Tag: Hebdo

Does Fox News Throw Gasoline On The Fire?

Russell Brand

Russell Brand looks at the extreme way Justice Jeanine Pirro reacted to the attacks in Paris and how Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch contributes.

‘Kosher Supermarket Hero’ Rewarded With French Citizenship

euronews

Lassana Bathily has been described as the hero of the Kosher supermarket siege.

He saved lives during the hostage drama by hiding shoppers in a freezer when a gunman stormed the building.

Today, January 20th, his efforts were rewarded with a special ceremony in which the 24-year-old was granted a French passport and a medal for bravery.

Terror Blowback? French Police Make Arrests In Regards To Speech

TYT Network

Controversial French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala has been detained by police for a Facebook comment appearing to back Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly.

His is one of dozens of cases opened by authorities in a crackdown on speech on the side of Islamic terrorism.

Shouldn’t free speech go both ways?

Turkish President: Charlie Hebdo Guilty Of Provoking Muslims, Inciting Racial Hatred

The Turkish President Erdogan, continues to make waves with his public comments in the wake of the Paris terrorist atrocities last week.

Erdogan was quoted by the AFP news agency as telling a group of businessmen in Ankara that Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper whose cartoonists and writers were targeted by jihadist gunmen last week, was guilty of “wreaking terror by intervening in the freedom space of others.”

According to the Jerusalem Post, the first edition of Charlie Hebdo since the killing of 12 of its staff members at its central Paris offices last week aroused anger across the Muslim world, since it depicts the Prophet Mohammed shedding a tear while holding a sign that reads, “Je suis Charlie.”

“This magazine (is) notorious for its provocative publications about Muslims, about Christians, about everyone,” Erdogan is reported to have said.

The Turkish leader said that Charlie Hebdo abused its freedom of expression in order to insult an entire religious group.

“They may be atheists,” Erdogan said of the Charlie Hebdo journalists. “If they are, they will respect what is sacred to me. If they do not, it means provocation which is punishable by laws. What they do is to incite hatred, racism.”

Up To 19,000 French Websites Hacked

There are varying accounts, but Mashable and the LA Daily News are reporting that 19,000 French websites have been attacked by hackers.

The Independent claims only 100 websites were hacked.  AFP / Yahoo reported that “over 1000” websites have been hacked.

The Independent states that Islamist hackers hacked French websites and called for death to France and Charlie Hebdo, in apparent response to Anonymous’s vow to avenge the Paris shootings.

Anonymous made a commitment to avenge the attacks under the banner “OpCharlieHebdo”, which it announced last week.

A Twitter account with the same codename, @OpCharlieHebdo, shared a video about the operation on Saturday; it also paid a tribute to the people who were killed in the attack; the ten magazine workers and the two police officers.

According to filehippo.com, the new attacks on French websites are being carried out under the name “OpFrance”.  Much of the imagery used in the new hack — seemingly perpetuated by someone or a group calling themselves AnonGhost — derives from Anonymous, but the groups are now supporting opposite aims.

AnonGhost also called Anonymous racist for running OpCharlieHebdo, which saw them take down extremist websites and try to suspend Islamist Twitter accounts..

Experts told AFP that “cyber-jihadist” hackers from North Africa and Mauritania have claimed responsibility for the hijacking of over 1,000 sites since the January 7 Charlie Hebdo attack, and have threatened a surge of activity on January 15.

The French newspaper Charlie Hebdo was burying several of its slain staff members on January 15th.

Most of the hacks have targeted relatively small sites operated by local government, universities, churches and businesses whose home pages were defaced with messages that included “There is only on God, Allah,” “Death to France,” and “Death to Charlie.”

Calling it an unprecedented surge, Adm. Arnaud Coustilliere, head of cyberdefense for the French military, said about 19,000 French websites had faced cyberattacks in recent days, some carried out by well-known Islamic hacker groups.

The attacks also hit military regiments websites.  None appeared to have caused serious damage, said Coustilliere.

“What’s new, what’s important, is that this is 19,000 sites — that’s never been seen before,” Coustilliere said. “This is the first time that a country has been faced with such a large wave of cyber-contestation.”

In related news, the U.S. military Central Command Twitter and YouTube sites were hacked several days ago, although no classified material was reported breached.

The sites are back online after being taken over by hackers claiming to support the Islamic State militant group, and Pentagon officials are reviewing some security protocols in the wake of the breach.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, visiting Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, said Tuesday that the hack “was a violation, it wasn’t a big deal. But it shows you, it reminds you, once again, of how dangerous these different groups are and how capable they are.”

The hacker group, calling itself CyberCaliphate, was already under FBI investigation for incursions into the Twitter feeds or websites of media outlets in New Mexico and Maryland, prompting officials to question whether the group has any real affiliation with the Islamic State militants.

‘I Am Not Charlie’: Cracks In The Unity After Paris Attacks

The outpouring of sympathy after the deadly “Charlie Hebdo” attack has touched many in France, but according to Reuters, some people either detect a bit of hypocrisy or feel uncomfortable about supporting a satirical weekly that antagonized many.

Skepticism has emerged from surviving Charlie Hebdo workers who reject some of the support for them as insincere.

Also, some find the weekly magazine offensive.  Still others question the human rights records of the 40-plus world leaders who took part in Sunday’s unity march in Paris.

“There are so many big words being said about freedom of expression and democracy. But where was the support (for it) before? There wasn’t that much proof,” 26-year-old math student Nalo Magalhou said.

An #IamNotCharlie hashtag has also appeared on Twitter.

Though a fringe minority has praised the attacks that killed 17 innocents, more significant is the body of people who say that while they condemn the attacks, they still cannot bring themselves to support a newspaper that mocked religions.

“It would be too easy (to say) I am Charlie,” Belgian blogger Marcel Sel wrote on his website, according to Reuters.

Horrified by the attacks he unreservedly condemns, he also said it would be “cowardly” to pretend he is “Charlie” while he had harshly criticized some of its cartoons on Islam in the past.

Zakaria Moumni, a 34-year-old Franco-Moroccan draped in the French flag at the Place de la Republique rally point for Sunday’s march has a different reason to think there are cracks in the facade of unity.

Charlie Hebdo rallies across France

(Right: Citizens carry a placard reading “Coward, Chicken, Yellow-Belly and They, didn’t hide. They did not run.”)

“Some heads of state and government simply should not be there when they crack down on freedom of expression in their own country. It’s hypocritical,” said the former Thai boxing champion, who says he had been tortured in Morocco and had received support from NGOs such as Human Rights Watch when jailed there.

Morocco has rejected accusations of torture and last March filed a legal complaint in France against them.

For veteran Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Bernard Holtrop, the problem is with some of the paper’s new “friends.”

Holtrop, famous in France under the name of Willem, said he was happy if people worldwide marched to defend freedom of speech. But asked about support from Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders, he said: “We vomit on all those people who are suddenly saying they are our friends.”

“We’ve got a lot of new friends – the pope, Queen Elizabeth, Putin. I’ve got to laugh about that,” he said. Willem says he is alive only because he does not like going to weekly staff meetings and was not in the Paris office when two gunman erupted and killed his colleagues and two policemen.