Jyllands-Posten Not Reprinting Charlie Hebdo Mohammed Cartoons Because 'Violence Works'
In 2006 the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a series of cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed that were followed by anti-Danish protests across the Muslim world—protests that were not as spontaneous as originally claimed.
This time, Jyllands-Posten will be one of the few newspapers in Denmark not to reprint the Charlie Hebdo Mohammed cartoons in solidarity with the French satirical newspaper whose Paris offices were attack by Islamist militants Wednesday. Jyllands-Posten explains, translated via Google:
Power is the ability to influence people and community decisions. In this sense, Islam has so much power. Most Europeans 25 years after the attack on Salman Rushdie internalized the fatwa against him. No, the reason why no one has reprinted the famous drawings, of course, fear. Everything else is excuses. Fear, however, is a legitimate feeling, not least for the employees of this newspaper. We have lived with the fear of a terrorist attack for nine years, and yes, it explains that we do not reprint cartoons, whether it be our own or Charlie Hebdo's. Concerns for employee safety are paramount. We are also aware that we therefore bow to violence and intimidation, and we are aware that Denmark and the press, against this background should, not expect less of this when someone violates the Muslim prophet next time, but more. For it shows that violence works.
Read the editorial in the original Danish here.
Meanwhile, Hassan Nasrallah, he leader of Hezbollah, an Islamist militant group/political party in Lebanon, condemned the "takfiris" (essentially a literalist Muslim who accuses another Muslim of apostasy) and their extremist behavior, saying they have "distorted Islam" more than "Islam's enemies," referring to those who publish cartoons of Mohammed. Nasrallah's comments were widely reported today, but often without mentioning his reference to the Charlie Hebdo victims, among others, as "Islam's enemies."