Olivier Guitta in FrontPage (thanks to EPG) on the ticking time bomb in France:
France is home to the largest Muslim community in Europe — estimated between 5 and 8 million, roughly over 10 percent of France’s total population. In the past few years, the radical element of these French citizens has grown quickly, and is quietly overpowering more moderate Muslim voices. Many French Muslims idolize Osama bin Laden and consider the destruction of synagogues and assault of Jews to be justified retribution. These worrisome phenomena are caused by a number of things: increasing influence of radical imams in French mosques, the penetration of Saudi Wahhabism and extremist satellite networks spreading their propaganda.
I recently discussed these issues with Jean Francois Cope, spokesman of the French government, during a press conference in Washington DC. First, I asked Mr. Cope: knowing that 91 percent of the imams preaching in France are foreigners and most of them are illegal immigrants, does it not make sense to expel them, particularly those preaching hatred?
He answered that France cannot just expel them because these hate-mongering imams have been around for a while, as has their families. It would not be proper. …
From Mr. Cope’s position, it appears France is far less than enthusiastic about truly aiding the War on Terror. The country is starting to act against radicalism on a very limited basis when it has no choice, adopting half-measures that serve to quiet critics. There are many more imams to arrest. The government should forbid the funding of French Muslim organizations/mosques by Saudi Arabia. And finally, it should ban TV channels such as Al-Manar, which are only spreading violence and hate against the West. But these kinds of agressive tactics just aren’t part of France’s program to defeat radical islam. As a result, anti-Semitism and anti-American sentiment continue to increase in the land of our great “ally.”