For and against – but standing for what?

World leaders stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Paris this week following the gruesome slayings at the Charlie Hebdo offices. But amid the placards and pencils borne by the multitude, which principles were they professing to defend?

For example, it was ironic that Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry should be among the pencil wavers defending freedom of speech: Australian journalist Peter Greste still lingers in an Egyptian prison on trumped up charges of supporting terrorism.

And Hamas thought it wrong of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to take to the streets of Paris in solidarity with other world leaders to march, ostensibly, against terror. “First [Abbas] should take care of his own people,” said senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar.

Never mind that President Abbas, hailed in Europe as a hero of peace, has himself done plenty to promote terrorism, persecute journalists, and foment hatred against Jews.

But whilst the Charlie Hebdo killers were motivated by a desire to avenge the Prophet, what did the four Jewish shoppers slaughtered in a kosher supermarket have to do with the offending cartoon images?

Clearly, Islamic militants were not only offended by a satirical magazine. They were also offended by the mere existence of Jews. As they are, notes Lawrence Franklin, by the existence of anyone considered a ‘disbeliever’ or an ‘infidel’.

The greatly feared anti-Muslim backlash never materialised, either in France or anywhere else. Life for Muslims went on much as before after the Islamist slayings – even though the Hebdo massacre was quickly followed by an Islamist massacre in Nigeria.

Things were not so straightforward for France’s Jews, however.  “In reaction to the murders in Paris,” Lawrence observed, “the French capital’s Grand Synagogue was closed for the first time since World War II.”

A posting on the US-based Israel Project’s Facebook page read: “When terrorists attack Paris, the world rallies against terror. When terrorists attack Israel, the world rallies against Israel. Why?”

Western media is often uncomfortable drawing attention to the anti-Semitic character of Islamist terror. It doesn’t fit the progressive narrative of Palestinian victimhood so favoured by many European and US foreign policy makers and commentators.

Paris was not the first time that the Jewish community has borne the brunt of Islamist hatred in Europe. It is unlikely to be the last.

Peter Kurti is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies.