Arab Social Media Users Claim Canada Mosque Shooting Is ‘Christian Terror’

arab social media
YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty
Ali Waked

Sunday’s deadly shooting at a Quebec mosque has sparked an outcry on Arab social media, with many users claiming the attack represented “Christian terror” even though there have been no significant reports that the shooter was religiously motivated.

The AFP reported on Thursday of the attacker:

The suspect in the shooting rampage at a Canadian mosque visited the site before Sunday’s massacre, asking for money and scouting the scene before returning with guns and killing six men as they prayed, a member of the mosque said.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, was charged in court on Monday with six counts of premeditated murder and five counts of attempted murder with a restricted weapon after Sunday evening’s massacre at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.

Members of the mosque were shocked to find the man that had been seen twice outside the center in the days before the shooting was the same slightly built French-Canadian that police said was the lone attacker in the shooting.

Arab social media has been saturated with claims that the lone gunmen perpetuated a “Christian terror” attack.

The Saudi Sunhat Aluteibi tweeted: “Christian terror has hit a mosque in Canada’s Quebec and makes six worshippers martyrs and injures dozens others! Saudi’s liberal media pretends it’s deaf. Allah, please kill this media.”

“Christian, Shi’ite, Buddhist and Jewish terror is considered a criminal act, not terror,” Ghanem Alkmalki wrote. “It’s an ongoing Crusade.”

Mohamed Yahia tweeted: “The Christian terrorist killed six Muslims in Canada whose sole crime was that they were Muslim.”

“Why don’t you condemn what happened in Canada?” Campos protested. “Is there a dog sheikh on Twitter or an Arab leader who could utter the phrase ‘Christian terror’?”

https://twitter.com/HansPettlys/status/826609637076111361?s=03

Fadel Suliman wrote: “The martyrs who fell during evening prayer were killed by a Christian terrorist. Will the Christians agree that we say Christian terror and extremism?”

Loay Alshareef replied: “It’s undoubtedly a terrorist, but they will tell you that the killing wasn’t motivated by a religious text, unlike the cases where the texts call for murder and influence the killer.”

“Others are blamed as Islamic terrorists while others take pride in Christian terror,” Mohamed Ben Qassem tweeted. “I suggest the following definition of terror: An unjustified murder of a person of a different creed.”

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