Quebec mosque attack suspect liked

Trump, Israeli army, French far-right

A screenshot from Bissonnettes Facebook page shows he liked

the official account of the Israeli army.

Ali Abunimah-30 January 2017

This post is being updated as new information is available.

Social media postings by the suspect in the shooting attack
that killed six persons and injured 19 at a Quebec City mosque on
Sunday evening indicate he was a fan of US President Donald
Trump, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the Israeli army and
other far-right groups.
Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, was arrested as a suspect in the
slayings several miles from the mosque, after he called police
himself, the newspaper Le Soleil reported.
Pro-Israel, pro-Trump
Bissonnette studied political science at the University of Laval.
Jean-Michel Allard-Prus, a fellow student, told Le Journal de
Quebec that he often talked politics with Bissonnette.
He has political ideas on the right, pro-Israel, anti-immigration,
Allard-Prus said. I had a number of debates with him about
Trump. He was obviously pro-Trump.
Initially, police said there were two suspects and media named
the other as Mohamed Khadir, reportedly in his 30s. He was
detained near the mosque minutes after the shootings that took
place when the building was packed for evening prayers.
But in breaking development on Monday, Quebec police said only
one of the men was a suspected shooter and the other was a

witness. Quebec media reported that Bissonnette is the suspected

shooter.
The victims of the attack were not immediately named, but their
nationalities were reported to be two Algerians, one Moroccan,
one Tunisian and two citizens of other states in Africa.
Khaled Belkacemi (University of Laval)

Some of the victims were later identified by

media. They include Khaled Belkacemi, a professor of agriculture
at the University of Laval, pharmacist Aboubaker Thabti and
Ezzedine Soufiane, who owned a grocery store near the mosque.
Thabti had emigrated to Quebec from Tunisia in 2012 with his wife
and three young children.
Bissonnette was reportedly a student at Quebec Citys Laval
University, and was previously unknown to police.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the shooting
as a terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and
refuge.

Well-wishers have left floral tributes and gathered near the

mosque:

View image on Twitter

Follow
Camille Simard @camillesimard

Des fleurs dposes devant la Mosque en hommage aux

victimes #fusillade #MosqueeSteFoy #rcqc
11:43 AM - 30 Jan 2017
1616 Retweets
99 likes
Far-right affinity?
Quebec media have pointed to the Facebook page of Bissonnette.
The Facebook page became inaccessible some time after The
Electronic Intifada made copies of it.
The Facebook page showed that Bissonnette has liked a number
of political figures and entities which, if taken as signs of his
views, may indicate far-right leanings.

A screenshot of Bissonnettes Facebook page shows he liked farright leaders Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen.
His likes include the official Facebook pages of Trump, Le Pen,
the Israel Defence Forces and a group called United with
Israel.
He liked Richard Dawkins, a leading proponent of new
atheism, which often veers into strident Islamophobia.
Bissonnette also liked the nationalist Parti Qubcois which ran
a losing general election campaign in 2014 on a Charter of
Values that was widely seen as promoting intolerance of
Muslims. The party has strongly condemned the attack.

Most of the postings on his personal page showed Bissonnette

engaging in mundane activities, including fishing and enjoying
cheese pairings.
But the Quebec publication La Presse reported that Bissonnette
was known as a troll to members of a Facebook group called
Bienvenue aux rfugis Welcome to Refugees.
According to the groups administrator, Bissonnette often posted
comments attacking foreigners in general and feminists, who he
termed feminazis.
Downplaying motives?
Meanwhile, the far-right outlet Fox News initially focused on
Khadir about whom next to nothing was known except his name
and his reported Moroccan ancestry. It later updated its story, but
only after disseminating the ultimately false impression that a
Muslim man had been the shooter.
This follows a familiar pattern of downplaying threats of right-wing
violence and the possible political motives of suspected attackers
when they are not of Arab ancestry or Muslim.
It ultimately turned out that Khadir is not a suspect at all.
Posted by Thavam