Hirsi Ali, the Hunted

Peaktalk - HIRSI ALI, THE HUNTED Just to show how far Dutch tolerance goes: Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s neighbors have sued the Dutch state in order to get her to be removed from the apartment complex in which she is living under police protection.

She is the Somali-born Dutch legislator who lives under constant death threats by Islamic radicals because she speaks out about what they are doing and is an outspoken advocate for the rights of Muslim women. She is the author of The Caged Virgin : An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam. According to The Mercury News She would like to see a Muslim Reformation of the kind that remade European Christianity in the 16th century. Muslims need "to develop a different relationship, a different concept of God, of what God means," she says - not just total submission to God's will but "a dialogue with God." Such a reformation is more likely to emerge from the West, she said, because for reformers in Muslim societies "there is always the fear of being killed, of being shunned by your community, of being exiled, jailed, tortured.". The American Jewish Committee recently awarded this Muslim the AJC Moral Courage Award.

The request was initially rejected, but following an appeal a higher court has now ordered Hirsi Ali to leave her house within four months, I translate:

The court considers in its ruling that the neighbors have been put into a situation that has contributed to them feeling less safe in their own house. That feeling is extended to the communal living spaces of the apartment complex, but also to their own apartments. The court argues that this is a severe violation of one’s private life (as per Article 8 of the European Treaty for Human Rights).

A few things. Firstly, it should be noted that Hirsi Ali is now booted out of her own house by virtue of the European Treaty for Human Rights which does indeed supersede Dutch law. Many cases are adjudicated by referring to this treaty, but given the subject matter here I would say: Euroskeptics, go knock yourselves out.

Secondly, and this is the one that really bothers me, is that somehow Hirsi Ali’s neighbors self-interest runs so deep that they are prepared to use the court system to throw someone whose life is in danger out of her own house. It goes like this: we’re tolerant, we support free speech and a critical attitude, but if it comes too close to our front porch, sorry, we are no longer interested.

Rather than insisting that the police throw her out of her house, why dont they insist the police throw the Islamists threatening her out of the country. If they win here, they will just be back with further demands for capitulation from the Dutch authorities.