'Global Hypocrisy' in Supporting French Op in Mali -Yemini

'Global Hypocrisy' in Supporting French Op in Mali 'Quite Vexing'

By Ben-Dror Yemini
Ma'ariv
January 15, 2013

The attack on the Islamist forces has produced hundreds of casualties. There are conflicting reports coming out of the combat zone. The real number of casualties remains unknown. Nor do we really know anything about the two sides` achievements and setbacks. Al-Jazeera has reported that the Islamist militants are advancing on the capital. The Guardian has reported that as well. Others have reported that the Islamists are retreating. All of this is happening in Mali, thousands of kilometers away from France.

But France has rather good reasons for its involvement there. It isn`t that the Islamist rebels are firing rockets on Paris, Marseilles or Nice. Far from it. But the spread of the Islamists frightens the West, in general, and France, in particular. That is why France dispatched troops to the African quagmire. The situation is complicated. Northern Mali, the area that is controlled by the Islamists, is the size of all of France. In practice, the Islamists control most of Mali. There aren`t dozens of human rights organizations there documenting every incident. No commissions of inquiry are going to be formed. No one knows how many people really have been killed in the bombardment of the rebels, and how many of the dead were civilians.

Some claim that the rebels are now just 400 kilometers away from the capital, while others say they are still 700 kilometers away. Medical assistance is many hours` distance away. So it is no wonder that the reports out of the combat zone are very vague. But at all events it is clear that if two Palestinians from the Gaza Strip get killed this week while trying to infiltrate Israel they are going to receive far more headlines and global coverage than 200 people who get killed in Africa by French troops. Because that is the new world morality--the double standard.

Six thousand French citizens live in Mali. That is one of the justifications for the French involvement and the massive bombardments, which have received slightly less than massive headlines. What are 6,000 citizens, who are in no immediate danger, in comparison to the 600,000 Israeli citizens who are in a state of perpetual threat from rocket and missile fire? The following question must be asked: If such a very distant threat prompts such massive bombardments, what would France do if the threat were no so distant but, let`s say, in a place like Monaco, were it to become an Islamist base? Judging by the proportions being demonstrated by France at present, one can assume that Monaco would be crushed into rubble. Let`s continue to address the question of proportions. Up until now, not a single French citizen has been injured in Mali. Nor has a single French soldier. Alternately, the blacks have suffered hundreds of casualties. Those are the same proportions that were in place when NATO bombed Belgrade in 1999. So why the hell do those very same countries and figures take Israel to task when it inflicts far fewer casualties in Gaza, both in absolute and in relative terms?

There is no point hoping for an answer. Just to avoid any confusion let me say that the Islamists in Mali, just like the Islamists in the Gaza Strip and everywhere else they extend their reach to, are a disease. They are a cancer that is spreading, and not only in Africa. Most of their victims are their fellow Muslims. In Mali they have been destroying Islamic sites that belong to more moderate schools of Islamic thought, such as the Sufis. The reaction in France has been extraordinary. Jihad hasn`t only penetrated Africa, after all. It is happening deep within the West as well, by means of lessons given in mosques and texts taught in schools--generally with Saudi Arabian funding. So it is a bit odd that they should be fighting them in Mali, but shutting their eyes to them in the West.

This global hypocrisy is quite vexing. France is allowed to protect its very distant interests, but Israel isn`t allowed to protect its close interests and the lives of its citizens. Despite all that, we need to congratulate France for its support for the global struggle against radical Islam. We will only permit ourselves to remind them about their war for somebody else`s home next time we are busy defending our own home.