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Artist News
Bataclan survivor writes response to Jesse Hughes
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 26 May 2016
A survivor of the attack on the Bataclan theatre in Paris last November, Ismael El Iraki, has written a response to recent comments made by Eagles Of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes.
As previously reported, Hughes was interviewed by a right wing website last week about the attack in which 90 members of the audience at an Eagles Of Death Metal show in the Parisian venue were killed. Despite having previously apologised for comments accusing the venue’s security guards of having prior knowledge of the attack, he reiterated those claims again, saying that he was sure at least some of the attackers were in the venue earlier in the day.
He told the website he had noticed a security guard, who he claims he later realised was one of the attackers, staring at a friend earlier in the day. At the time, he said, he “just chalked it up to Arab envy”, adding that he believes “when a Muslim sees a cocky American dude with tattoos, he stares at him”.
Writing his response, El Iraki said: “So you say the security crew was in on it and was warning every Arab they saw … I happen to be an Arab and to look very much like one. I got a big black curly beard and the skin tone to match it. I also happen to live and breathe rock n roll”.
“I could not look more Muslim if I tried”, he continued. “But apparently, the big bad Muslim conspiracy missed me. Damn, they forgot to warn me. They also forgot to warn Djamila, and all the other Arabs who got shot and killed that very night. They forgot to warn my fellow Moroccan Amin, who was shot that very night. Apparently, a few weeks later, they also forgot to warn Leila, another fellow Moroccan, who got killed in the Ouagadougou attack. Silly international Muslim conspiracy. They really cannot do any job well”.
“You say Islam is the problem”, he wrote. “I say: All you fucking bigots and your fairytale shit stories are the problem. Racism and refusal to recognise one another as complex human beings is the problem. Reducing others to what you think you know is the problem”.
“You saw those guys”, he concluded. “Those marble-eye, brainwashed, horrible assassin motherfuckers were unable to even recognise a fellow human face. Dude, don’t be like that. Just don’t. Don’t imagine that you are facing that awful fundamentalist deathwave alone. Because this is the world we live in now, and we’re all in this shit together. Muslims and Arabs are caught up in it with you, they face dying a random, stupid death like you”.
Read Ismael El Iraki’s full letter to Jesse Hughes here.
