1.5 million people attend an anti-terror rally in Paris
France took to the streets today in a rally to protest attacks on free speech and to show solidarity with the victims of last week’s Islamic terror attacks against Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine, and the Jewish victims murdered by a Muslim terrorist in a kosher supermarket.
The 17 victims of Muslim terrorists in 2 Paris attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket
1.5 million people are estimated to have taken part in the most impressive rally which was also attended by world leaders and other personalities.
From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel marching in Paris on January 11, 2015. (Screen capture: Channel 2)
However behind the scenes, all was not as peaceful and friendly as it appeared on the surface.
According to Channel 2 TV, France told Netanyahu that if he attended the rally they would invite Mahmoud Abbas too. And they did!
Channel 2 reported Sunday that there was some ugly international wrangling behind the scenes of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s changing plans for attending the rally in Paris Sunday.
Netanyahu’s bureau said Saturday evening that the prime minister would not be attending the anti-terror rally. A short time later, however, it turned out that he would indeed be going.
According to the report, Jerusalem and Paris exchanged diplomatic blows over the matter. Netanyahu contacted a “senior French official” and asked to attend the rally, but France said it did not want him there, because his presence would create “difficulty in arranging the rally.”
Netanyahu agreed and said he would not fly, but changed his mind when he learned that ministers Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman intend to attend the rally.
He informed the French of the decision, and in response the French said that if Netanyahu attends, they would invite Mahmoud Abbas as well.
The French embassy in Israel refused to comment on the report, said Channel 2.
Just the thought of a man who promotes terrorism and glorifies murderers of Jews marching in a pretense of solidarity with victims of the same Muslim terrorism makes me feel physically sick. This is the leader of the Palestinian Authority which arrests, tortures and imprisons journalists if they are critical of the PA or don’t toe the party line.
Naftali Bennet asked the question we are all thinking: How can you invite a terrorist to an anti-terror rally?
The last person who should have been invited to the million-plus rally in Paris Sunday, said Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, was Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas. “If we want to fight terror, we have to call it by name. Both Abbas and the Emir of Qatar, who was also invited to the rally, have their hands full of the blood of terror. How can the West fight terror if it is willing to live with terror?”
And if the French are too politically correct to see the problem with inviting a terrorist leader like Mahmoud Abbas to attend an anti-terror march just to “get even” with Israel, then they deserve every terrorist attack that happens. I just feel sorry for the innocent French civilians, but they should address their complaints to their own government.
On the same theme, that bastion of free speech, Hamas, condemned the Charlie Hebdo killings though made no mention of the attack on the kosher supermarket. This is the same Hamas that imprisons and tortures journalists whose reports they don’t like.
Here are some more absurd anomalies along the same lines:
Following are some more relevant or interesting tweets:
Avi Mayer had a lot to say about antisemitism in France:
Solidarity rallies also took place all in several countries around the world. In Jerusalem, 1,000 people attended a solidarity rally, some holding signs saying “Charlie is Israel” – since the Hebrew letters comprising the words are identical, simply rearranged.
1,000 attend Jerusalem solidarity rally
After the rally Binyamin Netanyahu and French President Hollande attended a memorial service at the Paris Grand Synagogue, which had been closed on Friday night due to security concerns for the first time since WWII. Both leaders were greeted very warmly by the huge crowds:
PARIS — Just as Israel stands with France against terror, so France must stand with Israel against terrorism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday evening in a central Paris synagogue at the end of a day in which he walked with 60 world leaders to denounce terrorism.
“Today I walked the streets of Paris with the leaders of the world, to say enough terror; the time has come to fight terror,” Netanyahu said to the crowd of hundreds of French Jews.
Netanyahu addresses the memorial service at the Paris Grand Synagogue
Before he spoke, numerous senior political figures from French President Francois Hollande to Prime Minister Manuel Valls and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, came to the ceremony.
They were there when members of the community lit 17 candles for the victims, both Jewish and non-Jewish, of last week’s terror attacks.
…
When Netanyahu took the podium, the cavernous sanctuary resonated with shouts of his nickname “Bibi, Bibi.”
The prime minister repeated what he has said numerous time in recent days that the world, not only Israel, is facing the threat of Islamic extremism and must battle it together.
“The truth and righteousness are with us, our common enemy is extreme Islam, not Islam, not regular extremists, but extreme Islam,” he stated.
Netanyahu said extreme Islam doesn’t hate the West because of Israel, but hates Israel because it is an organic part of the West.
Although much of his speech was punctuated with applause, the loudest cheering came when he said that Jews today have the privilege to live in Israel.
Netanyahu, careful not to overtly call for immediate immigration, said, ” I want to say to you what I say to all our Jewish brothers, that you have a full right to live secure and peaceful lives with equal rights wherever you desire, including here in France.”
Then he added, “these days we are blessed with another privilege, a privilege that didn’t exists for generations of Jews: the privilege to join their brothers and sisters in their historic homeland of Israel.”
The crowd erupted in cheers and chants of “Am Israel Chai.”
At the end of the day, after the rallies and demonstrations and protests and letters to the editor have died down, what will be left? Will this march have changed anything? Will the massacres really form a watershed not only for France but for Europe and the West as a whole? I have my doubts. Here’s Vic Rosenthal, who blogs at Abu Yehuda, whose thoughts echo my own:
On the Charlie Hebdo massacre:
But whatever they say won’t count for much unless there is effective action taken against the sources of incitement. Just as one can’t draw a cartoon that, according to their definition, insults Islam, we, the civilized world, should define language that we will not permit. Close the mosques, deport or imprison the instigators, kill the terrorists. They claim that they are oppressed? Show them what real oppression looks like. Give them terror for terror.
And although I don’t want to inject my own concerns into this too much, perhaps they could support us in Israel who are facing the same — identical — barbarian horde, instead of falling over themselves to create a new nest of terrorists next door to us.
Unfortunately, I do not have a fresh take on this. I don’t have any original ideas. I think, though, that ‘modern’ approaches fail when you are dealing with this kind of subhuman behavior.
“But that will make us like them,” is the response. Possibly, but if we allow them to overrun us, what’s the difference?
In “what it will take to preserve civilization” he suggests facing harsh reality:
What we, the civilized world, needs to do is to focus. To learn to understand the nature of the beast that we are confronting. To chart the organizations that support it, name the leaders, determine the governments and factions that provide its nourishment. And then we have to crush those organizations, kill the leaders and elites, and overthrow those governments.
This would require an allocation of resources up front, in the intelligence phase. There would have to be unprecedented agreement between the targets of the jihad, an ability to work together despite their differences (think of the Allies in WWII). There would have to be a unity of purpose, an understanding of what has to be done and why.
He is pessimistic about the West having the guts or the leadership to face this threat head-on, but there really is no other choice if we are to survive.
Anne's Opinions 
It was a great happening with an evening show. Many signs “I’m Charlie,” very little “I am a Jew.” The reference to the Jewishness of the hostages Vincennes, did made very late after the Jews have complained to the TV channels and radio stations same for the newspaper. Is subject to post 5,000 troops to schools and synagogues. But for how long? I am born and have lived in France until I was 60, I can tell you that the situation rot for many years. It’s like putting a plaster to someone who has gangrene. Naftali Benett is right: How can they invite terrorists?
Every day I thank God to have been able to return home
Thank you for your report of the rally – I presume from someone who was there? Or you watched it live on French TV?
I too wonder how long the security for the Jews will last and of course you don’t need to tell me about media bias. It’s the same all over the world.
I agree with your assessment that what the French are doing now is like putting “a plaster on gangrene” – very good description.
I have seen reports and policies emissions at french TV that show me that France and european countries are so in formal association with terrorist states they are not ready to discard, even if they really want. I think you know the books on Eurabia and the Dhimitude by Bat Yeor. She was right before anyone else.
Even today, people like Bat Yeor and Aayan Hirsi Ali are decried as racists and denounced for being anti-Muslim. Until the West wakes up and faces the awful truth, such attacks will continue.
Nobody has seen to mention that apparently it’s only Islamic defenders who are allowed to feel insulted.The numerous publications coming out of every Arab state (just look at Turkeys paper yesterday),has an untold number of cartoons denigrating Jews ,Moses the bible etc.As well as outright lies &blood libels.Have the Jews in these countries or any country or shop that sells&distributes these papers suffered murderous rages ,aeson &/or destruction&vandalism by Jews?thought not.But our ever politically correct European “friends”including our own home grown leftists are only worried about price tag atracks.It’s time they woke up &smelt the ….
Yep, you got it in one. Free speech and freedom of expression should extend to everyone but in reality is only permissible to one religion, and woe betide you if you offend them. And boy, are they ever easily offended!!
You can’t blame the Euros for being terrified of the Muslims, but at least they should have the courage to admit it rather than pretending they’re so politically correct.
One thing to appreciate here. France has adopted an unusual policy towards immigration. In the city of Paris, there are zones of the city that are No-Go zones. The ONLY people who can enter are French Algerians. It is completely unsafe for anyone else to go in there. If it was you or me walking in there, we would be stabbed to death. Even the French police CANNOT enter these zones. They would also be at great risk, and they do not get enough support from the French police to extend their powers inside the Algerian zones.
So literally, inside parts of Paris – it is just the same as if someone transported a piece of the Gaza Strip to the region. Except it is not “Palestinian”, but Algerian instead.
The atrocity that happened at the Offices for Charlie Hebdo is condemned by “normal” French citizens. But it is seen as a cultural “success” inside the Algerian zones (in France). There is support for the jihadists inside those zones, and grass roots support for changing France into an Islamic State. Really, that is the local reality inside the zones.
I don’t know what the final answer will be – to all of this.
But I doubt that we have seen an end to the bloodshed.
PRAYERS for the families of all of the victims – Jewish and French (and both!).
Pete, USA
You are very correct Pete. But it’s not only in France. The same situation of no-go Muslim areas reigns all over Europe, although maybe to a lesser extent. You have the neigbourhood of Tower Hamlets in London, Bradford, and several other places in Britain; in Germany it’s become such a problem that there is now a backlash movement called Pegida.
The problem is worst in France simply because of their numbers.
I also don’t know what will be the end of it or how it will work out. Maybe a new French government will legislate and enforce some new laws to control the mass immigration and to enforce their own laws which already exist.
It’s a bad situation all round.
I commented in various places after 9/11 that the haters rouse the democracies at their peril. Although it seems dark at present, it will get lighter. The democracies have a massive resource that the haters don’t have: their populations: we have in the past, we will in the present and we will in the future combine to destroy the haters, before we go back to arguing among ourselves. Had their been any Jihadists in the way in Paris on Sunday, they would just have been walked over. They weren’t there because they fear the light. Like the fictional vampire, daylight kills them.
We need a world of genuine parliamentary democracies: they don’t go to war against each other, because there are less expensive ways (whatever the coin you use to calculate this) to settle disputes. A wonderful way to illustrate this is the so-called “Fashoda Incident” of 1898. In that year, the British were going south from Egypt ad the French east from Gabon. They met at Fashoda, in what is now South Sudan (let’s not bother with what two colonial powers were doing in Africa at that time!).
“In the tense confrontation that ensued, neither Marchand nor Kitchener was ready to give up his claims to the fort, but, because both wished to avoid a military engagement, they agreed that Egyptian, British, and French flags should fly over the fort.” (from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/202270/Fashoda-Incident).
Thus, they sent back messages to their respective more-or-less (mostly less) parliamentary democratic governments to sort the problem out without shooting at each other. Which the respective governments did. 6 years later came the British-French accord known as the Entente Cordiale. In turn, this led to the British and French solid alliance of both World wars, and is also the reason that Cameron was in France on Sunday and why both Tower Bridge and the National Gallery in London were lit up with the colours of the French Tricoleur. It’s also the reason that Bibi was there, even though today’s (12.1.15) Algemeiner suggests that he was uninvited – he is also a democrat and he knows all about a free press!
We’re in this together, and we will overcome.
Nous somme tout Charlie. Nous somme tout Juif.
Non pasaran! They shall not pass.
Brian, I agree with you on the remedy – parliamentary democracies all round. But first, the world has to recognize that there is a problem in the first place, and that the problem is not caused by colonialism, imperialism or by anything the West has done. Jihad is a built-in part of Islam. Now before that sets anyone off, I should note that most Muslims do NOT take Jihad literally and do not go around murdering people at random.
BUT – and it’s a very big but – there are hundreds of thousands (at least) of Muslims who DO take Jihad very seriously indeed, and they are the cause of all this violence and terrorism. There is no point in people like the US Administration saying this attack had nothing to do with Islam. In that case why did the terrorists should Allahu Akbar as they opened fire?
Surely if a terrorist says he’s acting in the name of Islam, then we ought to take him at his word.
Another thing the world has to acknowledge is that this Islamic terrorism has nothing to do with Israel per se, with anything she is perceived to have done, whether fighting those same terrorists in Gaza or building settlements or praying on the Temple Mount. The Muslim terrorists’ problem with Israel is that it exists, full stop. It’s long beyond high time that the world stopped hectoring Israel on what it “must” or “must not” do. As long as Israel exists we will be the target of terrorism, and Western antagonism to us only encourages the terrorists.
And then they miscalculate and think that since the world blames Israel for the terrorism targeting it, they can similarly get away with targeting the West, since Israel is seen as a Western outpost besides anything else.
And here we go round the mulberry bush…
” the world has to acknowledge is that this Islamic terrorism has nothing to do with Israel per se, with anything she is perceived to have done, whether fighting those same terrorists in Gaza or building settlements or praying on the Temple Mount. ”
Of course it doesn’t: we have no argument here. And I fervently wish that western governments should be saying to non-national Imams that if they can’t preach moderation, then they shouldn’t preach at all, at least not in the west, in any language.
After all, most of us Jews would walk out of our synagogues if the Rabbi started preaching hatred of non-Jews and started demanding that they should be killed.
I have long believed that those who wish to live by Sharia Law should find themselves a country to go to, such as Iran or Pakistan or Afghanistan, and leave the rest of us alone. Perhaps this latest outrage will persuade western governments to take some real action. He said, without much hope of any real response from said governments.
Your blog, annie, is a beacon of light in a world of ever-increasing darkness, a voice of reason amidst insanity. Thank you and stay safe.
Thanks so much florrie. I miss you and your comments. Come back and visit more often. 🙂
I sure will, annie.