The racist anti-Muslim terrorist who attacked two mosques and viciously massacred people yesterday in New Zealand right before Friday prayers drew attention not with the people he slaughtered but the messages he tried to send out. With the racist and inhumane messages, it was as if his perverted joy, brutality, and cruelty were pitting one against the other. There will definitely be some people who will try to brand and refer to this attack as an unfortunate incident whose main perpetrator was a person who had psychological obsessions or mental problems. Hence, even though the BBC aired all the details of the attack in real-time, they still tried to avoid using the term “terrorist attack” during the entire streaming. These media outlets, who rush to use the phrase “Islamic terrorism” in similar situations if they have a tiny clue that the attack might have been carried out by someone of Muslim origins, resisted using the word “terrorist attack” for this incident. Of course, we don’t accept seeing or calling the incident as an act of “Christian terrorism” even though the killer used an entire Crusades-inspired terminology.
On the contrary, we need to repeat what we always say once again. Terrorism has no religion. A person who actually believes in Islam, Christianity or Judaism cannot condone the murder of people who were just praying in their places of worship.
Even a Jew cannot defend murder without denouncing Judaism. Today, all the actions committed by Israel are actually the murder of Judaism which preaches “thou shall not kill” as an essential part of its commandments. That is why we have been saying that criticizing Israel and criticizing Judaism aren’t the same thing.
The coward massacre carried out in the two mosques in New Zealand might have been purposefully imbued with racist, anti-Islam elements by using Christian terms in order to incite hatred among Muslims against the Christian world and provoke Christians against Muslims, thus starting a religious war between the two worlds. That is why the Muslims who are rightfully furious about this attack have to be extra careful.
It is obvious that a hate crime committed in the name of a religious group, with such clear messages in such a venomous manner is not going to benefit that religion. That is why these messages might actually be channeling the anger towards that religion. Just like the fact that we are more comfortable arguing today that since the actual target of DAESH is Islam and the Muslims, and that it is certainly an anti-Islam organization and its attacks are against Islam, the language and technique of this attack and the language and technique of the attacks of DAESH are very similar. There may be one difference: this one is a little more technical and more glaring.
Of course, this is a possibility and not a definite explanation. In the end, hatred has no rationality, and anything is possible. Unfortunately, as the world doesn’t grasp the seriousness of the hate crimes committed against the Muslims, there are also no serious measures to protect Muslims against these crimes. Every day we witness politicians of the West using a similar language that these murderers use even on a wider scale. Generations are growing up while this hate speech are provoked every day and despite their claims of being modern and multicultural, Europe is day by day getting into this cycle of racist hateful speeches because of those irresponsible politicians.
It is obvious that the racist attack carried out in New Zealand is not the doing of a lone-wolf and that it is a well-planned terrorist attack. It is not possible for the murderer both to carry out this attack and spread his message in the way he wanted without getting outside help. The fact that he is carrying out this massacre as easy as playing a computer game is sending out a message that massacring Muslims is now as easy as playing a first-person shooter.
The hatred of Islam nurtured by certain anti-Muslim politicians is also helping them train a group that is always capable of carrying out such attacks anywhere. The place chosen for this attack is the most peaceful country on earth, New Zealand. It is also a country of immigrants, meaning it is one of the safest places where people all around the world who encountered horrible persecution in their past come to start a new life. Being a sanctuary country, it is also a one that provided an ideal environment for multiculturalism to thrive.
Multiculturalism is such an ordinary concept in Muslim history and Muslim civilizations that there is even no need to mention it. However, for the Western world which only experienced a multicultural environment for the first time about a century ago, the fact than such a heinous attack was carried out in such a peaceful place actually means something. It is as if they were saying that no matter how pluralist their culture is, “there is no place for Muslims”.
This attack, therefore, is both a vicious terrorist act that claimed the lives of 50 people, a hate crime against Muslims and also an attack targeting the foundation of the values the West has been accumulating throughout this modern age.
As long as the politicians continue to fuel this anti-Islamic environment that paved the way for this attack, it will serve as the “West’s own undoing.”
