They probably don’t believe he will actually do anything. And maybe he won’t. Maybe. An update on this story. “Switzerland Plays Down Qaddafi’s Calls for ‘Jihad,'” by Steven Erlanger for New York Times, February 26 (thanks to all who sent this in):
PARIS — The Swiss government reacted blandly on Friday to the latest rhetorical sally from the eccentric Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who called on Thursday for a “jihad” against Switzerland. The two countries have been sparring ever since the Swiss arrested one of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons and his wife in 2008 on suspicion of beating their servants.
On Thursday, in a rambling address in Benghazi, Libya, before a gathering to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, Colonel Qaddafi called for jihad, or a holy war, against Switzerland because of its ban on new minarets for mosques and urged Muslims to boycott Swiss products and ban Swiss planes and ships.
“Those who destroy God’s mosques deserve to be attacked through jihad, and if Switzerland was on our borders, we would fight it,” Colonel Qaddafi was quoted as saying by Libya’s official news agency….