Trial of Rushdie attacker should make Trump rethink yanking protection from Pompeo
New York PostFEB 8
Trial Begins for Salman Rushdie Attacker
Above: Salman Rushdie, author, during the Cliveden Literary Festival 2024 at Cliveden House on Sept. 21, 2024, in Windsor, England. Image copyright: David Levenson/Contributor/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
The Facts
The trial of Hadi Matar, 27, charged with attempting to murder author Salman Rushdie, began on Monday at the Chautauqua County Courthouse in Mayville, NY, where Matar was heard saying "free Palestine" as he entered the courtroom.
Prosecutor Jason Schmidt said Matar rushed onto the stage during an event at the Chautauqua Institution in August 2022 and stabbed Rushdie "over and over again," inflicting wounds to his head, face, throat, abdomen, and thighs.
The attack left Rushdie, 77, permanently blind in one eye, with nerve damage affecting his hand, and suffering from liver injuries, requiring immediate transport to a Level 1 trauma center to save his life.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
The attack on Salman Rushdie mirrors the tactics of extremist groups and regimes against critics of their ideologies. Matar's assault, decades after Khomeini's fatwa, shows these entities' readiness to enforce silence through violence at any time and any place. While Rushdie was fortunately able to survive this attack, Western governments take this as a warning that more security is needed for high-profile critics of Islamic extremism.
Establishment-critical narrative
The attack on Rushdie is a microcosm of today's cyclical violence in the Middle East. Just as anti-Iran pundits used terror attacks to justify colonizing Palestine, and anti-Taliban pundits did so to justify invading Afghanistan, the Muslims who live in those countries use Western attacks to justify counter-attacks. People like Rushdie will never achieve peace because they never acknowledge the history of Western intervention when analyzing foreign affairs.