Je Suis Hyper Cacher

The political inclinations of Charlie Hebdo magazine are definitely not my political inclinations.  And I am in no way a francophile.  My only experience on French soil was a stopover at Orly Airport for a few hours back in the 1970's; that was plenty for me.

This is not to say that I will never visit France, and not even to say that I would resist it if my travels and fortunes somehow bring me to transit French territory.  I have no plans at the present time, however, to do so.

And if I would have been in Paris this past weekend, then I likely would have made some public gesture of disapproval for the Muslim terrorist massacre at Charlie Hebdo; maybe even held a pen up in the air.  I certainly understand and appreciate and endorse the notion that threats to freedom of the press transcend political orientations of the materials published in any given tabloid.

Now that I've gotten that squared away, I hasten to add that you will not find too much in the way of any "Je Suis Charlie" paraphernalia on my person or property.  Yes, I do appreciate the millions who showed up in Paris in support of Charlie Hebdo (or, at least, its right to be Charlie Hebdo).

But, concurrent with the Charlie Hebdo massacre was another act of terrorism at the Hyper Cacher food market (the one in Porte de Vincennes; one of a chain of kosher supermarkets in France).  Four were killed there.  All were killed because they were Jews (so much for the old narrative that opposition to Israel does not mean hatred of Jews).

Had the Hyper Cacher incident occurred on its own, without the concurrence of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, how many of those millions who packed the streets of Paris holding the "Je Suis Charlie" placards would have cared about the Hyper Cacher carnage?  How many would have taken to the streets had the 1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre, in which 18 Jews, including babies, were brutally murdered by Arab terrorists?  A very, very, very small minority, methinks.  And methinks that a larger number of them, even if covertly, actually applaud the killing of Jews.

And so, while the masses all express their outrage over the Charlie Hebdo massacre, I will express my solidarity with the victims of the Hyper Cacher massacre.

Je Suis Hyper Cacher