Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Arab Radio Podcast intro
    • Radio Baladi Detroit
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Subscribe to eNewsletter
  • Toggle search form
  • Iowa Arab American Legislator Sami Scheetz
    ‘We Can’t Stop Now’: Sami Scheetz Announces Re-Election Bid for Iowa House District 78 American Arabs
  • American Middle East groups oppose granting Visa Waiver approval to Israel Sept. 27 , 2023
    American Middle East organizations protest against granting Israel Visa Waiver approval American Arabs
  • Alderman Lopez helped the Arab Community, now the Arab community should help Ald. Lopez American Arabs
  • Bavaria non-Alcoholic
    Ziyad Brothers congratulates brewers of Bavaria non-alcoholic beer for receiving international award Business
  • ADALAH confronts racist laws
    Civil Society Organizations to the Israeli Supreme Court: Cancel the Racist Admissions Committees Law Activism
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, announced Tuesday (Sept. 19, 2023) the filing of a lawsuit with a dozen plaintiffs seeking an end to the government’s secret watchlist that almost exclusively targets Muslims for harassment and humiliation when they travel.
    CAIR Announces Lawsuit in D.C., Mass., N.J., Mich. Seeking End to Secret Government Watchlist American Arabs
  • Furquan Ahmed serves as the Wayne County Community College District’s (WCCCD) Senior Vice Chancellor and President of the Northwest Campus.
    AHRC’s Announces its 2023 “Spirit of Humanity” Gala Awardees American Arabs
  • Congresswoman Debbie Dingell Wikipedia
    Flooding slams Wayne County in Detroit Michigan: Dingell releases statement of support Michigan
  • MBC launches new satellite channel focused on Saudi Culture
    Saudis launch new Satellite TV channel dedicated to Saudi Culture Arab World
  • The names and faces of the 14 Palestinian engaged in an open hunger strike to demand freedom from administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Graphic by Samidoun. You can join Samidoun's campaign here and find useful resources.
    Palestinians mount hunger strike campaign against administrative detention Arab World
  • “A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights,” McCormick Place, August 14-18, for the largest, worldwide gathering of global, faith-based, and social change leaders. 
    Largest global interfaith gathering coming to Chicago this week Christian & Muslim
  • State rep. Cyril Nichols, Democrat, 32nd Illinois House District
    Relationship between Arab Americans and African Americans needs more balance, Black State Rep says American Arabs
  • Syropotamia Online Magazine logo
    SYROPOTAMIA online magazine launched to Illuminate Arab American Stories American Arabs
  • Detroit’s true freedom fighters, activist, trailblazer, and leader Rev. Dr. JoAnn Watson who died on July 10, 2023
    AHRC Mourns the passing of Rev. Dr. JoAnn Watson, Freedom Fighter and Detroit Icon American Arabs
  • Abed Ayoub ADC National Director (Aug. 2022)
    ADC launches Arab American Business Advisory Council American Arabs

Targeted Paris stadium symbolizes pitfalls of war against the Islamic State

Posted on November 15, 2015June 12, 2019 By James Dorsey No Comments on Targeted Paris stadium symbolizes pitfalls of war against the Islamic State
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Loading

By James M Dorsey

James M. Dorsey, author, writer, blogger
James M. Dorsey, author, writer, blogger

Zouhair, a security guard of immigrant background, was one of several security officers, who on Friday prevented three of the Paris suicide bombers from entering the city’s Stade de France stadium. The bombers were forced to blow themselves up outside the stadium and at nearby McDonald’s.

Little is publicly known about the background of Mr. Zouhair who described to The Wall Street Journal what happened at the stadium where French President Francois Hollande was among 80,000 people watching a friendly between France and Germany.

What is clear however, is that Mr. Zouhair represents a significant view among members of France’s Muslim community, even if many migrants feel side lined, marginalized and hopeless in a country that has yet to come to grips with becoming an immigration society.

ISIS photo
Photo by Libertinus

Like Ahmed Merabet, the police officer killed in Paris in January when two brothers attacked Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine that at times mocked his religion, Mr. Zouhair was standing guard for a symbol, the French national soccer team, that disillusioned Muslim youth have come to reject as not representing them.

Instead, they often support the national teams of Algeria and Morocco and in some cases of other African states. Their rejection is akin to notions among militant soccer fans in Egypt who in the past refused to support their national team because it was ousted President Hosni Mubarak rather than Egypt’s squad.

The juxtaposition of Mr. Zouhair, the security guard, and the three Muslim suicide bombers, suggests that the Stade de France was chosen as one of several targets for Friday’s attacks not simply because of the large number of people present. The juxtaposition was further thrown into sharp relief with an announcement by French midfielder Lassana Diarra that his cousin had been killed in the IS attacks while he was playing in the stadium

The targeting of the stadium fit the goals of the Islamic State (IS), which has claimed responsibility for the attacks, of polarizing communities, exacerbating social tensions, and driving the marginalized further into the margins.

Stade de France is one of ten French stadia slated to host next year’s Euro 2016, the first major international soccer tournament in France since the 1998 World Cup.

By focusing almost exclusively on stepped-up security and declaring war against the backdrop of mounting anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of the Paris attacks on an Islamist group with which France and Europe were already at war for more than a year, European leaders risk becoming the Islamic State’s unwitting helpers.

By failing to adopt social and economic policies at home that would undermine IS’s attraction to disaffected youth who feel they have little to lose, they exasperate the very divide between Mr. Zouhair and the suicide bombers that has turned the French national soccer team, a reflection of France at both its best and its worst, into a divisive symbol.

Some analysts suggest that the Paris attacks may mark IS’s beginning of the end with calls for a far more robust military confrontation of IS in Syria and Iraq. The problem is that the battlefield stretches far beyond IS’s bases in the Middle East and would not be resolved by simply defeating the jihadist group.

The struggle against what IS represents needs to be waged as much in its Syrian capital of Raqqa as  in the dismal banlieues or satellites of French cities that furnish the jihadists with the largest contingent of European foreign fighters; the populous neighbourhoods in Tunisia that account for the single largest group of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq; in Saudi Arabia, whose citizens account for the second largest number of foreign fighters and whose decades-long effort to propagate a puritan, intolerant, interpretation of Islam has been a far more important breeding ground for jihadist thinking than the writings of militant Islamist thinkers like Sayyid Qutb; and in Western capitals led by Washington who view retrograde, repressive regimes like those of Saudi Arabia and Egypt as part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

The fallout of the failure of French governments to wage war on discrimination and marginalization at home as fervently as Mr. Hollande is likely to wage war against IS in the wake of the Paris attacks is reflected in the ups and downs of the French national team. When the team made up of a majority of players with an immigrant Muslim background won the 1998 World Cup, it was feted as a model of successful French multiculturalism. The team’s success was celebrated by Frenchmen irrespective of their cultural and ethnic background.

Little was left of that success little more than a decade later when the team became an embarrassment for France during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Its players revolted, refused to train, and ultimately were denounced as having shamed France at the very moment that their German soccer rivals captured the crown of successful European multiculturalism.

In the 12 years between victory and humiliation, France witnessed its worst race riots in the heavily Muslim populated banlieues of major cities. Zinedine Zidane, widely viewed as one of his generation’s best players, was given the red card during the 2006 World Cup for head butting another player who had allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed. Last year’s celebrations in France of Algeria’s defeat of Russia in a 2018 World Cup qualifier sparked riots that prompted National Front leader Marine Le Pen to demand the reversal of a law that allows French citizens to have dual nationality.

“In this climate of terror, it is important for all of us who represent our country and its diversity to speak out and stay united in the face of a horror that has neither colour, nor religion. Let us together defend love, respect and peace,” Mr. Diarra said. His appeal is as much incumbent on Muslim leaders as it is on Mr. Hollande and European leaders in an environment of mounting Islamophobia and anti-migrant and anti-foreigner sentiment.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, a syndicated columnist, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog and a forthcoming book with the same title.

Photo by Libertinus

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
James Dorsey
Follow Me
James Dorsey
James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, co-director of the Institute of Fan Culture of the University of Würzburg and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, and a forthcoming book with the same title.
James Dorsey
Follow Me
Latest posts by James Dorsey (see all)
  • Soccer highlights domestic drivers in Saudi-Iranian dispute - January 4, 2016
  • Soccer: Iranian moderates and hardliner lock horns on the pitch - December 29, 2015
  • Trade unions test Qatari sincerity with demands for labour reform - December 20, 2015

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
Arab World, Bloggers, Commentary, Sports, Syria Tags:Daesh, France, ISIL, ISIS, Paris, sports stadium, terrorism

Post navigation

Previous Post: Paris violence: ISIS terrorists need to be stopped
Next Post: Battle of Paris: the French capitol after the ISIS terror attacks

Related Posts

  • Comic Strip: Ikhras, Kim Kardashian and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad American Arabs
  • Rabbis for Human Rights, an Israeli organization that supports Human Rights and opposes civil rights abuses and violations. Photo courtesy of Rabbis for Human Rights
    Rabbis for Human Rights protests Israel’s collective punishment Arab World
  • Balfour Declaration, Photo. Courtesy of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
    Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day American Arabs
  • Israel’s Nuclear Time-Bomb, Vanunu Humanrights #LetsTalkNukes American Arabs
  • Ramallan Morning in Chicago American Arabs
  • A Letter from Bethlehem at Christmas Arab World

More Related Articles

Are anti-Muslim, anti-Arab stereotypes driving views on Paris terrorism American Arabs
America’s #1 Arab comedian performs in suburban Detroit American Arabs
The European Dream: Being Muslim, prominent politician & European Abdennour Toumi
English: Ma'ale Efrayim Israeli settlement in the Israeli occupied West Bank (Photo credit: Wikipedia) JVP urges companies to stop supporting illegal settlements Activism
Filmmakers and production crew of Existence is Resistance making a film about abuses of Blacks in Israel. Producers examining abuse of Blacks in Israel need funding American Arabs
Palestinian Issa Kronfel standing in his store in Maracay Venezuela in the 1960s. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania Arab Radio discusses the Arabs of South America Friday 8 am EST Editors Picks

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Alderman Lopez helped the Arab Community, now the Arab community should help Ald. Lopez
    September 27, 2023
  • Ali Mohamed Ahmed Osman Charge d’Affaires Embassy Sudan Tokyo
    The RSF mutiny’s resonance in Sudan: Understanding some of its impacts on regional and global dynamics
    September 23, 2023
  • Windows at many American Arab owned stores were broken the day after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. 14 Americans who "looked' Middle Eastern were murdered in the six months after the terrorism by Americans, most of whom were never prosecuted. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Disrespecting the memory of the 2,977 murdered victims of Sept. 11, 2001 by fueling a hatred of Arabs and Muslims
    September 11, 2023
  • Magdi A. Mofadal is the ambassador of Sudan to Austria
    Factors Stalling the Peace Process in Sudan
    August 28, 2023
  • grab634.jpg
  • Ziyad-300x300FIndStore.jpg
  • NEWS
  • Iowa Arab American Legislator Sami Scheetz
    ‘We Can’t Stop Now’: Sami Scheetz Announces Re-Election Bid for Iowa House District 78
    September 27, 2023
  • American Middle East groups oppose granting Visa Waiver approval to Israel Sept. 27 , 2023
    American Middle East organizations protest against granting Israel Visa Waiver approval
    September 27, 2023
  • Alderman Lopez helped the Arab Community, now the Arab community should help Ald. Lopez
    September 27, 2023
  • Bavaria non-Alcoholic
    Ziyad Brothers congratulates brewers of Bavaria non-alcoholic beer for receiving international award
    September 22, 2023
  • NEWSWIRE
  • American Middle East groups oppose granting Visa Waiver approval to Israel Sept. 27 , 2023
    American Middle East organizations protest against granting Israel Visa Waiver approval
    September 27, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, announced Tuesday (Sept. 19, 2023) the filing of a lawsuit with a dozen plaintiffs seeking an end to the government’s secret watchlist that almost exclusively targets Muslims for harassment and humiliation when they travel.
    CAIR Announces Lawsuit in D.C., Mass., N.J., Mich. Seeking End to Secret Government Watchlist
    September 19, 2023
  • Furquan Ahmed serves as the Wayne County Community College District’s (WCCCD) Senior Vice Chancellor and President of the Northwest Campus.
    AHRC’s Announces its 2023 “Spirit of Humanity” Gala Awardees
    September 18, 2023
  • MBC launches new satellite channel focused on Saudi Culture
    Saudis launch new Satellite TV channel dedicated to Saudi Culture
    August 18, 2023

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

Events

  • Amer Zahr's 1001 Laughs Palestine Comedy Festival returns in 2023
    Amer Zahr's 1001 Laughs Palestine Comedy Festival returns in 2023
    16 Sep 23
  • Huna al Quds exhibit opens at Museum of the Palestinian People
    Huna al Quds exhibit opens at Museum of the Palestinian People
    29 Sep 23
    Washington D.C.
  • Light in Gaza: Born of Fire Upcoming Book Tour Dates for Portland & Washington State
    Light in Gaza: Born of Fire Upcoming Book Tour Dates for Portland & Washington State
    30 Sep 23
  • US Council of Muslim Organizations to hold 10th anniversary Fundraiser
    US Council of Muslim Organizations to hold 10th anniversary Fundraiser
    15 Oct 23
    Oak Brook
  • Arab American Democratic Club to host 40th Anniversary celebration Nov. 1
    Arab American Democratic Club to host 40th Anniversary celebration Nov. 1
    1 Nov 23
    Bolingbrook

POPULAR POSTS

  • AHRC’s Announces its 2023 “Spirit of Humanity” Gala Awardees AHRC’s Announces its 2023 “Spirit of Humanity” Gala Awardees The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) is pleased to announce its ... posted on September 18, 2023
  • The RSF mutiny’s resonance in Sudan: Understanding some of its impacts on regional and global dynamics The RSF mutiny's resonance in Sudan: Understanding some of its impacts on regional and global dynamics By Ali Mohamed Ahmed ... posted on September 23, 2023
  • Disrespecting the memory of the 2,977 murdered victims of Sept. 11, 2001 by fueling a hatred of Arabs and Muslims Disrespecting the memory of the 2,977 murdered victims of Sept. 11, 2001 by fueling a hatred of Arabs and Muslims ... posted on September 11, 2023
  • Arab-American influencers Furrha Family share secrets of their success Arab-American influencers Furrha Family share secrets of their success Salem Furrha and his eight children @theFurrhaFamily on TikTok and Instagram represent ... posted on February 6, 2021
  • Factors Stalling the Peace Process in Sudan Factors Stalling the Peace Process in Sudan By Magdi A. Mofadal Sudan’s partners are sounding the alarm over the deteriorating ... posted on August 28, 2023
  • Regional and International Stakes in Sudan’s Stability Regional and International Stakes in Sudan’s Stability By Magdi A. Mofadal Sudan has been grappling with the gravest catastrophe in ... posted on July 14, 2023

Recent Posts

  • ‘We Can’t Stop Now’: Sami Scheetz Announces Re-Election Bid for Iowa House District 78
  • American Middle East organizations protest against granting Israel Visa Waiver approval
  • Alderman Lopez helped the Arab Community, now the Arab community should help Ald. Lopez
  • The RSF mutiny’s resonance in Sudan: Understanding some of its impacts on regional and global dynamics
  • Ziyad Brothers congratulates brewers of Bavaria non-alcoholic beer for receiving international award
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Glory to God int he Lowest by Author Rev. Donald Wagner
    Book Review: Glory to God in the Lowest: journeys to an unholy land
    February 18, 2023
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Comedian Ahmed Ahmed at The Comedy Bar in Chicago June 9 - 11, 2023
    Comedian Ahmed Ahmed performs in Chicago June 9-11, 2023 at The Comedy Bar
    June 9, 2023
  • Ziyad Food item
    Essential recipes and ingredients during Ramadan 
    April 4, 2023
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme