It has been a day of grief in Paris and in Jerusalem where funerals have been held for seven of the victims of last week’s terror attacks in Paris.
In Paris thousands turned out to pay their respects for the three officers who died, Ahmed Merabet, Clarissa Jean-Philippe and Franck Brinsolaro.
French President François Hollande posthumously gave the Legion d’Honneur to Ahmed Merabet, Jean-Philippe and Franck Brinsolaro, laying medals on the coffins of all three slain police officers.
“They shared one desire: that of protecting their citizens,” Hollande said. “They had one ideal: that of serving the republic. They died in accomplishing their mission with courage, with bravery, with dignity.
“They died as police officers.” He said.
The brother of Ahmed Merabet, the Muslim police officer said “He was killed by false Muslims”
“One must not confuse extremists with Muslims. Mad people have neither color nor religion.”
Hollande vowed that France will be “merciless in the face of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslims acts, and unrelenting against those who defend and carry out terrorism, notably the jihadists who go to Iraq and Syria.”
At the same time in Jerusalem a procession began for the four Jewish victims of the attack on Friday.
The four men Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab and François-Michel Saada were killed in a kosher supermarket in Paris by terrorist Amedy Coulibaly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin attended the funeral in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul cemetery.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said “Returning to your ancestral home need not be due to distress, out of desperation, amidst destruction, or in the throes of terror and fear.”
“Terror has never kept us down, and we do not want terror to subdue you. The Land of Israel is the land of choice. We want you to choose Israel, because of a love for Israel.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “I think that most (world leaders) understand – or are at least starting to understand – that this terror committed by extremist Islam represents a clear and present threat to peace in the world in which we live,”
“Islamist terror … is not just the enemy of the Jewish people but of all humanity. It is time all people of all cultures united to eject these elements from among us.” Reports SkyNews.
After a moment’s silence to remember the victims of the ParisAttacks the French National Assembly has broken into a spontaneous rendition of La Marseillaise for the first time since the liberation of France after WW1 on 11 November 1918.
France’s National Assembly is set to vote later today on whether to authorize further support for the international coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq.
Meanwhile NBC News reports that a cleric in Pakistan has held funerals for Cherif and Said Kouachi.
“Today we feel so proud to attend the funeral of our brothers,” said cleric Allama Pir Mohammad Chishti.
NBC News reports that only about 40 people attended.
Mohammad Rasheed Ahmad, a student at the madrassa, which is headed by Chishti, said he was disappointed so few came out to “honor” the Kouachis.
“We saw tens of thousands of people gathered in France to show solidarity with their slain men, but Muslims didn’t come to take part in the funeral of the two heroes who did this great job,” he said,
“They are heroes of Islam. They laid down their lives but eliminated those published caricatures of our prophet Muhammad.”
A total of 17 people died over three days last week, when Cherif and Said Kouachi – two brothers claiming allegiance to Jihadist group Al-Qaeda opened fire at the Paris headquarters of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and then a separate, but linked attack took place at a kosher supermarket.
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Are we going to have an Open Post? And if so, where in f*ck do we find it?!
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