Mere days after the brutal terror attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead – including four Jews who were murdered in a kosher grocery as they shopped for Shabbat – some public figures are already seeking to blame Jews and Israel for the attacks.
Some of these smears are predictable, coming from marginal individuals who routinely find ways to blame Jews and the Jewish state for all the world’s ills. For instance, one regular contributor to Iranian-backed Press TV wasted little time in writing that Israel “orchestrated” the Paris attacks – and for good measure, ludicrously added that Israel was behind Malaysian airplane crashes, too. The founders of the Free Gaza Movement, which has been endorsed by public figures such as Desmond Tutu, echoed this slander, posting on social media the patently false smear “MOSSAD just hit the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo in a clumsy false flag designed to damage the accord between Palestine and France…”
It seems that some of these lies are drifting from the marginal fringe into mainstream publications. The ADL has reported that news outlets including The International Business Times India, Tunisia Times and the Cairo-based newspaper Al Dostor have all picked up the false claim that Israel orchestrated the attack. Other papers, including Jordan’s Rawafed and the Lebanese news agency Middle East Panorama have also fabricated theories of Jewish or Israeli forces being behind the attacks.
On Thursday, January 8, 2015, the day after gunmen murdered 12 people in their attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, the official Twitter account of WikiLeaks bizarrely blamed a “Jewish pro-censorship lobby” for giving motive to the attacks. (WikiLeaks dug itself deeper into a hole trying to justify its logic. In an argument that defies most attempts to follow it, they seemed to blame an incident in 2009 when an employee of Charlie Hebdo was fired for writing an offensively anti-Semitic article. How this justified the murder of the magazine’s staff by radical Islamists six years later was never fully explained.)
At CNN, in the hours after the massacre, senior international correspondent Jim Clancy was sending a series of surreal tweets, dragging Israel into debates about the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and leading many to question his judgment as a reporter. After asserting that Charlie Hebdo never published cartoons that insulted Islam, Clancy started sending bizarre tweets to followers who argued otherwise, responding to their statements by attacking them for being pro-Israel, even though no one mentioned the Jewish state. Other responses were rejected as being what he called “Hasbara”, the Hebrew word for education about Israel. After hours of ever-stranger and more hostile tweets, the senior reporter was seemingly obsessed not with the mammoth news story the rest of his colleagues were reporting, but with Jews and Israel, sending his followers feverishly angry rants on Twitter such as “You and the Hasbara team need to pick on some cripple on the edge of the herd” and “Everyone who stands for Human Rights is anti-Semitic”.
For BBC anchorman Tim Willcox, the murder of four Jews in Paris isn’t much of a tragedy. For him, it seems to be a justified response to Israel’s supposed crimes, real or imagined. Interviewing a Jewish woman identified as Chava at the million-strong march against terrorism in central Paris on Sunday, January 11, 2015, he asked if she felt unsafe now living as a Jew in France. When she replied that she did and how conditions in France reminded her of Europe in the 1930s, saying, “We have to not be afraid to say that the Jews are the target now,” Willcox responded with a bizarre change of subject. “But many critics of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well,” Willcox responded. Confused, Chava tried to explain there is no comparison. “We cannot do an amalgam between—” she started before Willcox cut her off. “But you understand,” he snapped, “everything is seen from different perspectives.”
Willcox’s hostile interview was reminiscent of the words of Raymond Barre, who was Prime Minister of France in 1980, when a bomb destroyed a Paris synagogue and killed four passers-by; Barre condemned the attack that sought, in his words, “to target Jews… and struck innocent Frenchmen” outside instead. Barre was roundly criticized at the time for implying that Jews are somehow less-than-innocent than others and that attacking them is somehow justified.
Thirty-five years later this slander is being repeated. As many call for his resignation, Tim Willcox has tweeted an apology for his words, calling his “poorly phrased” question “unintentional”. But to millions of viewers, his live interview appeared extremely intentional and his attempts to explain or justify attacks on Jews abhorrent.
We must stand up to these and other smears. As the world continues to reel from the attacks in Paris, we cannot let respected journalists and media outlets repeat justifications or outright lies about them. Stay informed. Read your local Jewish press, or check out Israeli newspapers online. Call your local media when you see slanted or biased – or just plain made-up reporting. Websites such as www.honestreporting.com, www.camera.org, and www.aish.com can help you keep abreast of media developments. And reach out. Blog, use social media, connect with others. Encourage people in your community to stand up to biased or slanted reporting as well.
(17) Hilary Ostrov, January 20, 2015 4:33 PM
Mediocre western media
Just as blaming "climate change" for all natural disasters seems to be the unthinking reaction of the MSM, blaming the Jews and/or Israel for obvious Muslim terrorist acts seems to be increasingly (and alarmingly) common.
I have commented on this (at great length!) on my own blog. See: https://hro001.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/of-tweets-twits-and-the-factually-deficient/
(16) scott, January 17, 2015 11:50 PM
So...what's new?
The only acceptable racism left on the planet is Jew hatred. Did you expect different from an official of a religion that blames jews for killing their god? The blatant racist assumption that bigots like tutu make is that jews , because of our predominantly caucasion appearance, aren't the native people of Israel. The Arabs whose culture is rooted in the Arabian peninsula have to be the underdog because their skin is darker. The fact that Arabs living in Judea ans Samaria have more in common with white south Africans in that the Arabs are representatives of the murderous Arab colonization of Israel and jews are actually the equivalent of the black south Africans. The only difference is that there is no worldwide movement to assist us in attaining our human rights. We have to fight the whole world for ours. The difference is that we picked up rifles and took our native land back. Tutu is a racist. Maybe if bigots like him could look past skin color the world would be a better place.
Beverly Margolis-Kurtin, March 26, 2015 2:49 AM
Look at what WE did!
We Jews are one heck of a people. We are a mere 13.7 million people compared to the total number of people living on the earth right now is seven BILLION.
So if we divide the number of us by the number of the entire world is 0.001957% So how in the name of anything can a teeny-tiny people be doing anything to hurt the planet? ? ?
There are only 6 million Jews living in Israel. There are 389,917,000 Arabs in the middle east. It is incredible (really!) that we mean Jews are picking on the Arabs. They shake in their bowels whenever they see a Jew.
So what the world is trying to lie about us is simply bull dung.
Tutu has a very dangerous mental disease: Antisemitism. Nothing will change his mind, facts mean nothing to that arrogant little jerk. The sooner he dies, the better off we might become.
(15) KRIS KRISTIAN, January 15, 2015 4:32 PM
CAN ONE EXPECT ANYTHING BETTER FROM THAT ARCH JEW HATER, TUTU?
HE IS A DISGRACE TO THE CLERICAL COLLAR HE WEARS.
TUTU IS A DISGRACE TO CHRISTIANITY AND THE GOD FEARING WORLD.
(14) Deborah, January 14, 2015 8:37 AM
False and Anti-Semitic
Whilst I disagree with both the Israeli and the Palestinian governments, the situation in the Middle East is not behind these attacks.
These people were killed in France for being Jewish, and that is unacceptable. And whilst I dislike many of Charlie Hebdo's covers, nobody should be killed for it.
People trying to blame Israel are way off the mark, but a lot of journalists these days lack integrity, so...
Jennie, January 15, 2015 6:29 PM
What else is new...
Blaming the victims, is quite an old game for France and
many of the European countries, changing rapidly and
drastically from bad to worse...But thank G-d, the French Jews have awakened to reality:there is no one to stand up to resist evil in France and practically in most of Europe...Finally
Europe is beginning to get what they have been "asking"... for...
(13) Anonymous, January 14, 2015 7:22 AM
Its time to have a superior body to censure effectively all poor journalism only truth is acceptible
I find it frustrating to have Willcox brush off his comment in the way that he did.
This demands stern action...is this possible?
Thank you so much for your facility
rachel, January 15, 2015 1:30 AM
Charlie Hebdo victims would disagree
I do not know where you are writing from, but the last thing we need is censorship by a superior body. Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, one that the terrorists are trying to deny.
(12) Basil Sacks, January 14, 2015 7:18 AM
what abour ex Pres Carter's comments, that the Israeli-Palastinian conflict was to blame?
Any comments>
(11) Annie, January 14, 2015 6:37 AM
If Charlie Hebdo gave someone the sack for being offensive, it must have been really bad. I hope that they didn't print it first; they're quite capable of it.
I can't understand why the people in this magazine take such pleasure in being crude, offensive and provocative in the name of freedom of expression. This isn't journalism, it's trouble-making.
(10) Anonymous, January 14, 2015 6:05 AM
Don't blame the hands that protect you
This article falls short of living up to its billing. The author shows (correctly, in my view) that only a relatively tiny number of almost entirely marginal "mainstream journalists" -- mainstream only in the sense that they work for mainstream news outlets -- deviated into blame-the-victim
rants. As for (1) Regina's accusation that the French government and public will quickly turn on the Jews, where is the evidence of that? Each attack on Jews in France has brought a stronger and more protective defense from French authorities at all levels. Even though these earlier actions failed to prevent the latest attacks, we ought to recognize how much worse we fared more than a century ago, in l'affaire Dreyfus, or under the government of Raymond Barre three decades ago as cited in the article. Better by far it would be to acknowledge and praise the French response -- and by and large that of the rest of the developed and Western world -- this time around. If France as a nation can show signs of learning from the lessons of the past, surely we could at least say toda rabba/many thanks.
(9) SoCal man, January 14, 2015 3:45 AM
No friends on the Left
I am no right-winger. I'm just pointing out that Jews should cut their ties to the Left. The Left hates Israel and Jews of good faith.
Deborah, January 14, 2015 8:39 AM
You are politicising this
You are missing the point by making this a political issue. And what do you classify as "hating" Israel? It seems that term is thrown around very liberally to try and prevent people from criticising the Israeli government. Please clarify.
(8) Anonymous, January 14, 2015 3:34 AM
More than a million marched in Sympathy
More than a million Marched in sympathy with the Jews killed in the Kosher Supermarket and those wounded the killed and wounded in the Satire magazine and the killed and wounded Police plus a Jogger wounded for sadism by the Kosher Resturant Murderer .Ironically Islam permits eating Kosher Food and Jews allow Praying Hebrew prayers in a Mosque .Islamic Jihad has Mutated badly from the 'Golden Age' of Jewish Islamic Tolerance Centuries ago and this has had Catastrophic Consequences.
(7) Rachel, January 14, 2015 2:58 AM
conflating all Jews and all Israelis
Not all Israelis are Jews, some are of other ancestry, and they practice Islam and Christianity freely. And the majority of the Jews in the world are not citizens of Israel. While Jew=Israeli is a longstanding diatribe of those who oppose Israel, it is instructive that the mainstream media is now doing the same.
All of which demonstrates that a better equation is Israel opponent=anti-Semite....
(6) Barbara Shabo, January 14, 2015 2:47 AM
Same Old Story
Jews were blamed for poisoning the wells and causing the plague in the Middle Ages. Maybe Willcox and Clancy forget that Jesus was a Jew.
(5) Kelly Rebekah ben Maimon, January 14, 2015 1:01 AM
Excellent article
Excellent, well researched article that is thought provoking. What is happening in France, is frightening. Hoping the medium of music can help reach hearts and minds.
(4) Harve Linder, January 13, 2015 9:10 PM
Jimmy Carter Leads the Ant-Semites!
"Former US President Jimmy Carter once again provided his sagacious insight into the root causes of Islamic violence by pointing an accusing finger at, where else, Israel!
Carter made the remarks on Monday while appearing on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. When asked by host Jon Stewart what drove the kind of Islamic violence that claimed the lives of 17 people in Paris last week, Carter responded:
“Well, one of the origins for it is the Palestinian problem. And this aggravates people who are affiliated in any way with the Arab people who live in the West Bank and Gaza, what they are doing now — what’s being done to them. So I think that’s part of it.”
Carter has a long history of blaming all Middle East woes, and, indeed, most of the problems in the world, on Israel. And he is absolutely convinced that the lack of peace in this small sliver of land is no one’s fault but the Jews, as detailed in his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.”"
(3) MA RUBINSTEIN, January 13, 2015 8:08 PM
THE PM IS USING THE CRISIS TO INCREASE POPULATION
I really think Netenyahu is using the French crisis to cynically build up the population of the Jews in Is. The truth is the French Jews would be more safe and more culturally comfortable in the Eastern states of the US. Is . is more dangerpus than france on any given day
(2) Bernie Lisitza, January 13, 2015 4:55 PM
well what did we expect
I love reading Evetts articles. For over 2000 years since we were slaves in Egypt we were the cause of all the wrongs in the world. So what's the surprise Bernie
Annie, January 14, 2015 5:15 AM
Well, everyone knows that Jews made up the Holocaust to discredit those nice Germans, emigrating to the US and making films in Hollywood that made people believe that 6,000,000 had been murdered-the 'bodies' being actors.
I have never understood how even a big country could absorb 6,000,000 extra people unnoticed, even by the people there. Or why the Germans didn't speak up at Nuremberg. Or why someone didn't blow the whistle on the 'fake Holocaust.'
I REALLY can't understand how people can be stupid enough to believe such drivel.
(1) Regina, January 13, 2015 4:47 PM
Predictable Indeed, and Disgusting
it won't be long before the French government and public starts complaining about the high cost of defending THOSE JEWS, and will both decrease the intensity of the protection AND tell the Jewish community they will have to pay for it.
I hope our brothers and sisters in France rely on Hashem and their instincts instead of believing that the government will truly protect them. Time to go, and fast; one more Jewish life lost is too many.
AM YISROEL CHAI.
Sue, January 13, 2015 9:36 PM
that was my thought
that was my first thought. It won't be long and people will complain.