New 'Al Qaeda' tape airs
AP, Reuters
Two tapes bearing the voice of Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman Al Zawahiri, were broadcast on the Arabic satellite channel Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera today, according to an article in the International Herald Tribune.
In one of the tapes, aired on Al Arabiya, a voice supposedly to be that of Zawahiri condemns France for its move to ban the wearing of the hijab in schools and lumps France's decision with the larger Western campaign against Islam.
"The decision of the French president to issue a law to prevent Muslim girls from covering their heads in schools is another example of the Crusader envy that the Westerners have against Muslims," the voice said on the tape, which was broadcast on Al Arabiya, a pan-Arab satellite channel. "This envy boils in their hearts and overflows in their chests and they pass it on to the generations."
http://www.iht.com/articles/131017.html
France, which was widely praised by Muslims and other anti-war factions for being against the Iraq war, is now the subject of protests in the Islamic world because of the new law. The article mentions that the outcry is hardly uniform, however.
The tape also goes on to condemn one Egypt's foremost religious leader, Muhammed Sayyed Tantawi, grand sheik of Al Azhar, for issuing an edict in support of France's entitlement to pass such a law. Tantawi also asked Muslim women living in France to comply with the law.
I will be interested to see how France publicly to this tape and its criticisms.
This is an indication of how the French Government's decision is seen in many quarters of the Islamic world. We'll see if it have dramatic consequences as some have predicted.
However, besides the reproduction of a story which have been published by most media, it would have been interesting to see in what perspective you see it. For instance: Does it give credence to Bush's public good will gestures towards the Muslim US communities?