Community Magazine January 2016

FRANCE, ISLAM, and TERRORISM DAVE GORDON An Exclusive Interview with French Insider, Philippe Karsenty It’s been nearly two months since the Nov. 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, which took the lives of more than 130 people, and injured nearly 400. And it’s been a year since the Charlie Hebdo magazine and kosher supermarket attacks in that city, which killed 17 people. ISIL (The Islamic State if Iraq and the Levant) claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks in November, which entailed three suicide bombers that struck near the Stade de France, followed by suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafés, restaurants and a music venue in Paris. These were the deadliest terror attacks in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004, which killed 191 people, and the London tube bombing of 2005, which killed 52. To gain some perspective on the issue, Community Magazine interviewed Philippe Karsenty, a France-based media analyst, world renowned public speaker, and deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris. Mr. Karsenty came to widespread attention when presenting evidence to suggest that the al-Durrah incident at the Gaza Strip in 2000 – the now- iconic film of a boy being shot against a wall – was a hoax. Mr. Karsenty toured the United States in November, initially intending to talk about media manipulation. But as events unfolded, his talks quickly turned to the terrorist attacks in Paris. In this exclusive interview, Karsenty discusses the imminent dangers, what’s been misunderstood, and much more. CM: Why do French people believe the attacks happened? Karsenty: From my understanding, people just didn’t understand. [We] had the Charlie Hebdo attack and then the Hyper Kosher. French people were thinking, “Look, they were targeting cartoonists and Jews. So we French people who were not cartoonists or Jews, we have no risk, we have no problem.” And this was the general belief. And now they’re in disarray because they just don’t understand why [this occurred]. According to them, they’re not guilty of anything. And of course we are not guilty of anything. But why were they targeted? The main problem is that they just don’t understand. The mainstream media propaganda doesn’t say that we are facing jihad. CM: Were you hearing anything about people rationalizing the attacks? Karsenty: Of course, you always have this kind of justification that the terrorists lash out due to their so-called humiliation and frustrations. But my answer to this is very clear: the frustration is not coming from the way we treat them, the frustration is coming from their culture, coming from Islam. And, look, if they’re [the Muslims among us] not happy with our culture, why do they come here and try to live with us? All these people leaving Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, where are they going? Are they going to Saudi Arabia, to Qatar, all these places where they have their Muslim brothers? No. They’re coming to our places, and my concern is that they’re coming with values which are not ours, and the values they’re bringing are antagonistic to ours. They are trying to impose their Phillippe Karsenty 34 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE