In light of the multiple assaults on German women during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne and the subsequent attempt to cover up the fact that the attackers were refugees, Angela Merkel’s chickens may have come home to roost. Her decision to take in 800,000 refugees last summer is coming under the most intense scrutiny. Europe is suffering the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
To compound matters further, in Sweden, the first country to offer permanent residence to refugees from Syria, the police have reportedly covered up nearly 40 cases of rape and sexual assault of teenage girls involving migrant youths at an annual music festival in Stockholm last year.
Of course, it’s important to avoid a violent backlash against Muslim asylum-seekers. That would be in no one’s interests. But clearly, the liberal societies of Western Europe urgently need a debate about how much Muslim immigration they can tolerate before the fallout from cultural discordance reaches a tipping point.
Sorry to offend liberal multi-culti sensitivities, but the mayor of Cologne failed to see it. The Stockholm authorities, the Cologne police, left-wing politicians and media outlets are all looking the other way and refuse to acknowledge its presence. And, once again, it is disappointing that Muslim leaders seem so reluctant to look it in the eye. What is it? It’s a whopping great elephant in the room – it is Islamic misogyny.
On these pages, I have always tried to show cordial respect towards the mainstream followers of the Islamic faith, but there are certain elements of certain Islamic societies that stray way beyond the pale and I refuse to be any kind of apologist for them. Muslim leaders need to take a long hard look at themselves and find a way to accelerate themselves into an age of enlightenment. It is several centuries overdue. There is a desperately urgent need for them to articulate a form of Islam that is in harmony with the rest of the modern world.
