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| Down Under |
| Australia warned to limit Muslim immigration |
| 2007-02-15 |
| Life can become untenable when the Muslim population of a non-Muslim country reaches about 10 per cent, as shown by France, a Jewish expert on Islam says. The Australian Jewish News yesterday quoted Raphael Israeli as saying Australia should cap Muslim immigration or risk being swamped by Indonesians. Professor Israeli told the Herald that was a misunderstanding. But he said: "When the Muslim population gets to a critical mass you have problems. That is a general rule, so if it applies everywhere it applies in Australia." Professor Israeli, an expert on Islamic history from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has been brought to Australia by the Shalom Institute of the University of NSW. The Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council is co-hosting many of his activities. He said Muslim immigrants had a reputation for manipulating the values of Western countries, taking advantage of their hospitality and tolerance. "Greeks or Italians or Jews don't use violence. There is no Italian or Jewish Hilaly [a reference to the controversial cleric Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly of Lakemba mosque]. Why?" Professor Israeli said that when the Muslim population increased, so did the risk of violence. "Where there are large Muslim populations who are prepared to use violence you are in trouble. If there is only 1 or 2 per cent they don't dare to do it - they don't have the backing of big communities. They know they are drowned in the environment of non-Muslims and are better behaved." In Australia, Muslims account for about 1.5 per cent of the population. Professor Israeli said that in France, which has the highest proportion of Muslims in Europe at about 10 per cent, it was already too late. There were regions even the police were scared to enter, and militant Muslims were changing the country's political, economic and cultural fabric, and demanding anti-Semitic and anti-Israel policies. "French people say they are strangers in their own country. This is a point of no return. If you are on a collision course, what can you do? You can't put them all in prison, and anyway they are not all violent. You can't send them all back. You are really in trouble. It's irreversible." Professor Israeli said that in Australia a few imams had preached violence. "You should not let fundamentalist imams come here. Screen them 1000 times before they are admitted, and after they are admitted screen what they say in the mosque." He said some Muslims wanted to impose sharia in their adopted countries, and when propaganda did not work they turned to intimidation. Professor Israeli said his task was to describe, not prescribe. He also said his warning did not include immigrants, including Muslims, who simply wanted to improve their lot. As long as they respected the law and democracy, their numbers — Buddhist, Muslim or Jew — were immaterial. It became material when a group accepted violence. "The trains in London and Madrid were not blown up by Christians or Buddhists but by Muslims, so it is them we have to beware," he said. Keysar Trad, of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said "Not only religious clerics need to be screened before entering Ausralia but also academics … this type of academic does nothing but create hatred, suspicion and division … We should review not only what the man has said but also those who have sponsored him, to see if they endorse those comments." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #7 At what point do you look around for people that came as refugees fearing political repression and tell them their country has been liberated and now needs their help in rebuilding. I guess they all know the political repression angle was a lie in the first place for most of them. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-02-15 18:43 |
| #6 I used to accept the "neocon"/Wilsonian view that predominantly islamic countries could be made representative democracies. I now believe the acceptable muslim population of a free country is zero percent. It has been too long since the Reconquista; we must relearn those lessons to our cost. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-02-15 18:17 |
| #5 I also have said for years now that we here in America should restrict immigration from majority Muslim countries. Unfortunately, due to the propensities of our mainstream media to unquestioningly assert the equivalency of all cultures people such as myself and Professor Raphael Israeli will go down as modern day Cassandras. |
| Posted by: Sic_Semper_Tyrannus 2007-02-15 18:14 |
| #4 When the Muslim population gets to a critical mass you have problems. That is a general rule, so if it applies everywhere it applies in Australia." Imho, the critical mass depends also on the "political correctness" of the country. |
| Posted by: SwissTex 2007-02-15 11:50 |
| #3 I wish I could remember the site -- or had bookmarked it -- but there's a guy out there who crunched numbers on this. He looked at the violent crime rates of different neighborhoods in London and correlated them with the percentage of Muslim population. There were two inflection points; one around 5-10% and the other at 25%. Damn. I wish I could remember that site! |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-02-15 11:44 |
| #2 Actually, as seen in Europe, I think 5% muslim population is when muslims place enough burdens on society to destroy the civilized aspects from within. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-02-15 09:53 |
| #1 What other religion/cult other than Islam spreads violence???? UK/US be aware. I hope Tomny Blair reads this asap. |
| Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2007-02-15 09:15 |