France — Absolutely politically incorrect

By Barbara Diamond

How exciting to discover that President Macron of France has lost patience with political correctness! France has been constantly under a “state of emergency” after repeated terror attacks by Islamic Fundamentalists. The previous President Holland called the Islamic fundamentalist attacks “An act of war” and imposed a “State of Emergency.” The laws under that edict were renewed time and time again… but the war is still waging and the temporary measures were not sufficient.

The violent November 2015 machine gun assault on the Bataclan nightclub in Paris killing 90 people was followed by three suicide bombings. Then ISIS followers perpetrated the murderous attacks on the Charlie Hebdo staff in their offices, the assault on Jewish synagogues and Kosher supermarkets, the massive murders on the seafront of Nice on Bastille day 2016 resulting in the deaths of 89 innocents, the attack on the Champs Elysee…the list goes on and on. This new law has replaced the temporary laws and has not only made them permanent but has expanded them. A new Anti-terrorism task force will be set up inside the Elysee Palace so that President Macron can stay on top of their activities.

Liberals are not happy. The government gave itself the power to “stop and search” whenever deemed necessary. It has the power to not only enter mosques whenever needed, but to close them down if it becomes known that they are preaching hatred and civil unrest. This new law crosses the line that needed obliterating.

Up until 2015 France recorded one or two violent Islamic attacks per year on their soil. But all that changed with the Charlie Hebdo offices attacked on Jan 7th which spread to the Hypercacher kosher market . This was the beginning of an onslaught. Then the next month three men guarding a Jewish community center in Nice were attacked,. Two months later there were attacks against two churches. In 2015 there were six serious attacks in France resulting in multiple murders and injuries. In 2016 the frequency of the murderous attacks jumped to twelve. There have been eight more serious ISIS inspired attacks thus far in 2017.There is no end in sight. It was definitely time for a severe response.

Democracies built on the protection of individual rights, have been severely damaged by organized terror. The laws put into place have proven too slow and ineffective to stop the slaughter. France is ironically the first country in Europe to face their own demons.

Liberals are distraught at the “imbalance” of the new law. They say that it will disproportionately affect the Muslim community. How is it imbalanced when the very group which is perpetrating the violence is to be monitored in an attempt to stop the damage being done within their ranks to innocents throughout their nation?

It has taken a very long time for a European country to stand up against terror. Democracy has been its own Achilles’ heel. Across “the pond” President Trump’s attempts to stop the influx of immigrants from nations supporting terror have been met with tremendous resistance in the United States. Clearly the average American has not faced the viscous attacks themselves and it still has not registered that unchecked, they will touch one and all. One might have expected that the horrors of “9/11” would not have become forgotten so easily.

Individually, the French people have experienced much more than the Americans and it has become up-close and very personal. It has taken a young new President Emmanuel Macron who is only 39 years of age to stand up against the evils being perpetrated on his people. Perhaps his youth gives him license not to be handicapped by a long political career stuck in the mistakes of generations before him. It is ironic that only a 39 year-old Macron and a 71 year-old Trump are prepared to take the political risks required to face the Islamic fundamentalist threat facing their respective nations. Both men rose to power outside of the usual political channels.

Macron created his own party (La Republique en Marche) in order to propose his dream and not be tied to the failed visions of others. Trump attached himself to the Republican party with a platform which was uniquely his own- not theirs. Two men with their own new and untested approaches were given a mandate by their own electorates to try a new path for their respective countries.

Leaders are elected to resolve threats to their nations. The threat can be from a nuclear Iran, a threatening and armed North Korea, or Islamic Fundamentalism fueled by ISIS ideology- funded by Iran through its tentacles which reach as far as Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Thus far, only these two leaders have had the courage to try to reshape the previously impotent approaches of their own legal systems. I am purposely leaving Israel out of the equation as it has been facing these threats and dealing with them since its inception. Its warnings to its Allies repeatedly fell on deaf ears which could not believe that Islamic terror would ever reach their shores.

The accepted mantra thus far has been “Europe is lost.” With leaders like Macron this simply may not be true. The entire world has been waiting for new leaders to emerge with courage to fight the scourge which is robbing Europe of its identity. Europe has welcomed all ethnicities to live side by side in peace with their own cultures. When the guests crossed the line by trying to impose their views on their neighbors through violence and force, they changed the rules of the game. Don’t blame those who must find new avenues to fight the evil among them. Classic thinking presumes that given an inch, authorities will abuse their new powers to impinge on the rights of innocent civilians. With time one must trust that a balance will evolve which all peace-respecting citizens will be able to accept. The right of a nation to protect its citizens must super-cede the rights of those intent on imposing their alternate twisted ideologies through murder and mayhem.

Macron rules the day and does the French people proud.