Anders Brievik's terrorist attack Islamic terrorism Manfred Gerstenfeld

DR.MANFRED GERSTENFELD: BREIVIK AND MERAH, TWO IDEOLOGICAL MURDERERS……..

 

This was published at Ynet this morning and republished here with the author’s consent.

Breivik and Merah: Two Ideological Murderers

By Manfred Gerstenfeld

For those who want to understand contemporary European reality somewhat better, comparing the murders committed by Mohammed Merah in Toulouse with the ones by Norwegian Anders Breivik would be a good start. These killings and the responses to them have important elements in common, yet also differ on other major issues. Both murderers were driven by ideology and chose their targets within specific groups – Breivik aimed primarily at the Labor Party, while Merah chose his victims among soldiers and the Jewish community.

After the Breivik murders, Norwegian Labor Party Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg stated that Norway would respond with even more democracy and openness.1 This was propaganda, as the opposite took place. Norway is a country where opponents of the Labor establishment had great difficulty expressing themselves before the murders. Afterwards it became almost impossible for them.

American author Bruce Bawer describes this in his latest book, The New Quislings. Its subtitle is How the International Left Used the Oslo Massacre to Silence Debate about Islam.2 Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian Prime Minister under the German occupation became the template for a person who betrays his country and collaborates with foreign totalitarians. His name has even become a generic word in dictionaries. Bawer suggests that there are leftists, to be called “New Quislings,” who betray democracy by helping totalitarian Islam. He also describes how he himself was demonized in Norway after the murders.

Breivik was a loner. Intelligence services did not claim that they had information about other such potential murderers. A logical question was thus asked: who had incited Breivik to commit atrocities? There are no organized groups calling for the mass murder of socialists. As Breivik had mentioned many names in a lengthy manifesto he had previously published, a few of those who wrote negatively about Islam were selected to be accused by the media. Among them were Bat Yeor, author of the book Eurabia; the Norwegian international blogger Fjordman, whose real name Peder Jensen was revealed; the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, Geert Wilders and Bawer. None of these people had ever promoted violence. Breivik did not move in their circles either. These “New Quislings” however, needed scapegoats that could be made responsible for Breivik’s vicious crimes.

Whoever questions where Merah got his worldview from, doesn’t have to search far to find out. This murderer claimed publicly before his death that he supports Al Qaeda, one of the most violent Muslim movements. In the coming weeks, more will become known about where he was trained and in which circles he moved.

According to the leading American research organization Pew, there are at least 100 million Muslims in the world who largely support Al Qaeda.3 Even if only a small percentage of them were willing to become murderers themselves, this is still a substantial number. Gilles de Kerchove, the European anti-terror coordinator suggests that there are hundreds of potential lone wolf murderers like Merah in Europe.4

Merah claimed he was motivated to murder a teacher and three children at the Jewish school in Toulouse in solidarity with Palestinian child victims. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad distanced himself from Merah. He stated that Palestinian children should not be used to legitimize terrorism.

However, Fayyad forgot to mention far more important things. The Palestinian Authority of which he is prime minister, names youth camps, sports tournaments, streets and schools after their own homegrown terrorists who have killed Israeli civilians, among whom were many children. In its charter, Hamas, the largest Palestinian party calls for the genocide of Jews. Hamas also trains Palestinian children to become suicide murderers.

Beyond Al Qaeda, one finds prominent Muslim religious leaders who support suicide murders. There are hate imams calling for the murder of Jews in Europe also. During anti-Israel demonstrations, it is mainly European Muslims who shout “Death to the Jews” and “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas.” There are many other easily identifiable inciters in the Islamic world who share Merah’s worldview.

With all those explicitly calling for murder or supporting it, one doesn’t have to pay much attention to anyone else. Yet it is easy to find people who have indirectly laid the Western infrastructure for Israel-hatred and anti-Semitism. One finds many of them in politics, academia, media, trade unions, NGO’s and churches. As they are all “second in line,” they remain outside the focus of those who search for Merah’s inciters.

Whitewashers are already calling Merah ‘a victim.’5 Yet the murders he committed should raise far more serious questions about Europe than those committed by Breivik. There are many more terrorists around like Merah, and his acts have much broader support.

1.) www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/27/jens-stoltenberg-norway-prime-minister-oslo-tragedy-democracy-_n_910636.html

2.) Bruce Bawer, The New Quislings: How the International Left Used the Oslo Massacre to Silence Debate about Islam, (Broadside Books, 2011).

3.) Juliana Menasce Horowitz, “Declining Support for bin Laden and Suicide Bombing,” PewResearchCenter Publications, 10 September 2009.

4.) “Ach ik ga naar het paradijs,” Trouw, 23 March 2012. [Dutch]

5.) Tariq Ramadan,”Les enseignements de Toulouse,” 22 March 2012. www.tariqramadan.com/LES-ENSEIGNEMENTS-DE-TOULOUSE,11912.html [French]

4 Responses

  1. The New Quislings. A truthful description of the leftist apologists for Islamic terror.

    Also a great refutation of the of the PA/Hamas’ insane arguments, exposing their outrageous hypocrisy.

  2. how can you compare a nice guy like Anders Breivik with this arabic monster ?
    shame on you

    1. I don’t understand how you can call Breivik….nice. He’s a mass murderer.

      1. he was nice. just like some people are polite or kind. the arab kid was simply a maniac on the loose.

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