In recent days, the international community is reeling from the brutal terrorist attack in Nice, France, where three people were senselessly murdered inside of a church. However, while leaders across the Western world have expressed their sympathy for France, the reactions across the Muslim world have been varied.
On the one hand, the moderate axis opposed to the Iranian regime has condemned the brutal terror attack in Nice. According to Middle East Media Research Institute, Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Kurdish Parliament Hayman Hawrami proclaimed, "The people of Kurdistan condemn the violence of any kind, whether physical or cultural, against freedoms, coexistence, the freedom of opinion and against religious diversity wherever it exists in the world. In the Kurdistan region, we are proud of our ethnic and national diversity and of our religious tolerance."
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Similarly, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, both of which recently made peace with Israel, have condemned the brutal attack in Nice. However, other more regressive elements in the Islamic world have not sympathized properly with the French victims, instead voicing their outrage over the publication of French cartoons critiquing the Prophet Mohammed.
In recent days, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, Lebanon, and other nations associated with the Iranian axis/Muslim Brotherhood camp have staged anti-French protests.
President of the World Hindu Struggle Committee Shipan Kumer Basu noted, "During the anti-French demonstrations in Bangladesh, everyone carried placards reading, 'Be warry of Christians and Jews,' 'break the hands of the infidel,' 'bite Macron's skin with a dog,' etc. The radical Muslim groups also called for anti-French boycotts. The local government did not interfere with these protests and even offered them police protection."
Bangladesh's leader is a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. While Erdogan did condemn the Nice terror attack, he also was highly vocal against the French cartoon, comparing the present plight of Muslims in Europe to Jews during the Holocaust. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who is part of the Iranian axis, even resorted to Holocaust denial as a means of critiquing France, while the Iranian government itself refused to directly condemn the Nice terror attack.
According to Manel Msali, a policy advisor to the European Parliament, "the French president's support for the publication of the Muhammed cartoons has earned him an unflattering caricature on the front pages of ultra-conservative Iranian newspapers."
She claimed that the Iranian media is portraying French President Emmanuel Macron to be the "demon of Paris," who is "rude for supporting the publication of cartoons insulting the Prophet of Islam." She added that the Iranian government "denounced the unacceptable behavior of the French authorities which offended the feelings of millions of Muslims in Europe and across the world. Any insult or lack of respect towards the holy prophet of Islam and the other divine figures are absolutely unacceptable."
It should also be noted that the Muslim countries critiquing France are known to have abominable records when it comes to respecting freedom of speech and minority rights. In fact, in countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iran, non-Muslims can get prosecuted if they say anything against Islam. Dissidents in Iran are systematically repressed for doing far less than insulting the Prophet Muhammed. Similarly, Article 301 of the Turkish Constitution bans the denigration of the Turkish nation.
In other words, countries that are part of the radical axis routinely condemn France for permitting freedom of speech by permitting Prophet Mohammed cartoons, while denying their own subjects the right to enjoy similar privileges. Meanwhile, these same countries have not changed their rhetoric, even though three people were murdered due to such incitement in Nice.
However, not every country in the Muslim world today is part of either the Muslim Brotherhood or Iranian axis. There are now an increasing number of countries in the Muslim world, which are run by moderate governments. It is these very same governments that have sympathized with France in the wake of the recent terror attack. In these countries, supporting victims of terror is an important value, for they understand what will happen if the radical axis gets the upper hand For this reason, they support lowering the flames and offer their support to France, as she grieves following such brutality.
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