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NEWS
Hamas Supporters Attack Paris Mosque For Maintaining Ties With Jews
By Arnon Yaffeh, Paris
Skinheads wearing kaffiyehs and green bands in solidarity with Hamas fighters whose color is green, charged a Paris mosque in the 5th arrondissement last Friday following a failed attempt to gain entry. Sheikh Yassin, the head of the group of 30 young men, denounced the mufti of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, for his so-called pro-Israeli stance and his ties with the Jewish community. Le Monde's religious affairs correspondent reported on the action by the pro-Hamas group from one of the city's predominantly Arab suburbs.
Ushers at the mosque used force to keep the young men out and to protect Boubakeur, but Yassin was allowed to speak freely to the large gathering of Muslims who were unable to enter the mosque. "Boubakeur sides with war criminals," he said, standing outside a mosque that is an emblem of moderate French Islam. According to witnesses his remarks contained unprecedented aggression against the Jews of Paris, a sign of a climate of toleration for highly provocative remarks against Jews. "It really is impossible to tell who the head of the mosque sides with — us or the Jews," said some listeners. Police stood nearby, not interfering.
Boubakeur upset Muslims with his public statements against Hamas and Hizbullah terror and he has yet to be forgiven for appearing as a guest at the annual event for CRIF, the umbrella group for Jewish organizations in France, after the fighting in Gaza. Heads of the Islamic Union also denounce him and CRIF for supporting Israel. Today's Muslim youths are instigated by extremists to oppose the longstanding French Moslem establishment that Boubakeur represents.
Following the attack the rector of the mosque contacted the Interior Minister, asking her to support the moderate Muslim leadership in its struggle against "attacks by radical Islam."
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