It’s happened again. In early January, the world was transfixed when jihadists launched a series of attacks around Paris, killing seventeen innocent people. Three terrorists, who were linked to Al-Qa’ida’s especially virulent Yemeni franchise, were on a suicide mission, as is their habit. Eleven of the murdered were from the staff of Charlie Hebdo, the famous Parisian satirical magazine. Several of the other victims were Jews.
The terrorists’ motivation was the usual adolescent mishmash of inchoate rage, virulent Islamism, and anti-Semitism. French and world leaders promised vengeance and “never again.” The customary public rituals and hashtags followed. Yet effective action is more difficult to sustain than online enthusiasm.
So here we are again, ten months later, in the bloody aftermath of the next jihadist horror inflicted on France. On the evening of Friday, November 13th, eight terrorists attacked six public sites across Paris with automatic weapons and bombs. At this hour, the civilian death toll stands at 127 with 180 more injured. Scenes at the downtown Bataclan theater, where a heavy metal concert was commandeered by jihadists, with hostages being methodically executed in cold blood, defy easy description.
Read the rest at the New York Observer …
The XX Committee 