Israel Matzav

Charlie Hebdo terrorists order female cartoonist to convert or die, @NYTimes deletes account, cartoonist denies saying it

Yet another instance of the New York Times not wanting to offend 'Muslim sensibilities'? An account in the newspaper from one of the persons present at the Charlie Hebdo editorial meeting that was attacked includes this threat from the terrorists:

This morning, BenK at Ace of Spades quoted an NYT story by Liz Alderman titled “Survivors Retrace a Scene of Horror at Charlie Hebdo.” Take note of these two paragraphs from that story:

Sigolène Vinson, a freelancer who had decided to come in that morning to take part in the meeting, thought she would be killed when one of the men approached her.

Instead, she told French news media, the man said, “I’m not going to kill you because you’re a woman, we don’t kill women, but you must convert to Islam, read the Quran and cover yourself,” she recalled.

But if you read Alderman's story in the Times (Hat Tip: Memeorandum), you won't find that quote anymore. First, the Times dropped the quote.

Here’s what it says now:

Sigolène Vinson, a freelance journalist who had come in that morning to take part in the meeting, said that when the shooting started, she thought she would be killed.

Ms. Vinson said in an interview that she dropped to the floor and crawled down the hall to hide behind a partition, but one of the gunmen spotted her and grabbed her by the arm, pointing his gun at her head. Instead of pulling the trigger, though, he told her she would not be killed because she was a woman.

“Don’t be afraid, calm down, I won’t kill you,” the gunman told her in a steady voice, with a calm look in his eyes, she recalled. “You are a woman. But think about what you’re doing. It’s not right.” 

Then, when the Daily Caller called them on it, the Times added this:

Sigolène Vinson, a freelance journalist who had come in that morning to take part in the meeting, said that when the shooting started, she thought she would be killed. Ms. Vinson said in an interview that she dropped to the floor and crawled down the hall to hide behind a partition, but one of the gunmen spotted her and grabbed her by the arm, pointing his gun at her head. Instead of pulling the trigger, though, he told her she would not be killed because she was a woman.

She disputed a quotation attributed to her and carried on the website of the French radio service RFI stating that the gunman had told her she should convert to Islam, read the Quran and cover herself. Instead, she told The New York Times in an interview, the gunman told her: “Don’t be afraid, calm down, I won’t kill you.” He spoke in a steady voice, she said, with a calm look in his eyes, saying: “ ‘You are a woman. But think about what you’re doing. It’s not right.’ ” Then she said he turned to his partner, who was still shooting, and shouted: “We don’t shoot women! We don’t shoot women! We don’t shoot women!”

Who pressured Ms. Vinson to change her story? Inquiring minds want to know. The only listed correction to the article is this:

Correction: January 8, 2015

An earlier version of the list of contributors to this article misspelled the surname of one. She is Karine Granier-Deferre, not Granier-Denfert.

Hmmm. If we're afraid to even identify the enemy, how can we fight it? Waiting for the French reporter to come up with a tape of his/her interview or their original notes.

Labels: Charlie Hebdo, feckless French, France, Islamic terrorism, Islamophobia, New York Times

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:16 PM