• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Do Sicilians have an affinity for the Islamic world in their DNA? (Part 2)

Jun 5, 2019 10:00 am By Hugh Fitzgerald

“One of the most outspoken politicians against Italy’s anti-immigrant policies has been Palermo’s mayor, Leoluca Orlando.

“Minister Salvini isn’t against Muslims, Minister Salvini isn’t against immigrants, Minister Salvini is against Italians,” says Orlando, tapping his finger on his desk. “He is against our culture of hospitality, he’s against our Mediterranean soul, he’s against our history.”

But “our history” includes enormous efforts by local Christians to free Sicily from Muslim rule. That’s the history Salvini remembers, and Orlando chooses to forget. “

This past January, [Mayor of Palermo] Orlando, along with the mayors of Naples, Reggio Calabria and Florence, clashed with Salvini by rejecting the controversial Security Decree. The decree, in part, cancelled residence permits for humanitarian reasons, replacing it with shorter permits for specific incidences like natural disasters.
“Orlando’s welcoming approach to immigration and multiculturalism can be seen in his office. It boasts a 200-year-old, coffee table-sized Quran, gifted to the city by the Aga Khan Foundation.
One wonders if Orlando has ever been tempted to read the Qur’an. For if he did, he might be less sanguine about Muslim migrants. He might discover those 109 verses that command Muslims to wage violent Jihad against non-Muslims, to “fight” and to “kill,” to “strike at the necks” and to “sow terror in the hearts of” non-Muslims. He might discover the verses in which Muslims are told they are “the best of peoples” and that non-Muslims are “the most vile of created beings.” Perhaps Orlando suspects, and doesn’t want to know what he would find were he to read the Qur’an; it would only disturb his equanimity.
“Arabic and French pamphlets on migrant rights sit neatly stacked to the side of his desk.
“When someone asks how many immigrants are in Palermo, I don’t respond 100,000 or 120,000,” Orlando explains. “I say none because the people in Palermo are Palermitans. The mayor of Palermo does not make a differentiation between those who were born in Palermo and those who live in Palermo.”
So just like that, the leftist mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, who has that kind of buonismo about Islam that so infuriated Oriana Fallaci, erases with a rhetorical flourish the distinction between those who are born in Palermo, and likely come from families that have lived in Palermo for generations, and those migrants who just arrived yesterday, having a different language and customs, misogynistic views of women, an inculcated contempt and hostility for all those who do not share their faith. For these economic migrants bring with them, undeclared in their mental baggage, the ideology of Islam. But for Leoluca Orlando history and ideology do not matter. Like Pope Francis, Leoluca Orlando doesn’t believe that Europeans have a right to keep out those who wish to settle among them, no matter how unstable or threatening they appear to be. Orlando does not think Europe — Italy, Sicily, Palermo — has  a right to preserve its own culture, customs, beliefs. For Mayor Orlando, the minute a migrant settles in Palermo, he becomes just as much a Palermitano as someone whose family has been in the city for hundreds of years.
“Orlando links his perspective on immigration and his policy to the city’s culture and history.
His perspective on immigration should not be attributed to his city’s “culture and history.” His is the standard view of the European left.  Migrants, all migrants (but especially those from the favored non-white and Muslim peoples), have a right to settle wherever they want in Europe, and no matter what the indigenous population may think.  Diversity is an unalloyed good. Too great an attachment by Europeans to their own nation and culture is to be discouraged as reactionary, ‘islamophobic’. The only acceptable culture is that of multiculturalism.
“In the south of Italy, in particular, we are not European, I’m sorry but Palermo is not Frankfurt or Berlin” claims Mayor Orlando.
Comment:
Of course Palermo is not Frankfurt or Berlin. But just because Palermo ls a far cry from those efficient, well-organized, business-like German cities, this does not make Palermitans “not European.” That would make as little sense as claiming that people in New Orleans or Biloxi are “not American” because of their slower pace of life, their southern drawl, their laid-back lassitude. By dint of their shared ethnicity, language, laws, customs, history, and especially, by their shared religion, Sicilians are Italians, and Italians are Europeans just as much as people in Frankfurt or Berlin.

Again, Leoluca Orlando:

“Palermo isn’t Paris … Palermo is Beirut, Palermo is Istanbul, Palermo is Jerusalem, Palermo is Tripoli. Palermo is a Middle Eastern city in Europe. The Mediterranean isn’t a sea, it’s a continent. We have a Mediterranean identity that is multicultural.”

Comment:
Leoluca Orlando seems to relish the idea that Palermo has become one more Middle Eastern city, akin to Beirut, Istanbul, Tripoli [Jerusalem, which he also names, is –thanks to its majority Jewish population — a European rather than a Middle Eastern city]. Can 20,000 Muslims [out of 25,000 migrants] in Palermo, which has 700,000 inhabitants (and nearly 900,000 if outlying districts are included), really transform the city into Beirut or Tripoli? Of course not. But what astonishes, is Orlando’s attitude, which is one of pleasure at the idea that his city might be becoming  “Beirut, Istanbul, Tripoli.’” What should horrify him ostensibly fills him with delight — or is this delight feigned, because he doesn’t know how else to respond?
“For people like Masur [a Muslim in Palermo, who came from Bangladesh]  this multicultural identity has helped him feel not just tolerated, but accepted.”I feel at home now,” he says. “If I go somewhere else in Italy, like Venice or Milan, I say ‘no,’ I want to go back home to my Palermo.”
But surveys reveal that Muslims living in Italy feel less attached to their country than in any other EU country. Asked to rank their attachment on a five-point scale, the average score in Italy was 3.3, the lowest of the 15 countries surveyed. Apparently a great many Muslims do not “feel at home” in Italy, though of course these economic migrants are happy to pocket the many benefits that the generous Italian state provides, including free or subsidized housing, free medical care, free education, family allowances, and unemployment benefits even without the need for recipients to have been previously employed .
Many Sicilians do not share Mayor Orlando’s delight with Muslim immigrants. Sabina Bonelli, parliamentary candidate for Lega Salvini Premier (the new name of the  party headed by Salvini), told CNBC that Sicily had been turned into a “big refugee camp.”
“The Mediterranean was a cradle of culture, trade and tourism but it’s become a place where human traffickers bring lots of people and give them false hope,” she said, adding that Italy needed to regulate migration and a law to block new arrivals.
Leoluca Orlando doesn’t share her dismay:
“Palermo is no longer an Italian town. It is no longer European. You can walk in the city and feel like you’re in Istanbul or Beirut.”
This statement can be read in two ways. It happens to have been said by Leoluca Orlando, for whom these Muslim migrants are a good thing. He never tells us exactly what wonderful things these Muslim migrants have brought to Sicily. Not a single benefit to the lives of Sicilians is presented. We are to take it on faith. Perhaps he is unaware of the vast dragon the public treasury of these Muslim migrants, who are in no hurry to find jobs, but glad to live on state support. He may not know that Muslims have taken over much of the drug trade, and prostitution, too, from the Mafia. That’s why the Mafia has been leaving Palermo: the Muslim gangs are too dangerous. Mention of the Muslim gangs would not fit Orlando’s optimistic narrative.
Does Mayor Orlando know that most Sicilians don’t want to walk in Palermo to “feel like you’re in Istanbul or Beirut.” They are no different in their desires from other Europeans. How many English people relish walking in certain parts of their cities — Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, London — and feeling as if they were in Karachi, or Baghdad? How many French people in Paris or Marseille enjoy those neighborhoods that have become versions of Algiers, or Rabat?
Not everyone in Sicily is quite so convinced as Mayor Orlando that Muslim immigration is to be welcomed. Not everyone is so enamored of the “diversity” and “multiculturalism” he celebrates. Matteo Salvini’s Lega Salvini and Beppe Grillo’s Cinque Stelle, have made electoral gains in Sicily with their anti-immigrant policies, a clear sign of growing disaffection with the welcome extended to Muslim migrants by such mayors as Leoluca Orlando. The next Italian elections will tell us whose version of reality is being accepted by the voters: those who regard the growing Muslim presence with delight, like Mayor Orlando in Palermo, or those who regard it with dread, like Matteo Salvini.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Italy Tagged With: Leoluca Orlando, Matteo Salvini, Muslim Migrants, Palermo, Security Decree, Sicily


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Keya says

    Jun 5, 2019 at 10:57 am

    If Muslims don’t feel at home in Italy they can always leave. This mayor is a fool. When Muslims take over this mayor will be reduced to a dhimmi status

    • Fighting the Good Fight - People's Rep of Connecticut says

      Jun 5, 2019 at 11:32 am

      So true. If they took over this mayor would probably not survive. More likely a hideous public display to further intimidate traumatized citizens.

      He is a fool.

      • Charles Lutz says

        Jun 6, 2019 at 5:43 pm

        Keya, do not call this Sicilian “a fool”. Just follow the money.

        • gravenimage says

          Jun 8, 2019 at 10:48 pm

          I don’t think he’s taking bribes–after all, he bravely faced down the Mafia. More likely he just believes Muslim Taqiyya.

    • Hugh Fitzgerald says

      Jun 5, 2019 at 12:05 pm

      And if they do feel at home –which would mean they had won, and imposed their values on the indigenous Unbelievers– they should also be asked to leave, and conditions made sufficiently unpleasant for the practice of Islam that .they will want to leave. Your country is your home: you have a right to ask uninvited guests to leave, whethert they want to or not.

      • gravenimage says

        Jun 5, 2019 at 8:19 pm

        +1

      • Andrew Bostom says

        Jun 6, 2019 at 5:21 am

        https://www.andrewbostom.org/2008/03/remembrance-of-islam-in-sicily/

        Here is an extract from  Michele Amari, the great Italian scholar of Islam, extracted from his seminal, Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia. [“History of the Muslims in Sicily”]  published in multiple volumes from 1933-1939.   

        Injurious and troublesome were the statutes of the civil regulations. The dhimmi were forbidden to carry arms, to ride horseback, or to put saddles on their donkeys and mules; to build their homes taller than or even as tall as those of the Muslims; to use Islamic first names and even to use seals with Arabic lettering. Furthermore they were forbidden to drink wine in public, to accompany their dead to the cemetery with funeral pomp and lamentation; the women were forbidden to enter a public bath when Muslim women might be there, or to remain there if Muslim women arrived. And just so that they wouldn’t forget their inferior status for a moment, the dhimmi were enjoined to keep a sign on the doors of their homes, one on their outer garments, to use turbans of a different style and color, and above all to wear a belt made of leather or wool. Along the streets they were forced to yield the right of way to the Muslims or, if they were seated in a group, to stand up at the arrival or departure of a man of the victorious race… …it was forbidden to display crosses in public, to read the gospel so loud that the Muslims could hear it, to speak with them about the Messiah; or vigorously to ring bells or to sound clappers [wooden noisemakers used exclusively in Holy Week ceremonies 

        The Jews, as every one knows (and there were quite a few living in Sicily then), were subject to the same laws.

        • Warren Raymond says

          Jun 6, 2019 at 10:27 pm

          “He (the mayor) never tells us exactly what wonderful things these Muslim migrants have brought to Sicily. Not a single benefit to the lives of Sicilians is presented.”

          The good mayor has a Koran in his office, a gift from the Aga Khan.

          Look hat his bank accounts. See how wealthy the mayor has become while in office. Investigate how he profited from the Moslem invasion.

          There’s your reason for his welcoming stance.

        • gravenimage says

          Jun 8, 2019 at 10:54 pm

          Thank you for the link, Andrew Bostom. I greatly respect your Counter-Jihad work.

  2. Michael Copeland says

    Jun 5, 2019 at 11:05 am

    What would happen if John Cleese were to say “Palermo is no longer an Italian town”?
    Would there be howls of protest?

  3. mortimer says

    Jun 5, 2019 at 11:38 am

    Leftarded Leoluca Orlando probably hasn’t read the struggle to remove the Arab pirates from Sicily. The pirates are back and they are growing in numbers. History will repeat itself if idiots like Leoluca Orlando have their way. No doubt, the vast majority of Italians do not want Muslims to take over Italy.

  4. Lydia Church says

    Jun 5, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    What a fool!

    “Minister Salvini isn’t against Muslims, Minister Salvini isn’t against immigrants, Minister Salvini is against Italians,” says Orlando, tapping his finger on his desk. “He is against our culture of hospitality, he’s against our Mediterranean soul, he’s against our history.”

    No. He tries to twist the script so bad! As if saying it will make it so. Salvini is FOR Italy and the Italian people, otherwise he would not be against the migrant invasion. You can’t have it both ways. Orlando’s idea of hospitality is letting in the Trojan horse… and his bleeding heart ‘mediterranean soul’ will soon be joined by other bleeding body parts!

    The slander is obvious, as is the intention of it.

  5. Martin says

    Jun 5, 2019 at 7:01 pm

    The Leftist mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, is the man with the tricolour sash ( from 4:08 to 4:54 ) on this video ( Procession during the Santa Rosalia celebrations – Palermo July 15th 2016)

    • Martin says

      Jun 7, 2019 at 6:11 pm

      PIC – Leoluca Orlando – Eid al fitr prayer – Palermo – June 2019

      https://www.leggilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Olando-Leggilo.png

      • Martin says

        Jun 7, 2019 at 6:13 pm

        story in Italian on this page :

        https://www.leggilo.org/2019/06/06/orlando-festa-ramadan-musulmani/

  6. gravenimage says

    Jun 5, 2019 at 8:12 pm

    Do Sicilians have an affinity for the Islamic world in their DNA? (Part 2)
    ……………………..

    Leoluca Orlando is a fool. Welcoming in violent invaders is not “hospitality”–it is suicide.

    Just about exactly a year ago, in defiance of orders from the Italian government, Orlando stated that he would allow the Aquarius, bearing 629 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya, to dock in Palermo.

    He regularly welcomes boats full of invading Muslims: Every time a ship with rescued migrants enters the harbour of Palermo, the mayor goes to greet them. “Welcome,” he says to them. “The worst is over. You are citizens of Palermo now.”

    He was savvy enough to grasp the threat of the Mafia–but is completely clueless about Islam.

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/apr/18/he-fought-the-mafia-and-won-now-this-mayor-is-taking-on-europe-over-migrants

  7. Carolyne says

    Jun 5, 2019 at 11:17 pm

    I don’t know about Sicilians and Islam. I do know about Sicilians and the Mafia. It is somehow fitting that the birthplace of La Costa Nostra has an affinity with Islam.

  8. E. Maria says

    Jun 6, 2019 at 7:47 am

    Europe has been blinded by the false god, the Koran. This stupid mayor has no concept of the truth especially of the plan by Islam to change every country they begin to infiltrate, to dominate by their demonic political ideology. They’re gaining ground in our country and America continues to sleep…..

  9. CTTV15@Hotmail.com says

    Jun 6, 2019 at 8:33 am

    Don Corleone would not approve..

    • mortimer says

      Jun 6, 2019 at 11:09 am

      The Don would give an offer they couldn’t refuse.

  10. Michael says

    Jun 6, 2019 at 9:18 am

    The Sicilian Mafia is built on Muslim Brotherhood (MB) ideology and principles. The MB follow the dictation of El-Morshed, on who’s principles the later initiation of the Sisilian Godfather followed. El-Morshed imposes his position by merits of being the most power and blood thirsty and we’ll prayed to eliminate any one who stands between him and absolute power. The rest of the MB follow his dictates without questioning, down to the point of taking suicidal actions. Kissing the hands is a daily expression of this loyalty.
    The whole MB are prepared to take ANY action that would achieve their goals, including the conscription of common criminals to achieve their aims. They collect protection mony(Gezia) from people who do not belong to their ranks. The second source is robbery of those hard working who do not dwindle the fruit of toil and who they identify as “outsiders or kafir”. The money is spent on developing their underground and military avtivity, paying the faithfuls to keep their loyalty and cohesion. The promote the business of their top tanks, which is usually trading in currency and controlling a defined section of commerce.

    • mortimer says

      Jun 6, 2019 at 11:11 am

      Further to Michael’s historical remarks:

      Mafia Arabic Etymology

      The Mafia developed out of Islamic pirate gangs that extorted jizyya. The Sicilians copied the Arabs’ methods.

      Possible etymologies from ARABIC are:

      – mu’afa = safety, protection

      – mahyas = aggressive boasting, bragging[5]

      – marfud = rejected (considered to be the most plausible derivation); marfud developed into marpiuni (swindler) to marpiusu and finally mafiusu

  11. Rueben_Singh says

    Jun 7, 2019 at 5:05 pm

    My cousins live in Italy, in Latina, they immigrated from India legally. They love it, get on fine with the Italians. However they don’t like North Africans. Fact is the arabs have no work ethic and the Indians do. They also have no respect for Italians.
    My neighbours are Italian, and have told me this as well.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indians_in_Italy

    • gravenimage says

      Jun 8, 2019 at 11:03 pm

      +1

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • John on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Vladimir on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Linda McGuire on UK: Muslim stabs two women in Marks & Spencer, one in the neck, cops search for motive
  • Linda McGuire on UK: Muslim stabs two women in Marks & Spencer, one in the neck, cops search for motive
  • jacksonl03 on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.