Arab media conflicted over Toulouse attack
Mohammed Merah's deadly shooting in France sparks online controversy within Arab world. Sympathetic world coverage leads one reporter to argue that 'Israeli blood is always worth more'
One Algerian journalists, known for his anti-Israel rhetoric, wrote an article titled: "Israeli blood is always worth more."
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In the article, he wondered why the world was enraged by the murder of the four Israelis is Toulouse, while the incident in which three French soldiers were killed in southern France was put on the backburner. He claimed that it was because two of the soldiers were Muslim of Moroccan decent and the third from Antilles.
He went on to criticize the global attitude towards Israeli Air Force strikes on Gaza Strip compared with the shooting in Toulouse, slamming global media for neglecting to cover the "barbaric" death of dozens of Palestinian victims in Gaza, including children.
The Al-Hayat report (Screenshot)
The writer mentioned the American soldier who shot and killed 16 Afghan citizens last week, saying that Washington made do with a laconic message calling the incident "unfortunate."
According to the Algerian reporter, "The Zionist lobby's influence managed to buy the protection of senior politicians and media figures across the world. They began to see things only from the point of view of Tel Aviv and its ally Washington, in accordance to the logic of 'Israel's security,' 'anti-Semitism' and 'Islamic terrorism.'"
However the journalist did admit that the Arabs are somewhat to blame for their situation: "The last comment, sadly, is the disintegration of the spiritual unity of the Arabs and Muslims after their interests started to collide, and their patrons continue to grow in numbers. Eventually, we'll see that we are the reason for the cheapening of the Arab and Muslim blood," he wrote
There were, however, others who offered their condolences for the terrible events in France. One Algerian blogger published a picture of the Jewish victims and wrote: "The young rabbi was murdered with his two small children and another girl, in a crime that has all the elements of hate and anti-Semitism. God bless their souls."
the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, published an article called "The massacre in Toulouse," clearly stating that "if this is the action of a right-wing man with a Nazi orientation, then it’s a crazy act that shouldn't be called 'an anti-Semitic act' but 'an act against humanity.'
"If the killer is a violent Muslim extremist, then it's a crime against humanity and not just against the Jews, but also against Islam and Christians and against all the religions in the world," the piece noted.
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