Published on Apr 22, 2019
WaPo headline linking anger at Sri Lanka terrorist attacks to ‘far right’ draws Twitter’s ire
The Washington Post is under fire for printing a story with a contentious headline, implying that anger over the recent spate of bombings in Sri Lanka is unique to the “far right.”
Titled “Christianity under attack? Sri Lanka church bombings stoke far-right anger in the West,” the piece drew outrage online far and wide for its recklessly phrased headline.
In its story, the Post cites right-wing leaders and activists across the US and Europe – such as Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s National Rally party – who view the bombings in Sri Lanka as part of a greater attack on Christianity.
While the Post does acknowledge that “Christian minorities are targeted around the world,” some took the piece itself to be a religious slight.
“If you [need] any further proof that the Washington Post is anti-Christian, check out this asinine headline,” one user said on Twitter.
BBC News On Sri Lanka Attack: ‘Muslims Left Nervous And Afraid’
By Chris Menahan
Won’t somebody think of the Muslims?
From BBC News:
Muslims left nervous and afraid
The BBC’s Anbarasan Ethirajan writes from the capital, Colombo:
Sri Lankans are yet to come to terms with this wave of unprecedented bomb attacks.
It is believed some Muslim youths were radicalised after clashes between the majority Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims last year in the central district of Kandy.
There have been videos on social media showing hardline Islamists and Sinhala hardliners promoting hatred after that violence.
But very few expected such massive attacks a year later. And why were Christians targeted? They are also a minority in Sri Lanka.
It’s an eternal mystery, folks.
The country experienced suicide attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels during the civil war that ended in 2009.
But the ruthlessness with which the latest attacks were carried out show that the country’s task this time will be challenging.
It is a different kind of battle. In the meantime, Sri Lankan Muslims are left nervous and afraid.
ALLEGED SRI LANKA SUICIDE BOMBER: “ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH MUSLIMS SHOULD BE KILLED”
Extremist statement went unnoticed
APRIL 21, 2019
One of the alleged suicide bombers responsible for the terror in Sri Lanka previously made a video in which he stated “anyone who disagrees with Muslims should be killed.”
Imam Mohamad Tawhidi posted a video of Islamic extremist Zahran Hashim uttering the statement, which was made in front of a backdrop showing a knife and blood.
“We spend hours exposing extremists every day. This video & its background went unnoticed due to language barriers. If he was exposed & brought to the attention of the authorities, he could’ve been stopped,” tweeted Tawhidi, who in a separate tweet criticized YouTube for hosting Hashim’s radical content.
According to reports, Hashim was responsible for the suicide bombing at the Shangri La hotel.
As we previously reported, journalist Saif Khalid claimed that reporting the name of Hashim was “Islamophobic”.
This tweet was vulgar but not surprising given that Khalid works for Al-Jazeera, which is owned by the Islamist Qatari government.
‘They are Christians’: Obama & Clinton lambasted for calling bombed Sri Lankans ‘Easter worshipers’
Some people believe prominent Democrats deliberately avoided using the word “Christian” when condemning bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday as part of a policy to undermine Christian faith in the US.
The eight bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, which killed almost 300 people on Easter Sunday, sparked worldwide condemnation. But the way some US politicians expressed their condolences sparked a minor outcry among conservative Americans. Former President Barack Obama and the former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, were blasted for using the term “Easter worshipers” instead of “Christians” when referring to the victims of the attacks.
Three Sri Lankan Christian churches were targeted by the perpetrators, implying that the Christian minority was in the crosshairs. Some commentators in the US said Obama and Clinton were in the wrong when they failed to name the religion.
Particular ire was sparked by the fact that both US politicians didn’t hesitate to use the word “Muslim” when expressing condolences to the victims of last month’s massacre at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Notably, Obama and Clinton were not the only US figures, who used the term in remarks about the bloodshed in Sri Lanka. So did Adam Schiff, the Democrat chair of the House Intelligence Committee.
And the same goes for US Attorney Trent Shores.
The criticism is based on the perception that the Democratic Party is bent on downplaying America’s Christian roots for the sake of sensibilities of people adhering to other religions. The sentiment is probably best reflected in Fox News’ coverage of the supposed “war on Christmas” in the US.
In this particular case, however, the notion may be misplaced, one commenter pointed out. Christian churches are not exclusively Christian places of worship there, quite the contrary.
In Sri Lanka, Christianity plays a unique role of serving as a bridge between people by welcoming both the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups. Considering that Tamil separatism was behind a bloody 25-year-long civil war on the South Asian island, which ended just a decade ago, one can understand why this role is highly appreciated.
‘Wait for the Next’ – Islamic State-linked Group Issue Notre Dame Threat
By Jack Montgomery
A radical group linked to the Islamic State has threatened an attack on the damaged cathedral of Notre Dame, or possibly another historic Christian building.
Al-Munatsir, a radical group linked to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s erstwhile caliphate, disseminated an image showing Notre Dame’s iconic bell towers engulfed in flames, with the caption “wait for the next”.
The SITE Intelligence Group Enterprise counter-extremism organisation, which reported on the threat, appears to believe it was targetted at the Parisian cathedral — although it is possible “wait for the next” could refer to an attack on another Christian building.
The French authorities do not believe the Notre Dame fire resulted from arson or terrorism at present, saying it was likely an accident.
Islamic extremists were quick to celebrate it, however — including al-Munatsir, which published an earlier image of the burning cathedral with the caption “Have a nice day”.
The threats come as France honours the Paris fire brigade, the Pompiers de Paris, who were able to save much of the cathedral from the flames, despite the destruction of its spire and ancient roof timbers.
“The country and the entire world were watching us and you were exemplary,” French president Emmanuel Macron told hundreds of firefighters at the Elysée Palace, where they were gathered so he could pay tribute to them on behalf of the nation.
“You were the perfect example of what we should be,” he added, saying they would be awarded medals of honour for their “courage and devotion”.
Anne Hidalgo, the left-wing Paris mayor, also praised the firefighters’ “boundless courage”, saying they had “saved part of ourselves” by preventing the historic cathedral from being entirely consumed.
FRENCH JOURNALIST: TWO CHURCHES IN FRANCE ARE VANDALIZED EVERY DAY AND NO ONE GIVES A F*CK
“This government, this regime….including the Pope, including the cardinals, shut their mouth, say nothing”
APRIL 17, 2019
French journalist Maxime Lepante warns that France’s history is “in the process of burning down” as a result of two churches being vandalized every day and that political and religious leaders don’t “give a f*ck.”
Lepante highlighted recently released statistics that show there were 1062 anti-Christian acts in 2018, compared to just 100 anti-Muslim acts. Throughout 2018, no less than 875 churches in France were targeted.
“Two churches were vandalized per day,” said Lepante, adding, “This government, this regime….including the Pope, including the cardinals, shut their mouth, say nothing when our churches are being vandalized, and in contrast, the minute there is a mosque that has a pot of pork sausage in front of it, there’s immediately arrest and prison for the person who did it….apologies from the whole of France, the stigmatization of racism and so on, it’s an absolutely unbearable double standard!”
Lepante then pointed out that the Notre Dame cathedral was vandalized a few years ago by feminist protesters who sprayed urine everywhere and that the left’s response was to laugh while the perpetrators were acquitted.
The journalist then cited the story of how a Pakistani migrant who had only been in the country two months caused “extensive damage” to the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris.
“I would like to remind you that in the week March 12th-19th, twelve French churches were vandalized,” said Lepante, before citing several examples of how leading leftist figures in France have openly called for the destruction of Paris’ historical buildings and monuments and how political leaders don’t “give a f*ck” about the situation.
“The situation is grave, the situation is scandalous, it’s the pride of our history that is in the process of burning down,” said Lepante.
SWEDEN DEMANDS SANCTIONS ON HUNGARY, NATIONS REFUSING THIRD WORLD MIGRATION
“It cannot be that responsibility is shared by one or two or three countries. We have to help each other.”
By Virginia Hale
EU nations which refuse to open their doors to third world migration should have to “pay a price”, the Swedish Prime Minister has said.
In an interview with local media at the weekend, Stefan Löfven said he wants to see sanctions on countries unwilling to take part in a migrant quota system, claiming it was ‘not sustainable” that Hungary refuses to house, feed, and clothe a Brussels-dictated share of illegal immigrants who reach Europe.
“It cannot be that responsibility is shared by one or two or three countries. We have to help each other,” he told the establishment newspaper Dagens Nyheter, stating that the EU must impose a common migration policy on the bloc’s member states.
“Hungary is one of the countries that receives the most funding from the EU, and it is saying no, we will not take responsibility with relation to migration,” the social democrat said, adding that Brussels should cut funding to nations which reject mass immigration.
Budapest hit back at Löfven’s claim that the nation was neglecting responsibility on the topic of migrants, with foreign minister Peter Szijjártó pointing out that border fences rolled out by the Hungarian government in 2015 are “defending western and northern Europe” from illegal immigration.
“What is at stake at the May elections is that politicians should be elected to the European Parliament who want security in Europe and not resettlement quotas, not no-go zones, not gang wars, not increasing crime and not a threat of terrorism,” the minister toldHungarian news agency MTI.
Slamming Löfven as a “pro-immigration politician who also wants to force illegal immigrants onto Hungary, and wants to punish the Hungarians for saying no to the mandatory resettlement quota”, the minister added: “The Swedish Prime Minister has already made his decision [on migration policy], but we too have the right to decide.”
Prior to a meeting of EU leaders last September, Löfven reportedly showed visible signs of “anger” at some member states’ reluctance to agree to a common asylum policy, which would see illegal immigrants who manage to reach European shores spread out across the bloc.
The Swedish leader has repeatedly claimed that migrants will be “less of a burden” to the continent as a whole if there is a permanent mechanism to spread them throughout the bloc, ignoring the argument from Visegrád leaders that sharing out asylum seekers trafficked into the EU while failing to secure the borders makes the illegal immigration problem worse.
MUSLIM POLITICIAN IN CANADA SAYS NOTRE DAME FIRE WAS “DIVINE INTERVENTION”
Payback for France banning the Islamic veil
APRIL 17, 2019
A Muslim politician in Canada wrote a Facebook post in which she said that the Notre Dame fire was “divine intervention” in response to France banning the Islamic veil.
Québec Solidaire member Eve Torres suggested that the tragedy was “a result of a divine intervention related to the prohibition of religious symbols in France,” according to LaPresse.ca.
France passed an act of parliament in 2010 which banned the wearing of face-covering headgear in public places, including the Muslim niqab and burka.
Torres said that the ban had provoked the “wrath” of Allah and “here is the result!”
She further added, “I would sleep firefighters at the basilica of Notre-Dame Street in Montreal,” suggesting that could be the next church to go up in flames.
The co-spokesperson of Quebec Solidaire, Manon Massé, said she was “very disturbed” by the comments and that they were in “very bad taste”.
Torres later apologized, claiming it was all just a “joke”.
BuzzFeed and other media outlets have attempted to portray Muslims celebrating or justifying the fire as a “conspiracy theory”.
The reality is the exact opposite, as the video below documents.
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