Germany Avoids Criticizing Radical Islam and Radical Muslims

Dr. Sami Alrabaa

September 4, 2009

The German media and some German public figures are soft, too soft, on radical Islam and avoid critics and critique of this violent “religion.” The audio-visual media invite only uncritical talking heads. The print media publish only articles by apologists of Islam. Here are some examples: 

The recent confession of the four Muslim terrorists, also called the “Suaerland Group,” who were planning to kill as many Americans in Germany as they could, was hailed by the judge, state prosecutor, and the media. The devastating terrorist attack prepared by these men was foiled from a tip by the CIA, which the German media depict as not abiding by the law and acting against human rights. 

The German media and some German politicians hailed the confession and deliberately ignored the ideological/religious sources of their attack, namely the Koran and Hadith, which incite Muslims to kill non-Muslims. 

In an interview with Al Arabiya TV (August 16th), Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a leading politician of the Green Party in the European Parliament, presented radical Muslims as “part of a socio-political religious movement across the world, like the RAF, the German terrorist group we had in the 1970s.” 

Cohn-Bendit argued that a dialogue with radical Muslims must be established, also with the Taliban. He reminded his interviewer that he (Cohn-Bendit) and the former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer used to sympathize with the RAF. They took to the street and threw stones on the police. “As the Green Party was established as a radical social ecological movement, I joined the party. Little by little, the Green party was accepted by the German political establishment, and now it is a full-fledged political party.” Cohn-Bendit added. 

Also, Cohn-Bendit praised Turkey for reconciling Islam with democracy. 

The truth of the matter, the AKP, the Islamic party that is ruling Turkey is slowly but steadily Islamizing Turkey. It is also true that Islam is against democracy and formation of parties. Both the Koran and Hadith reject democracy and the formation of political parties. According to a recent poll, the ultimate aim of Islamic Turkey is Sharia, and this what the majority of Turks inside and outside turkey want to see established.   To add insult to injury, Cohn-Bendit said the maiming and killing of innocent people “has nothing to do with Islam.” And radical Muslims are fighting a justice war against their oppressors. He also argued that foreign troops must leave Afghanistan and Iraq and “leave the people of these nations in peace.” 

In other words, fanatic Muslim regimes in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia must be left alone, rule against human rights and export terrorisms. Hence Cohn-Bendit and his ilk have joined the Muslim chaplains on Muslim media. 

Further, Cohn-Bendit suggested that Islam “be modernized and can be modernized, like all other religions.”

Cohn-Bendit’s “arguments” about Islam is merely wishful thinking. Radical Muslims strongly believe that the Koran – which includes numerous passages that are diametrically opposed to modern human rights – is the “word of Allah.” They are also convinced that Sharia, which primarily includes the Koran, must be introduced everywhere. Appeasing radical Muslims implies ultimately accepting their Sharia. And “modernizing Islam will eventually lead to scraping the Koran or reducing it to a few pages, something which radical Muslims vehemently refuse. 

Contributions of critics of radical Islam are rejected by German media. For example, The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published on July 10, 2009, an article by Alaa Al-Aswani in which he twists facts and argues that the West is ill-informed and biased toward Islam. “Westerners are misinformed about Islam, therefore they hate Islam and hate Muslims,” Al-Aswani says. 

I sent a critique on this Islamist writer’s piece, but the Sueddeutsche Zeitung refused to publish it. You can check out an English version of this critique here. 

Many programs about Islam have been broadcast on WDR5 radio and posted on the Internet. None of them, however, mention issues of violence and discrimination against women and non-Muslims, which fill the Koran and Hadith and are practiced by many Muslim families. The WDR5 depicts Islam as a tolerant and peaceful religion, like all the others. 

On the other hand, other radio programs are excoriated for criticizing Islam. On June 18, 2009, WDR5 broadcast a whole hour feature attacking the Polish Radio Maria.  

Almost every month, I tour all of those mosques run by Arab imams, all over Germany whose language I understand. In every one of these mosques, the imam preaches hatred and violence against non-Muslims. Germany and the Germans are depicted as “decadent and steered by the devil.” At the end, the imam demands loudly the introduction of Sharia, “It is the law of Allah, and the best on earth.” Muslim women are urged to wear the hijab (headscarf). They are also urged to follow the advice/orders of their men as the Koran and Hadith prescribe. 

However, the most atrocious parts of imams’ preaches is their incitement to hatred and violence against the Jews and Christians. All of this is ignored and tolerated by German authorities as part of free speech and religious freedom. Israel is depicted as the “aggressor” and the Palestinians as the victims. Critique of Islam is presented as “Islamophobia.” 

All this being said, when someone criticizes Islam and radical Muslims, they are taken to task and branded as racists and labeled as “fascist right-wingers.” 

The release of the Libyan Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbasset Ali Mohammed Al Megrahi, who murdered 270 innocent people, on allegedly “humanitarian/compassionate” grounds, was welcomed by the German media. They also favor closing down Guantanamo. 

Back in Libya, Al Megrahi was interviewed by a state-run radio. He said, “Thank Allah I’m free. I’m innocent, and the British know this. Therefore, they released me.” 

Omar Al Saidi, a sociology professor at Tripoli University, commented, “Libya has nothing to do with Lockerbie. The West fabricated the whole story to blackmail us and suck our money. The whole thing is a Western conspiracy.” 

The German media and German politician do not take notice of all this. They are happy that Al Megrahi was released for “compassionate” grounds. 

The former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was indicted by the International Tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. How about Mu’ammar Al Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator? He was behind Lockerbie. But nobody in the West dares to point at him as a criminal. He also belongs behind bars. 

On the contrary, Berlusconi of Italy, Sarkozy of France, and previously Tony Blair have often visited Libya to forge trade relations with Gaddafi. Democracy and human rights were never discussed. 

Serbia, Zimbabwe, and Burma have no oil and no money. Therefore the West is so active in these countries about democracy and human rights. Dictators like King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt are welcomed in the While House. They are even bowed to by President Obama. 

With regard to democracy and human rights, the West goes selectively, and the mainstream media, especially in Germany, assert that day in and day out. 

While Angela Merkel demands publicly imposing economic sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program, she supports German companies that entertain trade of highly technical equipment with the Iranian regime. 

The Secretary General of the German “Welthungerhilfe” (world famine help), Wolfgang Jamann, told the daily Bildzeitung that foreign troops must leave Afghanistan. They are hampering his organization and other humanitarian aid organizations from helping the Afghans rebuild their country.

 

This is hilarious, bizarre, and irresponsible. Jamann’s organization is delivering development aid under the protection of such troops. Both these troops and aid organizations are under attack by the Taliban. If foreign troops left Afghanistan, Jamann’s co-workers would be massacred by the Taliban. Besides, terrorism would “flourish” across the world. 

By the way, according to several studies by colleagues at the American University in Beirut/Lebanon and Cairo University, German aid organizations, including the “Welthungerhilfe” are self-benefit organizations. They have very little to do with development aid. They collect huge sums of money, through donations, to fund the lavish salaries of their employees. Jamann himself earns more that $10 thousand a month. According to the aforementioned studies, more than 80 percent of the money which these “aid organizations” collect via donations is spent on salaries and travels. Only 20 percent is spent on aid projects. 

It seems that the German government and other European governments are prepared to deal with the devil if he serves their economic interests. They pay lip-service to democracy and human rights in countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Egypt, if they ever do so. Germany, Britain, France, and Italy are competing to pamper states Libya, Iran, and Saudi Arabia which support terror across the globe. 

According to recent opinion polls, two thirds of the population in major European countries have voraciously digested the propaganda machinery in these countries and demand withdrawing foreign troops from Afghanistan.    

Apologists throughout history have never achieved anything. They have at most strengthened the forces of evil and delayed their demise. Biased economic success is temporary. It is built on sand. Only human rationale is solid and eternal.

 

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Dr. Sami Alrabaa, an ex-Muslim, is a professor of Sociology and an Arab-Muslim culture specialist. He has taught at Kuwait University, King Saud University, and Michigan State University. He also writes for the Jerusalem Post.

 

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