State Dept mentions fails to mention Jews targeted on Hypercacher anniversary

From Human Rights First:

On January 7 the State Department released a press statement marking the one-year anniversary of the horrific attacks in Paris. Yet there was a troubling omission: the statement focused on Charlie Hebdo and referred only obliquely to another attack. It doesn’t specifically cite the attack on a kosher supermarket, where four innocent people were held hostage and brutally murdered.

You wouldn’t know from the statement that Jews were specifically targeted. This erasure of the specific bias-motivated nature of the attack does a disservice to the memory of the victims and to the civilians and security forces who took heroic measures to prevent further suffering.

When asked about the omission at Monday’s press briefing, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said, “That the [kosher] deli itself wasn’t mentioned specifically or by name doesn’t take away from the fact that the statement itself was referring to both the attacks on the 7th and the 9th of January.”

Not specifically citing the attack is the very definition of “take away.”

Here's the actual statement:

On the one-year anniversary of the January 7-9, 2015, attacks that took the lives of 17 people, we honor the victims of this tragedy and share the sadness of their loss. Their legacy endures as a challenge and inspiration to all of us. Charlie Hebdo continues to publish, and journalists around the world continue in their essential mission to tell the stories that people everywhere need to hear.

No country knows better than France that freedom has a price, and that no rationale can justify attacks on innocent men, women, and children. But what was intended to sow fear and division has, in fact, brought us together. We must remain committed to protect each other and renew our determination to turn this moment of profound loss into a lasting commitment. Just as we tackle today’s most daunting challenges side by side, the United States and France will always stand together.

Of course, this fits in with President Obama's characterization of the Hypercacher terror attack: “It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris."

I get the feeling that this administration is skittish about mentioning Muslim Jew-hatred because it might blunt the larger message that has become dominant: that Westerners are "Islamophobic." (The New York Times has mentioned Islamophobia more often than anti-semitism since December 1 even though antisemitic attacks far outnumber anti-Muslim attacks in the US.)

If Muslims anti-semitism is endemic, then Jews have a reason to fear Muslims - which is the actual definition of Islamophobia. And nothing can justify Islamophobia!

This week, a key Marseilles Jewish leader recommended for Jewish men to not wear their kippot in public in the wake of a Jew being stabbed. I have yet to hear any Muslim leader recommend the same for Muslims out of fear of their lives. When that happens, then we can talk about "Islamophobia" in the same breath as anti-semitism.

If the State Department would mention Muslim attacks on Jews, the message of tolerance towards Muslims gets muted. So the victims are universalized as just regular, random people.

Of course, when actual random people get targeted, that is much worse than when only Jews are killed, which the media regards as more understandable.

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