The man’s motive couldn’t possibly be clearer. Salman Rushdie has had a death fatwa over his head since 1989. This is just more willful ignorance, a refusal to confront the ugly realities of jihad violence.
“Salman Rushdie is attacked onstage in Western New York,” by Jay Root, David Gelles, Elizabeth A. Harris and Julia Jacobs, New York Times, August 12, 2022:
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding after the leadership of Iran called for his death following the publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses.” But in recent years, declaring “Oh, I have to live my life,” he re-entered society, regularly appearing in public around New York City without evident security.
On Friday morning, any sense that threats to his life were a thing of the past was dispelled when an attacker rushed the stage of Chautauqua Institution here in Western New York, where Mr. Rushdie was scheduled to give a talk about the United States as a safe haven for exiled writers. The assailant stabbed Mr. Rushdie, 75, in the abdomen and the neck, the police and witnesses said, straining to continue the attack even as several people held him back….
Major Eugene J. Staniszewski of the New York State Police identified the suspect in the attack as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old New Jersey man who was arrested at the scene, but said at a news conference late Friday afternoon that there was no indication yet of a motive…
