Unfortunately the French seem to think they are immune from terrorism.
They are not immune from terrorism. Their culture is likely as hated as ours.
Bin Laden's #2 guy al-Zawahiri (and most of the pre-9/11 al-Qaeda hierarchy for that matter) were Egyptian and their first target was the government of Egypt. Hitting an Egyptian jet, even if it was a private charter outfit, AND taking out a bunch of "Frankish Crusaders" sounds like him.
I was just tonight reading the New Yorker article that Valin posted: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1050628/posts.