© Zahim Mohd/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesFormer Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Twitter removed an incendiary tweet from the former prime minister of Malaysia on Thursday that claimed Muslims have the right to kill millions of French people.
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, 95, who served as the fourth and seventh prime minister of Malaysia and remains in its parliament, addressed the recent turmoil roiling France in a blog post that was also
posted as a lengthy Twitter thread. He wrote in part:
"Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past. But by and large the Muslims have not applied the 'eye for an eye' law. Muslims don't. The French shouldn't. Since you have blamed all Muslims and the Muslims' religion for what was done by one angry person, the Muslims have a right to punish the French."
Urging the West to refrain from forcing their values on other cultures,
Mohamad also railed against French President Emmanuel Macron as "very primitive" for pinpointing Islam as the reason an 18-year-old Muslim recently beheaded a Paris teacher who had shown his students a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
After Mohamad's tweets were met with outrage, Twitter removed his most inflammatory sentiment.
Mohamad's tweet storm came on the heels of
Macron declaring France "under attack" after three people were murdered in a Nice, France, basilica by a radical Muslim. As The Daily Wire
reported:
Three people died in a knife-attack in Nice, France, on Thursday in what may be the third terror attack on French soil in about a month.
A man wielding a knife entered the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice and killed two people and fatally wounded a third who was able to escape outside the church before dying, according to French authorities. Police are treating the incident as an act of terrorism, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"Everything leads us to believe it was a terrorist attack within the Notre Dame basilica," Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said on Twitter.
Several French media outlets reported that at least one of the victims of the attack was beheaded, mirroring an attack earlier this month in which a French schoolteacher was beheaded by a suspected Islamic radical.
Police captured the attacker soon after the incident, shooting him in the shoulder and transporting him to a local hospital, according to The Guardian. Estrosi said that while the man was being taken into custody, he repeatedly yelled "Allahu Akbar."
"We have two people killed inside the church ... and a third person who was in a bar facing the church where she had taken refuge," Estrosi said.
"Enough is enough ... we have to remove this Islamo-fascism from our territory."
Comment: The beheading of the French teacher displaying
Charlie Hebdo cartoons to his class and the church killings have now escalated into
an international controversy:
Malaysia's foreign ministry has summoned the French ambassador in Kuala Lumpur to complain over what it called hate speech and attempts to defame Islam by top officials in France, including President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron has defended the display of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in French classrooms and vowed to intensify efforts to prevent radical Islam from subverting the country's European values.
On his arrival to the foreign ministry, French charge d'affaires Gilles Barrier was told that Malaysia strongly condemns "any inflammatory rhetoric and provocative acts that seek to defame the religion of Islam adding that such behavior "doesn't bode well for the peaceful co-existence of all religions."
In a separate statement, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein insisted that freedom of expression, which Paris was defending in the form of the cartoons, shouldn't infringe or violate the rights of another.
"In this context, to denigrate and tarnish Islam's Holy Prophet and to associate Islam with terrorism are certainly beyond the scope of such rights," he said.
Hey Twitter -
where's the censorship? In addition to the beheading and the slaughter at the church in Nice, other incidents are adding to this new frenzy:
Police in Avignon shot another knifeman dead as he lunged for them shouting the Arabic slogan; and in Saudi Arabia, police arrested a man who stabbed a guard outside the French consulate in Jeddah. All three attacks come amid a countrywide crackdown on Islamic extremism.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad took to Twitter seemingly in a bid to defend the attackers.
His comments on France triggered another wave of condemnation, but some pundits were also outraged at Twitter for allowing his tweets to remain online, despite censoring US President Donald Trump and banning links to damaging information about his election opponent, Joe Biden.
Twitter did attach a notice to the tweet later on Thursday, warning viewers that while it glorified violence, "it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended his platform's censorship of Trump and his supporters. When asked why Twitter removed tweets by the president about mail-in voting but allowed Iran's Ayatollah to post threats to Israel, Dorsey replied that Trump's comments "can cause more immediate harm."
Cartoon's mockery irks Erdogan who vowed to take aim at France with legal recourse and 'diplomatic actions, no less! Ankara prosecutor's office then launched an "official investigation" into the
Charlie Hebdo publication:
© Charlie Hebdo
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin wrote on Twitter:
"We strongly condemn the publication concerning our President in the French magazine which has no respect for any belief, sacredness and values. They are just showing their own vulgarity and immorality. An attack on personal rights is not humour and freedom of expression. I condemn this incorrigible French rag's immoral publication concerning our president."
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay wrote on Twitter. "I call on the moral and conscientious international community to speak out against this disgrace."
Tensions between France and Turkey increased over the weekend when Erdogan said French President Emmanuel Macron needed a mental health check, prompting France to recall its ambassador from Ankara.
On Wednesday, France's government spokesman said the country would not give in to "destabilisation and intimidation attempts", and would continue its fight against Islamic extremism. France "will never renounce its principles and values," spokesman Gabriel Attal said after a cabinet meeting, underscoring "a strong European unity" behind its stance.
The European Commission has warned that Erdogan's comments make Turkey's stalled bid to join the EU an even more distant prospect. EU spokesman Peter Stano said: "We clearly expect a change in action and declarations from the Turkish side."
Europe is returning to barbarism...apparently through blasphemous cartoons:
Erdogan contended that the hateful, anti-Islam policies of Macron and the republication of Charlie Hebdo's caricature of the Prophet Mohammed were a sign that Europe is returning to barbarism. He also condemned European intervention in Lebanon, Algeria and Rwanda. He claimed that Europe has invaded "every country" in Africa to look for "diamonds, phosphate and gold."
"You are the murderers," he declared. It is like they want to start the Crusades again. Since the Crusades, the seeds of sedition and hatred that came from Europe began to fall on these lands, and then peace was broken.
He said he is not saddened or angered because of the abominable assault on him personally, but because it is the same source that disrespected the Prophet Mohammed. Ankara has already warned that it is preparing legal action in response to the caricature of Erdogan.
The rhetoric and actions of the French president and his government have angered many Muslims around the world, with leaders in Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco, Iran, and Egypt, among others, slamming Macron and calling for a boycott on French goods.
French Interior Minister Darmanin reveals
further plans to counter 'Islamic terrorism' threats:
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France-Inter Radio that security operations will be ramped up at religious sites as the country faces an increased terrorist threat ahead of All Saints' Day on November 1 aimed to tackle "rampant Islamism which is arming people ideologically."
He announced further plans to crackdown on Islamist groups in France - highlighting two groups, the NGO Baraka City and the CCIF (Collective against Islamophobia in France).
"There is a battle against an Islamist ideology. We must not back down," Darmanin said, adding, however, that the Muslim religion "has all its place in the republic." The minister also hit back at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying that foreign leaders had no right to meddle in France's concerns.
The French government issued a warning to French expatriates on Tuesday, urging vigilance as anti-French sentiment surges.
See also:
Comment: The beheading of the French teacher displaying Charlie Hebdo cartoons to his class and the church killings have now escalated into an international controversy: Hey Twitter - where's the censorship? In addition to the beheading and the slaughter at the church in Nice, other incidents are adding to this new frenzy: Cartoon's mockery irks Erdogan who vowed to take aim at France with legal recourse and 'diplomatic actions, no less! Ankara prosecutor's office then launched an "official investigation" into the Charlie Hebdo publication: Europe is returning to barbarism...apparently through blasphemous cartoons: French Interior Minister Darmanin reveals further plans to counter 'Islamic terrorism' threats: See also: