Khadr wanted to turn the narrative about the massacre at Charlie Hedbo away from the conflict of cultures, his emails ironically underscored the irreconcilable cultural differences that separate Western Civilization from the world of Al Jezerra. That this was written by a journalist is especially appalling.

In the aftermath of the slaughter in Paris, the question for  those who still take pride in Western Civilization, is when do we stand up for our culture? When do we say no to hypocrisy, whether it is Mahmoud Abbas marching in an anti-terrorist parade or Al Jezerra trying to make journalism a crime justifiably punished by fanatics?

Would Al Jezerra justify some Jewish fanatics firebombing its offices because its coverage of the Middle East gave offense to millions of Jews? Amid the ashes, would Khadr reflect on how the network’s narcissism provoked fanatics to do violence? Obviously not.  Freedom is also the freedom to give offense. If Al Jezerra were attacked, it would be our sacred duty to support it, no matter what the cause of the incitement. That ideal separates civilization from barbarism and the Western media from Al Jezerra.

Miller is an emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati and a contributor to the Franklin Center for Government and Political Integrity.