Washington – The White House and State Department struggled Tuesday to clarify President Barack Obama’s suggestion that last month’s deadly shooting at a kosher deli in Paris was random, despite the administration’s earlier assertions that the attack was anti-Semitic.
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Obama, in describing terror threats during a lengthy interview with the online news site Vox, said the American people were right to be concerned “when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
Administration officials at first defended Obama’s comments, with White House spokesman Josh Earnest saying that while the administration was aware of the “motivation” of the gunman, the president was making the point that those killed in the deli “were not targeted by name.”
“There were people other than just Jews who were in that deli,” Earnest said.
His comments were echoed by State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who noted that the four victims of the attack were not all from one background of nationality. She also declined to say whether the attacks were anti-Semitic, deferring to the French government, which has used that language.
Administration critics quickly challenged that explanation, saying Obama was ignoring the gunman’s motivations.
“French President Francois Hollande has consistently called the January shooting at the Kosher Deli in Paris an ‘appalling anti-Semitic attack,’ so why can’t the administration do so, too?” Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said. “The administration’s inability to speak consistently and clearly about Islamic terror threats reflects not only muddled thinking, but also muddled policies.”
Matt Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said the statements by Obama and his advisers “send the wrong message to both the Jewish community and the terrorists who are responsible for these heinous acts.”
Soon, the administration’s spokespeople were taking to Twitter to try to clean up their earlier explanations.
Earnest wrote that the administration’s view “has not changed. Terror attack at Paris Kosher market was motivated by anti-Semitism.” And Psaki wrote, “We have always been clear that the attack on the kosher grocery store was an anti-Semitic attack that took the lives of innocent people.”
The administration’s clunky handling of Obama’s comments comes on top of earlier criticisms of the president’s response to the France attacks.
In the days after the attacks, the White House acknowledged that it erred in not sending a high-level official to attend an anti-terror rally in Paris. While the leaders of nations including Israel, Britain and Germany attended the event, the U.S. was represented by its ambassador to France.
Obama has also faced criticism for not calling the perpetrators of the attacks Islamic extremists, which is how they have been described by some French officials and British Prime Minister David Cameron. The White House has said it avoids using that term because it does not want to give legitimacy to the notion that the attackers were acting on behalf of their religious beliefs.
What a fool this man is. Can’t even call it Muslim terrorism. The only random thing with this guy is , is how he became president. I mean of all the community activists out there this guy has to become president ???
what do you want? the yidden voted for him,yidden never passed up a program they didnt like,
look how they voted Blazio in too,
Obama is related to these Muslims, so what do you expect of Obama?
Obama is Muslim, himself;
You expect Obama to say that the Terrorists were Muslims? ?????
There should be no doubt that Obama has some screws loose by now. An anti semite he is and will always be.Where were the reporters in the U.S.A.when he ran for election ? WHY didn’t we hear strongly about his past education and allegiance to the muslim creed ?Didn’t anyone take notice of his character flaws?.Where is congress now to stop him before its too late?
Why all the fuss and commotion!
There are Jews also who view this as a terrorist attack on humanity without having to label the ethnic background of the victims, as there were also other victims in the Charlie Hebdo massacre who were not Jewish. Especially in light of the fact that IsIS is slaughtering it’s own people of Muslim descent, Obama is just making a general statement about fanatical terrorism, even though it just so happens that all terrorists are Muslims, unless murderers are also labeled as terrorists.
This bum in the WH has a pattern he called the butcher terrorists in Har Nof “attackers”, It all has people believe he is on the side of the terrorists.
I remember when the KKK lynched random citizens, who were “impacted.”
I won’t sleep until this nightmare administration is over. It makes me sick how many Jews support this rabid anti-Semite, citing his record of Israeli support. Really? Nothing he has done was to support Israel unless there was a clear benefit to America
This is what happens when ALL parasites on welfare can vote and vote for hybrid Muslim anti-Semite Communist.
We will see in a few weeks where he is really going. For now I give him the benefit of doubt.
He may be sending messages to the enemy.
Meanwhile hashem never let’s us down.
We have new world leaders who are “normal” coming from places we didn’t expect.
He’s worse than Jimmy Carter. He is by far the worse president we have ever had and hopefully will ever have.
Can anyone deny a connection between obama’s refusal to show up at the Paris peace rally in memory of the (mostly Jewish) victims, and his refusal to call this an anti Semitic terror attack, and his inability and refusal to use the term Islamic terror–ever? This Muslim born president has a clear agenda and is clearly anti Jewish!
A must listen to, Mark Levin yesterdays podcast playback.
I guess none of the dead Jews in Paris looked looked like they could be his son.
Don’t you see the irony here. The Obama administration has troubling saying “kosher.” They’re merely emulating the question of Kashrus.