New Zealand Mosque Massacre: White Supremacy and Western Wars By James Petras Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, March 29, 2019

The mass murder and wounding of 97 Muslim worshipers in Christchurch, New
Zealand (NZ), which took place on Friday, March 15, 2019, has profound political,
ideological, and psychological roots.

First and most important, Western countries led by the Anglo-American world has
been at war killing and uprooting millions of Muslims with impunity over the past thirty
years. Leading media pundits,political spokespeople and ideologues have identified
Muslims as a global terror threat and the targets of a ‘war against terror’. On the very
day of the NZ massacre, Israel launched large-scale air attacks on one hundred targets in
Gaza. Israel has killed several hundred and wounded over twenty thousand unarmed
Palestinians in less than two years. The Israeli massacres take place on Friday, the
Muslim Sabbath.

Islamophobia is a mass ongoing phenomenon which far exceeds other ‘hate
crimes’ throughout the west and permeate Judeo-Christian cultural- political institutions.
Western and Israeli political leaders having imposed extremely restrictive immigration
policies – in some countries a complete ban on Muslim immigrants. Israeli goes a step
further by uprooting and expelling long-standing Islamic residents. Clearly the NZ
murderer followed the Western/Israeli practice.

Secondly, in recent years, violent fascist and white supremacy thugs have been
tolerated by all the Western regimes and are free to propagate violent anti-Muslim words
and deeds. Most of the anti-Muslim massacres were announced in advance on the so
called social media such as Twitter, which reaches millions of followers.
Thirdly, while the local and federal police collect ‘data’ and spy on Muslims and
law-abiding citizens, they apparently fail to include self-identified murderous anti
Muslim advocates.

Such as the case in the recent New Zealand mass murderer, Brenton Torrant.
The police and NZ Security Intelligence Services did not keep files and
surveillance on Torrant, despite his open embrace of violent white supremacy and
leading supremacists including the Norwegian Anders Brevet murderer of over 70
children-campers.

Torrant published a 74 page anti-Muslim manifesto easily available to anyone
with a computer – even a dumb cop-- let along the entire New Zealand security forces.
Torrant planned the attack months in advance, yet he was not on any ‘watch list’.
Torrant had no trouble getting a gun license and buying a dozen high-powered
weapons, including the material for improvised explosive devices (IED), which the police
later discovered attached to a vehicle.

Why were the Police Late?

Al-Noor Mosque which suffered the greatest number killed and wounded was
in downtown Christchurch less than 5 minutes from the police headquarters – yet the
police took over 36 minutes to respond. The white supremacist was allowed time to
murder and maim; to leave the mosque and return to his car; reload and re-enter the
mosque; empty his ammo on the Muslims worshipping---- using a civilian version of a
M16; drive off to the Linwood Islamic Center and slaughter and maim several more
Muslim worshipers, before the police finally appeared on the scene and apprehended him.
The mayor praised the police! One might suspect the authorities were in
connivance!

What accounts for the total absence or failure of the political authorities and
security forces: the lack of prior investigation; the delays at the time of the crimes; and
the lack of any self-criticism?

The Rise of the Anti-Immigrant, anti-Muslim Far Right

The Brenton Torrants’ are proliferating around the world and not because they
are mentally disturbed or self-induced psycho paths. They are less products of white
supremacy ideology and more likely products of the Western and Israeli wars against
Muslims – their leaders provide the rationale, their methods (weapons) and claims of
immunity.

Western regimee keep files on environmentalist and anti-war protestors but not on
anti-Muslim supremacists, openly preparing war against ‘invading’ Muslim immigrants
– fleeing US and EU war on the Middle East.

The police take a half-minute to respond to the shooting of a police officer. They
do not allow police killers to shoot, re-arm, shoot and move on to another police target.
I do not believe the delays are local police negligence.

The massacre was a result of the fact that the victims were Muslims, in a mosque.
The tears and wreaths, the prayers and flags after the fact do not and will not change the
murder of Muslim people.

Educational campaigns to counter Islamophobia may help, if and only if effective
state action is directed against the Western and Israeli wars against Islamic countries and
people.

Only when Western elected officials end imposing special restrictions against so
called ‘invading’ Muslims, will ‘White supremacists’ and their ideological offspring
cease recruiting followers among otherwise normal citizens.

Massacres at mosques and crimes against individual Muslims will cease to occur
when imperialist states and their rulers stop invading, occupying and uprooting Islamic
countries and people.

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