Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumIsraelis Link Attacks to Their Own Struggles
JERUSALEM Like leaders around the world, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was quick to condemn the attack that killed 12 people in Paris on Wednesday at the offices of a satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. The next day, Mr. Netanyahu sent a letter of condolence and outrage to the French president and declared after a meeting with Norways foreign minister, Israel is being attacked by the very same forces that attack Europe.
On Friday, Mr. Netanyahu addressed the situation again, with a lengthy diatribe linking the Paris suspects to Israels enemies, and likening the massacre to rockets fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. And this was all before a gunman laid siege to a kosher supermarket in Paris, which left four hostages and the hostage-taker dead and only brought things closer to home for Jews in Israel and beyond.
They might have different names ISIS, Boko Haram, Hamas, Al Shabab, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah but all of them are driven by the same hatred and bloodthirsty fanaticism, Mr. Netanyahu said before meeting with the French ambassador to Israel. We understand we are in a common battle for our values and a common battle for our future.
The attack on Wednesday came barely a week after France voted for a United Nations Security Council resolution on Palestinian statehood, a mark of growing frustration in Europe over Israeli policies that have left the country increasingly isolated on the world stage. Though the resolution failed, the French vote was seen here as a betrayal, and Mr. Netanyahu said pointedly on Thursday, Israel stands with Europe; Europe must stand with Israel.
For many Israelis, any terrorism by Islamic extremists bolsters the argument that their conflict with the Palestinians is part of a larger clash of civilizations. But some questioned why the outpouring embodied by the worldwide We are Charlie campaign after the Charlie Hebdo massacre did not follow Novembers deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, the abduction-murder of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank in June, or the 2012 killing of a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/world/europe/israelis-link-terrorism-in-france-to-their-own-struggles.html?_r=0
King_David
(14,851 posts)King_David
(14,851 posts)He considered it an action to "defend Palestine"