The
European Infitada
By Alan
Caruba
2005/11/10
There is a certain schadenfreude in the scenes of
the rioting in
France
, a gleeful, malicious pleasure that comes from knowing that there is always
payback for bad behavior, whether in this world or the next.
Ironically,
France
is where the Islamic march up the Iberian Peninsula to conquer
Europe
ended in 732 AD. Had not Charles Martel stopped the Moorish general, Abd al-Rahman
and his Muslim army between
Tours
and Poitier,
Europe
and the whole of Western history would have been very different. Later, in
1492, a Christian army would recapture
Grenada
and put an end to the last Muslim stronghold in
Spain
. In 1683, Ottoman armies were defeated outside of
Vienna
, thus ending the efforts to conquer
Europe
One would think, if life in Muslim North Africa
“the Maghreb” was so grand, why would literally millions of
immigrants have sought to gain access to
Europe
? The former European colonies have been independent for more than a
half-century. Surely they represent a far more homogeneous environment that the
cold climes of Europe, but the reality is that Muslim enclaves have been growing
in places like
England
, the
Netherlands
,
Norway
,
Germany
, for decades.
The difference between the Muslims who made new
lives in new places and others is that they choose not to integrate into their
new societies. They remained Muslims first and last, no matter what nation they
called home. Their loyalty was to the “Uumma”, the great body of Islam, not
a particular nation. They choose not to be English, French, or Dutch. They
defined themselves in ways that insured they remained “the other” among
those who took pride in their particular nation.
As Tony Blankely, a Washington
Times editor and author of a new book, “The West’s Last Chance”, noted in
a November 9 commentary, “This is not about Muslim poverty. It is about
radical Islamist self-confidence and contempt for the West. And, it is about
Western weakness.”
Muslim anger goes back to the Crusades, which lasted
from 1095 to 1291. To this day, Christians are still regarded as
“crusaders”, a common term among Middle Eastern Muslims, still smarting over
the efforts to regain control of
Jerusalem
and other holy sites. Christians and Jews who live in the
Middle East
are still subject to attacks. The riots throughout
France
and elsewhere in Europe, along with those that occurred in the
United Kingdom
in July, in the
Netherlands
, in
Madrid
, bespeak an ugly future if modern Muslims have their way.
France
, however, has been
experiencing at least half a decade of a slowly escalating Intifada waged
against synagogues, kosher butchers and Jewish schools. Like the canary in the
coal mine, where Jews are attacked, soon all others will be as well.
Europe
, as a whole, however, has
either failed or refused to read the writing on the wall. Almost universally, it
expressed hostility to the nation of
Israel
and solidarity with Muslim nations. As its own native-born populations
decreased, it welcomed Muslims to the continent and the European Commission
fostered a project found in the “Report of the High Advisory Group on Dialogue
between Peoples and Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Area” that created a
new “ethnic group” immigrants. Even if they have lived in
Europe
for several generations, they retain this identification and gain a special
status.
The Muslims of Europe apparently wouldn’t have it
any other way. Living as they do among the “crusaders”, it was, they knew,
only a matter of time before they finished the job that Abd al-Rahman and the
Ottoman army could not. Too many Muslims do not want to integrate with a larger
society. As soon as they gain in numbers, they insist that the host nation
change to become Muslim, i.e., to abandon the rules of constitutional government
and adopt sharia law.