More Fallout from the Muhammad Cartoons; Muslims ask for Suppression of Press Freedoms

Watching Fox's Special Report with Brit Hume tonight, I was shocked by the Grapevine segment. About 1:25 minutes into the segment, we learn that the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, is comparing the Muhammad Cartoons to the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11. Not only this, he compares the condition of Muslims in Europe to that of European Jews during World War II. Meeting with Javier Solana, the High Representative of the European Union for Common Foreign and Security Policy, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on February 13, Ihsanoglu also called for changes to European law including the outlawing of blasphemy. It should be noted that the OIC is a representative body of all Muslim nations that is a permanent delegation to the United Nations. Ihsanoglu is not some radical imam; he is considered a respected Islamic scholar and a reformer. Is this the voice of moderate Islam?

Other than the spectacle of Muslims responding to allegations of violence with actual violence, this call for European and Western submission to Islamic law is the most troubling aspect of the "Cartoon Jihad". Among Ihsanoglu's proposals:

• To adopt necessary legislative measures by the EU against Islamophobia through the European Parliament.
• To make joint efforts by the EU and the OIC for the adoption of a Resolution by the United Nations on the lines of existing UN Resolution 60/150 (Combating defamation of religions) which should prohibit defamation of all Prophets and faiths.
• To adopt code of ethics for the European media. The code of ethics should take into account the sensitivities of the Muslims and defamation in any form or manifestation and the core beliefs of the religions including mocking and criticizing Prophets and it should be considered as an ethical offence in the European media code.
• To adopt an International Communication/Media Order by the United Nations defining the freedom of speech with regard to religious symbols.
• To include operative provisions prohibiting blasphemy and defamation as well as incitement to hatred in the text of the resolution on the Statute of the Human Rights Council presently being considered at the UN.

Needless to say, these proposals to make Europe conform to Islamic law should be extremely troubling to anyone who values the rights of a liberal (small "l") society. This is not simply Western misunderstanding of Muslim intent. This is a long-running and gradual attempt at assigning Europe and the West a dhimmi status. Last month as the "Cartoon Jihad" flared up, Ihsanoglu asked "for a suppression of press freedoms" (Turkish Zaman, halfway down in the story "Bloody Cartoon Protest Kills 3 in Pakistan"). Under the guise of respecting all religions, Muslims are seeking to establish a legal basis in Europe for deference to Islam. This step towards establishing Islam as having preeminent legal status is the tool of repression used to spread Islam during its early expansionist phase.

America does not conform to Mexican law when Mexicans immigrate to the US. Canada does not conform to Chinese law when Chinese immigrate to Canada. Nor should Europe conform to Islamic law, kowtowing to intolerant Muslim immigrants. Europe has had the grace to take in these immigrants from the hells of the Islamic world; Muslim immigrants should respect the societies among which they live.