The recent made up story by a French teacher claiming attack by “ISIS jihadists” is not an isolated or first incident of fabricated lies; several hoax ISIS attacks and threats have been reported from across Europe
Tazeen Hasan | Caravan Daily
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] French teacher who claimed to have been stabbed in the throat and abdomen by “ISIS jihadists,” later admitted making up the false story. The 45-year-old teacher has been hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries. The motives of the fabrication apparently seem to accelerate already rampant xenophobia and anti-refugee sentiments across the Europe. Police said they are trying to interview him regarding the motives behind the fabrication, the prosecutor told CNN.
According to details, a 45-year-old Paris school teacher who was teaching in Aubervilliers neighborhood for 20 years claimed he was stabbed in his classroom by an ISIS supporter shouting that the attack “was for Daesh (Arabic name of ISIS),” and saying, “this is only the beginning.”
The top government official for the Seine-St.-Denis administrative department, Philippe Galli, told reporters that the attacker had entered the preschool around 7:10 a.m. and had attacked the teacher in his classroom with the box cutter and a pair of scissors that he had found on the school premises. The teacher had said that no children or other members of staff had been present at the time, Galli said.
The news of the attacks terrorized the French capital, already traumatized after November 13 terror attacks that claimed 130 lives last month, widely accepted as ISIS instigated attacks. Police and security forces swarmed the Parisian suburb and a terrorist hunt began. However, police raised questions after preliminary investigations regarding the story as the security was already tightened and the response was swift in the area after last month’s attacks. Moreover, the school guard said he did not see any possible attacker and no other witness attested teacher’s account. The teacher admitted within hours of investigations that he was lying but has not been charged for the hate crime he has admitted.
French schools have imposed extreme security measures since Charlie Hebdu attacks in January this year, with doors locked, identity checks for visitors and periodic bag searches. Families are not permitted to linger near schools’ entrances, and children are not allowed to wait outside for the doors to open.
This false attack story, if it would have been believed could act as a catalyst accelerating Islamophobia and hatred against Muslims in the west. But media who hastened to publish ISIS attack story is tight-lipped after it was found that the story was fake and no questions have been raised about the motives behind this fabrication.
However, this is not the first time that ISIS impersonators, hoaxer or self-wounded victims of hate crimes and terrorism have reported false stories to the police. In April 2015, Jason Paul Smith, 42 impersonated as Abdul Yasin threatened to blow statue of liberty which resulted in the evacuation of 3200 tourists from the popular tourist destination. In May 2015, a Florida Jew, Joshua Ryne Goldberg was arrested impersonating as an ISIS Jihadist over internet conveying information about making Boston Marathon style bombs and instigating the attacks on 9/11 memorial exhibition in Kansas city. In 2004, a Jewish lady lied about being attacked by North African Arabs and later when surveillance camera’s and witnesses did not attest her story, admitted blatantly that she was lying.
As for the French teacher stabbing hoax, it is important to note that the teacher has not been charged with the hate crime he admitted and for some unknown reason, his name has not been released. Paris attacks last month whipped up an anti-refugee atmosphere in Europe especially in France as the heinous attacks that claimed 130 lives were believed to be carried out by ISIS
Tazeen Hasan is a journalist based in Alberta, Canada
