Churches investigated in France

Since 2005 France has been plagued with riots by thousands of violent Muslim youth. The French have finally decided to act—by investigating Evangelical Churches (CNSNews)!

80% of the French are Catholic, 10% are Muslim and only 2.2% are Evangelicals. Apparently French authorities think the best way to deal with Muslim violence and rioting is to stick their heads in the sand and harass a segment of society with less power.

I don’t know what Evangelicals in France are like, but I know that in America, we’d say, bring it on. America would be a much better place if more government officials attended Evangelical churches.

France threatened with nuclear attack?

MEMRI just translated and posted a November 8, 2006 article from Jomhouri-ye Eslami, a "conservative Iranian daily…which is affiliated with the religious seminaries in Qom,"Iran. The editorial appears to threaten nuclear attack on France, and by extension, any western countries that oppose Iran. The article says,

"None of the threats of nuclear retaliation [that have been made] by [French President] Jacques Chirac... have been forgotten. France never even apologized [for this threat], never explained it, and never amended it."

A footnote to this quote refers to a January 2006 radio address in which French President Jacques Chirac "stated that France would use non-conventional weapons against anyone threatening it with terrorism."

The article concludes saying,

"Under these circumstances, we should consider a change in the one-sided benefits derived by France from its economic and industrial ties with us. [This] will make it possible to prevent further insolence [on France's part], while making it clear to [Iran's] other economic partners that there is a limit to our patience [in the face of] their irresponsible measures, and that the day will come when our patience will run out, and [then] we will act as they would have acted - much earlier - had they been in our shoes." (emphasis mine).

There are no good solutions to the nuclear problem in Iran, but the very worst solution of all is to wait until they actually have nuclear weapons before we react.

Multiculturalism in France

According to the TimesOnline:

"The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism."

"The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us,” said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: “We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists."

Anti-Dhimmi introduces this article with the phrase, "The joy of Multiculturalism at work in France."

Click here for previous Recliner Commentaries posts on French riots.

Diversity and the Riots in France

The following are excerpts from an article by noted economist Thomas Sowell (November 8, 2005) on the riots in France:

"Riots that began on the outskirts of Paris have spread into the center of the French capital and to other communities in other parts of the country. Thousands of cars have been set on fire and the police and even medical personnel have been shot at.”

“A substantial Moslem population lives in France but is not really of France. Much of that population lives in social isolation in housing projects away from the center of Paris, as unknown to many Parisians as to tourists.”

“European countries especially have thrown their doors open to a large influx of Moslem immigrants who have no intention of becoming part of the cultures of the countries to which they immigrate but to recreate their own cultures in those countries.”

“In the name of tolerance, these countries have imported intolerance, of which growing antisemitism in Europe is just one example. In the name of respecting all cultures, Western nations have welcomed people who respect neither the cultures nor the rights of the population among whom they have settled.”

“Not all Moslems, nor necessarily a majority of Moslems, are either a cultural or a physical danger. But even "moderate" Moslem organizations in the West who deplore violence and try to discourage it nevertheless encourage their followers to remain foreigners rather than become part of the countries they live in.”

“So do our own intelligentsia and political and cultural elites. Balkanization has been glorified as "diversity" and diversity has become too sacred to defile with anything so gross as hard facts. But reality is not optional. Our survival may in the long run be as menaced by degeneration within -- from many sources and in many ways -- as was that of the Roman Empire.”

Al Qaeda and the riots in France?

According to the DEBKAfile, rioters in France are now referring to their riots as the start of “Eurpoe’s Ramadan Intifada.” Indications are that the riots are not just expressions of frustration by unemployed young people (as the media is reporting), but are an organized “intifada activated by Muslim networking.” France’s leaders are hoping that “sympathetic dialogue with moderate Muslims will calm the street, despite all the evidence that radical, activist Muslims do not heed established Islamic authorities.” Although the Union of Islamic Organizations in France issued a fatwa against the riots, it apparently had no effect. “The controlling hand, far from being legitimate Muslim authority, is beginning to emerge as the very organization that has for several years been recruiting young fighters in French Muslim ghettos fight al Qaeda’s wars against the West in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq and other sectors.” As early as February, 2004 DEBKAfile had reported on “French intelligence statistics which estimated that “al Qaeda had recruited in France between 35,000 and 45,000 fighters and was organizing them in military-style units. They meet regularly for training in the use of weapons and explosives, combat tactics and indoctrination and are controlled from local and district command centers under the organization’s national French command.” French counter-terror sources admit that these terror cells may be behind the current riots. The fear is that these riots may spread to the rest of Europe as well. Al Qaeda’s numbers in German are estimated at between 25,000 and 30.000.

Riots in France

Last night was the eleventh straight night of riots in cities all over France. Last night alone, more than 30 police were injured, 1,400 vehicles were torched (in addition to the 2,000 vehicles burned on Friday and Saturday), two schools burned, and churches were set on fire. According to the Guardian Unlimited (England), “The violence is fuelled partly by resentment at France's discriminatory treatment of its north and black African communities, a far cry from the liberty, equality and fraternity of the country that likes to call itself the birthplace of human rights.” While most of the rioters appear to be Muslims, “The country's biggest Muslim fundamentalist organisation, the Union for Islamic Organisations of France, issued a fatwa forbidding those ‘who seek divine grace from taking part in any action that blindly strikes private or public property or can harm others.” (Guardian Unlimited, England, Monday, November 7, 2005).