Recent violent events in France attracted worldwide attention: the murder of twelve journalists and artists at the offices of the racist magazine Charlie Hebdo, and the murder of 4 hostages at a Kosher supermarket in Paris. Since Muslims committed these acts, the French right-wingers and their colleagues in Israel are quick to blame all Muslims everywhere for these acts. But this is a racist lie: to say that all Muslims are terrorists because a few terrorists happen to be Muslim, is like saying that all Jews are greedy because Bernard Madoff is one. Both are racist ideas, and both serve fascism well, by strengthening nationalism and fear, and pushing workers into the hands of the ruling-class in its plans for war and repression, justified as “fighting terrorism.”
Openly slandering Muslims, and openly attacking its most basic beliefs, helps the Right, such as the neo-Nazi “Front Nationale” (“National Front”) in France. Racist caricatures published in the background of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism are used by the regime to strengthen its repressive apparatus. Terrorist attacks against civilians and journalists also strengthen this regime — as now there is a “security threat” and thus the rulers can justify all sorts of repressive acts. A point often forgotten in the bosses’ media discussion of the events in Paris was that of the heroism of Lassana Bathily, a black Muslim worker who saved the lives of multiple Jewish customers when he hid them in the store’s refrigerator when the terrorists attacked. Working-class people protect each other when faced with violence and fascism; but the fascists are quick to denounce all Muslims as “terrorists.”
The war criminal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to jump on the bandwagon and fly to France — and call the French Jews to “do Aliyah” (emigrate to Israel) because “France is not safe” for them. But to what kind of place does he invite them to come? To a state where he and his colleagues fight an endless succession of wars in service of their U.S. imperialist patrons! To a country where, like in any other capitalist country, the working-class is a milking-cow of taxes to fill the bosses’ pockets in bailouts and fill the generals store-houses with means of destruction? To a state which will send them and their children to die and kill in wars serving only the big bosses and their politician friends? Will they really be safer in Israel than in France? This ruling-class mouthpiece was very quick to spend 700,000 ILS ($200,000) of taxpayer money on his trip to France for propaganda purposes, despite being a somewhat unwelcome guest there.
Capitalism is the real terrorist organization, murdering more people worldwide on a daily basis by starvation, lack of medical care and clean water and endless wars for profit than even ISIS could kill in a year. Don’t let Netanyahu and the neo-Nazi National Front use this kind of attack to win you to their plans of endless imperialist war and their bottomless pit of repression. Turn the tables on them. Jewish, Muslim and Christian workers in France and Israel-Palestine must unite to kick out the real terrorists — the big bosses!