Islamic radicals take advantage of Western liberalism
By John Leo
Feb 12, 2006
Is the biggest issue in the cartoon controversy free expression, sensitivity
or fear? One vote here for none of the above. The key question may be this:
Are Muslims in Europe going to live by the rules of the West, or by the
rules of Islam? Every now and then, a European nation decides to put its
foot down, banning headscarves in French schools, expelling some jihadist
imams in three nations, and deporting Muslim illegals as the Netherlands did
after two high-profile murders that shocked the nation.
But on the whole, Europe has chosen weakness and backpedaling. A
British judge agreed to bar Jews and Hindus from the jury at the trial of a
Muslim. Sheikh Qaradawi was welcomed in London; despite his call for the
murder of homosexuals and the fact the he himself was wanted for murder in
Egypt. King Ferdinand III, who fought to win Spain's independence from the
Moors, was removed as patron saint of the annual fiesta in Seville, out of
deference to Muslim feelings. The Dutch Language Union decreed that the word
Christ would now be spelled with a lower-case c, starting in August.
Crucifixes are disappearing from hospitals and some Muslims are demanding
that statues of Dante be removed, because the poet's Divine Comedy placed
Mohammad in hell. A government office in Britain banned Winnie the Pooh,
piggy banks and other images of pigs so Muslims wouldn't have to see them--
a small but galling example of Europe's unwillingness to live by its own
standards.
In France, more than 10,000 cars were torched in 2005, mostly, it
appears, by young Muslims. Ho-hum. In the post-cartoon demonstrations in
Britain, police ignored the signs saying "Exterminate those who mock Islam"
and "Be prepared for the real holocaust," but quickly arrested two counter
protestors carrying posters with images of Mohammad. In the first cartoon
riots in Denmark last September, Danish police were warned to stay out of
Muslim neighborhoods. As one Muslim said, "This is our area. We rule this
place."
Europe is facing more opportunities to back down. Muslim fathers in
Linz, Austria, are demanding that all female teachers, whether Muslim or
not, be required to wear headscarves in school. The Muslim Council of
Britain, which justifies Palestinian suicide bombers, wants Holocaust Day
eliminated.
Much of the Muslim assertiveness is an outgrowth of Europe's disastrous
love affair with multiculturalism. In theory, immigrants were to be
encouraged to maintain their own identity and traditions in exchange for
accepting Europe's system of shared values. In practice, it has mostly been
a plan for hands-off separatism and resistance to assimilation. Government
offers financial help in building schools and places of worship, and
encourages the importing of imams from Arab countries, many of them
predictably haters of the west. Raed Hlayhel, an imam in Denmark, for
instance, was part of an entourage that toured the Middle East building rage
over the cartoons. He and the other imams took along several fabricated
cartoons, one showing Mohammad as a pedophile and another depicting him
having sex with a dog. Shouldn't these provocations earn each of these imams
a one-way trip back to the Middle East?
As Historian Fred Siegel of New York's Cooper Union points out, many of
the imams have taken a page out of Yasser Arafat's book, speaking tolerantly
in Europe, but calling for blood when on the Arab media. He says Muslim
spokesman know how to game Western liberalism, demanding free speech when
they deny the Holocaust, then dropping the free speech argument and arguing
that anti-Muslim criticisms and cartoons should be censored on grounds of
multicultural sensitivity.
Europe has a hard decision on what to do with the so-called
"conveyor-belt" Islamist groups that do not commit terrorism themselves, but
recruit, and indoctrinate young males, then turn them over to terrorist
groups. One of them, Hizb ut-Tahrir, active in Denmark and more than 40
other countries, played an incendiary role in the cartoon controversy. "By
combining fascist rhetoric, Leninist strategy, and Western sloganeering with
Wahhabi theology, HT has made itself into a very real and potent threat that
is extremely difficulty for liberal societies to counter," Zeyno Baran of
Washington's Nixon Center wrote in Foreign Affairs. The conveyor belts are
designed to take advantage of the West's protections of free speech and
civil liberties. But they are dangerous parts of the broader terrorist
operation. Germany banned HT. Other nations should too. If the West doesn't
stop the spread of Islamic radicalism, the danger will soon be far graver
than it is now.
John Leo is a columnist and editor for U.S. News & World Report and a
contributing columnist on Townhall.com.
Copyright C 2006 Townhall.com
_____
Find this story at:
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/johnleo/2006/02/12/186117.html
Accessed 13 Feb 2006,
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/johnleo/2006/02/12/186117.html
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