Boris Johnson slammed for saying Muslims ‘weren’t exactly angels’ in unearthed article
The Prime Minister has been slammed for an article he wrote more than 20 years ago about the Srebrenica genocide.
Boris Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph in 1997: ‘All right, I say, the fate of the Srebrenica was appalling. But they weren’t exactly angels, these Muslims.’
The comment was penned as part of a response to Nicaraguan actress and human rights activist Bianca Jagger, who wrote an essay accusing Western countries of collaborating in Bosnian Serb atrocities against Muslims.
He also said: ‘Sometimes there are causes where there is no room for cynicism, and where frankly it is immaterial how much she is driven by moral outrage and how much by the desire to burnish her halo.
‘She is on the trail of an infamy that is in danger of being forgotten.
‘It is two years after what appears to have been the worst massacre on European soil since the Third Reich.’
Mr Johnson later added: ‘But what could the West really have done? Fought hand to hand with the glass-eating hordes of Serbia? This wasn’t our war, I suggest. Like all Bosnia hawks she believes it could have been done from the air.’
The Srebrenica genocide saw the mass killings of more than 8,000 Bosniaks – the majority of whom were Muslim by religion – in a town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 1995 during the Bosnian War.
The massacre is considered the worst episode of mass murder in Europe since the Second World War and as well as the killings, more than 20,000 civilians were expelled from the area.
It took place after Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladić strolled through Srebrenica on July 11 and, in a statement recorded on film by a Serb journalist, said: ‘We give this town to the Serb nation… The time has come to take revenge on the Muslims.’
A number of Bosniaks attempted to flee the area but Bosnian Serb officers used UN equipment and made false promises of security to encourage the men to surrender, says Encyclopedia Britannnica.
Thousands gave themselves up or were captured, and many were subsequently executed in horrific ‘ethnic cleansing’. Some victims were as young as 12.
Other Bosniaks were forced out through the use of terror, including individual murders and rapes committed by Bosnian Serb forces. The women, children, and elderly were placed aboard buses and driven to Bosniak-held territory.
Mr Johnson’s article, dug out by investigative journalist Iggy Ostanin, has caused huge debate on both sides.
Miqdaad Versi, spokesperson for the Muslim Council, tweeted: ‘Appalling by our Prime Minister.
‘After the Srebrenica genocide in 1995, where thousands of Bosnian Muslims were massacred, Boris Johnson said (two years later): “But they weren’t exactly angels, these Muslims.”
‘This is truly unacceptable.’
Patrick Maynard-Smith wrote: ‘No, Boris, they weren’t angels they were fellow human beings.’
Cledwyn tweeted: ‘The last genocide on European soil and Johnson is blaming the victims. No spine, no leadership.’
Others have defended Mr Johnson, claiming the comment is ‘in context’ with the article.
JerBear wrote: ‘In the context of the article, he’s making devils advocate arguments to Jagger. This is the equivalent of misunderstanding sarcasm, and ought to be removed.’
Another Twitter user, Lainey60, said: ‘That was 23 years ago. I’d like to think we’re all allowed to hone our opinions as we get older and wiser. But keep stirring. It will so help all of us in our country right now and that’s obviously your aim.’
Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
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