Internationally, Germany has often been lauded for its reckoning with the Holocaust – its so-called Erinnerungskultur, or culture of remembrance.1 Whether this at times gushing praise of Germany’s historical conscience is fully warranted is another matter.2 (The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party has, for one, always demanded that the country stop banging on about…
Thirty imams in France signed an open letter calling on their colleagues to help counter Muslim extremism. The letter, which appeared Tuesday in Le Monde, expressed “compassion for all our fellow citizens who have been directly or indirectly affected by terrorism and by the anti-Semitic crimes that have blindly struck our country.” It added that the…
In a recent Le Monde op-ed, a group of Muslim religious leaders offered a response to the “Manifesto ‘against the new anti-Semitism’” published recently in Le Parisien. “We, the signatories of this appeal, would first like to express our compassion for all our fellow citizens who have been directly or indirectly affected by terrorism and by the…
Reactions to the Parisien‘s publication of a “manifesto against the new anti-Semitism” came swiftly. The piece was signed by 300 signatories, who denounced growing anti-Semitism brought about by “Islamist radicalization.” Written by Philippe Val, the former director of Charlie Hebdo, the text denounces an “insidious ethnic cleansing” in some neighborhoods. “In our recent history, eleven Jews have…
Sharia law, Islamist democracy, separation of men and women in public transport–all of these are the policies promulgated by Belgium’s Islam Party. The party is hoping to win seats in Belgium’s October municipal elections. Two party members were elected in 2012, including one in the Molenbeek area of Brussels. This year, it will run in…
