Jordanian Journalist: France and West’s Values Do Not Apply to Muslim World

TEL AVIV – Writing in the Jordanian daily Al-Rai, a regular columnist said that France and the West apply a double standard in their treatment of leaders in the Arab world, MEMRI reported.

Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qadhafi and Yasser Arafat were not given fair trials while their European counterparts are given trials and treated like “heroes.”

In response to President Francois Hollande’s speech at the November 27, 2015 memorial for the victims of the Paris attacks, ‘Abd Al-Hadi Raji Al-Majali, wrote that the values of the French Republic do not apply in their dealings with the Muslim world who are subjected to different, and sometimes inhuman, treatment.

The article began by paraphrasing Hollande’s speech in which the latter spoke about French values including music and happiness, but then went on to lambaste the French president for ignoring republican values when it comes to Muslim leaders.

“Where were [your] republican values when a force of the [U.S.] marines captured Saddam Hussein, and the world was lenient and allowed to try him at an American military base?” asks Al-Majali.

“Why were the Serbian murderers [in Sarajevo] tried in The Hague, wearing elegant suits, [allowed] to defend themselves and were treated with dignity, while an Arab president was executed to the sound of sectarian [i.e., Shi’ite] calls of encouragement and amid a shameful silence on the part of the world? […] Why wasn’t Saddam Hussein brought before the court in Hague, like the Serbian leaders?”

He continues by lamenting Western powers’ treatment of Libyan despot, Mu’ammar Qadhafi. According to Al-Majali, European and American planes located Qadhafi and led the Libyan rebels to his whereabouts. The same powers then allowed television crews to film Qadhafi’s naked body as it was being abused in front of a crowd of people.

“Where were the [republican] values then? Why was Qadhafi not sent to be tried in the court in The Hague? Or do European leaders, being European, get to be treated with dignity, whereas Arab leaders are imprisoned or slaughtered, and pictures that violate their honor are shown [in the media]? Are these the tolerant European values?”

Al-Majali points a finger at Hollande for not taking better care of late PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, who died in a French hospital. He also questions why France refuses to disclose the details behind Arafat’s death.

Al-Majali expresses his fear that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will suffer the same fate as Qadhafi and Saddam. In the disjointed next paragraph, Al-Majali moves on to talk about the Holocaust.

“For the past 60 years, Europe has been apologizing to Israel for the Holocaust, groveling to it, paying it [compensation] and hanging its head before the leaders of Israel. We have had 1,000 holocausts.”