Blasphemous cartoons’ reproduction ‘racist act’

January 14, 2015

Cairo, Jan 14: Egypt’s Grand Mufti warned the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Tuesday against publishing blasphemous material, saying it was a racist act that would incite hatred and upset Muslims around the world.

Charlie Hebdo is due to publish a front page on Wednesday showing a sacrilegious caricature in its first edition since gunmen attacked the weekly’s offices in Paris last Wednesday.

“This edition will cause a new wave of hatred in French and Western society in general and what the magazine is doing does not serve coexistence or a dialogue between civilizations,” the office of Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, one of the region’s most influential clerics, said in a statement.

“This is an unwarranted provocation against the feelings of ... Muslims around the world.”

The mufti described the attack on Charlie Hebdo as “terrorist” and Egypt’s Al-Azhar has referred to the attack as a criminal act.

The grand mufti’s office called on the French government to reject what he called the “racist act” by Charlie Hebdo, accusing the newspaper of seeking to provoke “religious strife... and deepen hatred.”

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has accused the West of hypocrisy. “The West’s hypocrisy is obvious. As Muslims, we’ve never taken part in terrorist massacres. Behind these lie racism, hate speech and Islamophobia,” he said.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told members of Parliament Tuesday that France is not at war against Islam and Muslims. “France is at war with terrorism, jihadism and radicalism,” he said.

Separately, thousands of people joined German political and religious leaders at a Muslim community rally against Islamophobia on Tuesday.

Speakers at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate remembered the victims of the Paris attacks and called for religious tolerance and unity.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and half of her Cabinet were among the guests at a wreath-laying ceremony outside the French Embassy and listened as an imam recited Qur’anic verses condemning the taking of life.

Sending a rebuke to a growing anti-Islamic movement in Germany, she said: “Hatred, racism and extremism have no place in this country. We are a country based on democracy, tolerance and openness to the world.”

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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