Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Hamas Blasts New Muhammed Cartoon on Charlie Hebdo Cover as ‘Zionist’ Plot

Hamas said the Charlie Hebdo cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad on the satirical magazine’s latest cover was part of a plot by the “Zionist lobby.”

“We condemn the latest publication of ‘Charlie Hebdo,’ which has caricatures offending the Prophet Muhammad,” spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Wednesday, according to reports. “The way the Israeli newspapers have dealt with the issue, with the blessing of the U.S. secretary of state, is clear evidence that there is a plot, directed by the Zionist lobby, targeting Muslims, their culture, and the tolerance toward them by Western countries.”

In the cartoon, Muhammad is holding a sign with the ubiquitous show of support “I am Charlie” and a headline in French reading “All Is Forgiven.”

The issue, which debuted Wednesday with a run of 3 million copies, was the magazine’s first since a terrorist attack on its Paris headquarters killed 12. Its publisher said it will print up to 5 million copies in five languages; the magazine usually prints about 60,000 copies.

The two Islamic extremist brothers who stormed the editorial offices of the newspaper on Jan. 7 said they perpetrated the attack in response to what they deemed offensive cartoons featuring Muhammad. Cherif and Said Kouachi were killed two days later.

Four days after the killings, Hamas said in a statement that it “condemns the attacks against the Charlie Hebdo magazine and insists that the difference of opinions and thoughts cannot justify murder.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.