Islam versus Europe

Before the perpetrator has even been apprehended, the apologists for Islam have already started to do their work.

Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, says today that it was necessary to avoid "conflating the Muslim religion" with the man suspected of the seven murders in Toulouse and Al Qaeda, who claims to be a member of Al Qaeda.

It was necessary to avoid "conflating the Muslim religion, which is 99% peaceful, civic-minded, responsible, non-violent, completely integrated into our country and these tiny little fringes of people who have decided to commit an evil atrocity", said Dalil Boubakeur.

Source: Le Figaro

And the lefties weren't long in jumping into the fray.

The presidential candidate of the Front de Gauche [Left Front], Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said today that the "first duty" was now to "fight against hateful generalisations and stigmatisations," following the identification of the presumed perpetrator of the massacres in Toulouse and Montauban.

"The identification of the degenerate criminal who challenged us is good news", declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon in a press release. "However, our first duty is to fight against hateful generalisations and stigmatisations for which this situation could serve as a pretext", he added.

Source: Le Figaro

This is the same pattern we see each time after a jihad attack. Public discourse immediately switches to one of sympathy for Muslims, who are said to be at risk of unfair prejudice or even physical attack. These "revenge" attacks never emerge, but the pattern is endlessly repeated. It is the "indfidels" who have been attacked by Muslims, but it is Muslims who are the object of public sympathy.

Meanwhile, Francois Bayrou, the independent candidate for the French presidency, who had earlier insinuated that Sarkozy and Le Pen bore some responsibility for the atrocities for having stirred up a climate of hate, is now backing off big time.

"In French society, there are many risks of danger and violence, of radicalism (...) with the risk of importing into French society conflicts, confrontations and wars that are foreign to us or which should be foreign to us."

Source: Le Figaro

Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Council of the Muslim religion, said:

These actions are in total contradiction with the foundations of this religion...The Muslims of France are offended by this claim of belonging to this religion.

Libération