“I am now in a catastrophic personal situation. Several death threats have been sent to me, and I have been sentenced to death by organizations of the al-Qaeda movement. [...] On the websites condemning me to death there is a map showing how to get to my house to kill me, they have my photo, the places where I work, the telephone numbers, and the death fatwa. [...] There is no safe place for me, I have to beg, two evenings here, two evenings there. [...] I am under the constant protection of the police. I must cancel all scheduled conferences. And the authorities urge me to keep moving. [...] All costs are at my own expense, including those of rents a month or two ahead, the costs of moving twice, legal expenses, etc.
It’s quite sad. I exercised my constitutional rights, and I am punished for it, even in the territory of the Republic. This affair is also an attack against national sovereignty – foreign rules, decided by criminally minded fanatics, punish me for having exercised a constitutional right, and I am subjected, even in France, to great injury.”
More here. How about moderate clerics coming together to rescind the fatwa? Why aren’t they denouncing (and working against) this sort of thing? The radicals have already shown a willingness to kill innocent muslims (which, as I understand it, is expressly forbidden by Islamic law- and no amount of “if you’re going to make an omelet” reasonings can get around that). If moderate Muslims are targets anyway, why not come out against this? Radicalism is like cancer. If you check it early it’s easier to get rid of than if you let it fester. Sure, it might just be cancer of the little toe, but very soon it becomes too large to handle easily.
My question is: where does the kind of treatment that Redeker is dealing with stop? When do the nations of the world unite and tell the Muslim world (the radical parts, anyway), “you shall not sit at the table of civilized nations until you learn to behave like adults“. When Palestine and Syria and Iran et al are universally shunned by the brotherhood of sane nations. Last time I checked, we were still the vast majority of the planet. Let’s not let the .01% of crazies dictate what the rest of us do.
Until that time comes, I fear that this sort of thing will just continue. If nations (and peoples) do not stand together against this, radical muslims will be able to pick off people one by one. If every person and nation stood up and said “no more”, and refused to deal with any country that harbored (or allowed) radical muslims sway in their countries, this sort of thuggish bullying would stop. Alex Wallenwein says it well (complete with a still-extant comic).
Ah yes. Islam: the religion of peace.
Update: Anne Applebaum says much the same thing, but much better than I do.