Freedom of expression

posted January 17, 2015 at 12:01 am by  Rod Kapunan

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It is quite ironic that in the land where “liberty, quality and fraternity” was first raised, that slogan now has been  inverted to justify the suppression of our sacred right to freedom of expression. Such is the precise observation of Pope Francis who made a statement when he said  that “freedom of expression can’t (be used to) insult faith.”  In saying that, he in fact reiterated the oldest principle of human civility and respect that distinguished our society from the animal kingdom.

As the Pope told a friend, one could expect a punch should he start cursing the mother of the person. As terrorist, Amedy Coulibaly, who himself was killed at the Kosher supermarket after that carnage at Charlie Hebdo, wrote through the internet before his death, “those lying hypocrites had it coming.”  That statement came a bit late, but nonetheless conveyed the same foreboding warning never to make an insult on one’s religious belief.   Of course, the Pope would never condone or encourage violence to redress an insult and blasphemy,  but certainly nobody can measure the temperament of one  whose feelings was deeply offended by the misguided exercise of freedom for  which the only guarantee  is  to bear in mind that freedom has its own limitations.
One can never be free to mock, insult, blaspheme or denigrate others by their race, religion or political beliefs.  Once that ethical line in human conduct is crossed, the violator denies himself that sacred right.   In a statement issued by Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in America, he said, “Muslims are right to be angry.”  He accused Charlie Hebdo of “intolerance…”  He explained that   “Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned. That is why what happened in Paris cannot be tolerated.”   But neither should we tolerate the kind of intolerance that provoked this violent reaction,” “Those who worked at this newspaper  have a long and disgusting record of going beyond the mere lampooning of public figures, and this is  especially true of their depictions of religious figures.”
Now that the hysteria about the massacre has somewhat subsided, things appear to be getting much clearer about the role and direction played Charlie Hebdo.  Some say, the cartoon-newspaper was racist, homophobic and Islamophobic.  Others believe the paper was in fact serving as a propaganda cover of the Jews done by the most disgusting method of slandering Islam.  Maybe they were not operatives of Israel’s dreaded intelligence service, Mossad, but definitely the paper is serving wittingly or unwittingly to safeguard and advance Israel’s interest. 
Charlie Hebdo might not have openly admitted it, but it believed that blaspheming Islam will somehow help discredit the cause of the Palestinians to recover their homeland from Israeli occupation.  Making nasty caricatures of Prophet Mohammad was to them their most effective way to  divide and  diminish their influence in  Europe that  in the 20 has become more  accommodating to Muslim immigrants.  The consistent attacks on Prophet Muhammad were most vicious and utterly contemptible.
Although Charlie Hebdo at times make a  lampoon on other religions as when the paper posted as cover retired Pope  Benedict XVI in an amorous embrace with a Vatican guard and an Orthodox Jew kissing a Nazi soldier, that was rather meant to detract public attention of it as a rabidly pro-Semitic paper. The late editor of Charlie Hebdo,  Stephane Charbonnier, was once quoted saying “Muhammad isn’t sacred to me. I don’t blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings.  I live under French law.  I don’t live under Quranic law.”  In fact, in November 2011, the magazine was petrol bombed after it published  a special issue temporarily renaming the paper “Charia Hebdo” and featuring as its guest editor the “Prophet Mohammad.”
Suspicion of a possible Jewish hand in fomenting terrorism to sow hatred against Muslims in Europe is no longer a mere speculation, but as one that is seen as most dreadful.  Sensing this, French President Francois Hollande conveyed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to come to Paris to take part in the anti-terror march. As reasoned out by Hollande’s national security adviser, Jacques Audibert, “Hollande wanted the event to focus on demonstrating solidarity with France, and to avoid anything liable to divert attention to other controversial issues, like Jewish-Muslim relations or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Nonetheless, Netanyahu came, and that forced France to invite Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  Hence, during Netanyahu’s turn at the Podium during the ceremony, Hollande got up from his seat and made an early exit.
Notably, the bodies of the four French Jews killed in the Kosher supermarket were brought to Jerusalem, and there given a heroes burial.  That further heightened the suspicion that Israel is now using Europe as it pawn to generate anti-Muslim sentiment by instigating extremism to create a religious and racial backlash against Muslims immigrants mostly coming from countries in the Middle East and North Africa.   In fact, the mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek, now blames Mossad for fanning the flames of hatred, a view that is shared by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he expressed bewilderment why the French intelligence services failed to follow the culprit effectively.
Some believe that Israeli is desperate to sway back public opinion to its favor that in recent years saw its rapid isolation from the international community by its systematic destruction of the Gaza Strip and indiscriminately killing civilian population.   The barbaric punishment it inflicted on the Palestinian people treating them like caged animals saw many traditionally pro-Israeli European countries one by one extending recognition to Palestine as a new state.  Sweden was the first to recognize it on October 3, 2014, and France becoming the third, following Belgium on December 2, 2014.  But hardly anyone noticed that soon after France recognized the state of Palestine,  Charlie Hebdo intensified its blasphemous insults on Islam that in the words of one of the terrorists, they had it coming to them.
Islamophobic outcry and denunciation are now spreading throughout Europe to Israel’s delight.  It only need some crackpots to cause Europe to tighten its immigration laws against Muslims.  They managed to revive an otherwise disgusting and libelous paper because of the avalanche of financial support as a result of the attack.  Charlie Hebdo can now continue on its insults and blasphemy against Islam using as its cover the right to freedom of expression which some our self-righteous hypocrites readily adopted to show their misguided sympathy. 
In fact, the Zionists have also been exploiting the possibility of creating a Judeo-Christian religion which many Catholics are opposed for fear of dividing Islam from Judaism with the Christians as the latter’s unwitting ally.  While there no open contradictions between the Torah and the Holy Bible, most Christians cannot however go along with the Zionist political agenda of monopolizing the whole of Palestine.  Thus, the Charlie Hebdo  incident is just the beginning of the bloody fight between Islam and Zionism that has now spilled over to Europe.

rpkapunan@gmail.com