Islamists Now Targeting France After Newspaper Publishes Mohammed Cartoons
France is closing embassies and clamping down on protests after a newspaper in that country published several Mohammed cartoons (via JWF):
France has temporarily closed its embassies and schools in 20 countries after a satirical magazine in Paris published insulting cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, a move it fears will add “fuel to the fire” of global tensions over an anti-Islam film.
“We have indeed decided as a precautionary measure to close our premises, embassies, consulates, cultural centers and schools,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters.
Some on the left, and among the isolationist crowd, have argued that America is being targeted by the Muslims because of our involvement in the middle east. But is that really true? Here we have France, which was outspoken in its opposition to the invasion of Iraq and other US forays into the middle east, being targeted for nothing other than a magazine publishing some cartoons.
Maybe they really do hate us for our freedom. Or, specifically, our freedom to say what we want about their religion.
Meanwhile, in New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority just lost a legal battle to block advertisements saying “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad,” prompting some to speculate that they could inspire the next round of violent, murderous outrage from Muslims in the middle east:
As violent and sometimes deadly protests consume much of the Muslim world in response to an American-made video mocking the Prophet Muhammad, New Yorkers will soon encounter another potentially inflammatory rendering of Islam: an advertisement in the transit system that reads, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.”
It concludes with the words, “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad,” wedged between two Stars of David.
After rejecting the ads initially, then losing a federal court ruling on First Amendment grounds, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Tuesday that the ads were expected to appear next week at 10 subway stations.
“Our hands are tied,” Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the authority, said when asked about the timing of the ad.
In July, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that the authority had violated the First Amendment rights of the group that sought to place the ad, the American Freedom Defense Initiative. The authority had cited the ad’s “demeaning” language in barring its placement.
Western society, and specifically American society, is getting a test for its commitment to the ideals of free speech. Either we believe that speech, even provocative and potentially offensive speech, is protected and we stare down those who would try to intimidate us with violence and murder into believing otherwise or we give into the tyrants.
Tags: extremism, france, free speech, islam
