Palestinians Rally Against Charlie Hebdo
Thousands of Palestinians rallied in the occupied West Bank on Saturday to protest against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Simultaneous demonstrations were held in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron less than three weeks after Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people in the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, which has repeatedly featured cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
The magazine returned to the newsstands the following week with a cartoon of the prophet on its front page.
“France is the mother of terrorism. America is the mother of terrorism,” the protesters chanted. They carried black-and-white banners which read “There is only one God and Mohammad is his messenger.”
The protests were called by the Islamist Tahrir Party, which advocates the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in Muslim countries.
“We have taken to the streets in order to demand Muslim armies act the way France and the West deserve in response to the repeated offenses against the Prophet, peace be upon him,” said Baher Saleh, a member of the party.
In the wake of the Paris killings, the Western-backed Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, marched in Paris alongside dozens of world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a memorial rally for the dead.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
