We Are All Charlie and We Must Prevail Together or Fail Separately

Today was full of fear and watching and waiting in France. The two Kouachi brothers who killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo magazine on Wednesday holed up in an industrial building near Charles de Gaulle Airport east of Paris. There was a possible hostage in the building, but he hid in an upper floor for the 9 hours that the brothers occupied the building. The elite rapid-intervention force of the Interior Ministry -- in France the Interior Ministry has the police function, not national parks, et al -- called the GIGN, surrounded the building and when the brothers appeared outside firing Kalachnikofs, they were both shot and killed by the GIGN forces. The "hostage" who hid for 9 hours was safe. ~~~~~ And while the brothers were still holed up, a second hostage situation occurred at the Port de Vincennes in the eastern neighborhoods of Paris. A gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, took numerous hostages in a kosher supermarket. He killed 4 people as he entered the market and took control. He had dynamite with him and threatened to kill everyone in the market. (Coulibaly had also killed the policewoman in Montrouge yesterday.) He was accompanied both days by a woman, Hayat Boumedienne, who may have been killed today or taken captive, although most reports say she is still at large. Coulibaly demanded the release of the Kouachi brothers when talking by phone to a French TV station, to whom he declared that the Kouachi brothers and he were members of a cell charged to kill the journalists at Charlie Hebdo and to kill police. Boumedienne was phoned 500 times by a Kouachi brother wife during the attacks. Immediately after the Kouachi brothers opened fire near the airport, the okay was given to enter the Vincennes market and end the hostage-taking there. Coulibaly was shot and killed. Four hostages were found, already dead. Four other hostages are in critical condition, apparently after being hit in the crossfire. ~~~~~ French President Hollande spoke to the nation this evening, calling for solidarity and vigilance against terrorism, saying that France is under an unprecedented attack by terrorists. He labelled the Vincennes attack vicious anti-Semitism that is not acceptable in France. He asked all French people to march on Sunday in sympathy for the dead and in unity for the democratic values of the French Republic. The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, was on prime time news. He said that France is the target of terrorists and that there may well be more attacks but that France will rise above it and prevail. Hollande, a socialist, said that the terrorists have nothing to do with religion. ~~~~~ Nicolas Sarkozy, former French president and leader of the conservative UMP party, released a statement saying : " France is under attack by barbarians....who don't even understand the values of civilization and humanism." Sarkozy's minister of the Interior said in an interview that in France there are 5,000 presumed terrorists under surveillance, but that it would take 100,000 people to do the job properly. He said that France "is at war with radical Islam." ~~~~~ As France began to breathe more normally this evening, several themes emerged. First, France and Europe clearly have been infiltrated by cells of jihadist terrorists trained and supported by al-Qaida/ISIS, and there is no integrated plan at either national or EU levels to deal with the problem. The French Interior Minister has called a meeting of his EU counterparts and US Attorney General Eric Holder for tomorrow to address the issues. Second, anti-Semitism in Europe continues and Jews have often been the target of jihadist attacks. Thus, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's urgent request to French President Hollande to increase security for jewish sites and neighborhoods in France. Third, the EU boasts of free movement within its borders, but that makes the task of tracking presumed terrorists much more difficult. The US has dealt with this problem by collecting all phone and internet data - called metadata. Europe was appalled when this was revealed by classified documents stolen by Edward Snowden, but Europe may now need to change its position, at least privately. France and Europe have phone and internet data about the Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly. America has the metadata records that could help build a fuller picture of their activities, contacts and plans. The European fight against terrorism will require metadata - theirs or America's. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the fourth theme is more difficult to address or to solve -- it is about the nature of the jihadist terrorist agenda, the means of breaking the financial support lines and training systems of the jihadists in Europe, and the resolution of the position of the Moslems in Europe who, in the vast majority, are not sympathetic to the jihadists and often fear them and their ability to turn their sons and daughters into terrorists. All this needs to be discussed so that the public is aware of the threat and its mechanisms. The leaders of the EU need to make the fight against jihadist terrorism a high profile agenda. The time for showcasing the non-religious aspect of European society (read that excusing all islamic extremism in the name of religious tolerance) must be modified. Only Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron are willing to call jihadist extremism what it is - misplaced religious hatred aimed against Western values, nations and Christians. Sunday, the Paris march will be led by President Hollande. German Chancellor Merkel will march, as will British Prime Minister Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Renzi and Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy. That is a start. But marches are not enough. Hard work lies ahead in tightening borders, tracking European jihadists, accepting that America's heightened metadata collection is needed because useful, and speaking out to support fundamental Western Judeo-Christian values, including support for Israel instead of Palestinian groups like Hamas who are trying to destroy Israel in the same way European jihadists are trying to destroy Europe. We are, in truth, all Charlie. We are all targets. And we will prevail together or fail separately.