Fancying himself an international statesman, Mayor Bill de Blasio last night embarked on a whirlwind trip to Paris to give comfort to the French in their hour of need after the Charlie Hebdo terrorism tragedy.
In a sudden announcement that came just hours before he was set to depart, de Blasio said he would participate in ceremonies commemorating the 17 victims of the dual terror attacks two weeks earlier.
“The mayor will stand in solidarity with our friends in Paris and across France to send the clear message that together we will fight terrorism and anti-Semitism at every turn, and that crude attempts to intimidate free expression will not succeed,” de Blasio spokesman Phil Walzak said in a statement.
The mayor was scheduled to participate in wreath-laying ceremonies at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket and the site where police officer Ahmed Merabet was shot and killed.
Before heading home, de Blasio was also going to meet with Jewish leaders and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist Party politician with whom he has developed a warm relationship. He called her shortly after the terror slaughter to offer his condolences and to express New York’s sympathies.
The mayor was accompanied by three aides — Walzak, Penny Abeywardena of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs and Avi Fink, his adviser on Jewish issues.
The group traveled on commercial aircraft. City Hall declined to comment on the costs, but said the city would be picking up the tab.
De Blasio’s visit came after the White House was sharply criticized for not sending a high-level official to represent the United States at an anti-terror march in Paris that drew more than a million people.
In related developments:
- French intelligence officials flubbed an earlier case against Cherif Kouachi, one of the Charlie Hebdo attackers, when they stopped watching him once he started selling fake sports gear — figuring the young jihadist had given up his terrorism career, a source told CNN. But he was buying weapons with the money he pocketed, the source said.
- Police in Greece said a 33-year-old Algerian was arrested in connection with the Belgian terrorist cell that wanted to target cops.
- A lawyer for one of the suspects arrested during the raid in Belgium claims his client, Marouane El Bali, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- EU foreign ministers met Monday in Brussels and called for Muslim countries like Yemen to join them in the fight against jihadists.
- Hundreds of thousands of Muslims packed a central square in Russia to rally against Charlie Hebdo cartoons, which a Chechen leader called “immoral.” And hundreds of Afghans demonstrated by burning a French flag.