A Toxic Perversity
Beginning with a matter of primary importance: When the terrorist hit the people outside the Ozer Hatorah school in Toulouse last week, in additional to those who were killed, there were students who were injured.
One, 17-year-old Bryan Aaron ben Lea, was in a coma, came out of the coma, and has now relapsed back into that come. We're being asked to recite Psalm 121 for him: "I turn my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth; He will not let your foot give way; your guardian will not slumber."
I will add that all prayers for his recovery are helpful -- all mi-she-berach lists that he can be put on. And please, pass the word.
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And then a correction from my last posting (with thanks to all those who caught it):
I wrote that little Gabriel Sandler had been named for Rabbi Gavriel Horowitz, who, with his wife Rifka, was massacred at Mumbai. The correct name is Holtzberg, however. A typo, of course, but I feel the impulse, given the circumstances, to declare in this instance that obviously no disrespect to his memory was intended.
Credit: SeattleTimes
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Now to the toxic perversity, which is itself fairly unbearable. The mindset of many Westerners has been perverted by a bleeding heart, politically correct perspective that is at this point nothing short of sickening. I've already addressed this but believe it's necessary to return to the issue here.
That perspective is epitomized by a Washington Post editorial of last Thursday, on the subject of the attack at Toulouse, which said in part:
"Far-right leaders are seeking to exploit the tragedy, with presidential candidate Marine Le Pen claiming that 'politico-religious fundamentalist groups' are 'developing in a lax climate”'in France. In fact, Mr. Sarkozy’s government has not done enough to improve conditions for young French Muslims who often live in immigrant ghettos. Mr. Merah reportedly told the police besieging him that his killings were meant as revenge for the ban on the public use of the Islamic veil, which was supported by Mr. Sarkozy. Though such policies don’t explain or excuse the attacks, more discrimination against Muslim communities is hardly the right response."
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This has it so wrong, on so many counts, that it's painful to read. And yet many people will accept the Post's position as wisdom.
If you follow the news in even a semi-serious way, you would have to be blind not to see that "politico-religious fundamentalist groups" indeed ARE developing in a "lax climate." I have no great fondness for Le Pen (or her father), but when she's right, she's right.
And so, first: It must be noted here, and noted again and again as necessary: Islamists terrorists do NOT operate because of poverty, social deprivation or the like. They are motivated by extremist ideology. The most significant example of this was the terrorists who took down the Twin Towers on 9/11. It has been demonstrated that they were educated and fiscally comfortable.
Mohammed Merah was not even an immigrant. His family came from Algeria, but he (and I believe also his parents) were French born. According to one source I picked up, "the street [where he lived] is mainly villas and higher end small apartment blocks." So it doesn't seem he was suffering economic deprivation in his personal life. I've seen other sources that talk about how he liked the girls, and cars, and enjoyed partying.
Poor suffering Muslim immigrant, ehh?
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As to "Muslim immigrant ghettoes," it must be noted that these people very often do not want to be assimilated into French society. Or British society. Or Dutch society. Or Norwegian society. Europe is being over-run and yet there are people who will not see it. How stupid. Ultimately, how self-destructive, to refuse to see this.
Their goal is to establish Shari'a (Islamic) law and do away with the values of Western society, starting with democracy. And this is to be done via mass immigration, and the social and political imposition of Islamist values a little at a time.
Please note that Merah was said to be a member of a French Salafist group called Forsane Al'Izza -- a home-grown group more radical than Muslim Brotherhood.
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So what is the solution offered by the Post? To avoid "more" discrimination against Muslim communities and improve conditions for young French Muslims.
Golly gee, that will do it! Improve conditions for the members of Forsane Al'Izza maybe? They'd like that.
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There are neighborhoods in Paris where the police don't go. Muslims have co-opted control.
See, "Growth of Islamistan in Europe means No-Go Zones for Non-Muslims," by Soren Kern, the Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Strategic Studies Group:
"Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of "no-go" areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims.
"Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of "no-go" areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims.
"Many of the 'no-go' zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law. Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.
"...In France, large swaths of Muslim neighborhoods are now considered 'no-go' zones by French police. At last count, there are 751 Sensitive Urban Zones (Zones Urbaines Sensibles, ZUS), as they are euphemistically called. A complete list of the ZUS can be found on a French government website, complete with satellite maps and precise street demarcations. An estimated 5 million Muslims live in the ZUS, parts of France over which the French state has lost control. (Emphasis added)
"Muslim immigrants are taking control of other parts of France too. In Paris and other French cities with high Muslim populations, such as Lyons, Marseilles and Toulouse, thousands of Muslims are closing off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, are closing down local businesses and trapping non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for Friday prayers (see photo below). Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of 'Allahu Akbar' via loudspeakers into the streets.
"The weekly spectacles, which have been documented by dozens of videos posted on Youtube.com and which have been denounced as an 'occupation without tanks or soldiers,' have provoked anger and disbelief. But despite many public complaints, local authorities have declined to intervene because they are afraid of sparking riots." (Emphasis added)
Credit: libertarianrepublican
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Soren explains:
"The 'no-go' areas are the by-product of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged Muslim immigrants to create parallel societies and remain segregated rather than become integrated into their European host nations." (Emphasis added)
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So what does the Post talk about? The fact that Mohammed Merah was upset because Sarkozy is opposed to use of the Islamic veil in France. Good for Sarkozy!
The Post, of course, provides its requisite disclaimer -- this doesn't excuse Merah. And yet, and yet... the implication is that he was troubled because of the opposition to the veil, and therefore... Therefore what?
Time to cut way back on Muslim immigration into Europe and to tell those Muslims who have already immigrated that they're in Western nations now and should behaving accordingly.
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I really enjoyed Mark Styn's marvelously "on the mark" take on the Toulouse murders:
"...The story can now proceed according to time-honored tradition:
"Stage One: The strange compulsion to assure us that the killer is a 'right wing conservative extremist' [remember? the police said he was probably a neo-nazi]....The insistence that the killer was emblematic of an epidemic of right-wing hate sweeping the planet is, regrettably, no longer operative...
"So on to Stage Two: Okay, he may be called Mohammed but he’s a 'lone wolf.' Sure, he says he was trained by al-Qaeda, but what does he know? Don’t worry, folks, he’s just a lone wolf like Major Hasan and Faisal Shahzad and all the other card-carrying members of the Amalgamated Union of Lone Wolves. All jihad is local.
"On to Stage Three: Okay, even if there are enough lone wolves around to form their own Radio City Rockette line, it’s still nothing to do with Islam....
"And then, of course, Stage Four: The backlash that never happens. Because apparently the really bad thing about actual dead Jews is that it might lead to dead non-Jews: 'French Muslims Fear Backlash After Shooting'...
"Look...isn’t it just a teensy-weensy little bit to do with Islam? Or at any rate the internal contradictions of one-way multiculturalism? No, it’s not a competition. Most times in today’s Europe, the guys beating, burning and killing Jews will be Muslims. Once in a while, it will be somebody else killing the schoolkids. But is it so hard to acknowledge that rapid, transformative, mass Muslim immigration might not be the most obvious aid to social tranquility? That it might possibly pose challenges that would otherwise not have existed — for uncovered women in Oslo, for gays in Amsterdam, for Jews everywhere? Is it so difficult to wonder if, for these and other groups living in a long-shot social experiment devised by their rulers, the price of putting an Islamic crescent in the diversity quilt might be too high? What’s left of Jewish life in Europe is being extinguished remorselessly, one vandalized cemetery, one subway attack at a time. How many Jewish children will be at that school in Toulouse a decade hence? A society that becomes more Muslim eventually becomes less everything else. What is happening on the Continent is tragic, in part because it was entirely unnecessary. "
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And I end today with beautiful and heartwrenching words from Eva Sandler of Toulouse (with thanks to Ruth N. for sharing this):
"My heart is broken. I am unable to speak. There are no ways for me to be able to express the great and all-consuming pain resulting from the murder of my dear husband Rabbi Jonathan and our sons, Aryeh and Gavriel, and of Miriam Monsonego, daughter of the dedicated principal of Ozar Hatorah and his wife, Rabbi Yaakov and Mrs. Monsonego.
"May no one ever have to endure such pain and suffering.
"The spirit of the Jewish people can never be extinguished.
"The spirit of the Jewish people can never be extinguished.
"Because so many of you, my cherished brothers and sisters in France and around the world, are asking what you can do on my behalf, on behalf of my daughter Liora and on behalf of the souls of my dear husband and children, I feel that, difficult though it may be, it is incumbent upon me to answer your entreaties.
"My husband’s life was dedicated to teaching Torah. We moved back to the country of his birth to help young people learn about the beauty of Torah. He was truly a good man, loving, giving, and selfless. He was sensitive to all of G-d’s creatures, always searching for ways to reveal the goodness in others.
"He and I raised Aryeh and Gavriel to live the ways of Torah. Who would have known how short would be their time on this Earth, how short would be the time I would be with them as their mother?
"I don’t know how I and my husband’s parents and sister will find the consolation and strength to carry on, but I know that the ways of G-d are good, and He will reveal the path and give us the strength to continue. I know that their holy souls will remain with us forever, and I know that very soon the time will come when we will be together again with the coming of Moshiach.
"I wholeheartedly believe in the words of the verse: 'The L-ord has given, and the L-ord has taken away; blessed be the Name of the L-ord.' I thank the Almighty for the privilege, short though it was, of raising my children together with my husband. Now the Almighty wants them back with Him.
"To all those who wish to bring consolation to our family and contentment to the souls of the departed: Let’s continue their lives on this Earth.
"Parents, please kiss your children. Tell them how much you love them, and how dear it is to your heart that they be living examples of our Torah, imbued with the fear of Heaven and with love of their fellow man.
"Please increase your study of Torah, whether on your own or with your family and friends. Help others who may find study difficult to achieve alone.
"Please bring more light into the world by kindling the Sabbath candles this and every Friday night. (Please do so a bit earlier than the published times as a way to add holiness to our world.)
The holiday of Passover is approaching. Please invite another person into your homes so that all have a place at a Seder to celebrate the holiday of our freedom.
"Along with our tearful remembrance of our trials in Egypt so many years ago, we still tell over how 'in each and every generation, they have stood against us to destroy us.' We all will announce in a loud and clear voice: 'G-d saves us from their hands.'
"The spirit of the Jewish people can never be extinguished; its connection with Torah and its commandments can never be destroyed.
"May it be G-d’s will that from this moment on, we will all only know happiness.
"I send my heartfelt condolences to the Monsonego family for the loss of their daughter Miriam, and I pray for the speedy recovery of Aharon ben Leah, who was injured in the attack.
"Thank you for your support and love."
What an incredible woman! May she be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may she know no more sorrow.
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
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