Interview with Mr. Eliezer Cherki by Sandra Hanna Elgrabli published in the weekly Hamodia, French edition, No. 58 Wednesday, January 14, 2009. Once is not custom in French Hamodia we benefit here from an article of quality variance somewhat bland character of its columns and its usual religious trinkets. Therefore encourage the direction of Hamodia to continue on this path and congratulate Sandra Hanna in Elgrabli. As for the comments and analysis of Mr. Eliezer Cherki, there is no need to return to their relevance and their character always rewarding and very informative, and I would add, of prime importance. Meir Ben-Hayoun
Israeli Orientalist, Eliezer Cherki analysis by the ins and outs of party militant Islam to conquer Europe. In doing so, he underlines the sole responsibility of the West, particularly in its relation to local Jewish communities and Israel.
Question: Do we witnessing a real rise of militant fundamentalist Islam in Europe?
Eliezer Cherki: is a tangible reaction almost everywhere in Western Europe with different accents in different countries: in France, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Spain. These differences are based on the diversity of immigrant origins Islamists. In Germany, they come from Turkey, France and North Africa ... It is also different ways to react to society, the ruling classes or the media of these countries face the phenomenon of expansion of Islam. In Italy, there is a pole of resistance stronger than Spain for example.
How do you analyze this impressive expansion?
The phenomenon is primarily due to demographic change and massive historical past 30 years in Europe. What has changed is the massive presence of Muslims in Western Europe. Alfred Sauvy, the great demographer, said that demography is like the "little clock hand": we do not see it move, but one that counts. ... This demographic factor is the basis on which will develop Islamism accentuated by the sharp decline in birth rates in Europe.
How important is the demographic dimension in the eyes of the Islamists?
must make a parenthesis here and enter the field of theology. Islam does not know the concept of "galut" - the Hebrew exile. The people of Israel can be exiled to a land that is not hers, but that concept does not exist in Islam, because Muslims have a concept of "territorial" universal in the world!
From there, the presence of Muslims on Muslim land can not be explained in terms of Islamic theology, in a dimension of Jihad that is to say, conquest .... When Muslims are a minority, the problem does not arise: they are in a situation of "impossibility of Jihad", but when they reach a demographic reality tangible, the country where they are located becomes a potential Islamic country, and the temptation is great among the Islamists to turn this haven in Muslim lands!
The Islamist wave can it fit into a broader perspective?
It is linked to the expansion of radical Islamism in the Arab-Muslim world since the events unfolding in Europe are just one reflection. In fact, this revival of jihad is much less that there seems new! In a long-term historical perspective, the decision of the military expansion of Islam was a relatively brief interlude. Indeed, the latest attempt to conquer the West by Islam dates back to 1683 during the siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks, barely more than three centuries. This expansion
Ottoman military explosive was regarded by the Turkish Empire himself as a jihad. Subsequently, the failure of the conquest of Vienna, the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of colonial Europe gave the impression that Islam would be completely marginalized, then dominated by the West, and that it had completed its military role on the stage of history. It was an illusion!
Today we are witnessing a new expansion. The great British orientalist Bernard Lewis noted three attempts to conquer Europe by Muslims: the first is the Arab conquest, which was stopped at Poitiers in 732, the second is that the Ottoman expansion failed to Vienna in 1683, and third very contemporary - a demographic dimension and seems to be the most successful of the three ...
The expansion of Islam is it reinforced by other factors?
must include the cultural changes that affect the West itself. Indeed, Europe is losing its national landmarks, cultural and religious. She is in a situation of extreme weakness facing an ideological movement, it is extremely committed to this view!
Furthermore, Islam considers itself the representative of the "moral force" against those countries "decadent". Claiming to be the bearer of values "divine" Islam has launched a battle against Europe "immoral" ... Moreover, the European cultural crisis accompanied by a deep sense of guilt resulting from her past Colonial: here it is grappling with the enormous challenge - even impossible - to identify these former colonized peoples as being either the victims, but new potential oppressors ...
Are there any forces oppose the rise of Islamists in Europe?
First there many individual consciences of all backgrounds, who are trying to warn about the dangers posed by Islamist excesses on society. But these individuals are increasingly marginalized by the government, intellectuals and media.
Some Muslims are also among the more perceptive and more aware of these dangers, and they are fighting a very courageous ... But they are betrayed by those powers which will ultimately prefer the good graces of the more radical circles!
Moreover, Islamist movements have found Jewish communities as "pockets of resistance" the most resistant: they are seen as the main obstacle to the expansion of Islam in Europe. A situation related to their course from the state of Israel, which is the model of political resistance and spiritual facing the Islamic expansion, but equally to their hostility to nature and intellectual and moral positions of the Jews themselves often from Arab countries. Now these Jews can not adopt the same attitude of victimhood vis-à-vis the Muslims because they were themselves victims of oppression of Muslims in Islam ... Today, the Muslim world is "Jew-free", free any Jewish presence on its territory: a phenomenon that is no accident of history or due to simple expansion of Jews to the West. Admittedly, the Western presence, so decried today freed the Jews from the oppression of Islam and brought them out of their situation of dhimmi, offering equal rights and dignity of citizens. As a community, Jews are now not only got rid of the moral inferiority complex vis-à-vis the Muslims, but even more strongly attached to democratic values and cultural traditions of the countries that welcomed them, particularly France. Finally, Jews have their own deep-rooted religious landmarks in a tradition thousands of years old that can not challenge Islam.
Do you think Europe abandon Israel to its fate? By choosing
submission to Islam and throwing Israel to the Islamist extremists pasture, Europe deliberately refused to join its natural allies in the world are Jewish communities and Israel. This attitude is not only motivated by political and economic interests obvious, but it also reflects a deeply rooted anti-Semitism still in the mental space in Europe. For all these reasons, Europe's attitude is suicidal: she decided to betray the Jews and Israel in the hope that Muslims will agree with them ... Typical of dhimmitude, this has been brilliantly analyzed by historian Bat Yeor in her book "Eurabia". There is a third
dimension to consider: it is a mixture of fascination, seduction and fear of barbarism - the impure mixture which remains an old demon of Europe. Europeans have a growing fear face the Islamist extremists, but they let grow on their soil violent anti-Semitism - this violence is to intimidate function before submit!
It is true that Western countries have launched major security operations as a sign of reaction, but ultimately, to preserve their own values and their freedom, they will change their outlook on themselves, on Israel and Jews. In the case otherwise, we end up with a victory of radical Islam whose future alone will tell what form it takes: submission, civilization "mixed", geographical distribution, or any other model yet ...
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