Hat tip to Ritter, who spotted this story: French ‘anti-Jew gang chief’ held
I don’t take any pleasure in repeating the same stuff again and again. Trouble is the BBC keeps doing the same stuff again and again and I sort of feel obliged. So I’ll just repeat words from my earlier post as often as need be.
If the religion of the victim is relevant to understanding the crime, then so is the religion of the perpetrator. The BBC would not dream of leaving it unmentioned when a religious or religious/political hate crime is carried out by a Jew. The BBC had no trouble saying Asher Weisgan was Jewish, and no trouble quoting the view of a commenter that Weisgan’s murder of four Arabs was the “wild grapes produced by Israel’s extreme right.” The BBC had no trouble mentioning the Jewish skullcap worn by Eden Nathan Zaada as he killed Israeli Arabs on a bus, and no trouble reporting on his extremist political views.
Yet all that the BBC gives us about Yussef Fofana is his name.
The BBC’s longstanding reluctance to even mention that most modern European anti-Jewish violence is carried out by Muslims, let alone discuss it, has made a small but dishonourable contribution to the legitimisation and normalisation of such violence.
How do you KNOW Yussef Fofana is a Muslim? Have you had it confirmed by his lawyer?
No, you are relying on second or third hand reports from the blogosphere. The BBC are quite right to wait until Fofana can be accurately described. Yusef is both an Islamic AND a Christian name. The Ivory Coast has a Catholic as well as a Muslim population. Besides, even if he were born a Muslim, who’s to say at this stage that he didn’t become an apostate years ago…(such that ‘of Muslim origin’ would be more correct than ‘a Muslim’).If a murderer called Levey were apprehended and the BBC said he was Jewish…..only later for it to emerge that he was one of the Essex Leveys (who are NOT Jewish), you’d be first to complain that they jumped the gun.
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/23/international/europe/23paris.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1140714009-dBOYkWnC9lsG9X8qi+L4YQ&oref=slogin
“Mr. Halimi, 23, was kidnapped and held for three weeks while his captors, led by a Muslim immigrant from Ivory Coast, demanded a ransom from his family.”
Cached by Google News 11 hours ago.
john reith – your attempts to excuse your employer are pathetic.
Mr. Halimi, 23, was kidnapped and held for three weeks while his captors, led by a Muslim immigrant from Ivory Coast, demanded a ransom from his family
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/23/international/europe/23paris.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1140702498-SVK9Ma6LGH3D/gBIM50iTA&oref=slogin
Even one of the BBC’s best friends, the New York Times can come right out & say it.
Archduke – snap
Try this commentary and ask where the BBC reports are
Reaction of the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, The Most Revd Peter Akinola on recent events in Nigeria
1.
Having watched with sadness and dismay the recent development in some States in the Northern part of this Country where many Christian Churches and other property have been wantonly destroyed by some Islamic fundamentalists, the Christian Association of Nigeria is compelled to issue the following statements:
1. From all indications, it is very clear now that the sacrifices of the Christians in this country for peaceful co-existence with people of other faiths has been sadly misunderstood to be weakness
2. We have for a long time now watched helplessly the killing, maiming and destruction of Christians and their property by Muslim fanatics and fundamentalists at the slightest or no provocation at all. We are not unaware of the fact that these religious extremists have the full backup and support of some influential Muslims who are yet to appreciate the value of peaceful co-existence.
3. That an incident in far away Denmark which does not claim to be representing Christianity could elicit such an unfortunate reaction here in Nigeria, leading to the destruction of Christian Churches, is not only embarrassing, but also disturbing and unfortunate.
4. It is no longer a hidden fact that a long standing agenda to make this Nigeria an Islamic nation is being surreptitiously pursued. The willingness of Muslim Youth to descend with violence on the innocent Christians from time to time is from all intents and purposes a design to actualize their dream.
2.
1.
It is sad to note that all acts of hostility meted against Christians by Muslims in the past have remained unaddressed with nobody paying compensations or the culprits brought to justice.
2.
We do appreciate the fact that at this stage of our national development, peace is absolutely necessary for realizing our dreams and aspirations. It is in view of this that Christians in Nigeria agreed to participate in the forthcoming National Census as sacrifice for the peace and progress of this nation, in spite of our protest over the non-inclusion of Religion and Ethnicity as necessary demographic data.
3.
May we at this stage remind our Muslim brothers that they do not have the monopoly of violence in this nation. Nigeria belongs to all of us • Christians, Muslims and members of other faiths. No amount of intimidation can Change this time-honoured arrangement in this nation. C.A.N. may no longer be able to contain our restive youths should this ugly trend continue.
3.
1. We now demand that further destruction of Christian Churches and property in this nation be permanently put to an end.
2. All levels of Government in this country should take adequate steps to protect the lives and property of Christians everywhere in this land as no further destructions will be tolerated or ignored.
3. The Federal Government and those States where Christian Churches have been destroyed are hereby urged to take urgent steps at rebuilding those structures and paying adequate compensation while assuring Christians of adequate protection in this country. These governments should now show in practical terms that Nigeria belongs to all of us by going beyond mere promises of rebuilding destroyed Churches and property as in the past to actual reconstruction, which will help the victims to quickly put this unfortunate incident behind them. A stitch in time saves nine.
Signed
Most Revd. Peter J. Akinola (CON, DD.)
President, Christian Association of Nigeria
Will & Archduke
Hilarious that you think the New York Times is such a reliable news source. What was the by-line was on the story? Not Jayson Blair by any chance?
john reith
Quote..
“No, you are relying on second or third hand reports from the blogosphere.”
John – you’re not very widely read are you? As I’ve said before – are your relying soely on the BBC for the truth? It’s the BBC who are 3rd rate, as I will demonstrate:
Here’s what The Guardian, CNN & Reuters (hardly 3rd rate ‘blogsphere’) say about Yussef Fofana’s gang who have tortured/murdered jews and the Islam/muslim connection/motive:
Firstly, from Tuesday’s Guardian:
The Guardian: French Police Go to Ivory Coast for Suspect
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5637199,00.html
“Judicial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, confirmed that documents linked to religious aid groups had been found in the police raids, but cautioned that the papers did not indicate the suspects were members of a militant group.
The documents included printouts from an Internet site that referred to the principles of Islam, they said.
now from CNN:
CNN: Arrest in French ‘anti-Semitic’ death
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/23/france.killing.reut/
“This week French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy denounced Halimi’s killing as an anti-Semitic crime and said police investigating it had linked some suspects to documents supporting Palestinian and arch-conservative Islamic causes.“
finally, Reuters:
Reuters: France sees anti-Semitic link in Jew’s death
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL21663350
PARIS, Feb 21 (Reuters) – French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy denounced the torture and killing of a young Jewish man as an anti-Semitic crime on Tuesday and said police had found literature linking some suspects to Muslim causes.
I could continue…..
The New York Sun
Tale of Torture and Murder Horrifies the Whole of France
http://www.nysun.com/article/27948?page_no=3
“At the heart of the gang was an inner circle of Muslim-African criminals. The lesser partners were Muslim Maghrebines or Christian whites. Many were unemployed and barely educated. Some were still at high school; others at college.”
Most posters here pride themselves on reading widely from a variety of sources before coming to a conclusion. As you can see from the above examples, many have concluded and report that there is a muslim/islam race hate connection or motive to the horrifc murder.
Google News is a great facility for quickly reading a variety of news reports from different MSM on the same subject. For example, Google News has currently indexed over 150 articles containing the words “Yussef Fofana”. Here you go:
http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&ned=uk&ie=UTF-8&q=Youssouf+Fofana+muslim&btnG=Search+News
Google News aint perfect, but its a good start. You can also use google to search Blogs on any topic.
http://www.google.co.uk/blogsearch?hl=en
Combine this reading by checking out some of the links in the right hand side side-bar of Biased BBC – many good blogs there. Most bloggers are meticulous in referencing their sources, you can then follow the link, and make your own mind up. Nice try, but you need to read wider than BBC News output to stand a chance of fisking the contributors here at biased BBC.
Happy reading!
and Ritter isnt a £1 billion BBC news agency. He’s just ONE person.
like me.
what the hell do the BBC news people do all day? play tetris?
I see the headline now; “Christian leader promises ‘Monopoly on Violence'” or something similar.
The report will state that “Mr Akinola’s extremist views have found favour amongst Nigeria’s Christians”.
There will be mention of the Christian church in America, and George W. Bush’s ties with it.
And there will be mention of Nigeria’s colonial history, emphasising Victorian Britain’s role in forcibly converting Nigeria to Christianity. The report will equate the growth of Islam in Nigeria with progress, modernity, and the throwing-off of Nigeria’s colonial past.
The “Have your say” discussion thread will be titled “Do you think it is right for Nigeria’s Christians to threaten civil war?”.
Perhaps they worshiped Plumbing and were motivated by a hate of u-bends?
Ritter & Archduke
Hang on a minute! I’ve just read the stories you link to and guess what? Reuters does NOT say Fofana is a Muslim. CNN does NOT say Fofana is a Muslim. The Guardian does not even give his full name….it calls him Youssef F…as if he were straight out of Kafka. It does NOT say he is a Muslim. ALL THREE news providers applied the same caution and reluctance to make assumptions that the BBC did. (I didn’t read the NYT as it wanted me to pay and I don’t have a credit card handy).
What all of them have in common – BBC included – is that they hint at an Islamic connection…’brains of the barbarians’ is pretty clear if you know what a barbarian is. But to print or broadcast the man’s religion as fact before it can be verified was something none of these news providers was prepared to do. Quite right too.
reith, you make some good points, so good on you for not jumping to conclusions, but the police said the killers quoted the Koran in phonecalls to the victim’s family:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3218190,00.html
Were Christians just quoting from the Koran to throw the police off the track?
“I didn’t read the NYT as it wanted me to pay and I don’t have a credit card handy”
http://www.bugmenot.com/view.php?url=www.nytimes.com
username greed9999
password greed9999
worked for me.
Fed up with Al-Beeb, I tuned in to Israel National Radio yesterday for a few hours. Their news service was reporting the murder as anti-jewish and described the gang leader as muslim. Also, according to INR Mr Halimi was covered with knife wounds and burns–80% of his body.
OT INR also reported the arrest of two terrorists, one aged 15 and the other 16 who had confessed to planning to attack someone with the knives they were carrying. How refreshing to listen to a station that isn’t scared to use the dreaded “T” word.
Were Christians just quoting from the Koran to throw the police off the track?
Very few Christians know how to read The Koran; which Surah in which context. Nor do many Christians speak Arabic………..I doubt they were reciting it in French to Jewish parents
On top of all the evidence previously cited, there’s circumstantial evidence as well. For instance, Yousef is a muslim name.
Well, let me correct that. It’s a name that descends from an arabic name, related to Joseph, and was probably originally an arab christian name, but since the muslim conquest of arabia it’s been exclusively muslim.
Hilarious that you think the New York Times is such a reliable news source. What was the by-line was on the story? Not Jayson Blair by any chance?
john reith
At least the NYT got rid of Jayson Blair.
Read about the dishonesty of John Simpson at:-
Denbeaux & Denbeaux & Simpson (18/2/06)
http://rottypup.com/?p=507#more-507
This comes on top of Simpson often quoting Prof Juan Cole as (an apparently independent) expert on ME affairs. Cole has been exposed as someone who will fabricate a story in order to blame Israel & the US. e.g.
http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/2005_07_09.htm
It has not taken long for john Reith to show himself to be as blinkered and biased as the BBC.
If it looks like a duck….walks like a duck….quacks like a duck…..