Belgium detains 8 for questioning over Islamic State support

December 6, 2016 Article

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Belgian authorities searched houses and detained eight people for questioning on suspicion of supporting Islamic State financially and through the recruitment of fighters for the Syrian civil war, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The prosecutors said nine houses were searched in a district of Brussels, as well as the cities of Bruges, Antwerp and Sint-Niklaas. No weapons or explosives were found.

“Those concerned are suspected to be involved in recruiting people to leave for Syria and having financially supported IS,” prosecutors said in a statement, adding a judge would decide whether they would be detained further.

In a separate announcement on Tuesday, prosecutors said they had arrested a fourth suspect, a 43-year-old Belgian man named as Reski A., in the case of a police stabbing in August which was claimed by Islamic State.

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Categories: arrests, Detained, Islamic State, News, terrorism

Belgium detains 8 for questioning over Islamic State support

December 6, 2016 Article

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Belgian authorities searched houses and detained eight people for questioning on suspicion of supporting Islamic State financially and through the recruitment of fighters for the Syrian civil war, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The prosecutors said nine houses were searched in a district of Brussels, as well as the cities of Bruges, Antwerp and Sint-Niklaas. No weapons or explosives were found.

“Those concerned are suspected to be involved in recruiting people to leave for Syria and having financially supported IS,” prosecutors said in a statement, adding a judge would decide whether they would be detained further.

In a separate announcement on Tuesday, prosecutors said they had arrested a fourth suspect, a 43-year-old Belgian man named as Reski A., in the case of a police stabbing in August which was claimed by Islamic State.

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Categories: arrests, Belgian, Detained, Islamic State, News, terrorism

Stickers Playing on Themes of Mosques and Migrants appear on Lamp Posts

December 4, 2016 Article
Aggressive anti-refugee stickers appear Outside Islamic Centre in Surrey

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We have been sent the following sticker which appeared on a street lamp-post in Blackwater, North Hampshire. These stickers play on the fear of mosques and inevitably of Muslims, who use mosques and groups promoting such views are increasingly taking to posting such material on lamp-posts.

Worryingly, the sticker below was from the far right extremist group – the ‘British Movement’ and shows the racist notion of the group as it talks about Europe being for ‘ethnic Europeans’. The play on race is clear and the group seems to promote National Socialist ideals of past far right movements where race was a fundamental part of the extremist ideology.

If you come across such stickers in the future, you can contact your local authority to take them down or you can tweet, Whatsapp or SMS us the pictures with the locality and we will contact the relevant officers in the local authority. Such intolerance cannot be allowed to fester in our communities.

British Movement Stickers in Blackwater, Surrey

           British Movement Stickers in Blackwater, Surrey

Aggressive anti-refugee stickers appear Outsise Islamic Centre in Surrey

                       Aggressive Anti-Refugee British Movement Stickers Appear Outside Islamic Centre in Surrey

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Categories: British Movement, Camberley, Far Right groups, Hampshire, News, stickers

Mosul residents fear cold and hunger of winter siege

December 3, 2016 Article

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No food or fuel has reached Mosul in nearly a week and the onset of rain and cold weather threatens a tough winter for more than a million people still in Islamic State-held areas of the city, residents said on Saturday.

Iraqi troops waging a six-week-old offensive against the militants controlling Mosul have advanced into eastern city districts, while other forces have sealed Mosul’s southern and northern approaches and 10 days ago blocked the road west.

But their advance has been hampered by waves of counter-attacks from the ultra-hardline Islamists who have controlled the city since mid-2014 and built a network of tunnels in preparation for their defence of north Iraq’s largest city.

The slow progress means the campaign is likely to drag on throughout the winter, and has prompted warnings from aid groups that civilians face a near complete siege in the coming months.

A trader in Mosul, speaking by telephone, said no new food or fuel supplies had reached the city since Sunday.

Despite attempts by the militants to keep prices stable, and the arrest last week of dozens of shopkeepers accused of hiking prices, the trader said food had become more expensive and fuel prices had tripled.

“We’ve been living under a real state of siege for a week,” said one resident of west Mosul, several miles (km) from the frontline neighbourhoods on the east bank of the Tigris river.

“Two days ago the electricity generator supplying the neighbourhood stopped working because of lack of fuel. Water is cut and food prices have risen and it’s terribly cold. We fear the days ahead will be much worse”.

A pipeline supplying water to around 650,000 people in Mosul was hit during fighting this week between the army and Islamic State. A local official said it could not be fixed because the damage was in an area still being fought over.

Winter conditions will also hit the nearly 80,000 people registered by the United Nations as displaced since the start of the Mosul campaign. That number excludes many thousands more who were forcibly moved by Islamic State, or fled from the fighting deeper into territory under its control.

MILITANTS COUNTER ATTACK

Islamic State authorities, trying to portray a sense of normality, released pictures which they said showed a Mosul market on Friday. It showed a crowd of people and a stall selling vegetable oil and canned food but no fresh produce.

They also said they carried out several counter attacks in the last 24 hours against Iraqi troops in eastern Mosul and the mainly Shi’ite Popular Mobilisation forces who have taken territory to the west of the city.

Amaq news agency, which is close to Islamic State, said they retook half of the Shaimaa district in southeast of the city on Friday, destroyed four army bases in the eastern al-Qadisiya al-Thaniya neighbourhood and seized ammunition from fleeing soldiers in al-Bakr district, also in the east.

A source in the Counter Terrorism Services, which are spearheading the army offensive, said Islamic State exploited the bad weather and cloud cover, which prevented air support from a U.S.-led international coalition.

He said the militants had taken back some ground, but predicted their gains would be short-lived.

“This is not the first time it happens. We withdraw to avoid civilian losses and then regain control. They can’t hold territory for long,” the source said.

Amaq also said Islamic State fighters waged attacks on Saturday against the Popular Mobilisation paramilitary units near the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, showing footage of two damaged vehicles, one with interior ministry markings on it.

A spokesman for the militias said those attacks had been repelled. “Daesh attacked at dawn to try to control the village Tal Zalat,” said Karim Nouri. “Clashes continued for two hours, until Daesh withdrew, leaving bodies (of dead fighters) behind.”

In Baghdad, a car bomb blew up in a crowded market in the centre of the city on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding 15, police and medical sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Islamic State fighters have stepped up attacks in the Iraqi capital and other cities since the start of the Mosul operations.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi launched the Mosul offensive on Oct. 17, aiming to crush Islamic State in the largest city it controls in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

The campaign pits a 100,000-strong U.S.-backed coalition of army troops, special forces, federal police, Kurdish fighters and the Popular Mobilisation forces against a few thousand militants in the city.

Defeat would deal a heavy blow to Islamic State’s self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria, announced by its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from a Mosul mosque two years ago.

Military vehicles of the Iraqi army take part in an operation against Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, December 3, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

Military vehicles of the Iraqi army take part in an operation against Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, December 3, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

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Categories: Abu Bakr al-Baghdad, Daesh, Haider Al Abadi, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, News, Tal Zalat

San Bernardino marks one-year anniversary of shooting that killed 14

December 2, 2016 Article

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Police and fire officials in Southern California who dealt with the carnage of a mass shooting by Islamic militants that left 14 people dead will mark the one-year anniversary on Friday of the attack that shook even the most hardened emergency responders.

The massacre on Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino by a married couple was one of the deadliest attacks by militants in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks.

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire during a party and training session for San Bernardino County employees, who were Farook’s co-workers, wounding 22 people in addition to the 14 killed.

Law enforcement officers look over the evidence near the remains of a SUV involved in the Wednesdays attack is shown in San Bernardino, California December 3, 2015. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

Law enforcement officers look over the evidence near the remains of a SUV involved in the Wednesdays attack is shown in San Bernardino, California December 3, 2015. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

Police officers were stunned as they entered the conference room where Farook and Malik had fired on dozens of people, according to a report issued this year by the Police Foundation, which spoke to emergency responders and witnesses.

“It looked like a bomb had gone off,” the report said, with blood covering the room and the smell of gunpowder filling the air.

On Friday, the victims will be remembered with a ceremony at a San Bernardino blood bank, a 14-mile (23 km) bicycle ride – representing one mile for each person killed – and a moment of silence.

The ceremony at the blood bank will be attended by officials and emergency responders, and residents are expected to line up to donate blood. The bike ride by police officers and others will be held a short time later, organizers said.

The moment of silence will be held at 10:58 a.m., the time when the shooting was reported to emergency responders, San Bernardino city spokeswoman Monica Lagos said.

In the evening, another local event is expected to draw at least 2,000 participants to an arena, she said.

Authorities have said that U.S.-born Farook and Malik, a native of Pakistan, were inspired by Islamic extremism. The couple died in a shootout with police four hours after the massacre.

A special report this week by ABC News showed a photo of the gathering the couple had targeted, which included elements of a holiday party such as a Christmas tree and costumes.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told ABC News that Malik had previously expressed discontent with the party.

“She had essentially made the statement in an online account that she didn’t think that a Muslim (her husband) should have to participate in a non-Muslim holiday or event,” Burguan told ABC News.

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Categories: Farooq, Islamic extremism, Malik, News, San Bernardino, Southern California

San Bernardino marks one-year anniversary of shooting that killed 14

December 2, 2016 Article

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Police and fire officials in Southern California who dealt with the carnage of a mass shooting by Islamic militants that left 14 people dead will mark the one-year anniversary on Friday of the attack that shook even the most hardened emergency responders.

The massacre on Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino by a married couple was one of the deadliest attacks by militants in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks.

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire during a party and training session for San Bernardino County employees, who were Farook’s co-workers, wounding 22 people in addition to the 14 killed.

Law enforcement officers look over the evidence near the remains of a SUV involved in the Wednesdays attack is shown in San Bernardino, California December 3, 2015. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

Law enforcement officers look over the evidence near the remains of a SUV involved in the Wednesdays attack is shown in San Bernardino, California December 3, 2015. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

Police officers were stunned as they entered the conference room where Farook and Malik had fired on dozens of people, according to a report issued this year by the Police Foundation, which spoke to emergency responders and witnesses.

“It looked like a bomb had gone off,” the report said, with blood covering the room and the smell of gunpowder filling the air.

On Friday, the victims will be remembered with a ceremony at a San Bernardino blood bank, a 14-mile (23 km) bicycle ride – representing one mile for each person killed – and a moment of silence.

The ceremony at the blood bank will be attended by officials and emergency responders, and residents are expected to line up to donate blood. The bike ride by police officers and others will be held a short time later, organizers said.

The moment of silence will be held at 10:58 a.m., the time when the shooting was reported to emergency responders, San Bernardino city spokeswoman Monica Lagos said.

In the evening, another local event is expected to draw at least 2,000 participants to an arena, she said.

Authorities have said that U.S.-born Farook and Malik, a native of Pakistan, were inspired by Islamic extremism. The couple died in a shootout with police four hours after the massacre.

A special report this week by ABC News showed a photo of the gathering the couple had targeted, which included elements of a holiday party such as a Christmas tree and costumes.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told ABC News that Malik had previously expressed discontent with the party.

“She had essentially made the statement in an online account that she didn’t think that a Muslim (her husband) should have to participate in a non-Muslim holiday or event,” Burguan told ABC News.

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Categories: Farooq, Islamic extremism, News, San Bernardino, Southern California

Video purports to show IS fighters attacking Iraqi forces near Mosul

November 20, 2016 Article

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Video posted online on Saturday (November 19) by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq News Agency appears to show clashes between IS fighters and Iraqi forces near Mosul in Iraq.

The first clip purports to show Islamic State fighters firing heavy machineguns at unspecified targets on the outskirts of Aden, east of Mosul.

The footage also appears to show an unidentifiable aircraft flying overhead with the sound of gunfire in the background.

In the second clip, a bulldozer said to belong to Iraqi forces can be seen moving along with other military vehicles in Athba village, south of Mosul before being blown up.

A 100,000-strong alliance of Iraqi forces, with air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition, have nearly surrounded Mosul but so far only breached the jihadists’ defences from the eastern side, establishing a small foothold inside the city.

Militants are dug in among more than a million civilians as a defence tactic to hamper air strikes. They are moving around the city through tunnels, driving suicide car bombs into advancing troops and hitting them with sniper and mortar fire

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Categories: Iraq, IS fighters, Militants, Mosul, News, videos

Trial to begin of man accused of murdering British lawmaker Jo Cox

November 14, 2016 Article
Rain drops land on a framed photograph of murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox, who was shot dead in Birstall, at Parliament Square in London, Britain June 20, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

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The trial of the man accused of murdering British lawmaker Jo Cox a week before Britain voted in June’s referendum on membership of the European Union is due to begin on Monday.

Cox, a 41-year-old mother of two young children, was shot and repeatedly stabbed in the street as she arrived for an advice session with constituents in the town of Birstall, part of her electoral district in northern England.

The murder of Cox, a former aid worker who had been an ardent supporter of staying in the EU, shocked Britain and led to the suspension for several days of referendum campaigning which had been growing increasingly bitter.

Thomas Mair, 53, is charged with murder, causing grievous bodily harm to a 77-year-old man who tried to help the lawmaker, and possession of a firearm and a dagger.

At a hearing in October, he declined to respond when asked if he was guilty so the judge recorded not guilty pleas.

At the first court hearing following his arrest, Mair had said his name was “death to traitors, freedom for Britain” and the case, due to last three weeks, is being treated as a terrorism matter.

His lawyer has also previously told London’s Old Bailey central criminal court where the trial is being held that medical issues would not feature in the defence argument.

Cox’s murder briefly united politicians divided over the EU question in condemnation and also led to questions about the security of lawmakers in their constituencies, their home electoral districts.

The last British lawmaker to have been killed before Cox was Ian Gow, who died after an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded under his car at his home in 1990.

Police vehicles escort a prison van as it arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, Britain June 18, 2016. Anthony Devlin/Press Association via REUTERS

Police vehicles escort a prison van as it arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, Britain June 18, 2016. Anthony Devlin/Press Association via REUTERS

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Categories: Brexit, Far Right groups, Ian Gow, Jo Cox, News, Old Bailey, Thomas Mair

A Step by Step View of the Paris Attacks Last Year. We Remember

November 13, 2016 Article
The new facade of the Bataclan concert hall is seen after months of renovations at the site almost one year after a series of attacks at several sites in Paris, France, France, October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

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The attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015 by gunmen and suicide bombers left 130 dead and hundreds wounded.
It began at 21:20 local time (20:20 GMT) with an explosion outside the Stade de France stadium. A routine security check, had, according to the Wall Street Journal, prevented the 20-year-old suicide bomber, Bilal Hadfi, from entering. Inside was an international football friendly between Germany and France. When confronted by security, the man decided to detonate his vest outside of Gate D, one of the main entrance’s. The resulting explosion killed himself and a bystander.

Ten minutes later, at Gate H, a second suicide bomber detonated his vest. A third suicide bomber targeted a branch of McDonald’s near the stadium.

It would emerge later that all three men wore the same sophisticated suicide vest. According to the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, the detonator contained nails to increase its lethality. The vests contained TATP, a peroxide-based and highly volatile explosive.

The blasts were audible inside the stadium and the sounds immortalised by television cameras. President Francois Hollande was escorted from the stadium at 21:30 following the second explosion.

Manuel Colaço Dias, a 63-year-old chauffeur and Portuguese national was the first victim of the November attacks. He moved to France at the age of 18 to escape Portugal’s authoritarian regime. For the past decade, he had worked for a shuttlebus company, before retiring in 2012. That fateful Friday was a day he did not want to work. But he accepted the request of a group of spectators who were running late. Dias died on the spot from the suicide vest blast.

Dias adored Sporting Clube de Portugal. And the Portuguese club paid tribute to him on November 15. The club’s official English-language Twitter account tweeted: “For Manuel Colaço Dias, a lion who fell victim to the terrorist acts in Paris.”

On the club’s official website, a statement concluded: “Sporting Clube de Portugal would like to offer our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of all of those caught up in the attack on Paris.”

Yet, amid the tragedy came an act of heroism which saved many other lives.  Salim Toorabally, a 42-year-old devout Muslim of Mauritian origin, is the security guard who stopped Hadfi from entering the stadium. In an interview with NBC News, he insists that he was ‘just doing is job’.

He caught one man trying to enter the stadium without a ticket. He told Hadfi: “If you don’t have a ticket, I’m not letting you in.’” He warned another guard not to let the man in when he attempted to pass through a second turnstile without a ticket.

Minutes later, Toorabally heard the explosion which continues to haunt him. His actions saved hundreds of lives. Nor will he forget the face of Bilal Hadfi. The man who killed himself and Manuel Colaço Dias. He reflected that he, and countless others could have been killed.

In March 2016, the French newspaper L’Equipe invited Toorabally to meet with the France midfielder Blaise Matuidi, who told him: “You are more than a hero.”

Meanwhile, in a different part of the city, at 21:25, gunmen opened fire at patrons of Le Carillon and Le Petit Cambodge with assault rifles. It left 15 people dead and 10 injured.

Days after the shootings, members of the Algerian family who own Le Carillon spoke of their grief. A popular destination in a trendy area by Canal Saint Martin.

Witnesses initially believed that firecracker had been set off, before the realisation that they were under fire from semi-automatic weapons.

Momo, a family member, told the Local France: “There was blood everywhere, people lying on floor, screaming and shouting. My cousin’s a doctor and came down stairs and started treating people. People were shouting for scissors to cut off clothes.”

One of the victims was Amine Ibnolmobarak, a 29-year-old teacher and architect from Morocco. He and his wife were dining Carillon terrace before the attacks began. and his French wife, Maya Nemeta, was shoot three times but survived. Other names of the dead included twins Charlotte and Emilie Meaud, aged 29.

The names of dead from the Le Petit Cambodge restaurant shootings included student Justine Moulin, 23. And 27-year-old Chloe Boissinot. She was from Château-Larcher in the Poitou-Charentes region, where 150 people held a silence in her honour.

Within a matter of minutes, witnesses recalled seeing the same black car, as gunfire outside of Cafe Bonne Bière and La Casa Nostra pizzeria in rue de la Fontaine au Roi, left five people dead and wounded eight. The cafe re-opened three weeks later.

At 21:38 gunmen opened fire outside the La Belle Equipe restaurant. Within two or three minutes, 19 were dead. One of the victims was 41-year-old Djamila Houd – who died in the arms of her husband Gregory Reibenberg – who owns La Belle Equipe. She was Muslim and he was Jewish.

Houda Saadi, the 35-year-old waitress and manager of LA Belle Equipe, of Tunisian descent, was another Muslim victim of the Paris attacks.

By 21:40 Braham Abdeslam had detonated his suicide vest at the restaurant Le Comptoir Voltaire on the Boulevard Voltaire. It left one person injured.

The deadliest attack began at 21:40 inside the 1,500-seat Bataclan hall, where the Californian rock band Eagles of Death Metal were entertaining a sold out crowd.

Three men wearing suicide vests entered the venue with assault rifles. Prosecutors state that the gunmen shouted “Allahu akbar” and made references to Syria and Iraq.

The attackers threw grenades and opened fire on the crowds. This wave of violence left eighty-nine dead. At least 99 people were eventually taken to hospital in critical condition. Some escaped the developing hostage situation. Some escaped by accessing the roof. Others did their best to hide.

Just after midnight the police assault ended the siege. Two of the attackers died by detonating their suicide vests.
The names of the dead included Anne and Pierre-Yves Guyomard, who hoped that after two years of marriage that children would soon follow. Cecile Martin, a 33-year-old clinical psychologist. Christophe Mutez, a 48-year-old employee of the software firm PROS France. Gilles Leclerc, a 32-year-old florist who attended the concert with his girlfriend, who survived the attacks. Helene Muyal, was a 35-year-old makeup artist who leaves behind a husband and their 17-month-old son. Eric Thome was a 39-year-old photographer and graphic designer. He was to embrace fatherhood for a second time in the weeks ahead. Nick Alexander, from Colchester, was at the Bataclan selling band merchandise.

Police later identified their killers as Omar Ismail Mostefai, 29, Samy Animour, 28, and Foued Mohamed-Aggad, 23.
Three hours of sheer terror would have lasting impacts in France and beyond.

At Tell MAMA, we did record a tripling of incidents. Our 2015 annual report noted that in the three weeks during and after the attacks there were 82 anti-Muslim incidents recorded. This short-term spike of 328 per cent confirmed an earlier estimate given to the Independent newspaper.

Cases reported to our service following the attacks again demonstrated gender bias. In one such example highlighted on November 18, 2015. A member of the public reported: “I saw a man behave inappropriately and make racist comments to a young woman on the tube where a white man wouldn’t sit next to a young girl with a hijab on. He called her a ‘dirty P***’ and [told her] to ‘f*** off back to Syria because girls do not wear hijabs in England’.
“I wanted to say something but was quite scared as none of the commuters did anything and looked away. She did speak back to him politely, and said: ‘I’m a British-Pakistani and am not forcing my faith on you or anyone else’.
Other examples of abuse included slurs which singled Muslims out as ‘terrorists’. Some had the indignity of a stranger shouting ‘ISIS’ in their direction.

Another high profile Tell MAMA case included the abuse directed at a Muslim couple in the Greater Manchester area. The unnamed couple had completed their shopping and were returning to their car when the abuse began. The female perpetrator went on to accuse the couple of being ‘terrorists’. She then attacked the woman due to her hijab and had unsuccessfully tried to tear it off. This. however, was not the end of the ordeal. A member of the public who had witnessed the attack sided with the perpetrator. It served to compound their outrage and humiliation.

Our 2015 annual report found that hotspots of anti-Muslim hate occur when Muslims use public and private transport networks, walk in public spaces of cities, and where they do their shopping. Muslim women are more likely to be attacked than men in most settings. The number of offline incidents have trebled from 146 in 2014/15 (12 months to March 2015) to 437 ‘offline’ incidents in the 2015 calendar year. This shows an increase of 300 per cent and there was an increase over time on the previous reporting period by 200 per cent.

One such incident typifies this trend: A Muslim woman out with family was confronted by an aggressive male who gesticulated about ‘killing them all’. The perpetrator had been silent and gave no early indication about motive. They felt targeted due to their religious identity. This incident occurred less than a week after the Paris attacks.
In the news media, Tell MAMA published an open letter to the Daily Mail, after a cartoon in the wake of the Paris attacks inferred that refugees and Muslims pose a violent threat to Europe.

Nor was the spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes and incidents restricted to Tell MAMA. The Metropolitan Police had also recorded a tripling of Islamophobic hate crimes and incidents. In the two weeks before the November 13 attacks, the Met recorded 24 Islamophobic crimes. Two weeks later that figure jumped to 76. In response to the rising hate crime, the Met increased its patrol and had more than 900 dedicated hate crime officers.

Attacks on Muslims, be it verbally or physically, did not just happen on the streets or social media. At around 2:15am on November 17, someone attempted to burn down the Bishopbriggs Cultural Centre in Auchinairn Road in the East Dunbartonshire town. The building is listed as a mosque on the Glasgow Muslims website.

Firefighters contained the blaze. Some damage resulted in financial loss but no-one was hurt as a result of the blaze. Police Scotland arrested a 41-year-old in connection to the blaze on October 20, 2016.

Hate crime spikes are not always easy to predict. In the case of both Paris attacks, we found that elevated number of reports came into Tell MAMA. Not all cases will directly cite the event – yet they represent how a climate of fear can impact cohesion. Others drawn into extremist right-wing narratives have long continued to exploit these tragedies for political gain. This sometimes extends to non-violent extremist hate speech online. Or, sadly, street based incidents. Not all perpetrators demonstrate far-right proclivities. Yet it speaks to how entrenched certain anti-Muslim narratives have become. Yet, an upsurge in reports also demonstrates that Muslims are more aware of the importance of reporting incidents. This includes confidential third party services like Tell MAMA or the police.

The post A Step by Step View of the Paris Attacks Last Year. We Remember appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Amine Ibnolmobarak, Bilal Hadfi, Foued Mohamed-Aggad, Francois Molins, Justine Moulin, Manuel Colaço Dias, News, Omar Ismail Mostefai, Opinions, Paris attacks, Salim Toorabally, Samy Animour, terrorism

We remember Paris today – the Bataclan, Le Petit Cambodge

November 13, 2016 Article

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by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg

Today marks the first anniversary of the multiple attacks by Isil in Paris in which 130 people were murdered, 89 of them at the Bataclan theatre.

The beautiful building opened in 1865 and became famous as a home for music and entertainment. From the 1970s it became an important venue for rock, comedy and café-theatre. Those who attended the concert on Friday 13 November last year went to celebrate life.

I remember looking at the pictures printed in affectionate memory to honour the lives of those who were murdered there that night. They were mostly young, and happy. For those of us in our forties and fifties, they could have been our children on a night out. They had gone to enjoy life, when slaughter stole it from them.

When the three gunmen began to fire, people were mown down ‘like a gust of wind through wheat’. Many were shot as they tried to flee; others pretended to be dead. With supreme cynicism, the gunmen went round kicking bodies; if any moved, they were killed instantly.

On the eve of the anniversary the theatre has re-opened with a concert by Sting to ‘remember and honour those who lost their lives in the attack and to celebrate the life and the music that this historic theatre represents”. The opening song Fragile contains the words: ‘Nothing comes from violence and nothing will’.

Among those who attended were courageous survivors of last year’s atrocity, some in tribute to loved ones they had lost. Kelly Le Guen, who survived by barricading herself inside a room with twenty-five others said that she couldn’t wait ‘to see life and joy fill the room and not just carnage. Music and culture must re-stake their claim.”

The message on this anniversary must be that terror will never defeat the tenacity and bravery of the human spirit or destroy the profound love which binds human hearts together. It will not transform innocence and goodness into its own likeness.

Antoine Leiris lost his wife on that appalling night. Days later he posted on facebook a remarkable letter to her killers and those who supported them:

On Friday night, you stole the life of an exceptional being, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hate.

His words are a profound and inspiring expression of devotion and defiance. He subsequently published a book with the same title: You will not have my hate. Among the responses he subsequently received was one which read simply: ‘I want to respond to blind hate with blind love.’ It is reminiscent of the Talmudic idea that the only way to defeat causeless hatred is through love beyond all cause.

Both the Quran and the second-century rabbinic text the Mishnah contain the teaching that ‘One who saves a single life is as if they had saved an entire world’, while, conversely, ‘one who destroys a single life is as if they had destroyed an entire world’.

Every life is sacred, the unique embodiment of God’s spirit. Every life is a distinctive unfolding of the divine and has a distinctive capacity for creativity and compassion. No life is simply replaceable. Therefore murder is always sacrilege, never sanctification.

We have a choice: to be healers, or haters. Terror teaches us to work together, across all faiths and nationalities, not only to be vigilant but, more deeply, to help each other to be healers through compassion, understanding and love beyond all cause.

We remember Paris, the Petit Cambodge and the Bataclan

We remember Paris, the Petit Cambodge and the Bataclan

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Categories: Anniversary, Bataclan, Le Petit Cambodge, News, Opinions, Paris, Rabbi Wittenberg, terrorism