Meet the Charlie Hebdo Truthers. Here Are Their Bizarre Conspiracy Theories.

Not again.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/piaser/16228420881/in/photolist-qJ3U92-qr1Fu7-qFYn4b-qFsr6u-qJ5HBg-pM375R-pM1gBk-qrjEAg-qFusVs-qHADVW-pMrDUB-qHH5SN-qrdokU-qrmVua-qrDHdJ-qrg5Aj-qrmUV4-qHTWFq-qHAgec-qrcazX-qraQPo-qHH8W3-qHvAn3-qrLuxv-qrKCgt-qrknjc-qrmTGT-qJmEeB-pM1i12-qFuuRS-qrg68b-6ovpvH-h5mjM-qG4Xvs-qrhu2s-qJhwvA-qrMDQ5-pMrNWp-6ozzEy-qFuDCE-pMtNNV-jKETTW-5M1oTr-qHJUUB-qFVxcy-qJ4mbx-qrjh2v-qHJwDq-qHKZJW-8ph6dm">Gweneal Piaser</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The available evidence suggests the attackers who killed 12 people and wounded 4 more at the French weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday targeted the magazine because of its history of publishing cartoons about Islam and Muslims. But which radical group, if any, the killers might belong to is unclear: Some reports claim the gunmen shouted their allegiance to “Al Qaeda in Yemen” during the attack; others claim that a Charlie Hebdo tweet mocking ISIS’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, suggests that the Islamic State must have been involved.

Unsatisfied by these explanations, some people are digging deeper, asking who really was to blame for the bloodshed. Here’s a rundown of some of the strangest theories:

Israel
The likelihood that an Islamic terror group is responsible hasn’t stopped some people from suggesting that Israel is somehow responsible. The International Business Times India published this piece blaming the Israeli spy agency Mossad:

Although there is no way to verify the claims that Mossad was involved, the backdrop in which the attack took place seems to indicate that they might be involved, many conspiracy theorists have noted. Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection and has undertaken many covert operations for Israel in Europe that aim to further their Jewish cause.

The site has since taken the article down, saying it “should never have been published.” Meanwhile, even less-reputable voices, like that of Kevin Barrett (“the world’s leading Muslim 9/11 truth activist”), alleges the attack was an Israeli “false flag.”

President Barack Obama
As if on cue, American conservatives began figuring out ways to somehow blame President Obama for the attacks. Rush Limbaugh claimed that Obama’s proclamation in his 2012 United Nations speech following the Benghazi attacks—”the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam”—emboldened the Paris attackers. “You have the president of the United States rationalizing barbaric behavior,” Limbaugh said. “These actions have consequences.”

US Intelligence
Russian website Lifenews.ru ran an interview with a political analyst named Alexei Martynov, who suggested the militants were “the US intelligence services.” Claiming the notion that the Muhammad cartoons motivated the attack “looks funny,” Martynov said, “I am sure that American ‘curators’ are behind the events in Paris, behind those Islamists, in one way or another. The US is conveniently wreaking havoc in Europe with the goal of muzzling the common sense voices that are calling to restore cooperation with Russia.”

France
Some people are even blaming France itself—mainly for allowing Muslim immigration. In America, Laura Ingraham warned that “the principle of multiculturalism and open borders…is pure insanity, a suicide pact,” and Fox’s Eric Bolling said France’s immigration policy “breeds this type of extremism.”

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate