Madrid, Spain, Nov 29, 2005 / 22:00 pm
In an interview with the Alba weekly in Spain, international terrorism expert Maria Angeles Muñoz said “the fiercely secular state model, the disintegration of the family, and the moral bankruptcy of the West” are the causes of the recent violence among Muslims in France, which does not constitute an isolated incident but rather is part of a “holy war” against the West.
Muñoz called it Europe’s greatest identity crisis. “Simultaneous acts of vandalism in seven French provinces and in various European countries is not just coincidence,” she explained,0 in response to those who claim the incidents were isolated.
She also warned that “calls for a new jihad are spreading across the internet, and this is no joke. On Muslim forums like tajdeed.net or alsaha.com, radical Muslims denounce ‘police harassment’ and call for a struggle against ‘France, the land of infidels’ and ‘enemy of Muslims’.”
According to Muñoz, “five million non-integrated Muslim immigrants consider the West an enemy. That is a risk and it appears we did not realize it.”
She said the $58 million set aside by the European Commission to address the problem is not enough. “The solution is not a blank check, and France must reconsider its model of integration. ‘Multiculturalism’ has become very costly,” she said.
“The French crisis is at heart Europe’s crisis; the European project—the guiding light of civilization, as Schumann said--needs to be recovered. I think that in addition to patching up holes, we need to rethink the societal model and the educational system that we want. And (in Spain) we still have time,” Munoz said.