(Israel Hayom) 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.
2015-01-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive