There was a minor slip-up here at the Jewish Voice, and that is, we weren’t vague enough in our reporting.  In short, we ran a cover story discussing the French yeshiva at which the recent murders took place, and its relationship to our own local Jewish community. We also explained how French authorities suspected that the murders were the work of white supremacists. After all, those murdered in the last week were French soldiers of African descent, and Jews. So the common thread is clearly that they are non-white minorities. It was only minutes before the deadline that we learned that French police had besieged the home of the actual perpetrator, beginning a day-long standoff. This was mentioned in our breaking news section, but the suspicion regarding neo-Nazi involvement remained on our cover, front and center.

What really gets us, though, is that our gut reaction from day one (and that of everyone with whom we spoke), was that this vile act was more likely Islamic terrorism than anything else. That’s not to say that the KKK, or whatever their European analog is, aren’t scum who love to see these sort of things happen. It’s just that they’ve gotten lazy if anything, whereas Islamists seem to be more active than ever before. Did it really take the French police that long to realize that even though the victims involved in this killing spree were all minorities, that the combination of European soldiers and Jewish civilians might also be attractive targets to anti-Western, anti-Semitic Islamic militants as well?

Did modern European sensibilities and political correctness delay them in making a vital connection, which could have wound up costing more lives? Or were they on the right track, but publicized the notion that it was a bunch of skinheads in order to get the perp-du-jour to let down his guard? We may never know. But I do believe we would have to answer to that question, if someone could answer this one:

After the Toulouse murders, did French police increase security around synagogues and mosques, like they have done when Jews were attacked in the past?

By that same token: Did this mamzer Mohamed Merah give any of his victims the benefit of the doubt? Did he have cause to assume that, because she was Jewish, the 8-year-old girl he shot in the head at point blank had somehow oppressed his Palestinian brothers and sisters?

When law enforcement officials are forced to allocate resources away from where they are actually needed in order to appear even-handed, regardless of the facts on the ground, you have a very serious problem. We fear that crimes like this will continue (G-d forbid) until French officials put the facts about terrorism before the feelings of terrorists and their sympathizers.