world

Terror In Paris

The Kosher Market Victims

'Unite Against Terror'

Netanyahu says world must fight the
same terrorism Israel faces.

Jerusalem Post and
Times of Israel

market on Jan. 9.
Among those slain at Charlie Hebdo
were two Jewish staffers. Columnist
sraeli Prime Minister
Elsa Cayat was a 54-year old psychia-
Benjamin Netanyahu said he
trist described as a brilliant psycho-
expected the world leaders
therapist. Longime cartoonist Georges
who marched against terrorism
Wolinski, 80, a Tunisia native, was
in the streets of Paris on Sunday
known for his cynical style.
Georges
to fight terror "even when it is
"If the world doesn't unite against
Wolinski
directed at Israel and the Jews:'
terror, the plague of terror that we
Netanyahu's comments came
saw here will increase in a way
during a brief visit at the Hyper
people cannot imagine," Netanyahu
Cacher kosher grocery store in
said. "Therefore, I hope that Europe
Paris, the site of Friday's attack
will unite and see the reality as it is.
that killed four French Jews.
Israel supports Europe in its struggle
On Monday, Netanyahu
against terror, and the time has come
deflected domestic criticism that
for Europe to support Israel in the
his visit to Paris was unnecessary
very same struggler
Elsa Cay at
and politically motivated, saying
Netanyahu said he was moved
that it was very important for Israel's leader
by the ceremony at the Grand Synagogue
to walk together with other world leaders in
Sunday evening and that it was a true sign
a march against terrorism after the murders
of Jewish solidarity Likewise, he said, the
of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo magazine
march itself was an important sign of world
offices on Jan. 7 and four slain at the kosher
solidarity against terrorism.

I

❑

Ynet News

T

he four Jewish
hostages killed in
the terror attack on
a Paris kosher supermarket
were laid to rest Tuesday in
the Mount of Olives cemetery
in Jerusalem.
Yohan Cohen, 20, had
been working at the kosher
supermarket for the past year
and was killed early on in the
attack, after the supermar-
ket's doors closed, his cousin
Yonatan told Ynet.
"The police told the family
the terrorist threatened to kill
a 3-year-old boy, and Yohan
tried to stop it," Yonatan said. "He managed to
grab the terrorist's weapon but before Yohan
had a chance to shoot him, the terrorist put a
bullet in his head and killed him on the spot:'
Philippe Braham, 45, was the father of four.
His brother-in-law Shai Ben-David told Ynet
News Braham, an observant Jew and com-
puter engineer, went shopping at the market
before Shabbat when the attack occurred.

"He was a man who always
wore a kippah, a Zionist whose
dream was to make aliyah, and he
never made it:' said Ben David.
"Every time he used to tell me,
`God willing we'll come; we'll
make aliyah soon:"
A relative of Yoav Hattab said
the 21-year-old had returned to
Paris from a visit to Israel as part
of the Taglit-Birthright project two
days before his murder.
Hattab left behind six broth-
ers and was living in Paris alone,
where he was studying.
His father, Rabbi Benjamin
Hattab, is a school headmaster in
Tunisia and a prominent figure in
the Jewish community there.
Francois-Michel Saada, 64, who was born
in Tunis, was a pension fund manager. He
was a father of two, with both of his children
living in Israel.
"He led his life for the happiness of his
family — a husband and an exemplary
father; one of his friends said.

❑

See a related story on page 50.

How Terrorism Harms Radical Islam

A

recent epidemic of high-
profile attacks perpetrated by
Muslims in the name of Islam
— in Canada, Israel, Nigeria, Australia,
Pakistan and France — raises an obvious
question: How do the Islamist terrorists
figure that murdering an honor guard,
driving cars into pedestrians, slaughter-
ing non-Muslim bus passengers, taking
the patrons of a cafe hostage and massa-
cring army children and cartoonists will
achieve their goal of applying Islamic law
and establishing a caliphate?
Logically, their violence only helps if
it terrorizes their enemies and compels
them to bend to the Islamists' wishes;
intimidation, after all, is the essence of
terrorism. Sometimes, Islamist terrorism
does achieve this objective. For example,
to stay out of trouble, a sizable number
of artists have censored themselves on
Islam. And the botched government
response to the 2004 Madrid train bomb-
ings helped the opposition party win an
election that led to the withdrawal of
Spanish forces from Iraq.
As a rule, however, terrorism usually
leads to anger and hostility rather than

28 January 15 • 2015

compliance. Instead of cowing a popula-
tion, it raises consciousness and provokes
hatred for the Islamist cause among
Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Rather
than advance the Islamist cause, high-
profile acts of violence harm it.
The Jan. 7 killing of 12 jour-
nalists and cartoonists in Paris
created a national mood of
defiance that put Islamists on
the defensive as never before. If
the first hours anticipate future
developments, a significant
portion of the French elector-
ate will demand more effective
measures against radical Islam.
If high-profile violence is
counterproductive, why do
Islamists persist in this self-
defeating behavior?
Out of anger and because of a violent
disposition.
Anger: Islamists, especially the more
extreme ones, exude bitterness, bile,
resentment and envy. They celebrate the
medieval period, when Muslims were the
richest, most advanced and most pow-
erful of peoples, and interpret Muslim

decline as the result of Western duplicity
and betrayal. Only by striking back righ-
teously at these conniving crusaders and
Zionists can Muslims regain their right-
ful place of honor and power. Expressing
anger becomes an end in itself,
leading to myopia, an inability
to plan, an absence of strategic
thinking and pulsating gran-
diosity.
A violent disposition:
Exulting in their belief that
they have direct knowledge
of God's will, Islamists favor
violence. To make the enemy
cower in fear and then to smite
him is the ultimate Islamist
dream, a fulfillment of intense
ill will, a triumph of Islam's
superiority over other religions
and those Muslims who lack the fire of
their faith. Suicide bombings, behead-
ings, gangland-style murders and other
acts of grotesque recrimination express a
deep desire for vengeance.
In the long term, then, these acts of
violence do immense damage to the
Islamist cause. Turned around, the vic-

tims of that violence — some 10,000
fatalities in 2,800 attacks in 2013 alone
— did not die in vain but unwittingly
sacrificed their lives in a dreadful war
of wills. Targeted assassinations, such as
those against the French cartoonists, have
an outsized impact on public opinion.
In conclusion, self-indulgence and
strategic ineptitude are the hallmarks of
the Islamist campaign. The catastrophe
of the Islamist program is matched by the
ineptitude of its tactics. And so, I con-
clude, its ultimate fate will be in the same
dust heap of history where fascism and
communism can be found. Like those two
other totalitarianisms, it promises ter-
rible destruction and many deaths before
ultimately failing. The war will be long
and painful but, in the end, again, the
forces of civilization will vanquish those
of barbarism.
The recent drumbeat of terrorism in
the name of Islam may appear to help the
Islamist cause. In fact, it brings its agenda
closer to a deserved collapse.

❑

Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East

Forum.