On September 26, a Pakistani-born teenager injured two people with a meat cleaver outside of the former Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. And on Friday, a French history teacher was decapitated after receiving threats for showing students cartoons of Mohammad in the context of a discussion of freedom of speech. France’s President Emmanuel Macron, shortly before the beheading, had given a forceful speech about the dangers of Islamism to French society. Praising his words, Ayaan Hirsi Ali urges Macron to put his money where his mouth is:

In his speech, Macron . . . said that the “challenge is to fight against those who go off the rails in the name of religion . . . while protecting those who believe in Islam and are full citizens of the republic.” If he really means this, perhaps he could provide security and support to those French Muslims courageously speaking out against radical Islam? . . . In the effort to combat the extremists, it is vital to distinguish the Muslims pushing for real change from the Islamists with silver tongues. A great many French Muslims are fighting against the Islamists, and Macron could do far more to support them.

French law [already] allows the government to reject naturalization requests on grounds of “lack of assimilation, other than linguistic.” So in the spirit of this law, Macron should start to repatriate asylum-seekers who engage in violence or the incitement of violence—particularly against women.

In foreign policy, he could tackle the ideological extremism that is disseminated by the governments of Qatar and Turkey—among others—through their support of Islamists. . . . He could take a much stronger stand against the Iranian regime—bilaterally as well as at the EU level—for its hostile activities on European soil, its vicious cruelty towards its own population, and its efforts to export revolutionary Islamism throughout the Middle East. This would also mean further strengthening France’s ties to Israel, the UAE, and Egypt and demanding that Saudi Arabia stop funding Wahhabi extremists abroad.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.