Anti-sociologisme, Zionism, and Islamophobia in Philippe Val’s Charlie Hebdo

Abstract

In this article, I examine Charlie Hebdo, under the editorship of Philippe Val from 1994 to 2005, and how it reported on themes related to Islam and Muslims, both in France and abroad, particularly in relation to the satanic breasts controversy and the Hebron massacre in 1994, the Kosovo war, 9/11, and the 2005 banlieues riots in France. I argue that despite the plurality of voices within the magazine, Val succeeded through his editorial line to establish and promote a link between antisemitism and Muslims and produce a narrative that harbours Islamophobia. By conflating Arabs and Muslims, pro-Palestinianism and postcolonialism, and by arguing that anti-Semitism is inherent in Islam, Val sowed the first seeds of Islamophobia in Charlie Hebdo’s editorial line as early as 1994. This reached its culmination first in 9/11 then in the Mohamed caricatures, and has consistently and irreversibly continued to shape the magazine’s ethos.