Neo,

Interesting point although I must say when you look at this from a moral and philosophical angle, like with so many other things in the realm of philosophy, there are no easy and clear-cut answers that hold up consistently and persuasively in all situations (besides the obvious and unhelpful "yes it is" and "no it isn't" because I am so convinced about it that  I must be right )

Moral arguments aside, at the core of incidents like this is the underlying tension between native-Europeans and Muslim immigrants. No one wants to talk about it right now but we need to look at those dynamics too in order to  explain what is going on. Whether it was the head-scarf ban that Sarkozy went on to champion or the Mohammad cartoons that caused riots in several cities, Muslims in Europe are increasingly alienated. Some of that alienation is self-created because of their desire to preserve as much of their culture as they can but much of it is also the result of simmering xenophobia in European society that rejects and despises the foreignness of immigrants. Unless France can make peace with the fact that it is a multi-cultural and multi-religious society and accept the higher thresholds of  freedoms and responsibilities that multiculturalism imposes, this type of mindless violence will only continue in new and evolved forms regardless of who we deem to be right and wrong. 

Here is an article by David Brooks in the Times that is as daring in it's title and as it is dispassionate in it's analysis - check it out : http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/opinion/david-brooks-i-am-not-charlie-hebdo.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article