European Muslims Choose Isolation, Not Assimilation
by Lorna Salzman
Despite the European experiment with multiculturalism, Muslim leaders preach against assimilation and have created religious enclaves within the large French cities and in other countries such as Scandinavia. In these enclaves males impose sharia law on women and nonMuslims are afraid to enter them......as are the police themselves. In Paris hundreds of Muslims illegally occupy Parisian streets at prayer time but police are afraid to arrest them. NonMuslim businesses are routinely robbed and vandalized. The owner of one French store in the Arab quarter of Paris has been raped, robbed repeatedly and threatened but bravely refuses to move out.
Who is to blame? Actually the left is to blame, for not insisting from the beginning that Muslim immigrants observe all laws, that they not be granted special treatment, and that their religion be treated as one of several, all of whom have equal right to worship as they please. Europe took too many years to acknowledge forced marriage, female genital mutilation, honor killings, and anti-Semitism. Some countries even provide national funding for religious schools which become centers for Islamic radicalization and separatism. As a result the Muslims have been able to consolidate their power politically and geographically. They have for all practical purposes established sharia law in their communities.
In essence, by their moral abdication, the left created the right, and violence now seems unavoidable. This should be a lesson for Americans, where Muslims are attempting to obtain the same privileges and exemptions, though (for now) using nonviolent means or "stealth jihad". Nonetheless, stealth jihad is just as effective and perhaps more so because it is silent, invisible and seemingly nonthreatening to naive liberals, including some Jewish rabbis such as Arthur Waskow, Marc Schneier, rabbi of the Westhampton Beach synagogue on Long Island, and several others in Boston, who have a deviant mode of thinking that says they, not the Muslims, need to "reach out" and initiate an "interfaith dialogue". They still have no inkling of the real objectives of Muslims, which is not to integrate, not to be tolerant of other faiths (least of all Judaism), not to empower women, and not to allow any criticism of Islamism or sharia law, criticism which they instantly decry as "Islamophobia". I find it quite shocking that Jewish leaders chose to ignore the Muslim doctrine, clearly articulated and unconditional, that calls for the death of all Jews. One would think that the Nazi experience would have taught them a lesson.
Some French intellectuals now fear inter-group violence as right wing groups organize and arm themselves against possible Muslim violence. One went so far as to predict that unless things change, local war is inevitable that would involve the French police and/or military. Lest we immediately blame the right wing, let's remind ourselves that at this moment it is Muslims who are increasingly thumbing their noses at the civil authorities and essentially daring them to enter their communities even when they are in violation of municipal regulations, such as holding large public gatherings or occupying public streets without a permit, as the praying Muslims in Paris do every day.
If the police fear to enter these areas, this creates a risky situation for them because they are then more likely to respond with clubs or other weapons, which will create an even stronger backlash. Nationally, Marine LePen, daughter of a right winger, just got 20% of the vote in her department, and may be preparing a run for the French presidency. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, smeared by the left though far from being a right wing fanatic, could conceivably become prime minister in the near future as his party continues to gain strength. For every day of delay in curbing Muslim radicalism, the right will benefit.
The UK and Germany are now admitting that multiculturalism has been a failure. Here in the USA, we still have a strong Constitution and legal system that may be able to resist the inroads of Muslim authoritarianism and repression. But at the community level, and especially in our universities, many of which which routinely appease the disruptive Muslims Students' Association, the authorities are more feeble in their defense of freedom and civil liberties, the very targets of radical Muslims who have succeeded in silencing any criticism of them or of sharia law by crying "Islamophobia".
The recent hearings by Cong. Peter King, long overdue, were a revelation of how Democratic members of Congress (with large Muslim constituencies in urban areas) are already in thrall to Muslim demands and willing to vilify critics of Islamism and suppress freedom of speech, while ignoring the anti-Semitic and violent rants of Muslims against Jews. The biggest challenge facing this country is to defend freedom of speech, including the freedom to criticize religion. The American public must learn the hidden agenda of Muslims and have access to the truth about sharia law. The Muslims know that erosion of free speech and suppression of the ugly truth about Islam is their first order of business if they are to prevail over civil society. American liberals so far have refused to recognize this threat. Time is running out.