Some in the mainstream media have been quick to accuse anyone of spreading “Islamophobic conspiracy theories” if they question whether the Notre Dame blaze may be a jihad attack. An NBC article states: “Images and videos of the flaming cathedral spread quickly across social media and were quickly seized upon to push Islamophobic narratives that have flourished in far-right politics.” The Huffington Post shouted “racial hatred.”

No one knows whether jihadists ignited the blaze or not, and there is ample reason to ask questions. Many in the media, however, have lost an ability which was once a job requirement of journalists: to ask probing questions.

One should not jump to conclusions about Nortre (sic) Dame, but there are a few occurrences that likely prompted questions.

Despite the unusually quick response to blame renovations for the fire, “the chief architect of historical monuments responsible for the restoration of the spire of Notre Dame, Philippe Villeneuve, states: ‘the work had not started yet, only the scaffolding was being assembled.’ From his point of view, ‘the hot spot hypothesis is therefore not the right one.” There were no workers in the cathedral and no heat sources near the timber frame. It is also suspicious that the blaze began simultaneously in two places.

And there is a history of Muslim surveiling and possible attacks against Notre Dame. In September 2016, a Muslim was arrested after his car is found packed with explosive gas cylinders outside Notre Dame cathedral.

A couple days later, three more Muslims were arrested over a Notre Dame Cathedral jihad bomb plot.

And Muslim attacks on churches are frequent in France. Three churches a day are vandalized on average and last month “over 800-year-old Basilica of Saint-Denis in the now heavily migrant-populated suburbs of Paris was also vandalised, with the basilica’s organ being heavily damaged and stained glass windows were broken.” Across Europe, churches are routinely being desecrated by Muslims.

A Catholic priest was beheaded by jihadists in front of horrified onlookers during mass in 2016. Father Jacques Hamel was first forced to his knees before he was murdered, while the jihadists “filmed themselves preaching in Arabic by the altar.”

And consider the words of Muslim political candidate Eve Torres in Montreal: she stated that the Notre Dame fire was divine retribution, that there would be more such incidents, and that “firefighters should sleep in the church on Notre-Dame Street in Montreal.”

Various watchdog groups cited social media posts by Muslims and people with Muslim and Arab names that delighted in the church’s destruction.”

Prudent people ask questions in the face of suspicious occurrences, and it is not spreading conspiracy theories to do so. Nor is it “far right,” “r****t,” or “Islamophobic.”