Charlie Hebdo cartoonist against Islamophobia, bombing Syria

This video from the USA says about itself:

Peaceful Mosques Terrorized By Right Wing Extremists

16 November 2015

After the shootings and terrorism in Paris there’s been an outpouring of support in the US for our friends in France. However, there have also been some not so pleasant responses that have led to terroristic threats on mosques.

Dutch cartoonist Willem Holtrop lives in France. He draws for Charlie Hebdo weekly, and is one of the survivors of the bloody attack on its office.

Translated from an interview with him, today by Dutch NOS TV:

He doubts strongly that it [the violence] has to do with religion. He has firsthand experience of how ordinary Muslims suffer from the radicalism of a minority. … “Normal Muslims say those guys have not understood anything about Islam. They are in trouble, they are continually asked to justify themselves. ‘This is not us’. Of course it is not them. They feel increasingly like being suspected. I feel very sorry for those people.”

“Among us on the island [in Brittany where Holtrop lives] lives a builder who has the same name as one of those killers,” he continues. “He has had enough of seeing his name constantly on television. They can believe whatever they want, but they should not kill us. The ordinary Arab grocer around the corner is a friend.” …

He had his doubts when French President Hollande immediately uttered the word war and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte followed him in that. “I think that’s a strong word. And then immediately bombing Syria, I do not really like that. Half of the victims are usually innocent people. It just makes more evil people in the world. You cannot bomb the inspiration for terrorism away.”