In a story about the still-unsolved synagogue arson in Switzerland, a curious paragraph. From Israel National News, with thanks to Alain:
Switzerland has a large Moslem population of some 500,000 – and the city of Lugano has a strong representation thereof. On the day before the double arson, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung reported that Lugano tourism officials had published a brochure in Arabic catering specifically to Moslem tastes. A comparison of the Italian, French and German versions of the Lugano tourist brochure with the Arabic-language text reveals that in the latter, pictures of churches are conspicuously missing. In addition, references to the local variety of pork-based salami were
replaced with inoffensive local cheeses.
Ah, yes, let’s continue bending over backwards not to offend the sensibilities of the our extremely sensitive Muslim friends. Never mind those burning synagogues.
ADDENDUM: Gabrielle Goldwater takes issue with the 500,000 figure above:
According to the Government’s Statistics Office, membership in religious denominations is as follows: 41.8 percent Roman Catholic; 33.0 percent Protestant; 1.8 percent Orthodox; 0.2 percent Old Catholic; 0.2 percent other Christian groups; 4.3 percent Muslim; 0.2 percent Jewish; 0.8 percent other religions (Buddhist, Hindi, and other); 11.1 percent no formal creed.
According to official statistics, the Muslim population has doubled to more than 310,000 over the past several years, …..but independent sources believe an additional 150,000 Muslims may be residing illegally in the country. But this is not confirmed, also we have a very close police system and tight borders.