Charlie Hebdo- Muslims Make Good On Threats To Kill Journalists "Charb" killed. #JeSuisCharlie

Charlie Hebdo, the French satire weekly newspaper, has been the target of Islamists for years. Death threats have been leveled numerous times at staff members. In 2011, their offices were firebombed because some Muslims were offended by the "Charia Hebdo" Islam edition. This is the same magazine that re-published in 2006 the Danish Mohammed cartoons that caused such a firestorm throughout the Muslim world.

Back in 2007, I wrote:

On February 9, 2006, Charlie Hebdo, a french satirical (mostly left-wing) political weekly, had the guts to re-publish the Danish Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoons, along with several of their own, in response to the violent, over-reaction of the Islamic world to their initial publication, and the ensuing arguments about what might or might not constitute freedom of expression. Splashed on the front page was a cartoon of Mohammed with the caption "C'est dur d'être aimé par des cons" (It's hard to be loved by idiots), and entitled "Mahomet débordé par les intégristes" (Mohammed is overwhelmed by fundamentalists). And although the point of republishing the cartoons was to express solidarity with the ideals of 'freedom of speech', and to illustrate how Islam has been hijacked by extremists, the Muslim world, as a whole, chose to view it as a personal and religious affront.

Well, they finally made good on those threats, and now 12 people are dead, including 2 policemen. The first one killed was a police guard who had been guarding the Hebdo offices in Paris after all those death threats. A 2nd policeman responding to the shooting was also killed, along with 8 journalists. Stéphane Charbonnier, aka Charb, cartoonist and editorial director of Charlie Hebdo was one of the victims.

One of the 3 masked suspects has surrendered. He's 18.  Two brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi are still at large. Armed and dangerous.

One of the witnesses said:

“About half an hour ago, two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs,” the witness, Benoît Bringer, told the station. “A few minutes later, we heard lots of shots.” He added that the men were then seen fleeing the building.

According to the police:

Xavier Castaing, a police spokesman, said that three armed, masked men forced their way into the offices, firing indiscriminately at people in the lobby and wounding many. He said that they were carrying AK-47 rifles, and that the attack lasted several minutes before the assailants fled by car.

News reports said the gunmen shot at the police outside the building as they escaped. Several journalists sought safety on the roof of the building during the attack.

There are eleven wounded, some critical.

Over the years Charlie Hebdo lampooned everything from politics (both left and right) to religion, including Christianity, with no acts of violence from any group other than the perpetually offended Muslims. They murdered 12 innocent people because of some cartoons and words.

Rest in peace:

Charb,
Jean Cabut
Georges Wolinski
Bernard Verlhac
and the others who were mercilessly gunned down.

#JeSuisCharlie

More info here, and here.

And in honor of Charb and the others, I am reposting the MoToons.

Charlie Hebdo Magazine Staff Threatened With Death By Muslims

Now they're after the  head of Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of Charlie Hebdo, for publishing those Mohammed cartoons this past Wednesday.

French police on Saturday arrested a man for apparently calling on a jihadi website for the decapitation of the editor of a magazine that published cartoons mocking Mohammed, a judicial source said.

The man was detained in the western city of La Rochelle for calling on the radical website for the head of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which on Wednesday published cartoons of a naked Prophet.

“The essential thing is not to let him live in peace,” the man allegedly wrote.
Police have opened a preliminary probe on charges of incitement to commit murder, the source said.

But that wasn't the first threat from the religion of the perpetually offended. Some 18-year-old posted on his Facebook page that he was ready to slit as many throats as possible at the Charlie Hebdo offices.

Police detained a young man in southern France on Thursday on suspicion that he was planning a revenge attack on the staff of a satirical magazine which published cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad.

Anti-terrorism magistrates near the Mediterranean port city of Toulon questioned the 18-year-old after he threatened in a message on Facebook to cut the throats of anyone he could find at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a judicial source said.

Charbonnier defended  his decision to print the cartoons in the latest edition:

Charbonnier, who goes by the pen name “Charb,” defended the cartoons to the AP in part by telling reporters that Muhammad isn’t sacred to him.

“I don’t blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings,” he said. “I live under French law. I don’t live under Quranic law.”

He also said he doesn’t regret publishing the cartoons, nor does he take responsibility for any violence that may ensue.

“We’ve had 1,000 issues and only three problems, all after front pages about radical Islam.”

Unfortunately, they don't seem to care that the rest of us are not subject to their religious laws, and that they need to join the 21st century where civilized folk (i.e. not sociopathic mental cases) don't threaten to chop off someone's head because they happened to feel offended by something that person said or did.

France's 'Charlie Hebdo' Publishes More Mohammed Cartoons- Update

Charlie Hebdo, the French (mostly leftist) weekly satirical magazine that had the guts to republish the Danish Jyllands-Posten Mohammed cartoons back in 2006, and was subsequently sued by a group of Muslims in 2007, is at it again.  In today's edition, it plans on publishing a few more Mohammed cartoons that the editor claims will "shock those who will want to be shocked." And, no doubt, there will be plenty.

However, those champions of 'freedom of expression' don't seem to be too worried about being the next targets of Muslim rage; after all, Charlie Hebdo survived a firebombing of its offices last November over the "Charia Hebdo" edition. If you recall, that was the one "guest edited" by the "Prophet Mohammed", and captioned with "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter."  Well, we all know there is no humor in Islam, or at least its adherents are sorely lacking.

Naturally, everyone is panicking in that country- considering the amount of disenfranchised, unemployed Muslim youth just waiting for an excuse to rampage.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister, issued a statement expressing his "disapproval of all excesses."

The magazine's editor, originally a cartoonist who uses the name Charb, denied he was being deliberately provocative at a delicate time.

"The freedom of the press, is that a provocation?" he said. "I'm not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn't go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe."

Muslim leaders have also piped in, not that anything they might say will change the minds of those hell bent on revenge.

Dalil Boubakeur, the senior cleric at Paris's biggest mosque, appealed for France's four million Muslims to remain calm.

"It is with astonishment, sadness and concern that I have learned that this publication is risking increasing the current outrage across the Muslim world," he said.

"I would appeal to them not to pour oil on the fire."

France's Muslim Council, the community's main representative body, also appealed for calm in the face of "this new act of Islamaphobia."

Muslim leaders need to control their wayward followers, and not simply try to appease them.

In the meantime, I'll be waiting for the news about the angry mobs taking to the streets in France.

UPDATE 9/19/12:  Here is one of the cartoons published on the front of Charlie Hebdo.

The cover of Charlie Hebdo (seen above) shows a Muslim in a wheelchair being pushed by an Orthodox Jew under the title Intouchables 2, referring to an award-winning French film about a impoverished black man who helps an aristocratic quadriplegic. Another cartoon on the back page of the weekly magazine shows a naked Mohammed exposing his backside to a film director.

Asked if it was a provocation, Editor Stephane Charbonnier said:

“The freedom of the press, is that a provocation? I’m not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn’t go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe.”

Many people do. But as Charbonnier says, if you are offended by something just turn your head. No-one is forcing you to watch or read something you might find offensive.