Tag: Charlie Hebdo

Muslim Mayor Of Rotterdam: Muslim Immigrants Can Leave If Dissatisfied With Life In Western Countries

The Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam has said Muslim immigrants who do not appreciate the way of life in Western civilisations can ‘f*** off’.

Ahmed Aboutaleb, who arrived in the Netherlands aged 15, spoke out in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last week.

Appearing on live television just hours after the shootings, Mayor Aboutaleb said Muslims who ‘do not like freedom can pack your bags and leave’.

Labour politician Ahmed Aboutaleb, a former journalist who was appointed mayor of the Dutch city in 2008, is known for his straightforward stance on integration.

The 53-year-old won the praise of London-mayor Boris Johnson over his comments last week attacking fellow Muslims who move to Western nations but refuse to accept the Western way of life.

‘It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom,’ Mayor Aboutaleb told Dutch current affairs program Nieuwsuur (Newshour).

‘But if you don’t like freedom, for heaven’s sake pack your bags and leave.

‘If you do not like it here because some humorists you don’t like are making a newspaper, may I then say you can f*** off.

‘This is stupid, this so incomprehensible. Vanish from the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here. All those well-meaning Muslims here will now be stared at’.

Mayor Aboutaleb grew up the son of an imam in northern Morocco, but moved to the Netherlands in 1976.

After working as a reporter he became a civil servant before being appointed State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment in 2007.

When he was appointed mayor of Rotterdam, the second largest city in the country with a population of more than 610,000, he became the first immigrant in such a position in the Netherlands.

Mayor Aboutaleb, who represents the Dutch Labour Party, de Partij van de Arbeid, has long had a no-nonsense approach to immigration and integration.

Speaking to the Observer shortly after his appointment he said his message to immigrants is ‘stop seeing yourself as victims, and if you don’t want to integrate, leave’.

This week, London Mayor Boris Johnson hailed Mayor Aboutaleb as his ‘hero’ and ‘straight to the point’.

‘That is the voice of the Enlightenment, of Voltaire,’ Mr Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

‘If we are going to win the struggle for the minds of these young people, then that is the kind of voice we need to hear – and it needs above all to be a Muslim voice.’

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

January 14, 2015
Egypt’s Grand Mufti Warns Charlie Hebdo Against Inciting Further Hatred

CAIRO – Egypt’s Grand Mufti warned the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Tuesday against publishing a new caricature of the Prophet Mohammad, saying it was a racist act that would incite hatred and upset Muslims around the world.

Charlie Hebdo is due to publish a front page on Wednesday showing a caricature of the Prophet in its first edition since Islamist gunmen attacked the weekly’s offices in Paris last Wednesday, killing 12 people.

“This edition will cause a new wave of hatred in French and Western society in general and what the magazine is doing does not serve coexistence or a dialogue between civilizations,” the office of Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, one of the region’s most influential Muslim clerics, said in a statement.

“This is an unwarranted provocation against the feelings of … Muslims around the world.”

A total of 17 people were killed in three days of violence that began when the gunmen opened fire at Charlie Hebdo in revenge for its past publication of satirical images of the Prophet. With demand surging for this week’s edition, Charlie Hebdo planned to print up to 3 million copies, dwarfing its usual run of 60,000.

The Grand Mufti described the attack on Charlie Hebdo as “terrorist” and Egypt’s Al-Azhar, a thousand-year-old seat of religious learning respected by Muslims around the world, has referred to the attack as a criminal act. But they have also been critical of caricatures of the Prophet, which provoked protests when they were first published in 2005.

The Grand Mufti’s office called on the French government to reject what he called the “racist act” by Charlie Hebdo, accusing the newspaper of seeking to provoke “religious strife… and deepen hatred”.

The front page of the Jan. 14 edition shows Mohammad, a tear on his cheek, holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”), below the headline “Tout est pardonne” (“All is forgiven”).

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the West on Monday of hypocrisy for its stance over the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the hostage-taking at a kosher supermarket in which four Jews were killed, while failing to condemn anti-Muslim acts in Europe. “The West’s hypocrisy is obvious. As Muslims, we’ve never taken part in terrorist massacres. Behind these lie racism, hate speech and Islamophobia,” he said.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 14, 2015
3 Million Copies Of Charlie Hebdo Could Hit Paris Newsstands This Week

PARIS – Up to 3 million copies of Charlie Hebdo could hit newsstands this week, dwarfing its usual print run of 60,000, in response to soaring demand for the first edition of the satirical weekly since last week’s deadly attacks by Islamist militants.

Seventeen people, including journalists and police, were killed in three days of violence that began on Jan. 7 when militants burst into Charlie Hebdo’s office during a regular editorial meeting and shot dead five of its leading cartoonists.

Liberation newspaper, now temporarily housing Charlie Hebdo operations, revealed the front page of the Jan. 14 edition via Twitter late on Monday – an image of the Prophet Mohammad holding a sign saying “JE SUIS CHARLIE” (“I am Charlie”) below the headline “TOUT EST PARDONNE” (“All is forgiven”).

An initial batch of 1 million copies will be available on Wednesday and Thursday, said Michel Salion, a spokesman for MPL, which distributes Charlie Hebdo. A further 2 million could then be printed depending on demand.

“We have requests for 300,000 copies throughout the world – and demand keeps rising by the hour,” Salion said, adding that the newspaper usually had just 4,000 international clients.

“The million will go. As of Thursday, the decision will probably be taken to print extra copies … So we’ll have one million, plus two if necessary.”

On Sunday, at least 3.7 million people took part throughout France in marches of support for Charlie Hebdo and freedom of expression. World leaders linked arms to lead more than a million citizens through Paris in an unprecedented demonstration to pay tribute to the victims.

The new edition of Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions, will include cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammad and also making fun of politicians and other religions, its lawyer, Richard Malka, told France Info radio earlier.

Salion said 60,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo were normally printed, with only 30,000 generally sold.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 13, 2015
MUIS Should Publicly Criticise Offensive Charlie Hebdo Cartoons And The Need For Responsible Freedom Of Speech

MUIS and our Mufti should make a public statement on the Paris shootings.

They could distance themselves from whomever were responsible for the ‘acts of terrorism.’

At the same time, it is a golden opportunity to handle the issue of disparaging our Beloved Rasulullah SAW by distancing themselves from the offensive and despicable cartoons.

And it would be exactly in line with the government stand. Freedom of speech is not absolute. It does NOT extend to freedom to offend any religion.

A press statement as well as an FB posting on the official MUIS site would be very much appreciated.

The ball is in MUIS’ court. We hope they would sieze this golden opportunity and strike while the hammer is hot.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore-Muslims-for-an-Independent-MUIS/

January 13, 2015
Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel Is Also Your Home

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coupled a show of solidarity with France on Sunday with a reminder to shaken French Jews that Israel is keen to welcome them as immigrants.

Netanyahu and two far-right members of his cabinet flew to Paris on Sunday to join dozens of foreign leaders and hundreds of thousands of French citizens in a march honoring the victims of Islamist militant attacks this week.

The timing of his message that “Israel is also your home” could clash with attempts by French leaders to reassure Europe’s largest Jewish community after the shock assaults that included hostage-taking at a kosher supermarket.

In a statement late on Saturday, Netanyahu said an Israeli governmental committee would convene in the coming week to find ways to boost Jewish immigration from France and other European countries “which are being hit by terrible anti-Semitism”.

“To all the Jews of France and to all the Jews of Europe, I wish to say: the State of Israel is not only the place to which you pray, the State of Israel is also your home,” he said.

In 2004, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon angered Paris by urging French Jews to flee “the wildest anti-Semitism” in their native country and come to Israel.

In remarks to reporters as he boarded the flight to Paris, Netanyahu avoided any outright call for France’s 550,000 Jews to leave. He said only he would tell them that “any Jew who wants to immigrate to Israel will be received here with open arms”.

Under Israel’s Law of Return, anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent has a right of immigration to Israel and, once there, can receive Israeli citizenship automatically.

Faced with an upsurge in anti-Semitic attacks and threats, some 7,000 French Jews immigrated to Israel last year, an unprecedented number for that community, according to Israel’s quasi-governmental Jewish Agency.

Moshe Sebbag, rabbi of Paris’ Grand Synagogue, told Israel’s Army Radio he believed that figure could double this year.

Seventeen people, including journalists and policemen, lost their lives in three days of violence that began with a shooting attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday and ended with a hostage-taking at a kosher supermarket on Friday. The three gunmen were also killed.

After his arrival in Paris, Netanyahu said in a statement he had agreed to requests from the families of the four Jews killed in the supermarket to bring them to Israel for burial. Their funerals have been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 12, 2015