Brother of Toulouse Killer: Incitement Matters
Abdelghani Merah, whose brother murdered Jewish children in Toulouse, speaks out against anti-Semitism.
CAMERA has long pointed out that anti-Jewish and anti-Israel incitement, a phenomenon often ignored or downplayed in the Western media, helps fuel continued violence and prevents a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
If you’re not sure incitement matters, ask Abdelghani Merah. His younger brother, Mohammed Merah, murdered three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three soldiers in and near the French city of Toulouse. Abdelghani wants to make sure people to know why this happened.
France 24 reports:
Mohammed Merah, the gunman who shot and killed a rabbi, three Jewish children and three paratroopers in the southwestern French city of Toulouse in March 2012, grew up surrounded by racial hatred and anti-semitism, according to a book written by his older brother.
“I will explain how my parents raised [Mohammed] in an atmosphere of racism and hate before the Salafis [ultraconservative Muslims] could douse [him] in religious extremism,” 36-year-old Abdelghani Merah wrote in his book “My brother, the terrorist,” due out on Wednesday.
“I am furious with my parents for bringing him up in violence and intolerance, with my sister Souad who applauded his fundamentalist delusions, with my brother Abdelkader who actively encouraged him,” he wrote. …
Entire Merah family responsible
At the opening of Sunday’s broadcast Abdelghani said: “My mother always said ‘we, the Arabs, we were born to hate Jews’. I heard this speech throughout my childhood.”
In 2003, Abdelghani was stabbed by his younger brother Abdelkader because he had started a relationship with a woman with Jewish family connections. Abdelkader is the only person to have been arrested in connection with the March killings. He is accused of directly helping 23-year-old Mohammed plan and carry out the murders.
But according to Abdelghani, the entire Merah family bears responsibility for a crime that shocked France and lifted the veil on simmering anti-semitism within France’s large Muslim community.
“I am furious with my maternal uncles … who ceaselessly propagated hatred, racism and anti-semitism in front of us from a very young age,” he writes in his book.
According to the Los Angeles Times, when guests at Mohammed’s funeral praised his actions, Abdelghani stormed out shouting, “My brother is not a hero! He’s a vulgar assassin!”
More from SNAPSHOTS
Double Standards: Boycotts and Discrimination in MassLive
May 16, 2025
Anti-Israel activists, including Harvard University’s Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor, seem to struggle with the concept of “discrimination.” Quoted in a May 14 MassLive article, “Harvard ‘failed to respond’ to 450 discrimination complaints. Staff hand-delivered [...]
Swarthmore Students Are Learning: It Was Never About Palestinian Rights
May 14, 2025
Students at Swarthmore College are so close to understanding the conflict. An article in the Swarthmore Phoenix details the frustrations of student activists with the college’s Students for Justice in Palestine. The gist of their criticism is [...]
AFP Arabic Stops Mislabeling Northern Israeli Communities ‘Settlements”
August 10, 2021
A view of Metulla, northern Israel (Photo by Hadar Sela)After failing to set the record straight last May when Agence France Presse's Arabic service repeatedly referred to Jewish communities in northern Israel as "settlements," the [...]
NY Times Praises Ilhan Omar’s Book While Glossing Over Her Antisemitism
August 19, 2020
A recent New York Times book review boosts Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) autobiography while glossing over her antisemitism. In the paper’s Aug. 16, 2020 edition, NYT reporter Christina Cauterucci writes: The memoir offers breathing room [...]
When TV Interviews of Ilhan Omar Constitute Journalistic Malpractice
August 11, 2020
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) documented animosity toward Jews and Israel was ignored in recent interviews by MSNBC and C-SPAN. MSNBC’s The Beat for July 23, 2020 included host Ari Melber’s 10-minute conversation at 6:16 [...]
Boston TV Station WCVB Teamed Up With Terrorist Supporter CAIR
July 7, 2020
WCVB-TV (channel 5) (Boston’s ABC network affiliate) recently misled area viewers about a matter involving antisemitic propaganda. This occurred on its local Sunday show Cityline hosted by Karen Holmes Ward who is described by the [...]
Harper’s Magazine Echoed Palestinian Propaganda Condemning Israel And America
June 2, 2020
Writing in Harper's, Kevin Baker condemns the U.S. Middle East peace plan [“The Striking Gesture,” Easy Chair, May 2020], mischaracterizing it as, “Give up all your [Palestinian] hopes and your holiest places, embark on a [...]