Israel Matzav

Confirmed: Europe is going Muslim

Bruce Bawer confirms what many of us have suspected all along. The combination of a low birthrate for ethnic Europeans and high Muslim immigration has resulted in a huge increase in the percentage of Muslims in several European countries (Hat Tip: Sunlight).

A few recent news stories out of Europe confirm that concerns about the continent’s skyrocketing Muslim populations are, in fact, anything but alarmist. On August 8, for example, Britain’s Daily Telegraph actually permitted into its pages an article reporting that “Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.” According to the Telegraph, Spain’s foreign-born population rose from 3.2% in 1998 to 13.4% in 2007, and in Brussels, “the top seven baby boys’ names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.” The Telegraph cited the highly euphemistic conclusion of a recent report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that the rapid introduction of large numbers of Muslims into Europe results in “a difficult social fit.”

Similarly, an August 26 article in Denmark’s Dispatch International revealed that the number of Muslims in Denmark and Sweden, which had previously been uncertain (with estimates ranging widely), could now be stated with an unprecedented degree of precision, based on a meticulous study of the records of given names in the two countries. Within ten or twenty thousand, the real number of Muslims (not including unregistered illegal aliens) was about “574,000…in Sweden and 256,000 in Denmark,” meaning “that Muslims make up 6.05% of Sweden’s population and 4.59% of Denmark’s.” The Swedish figure was up from around 3.21% in 1998: “In other words, the number of Muslims has roughly doubled over the period 1998-2011.” As for Denmark, although the climb was less precipitous, that country’s center-right governments between 2001 and 2011, while often criticized as Islamophobic, turned out to have “hardly made a dent in the Muslim growth rate.” As for Norway, the Norwegian website document.no reported on September 5 that just over 38% of all newborn babies in Oslo now have “mothers with foreign national backgrounds.”

Europe is on a journey, and the destination is clear. Just a few days ago it was reported that Kiwi, one of Norway’s largest grocery-store chains, has introduced a version of its employee uniform that comes equipped with a hijab. This summer in Marseilles, a city that some observers have long pointed to as cheering evidence that Islamic integration in Europe can work, a woman wearing a niqab, or full-face veil, in public – which, of course, violates French law – was confronted by a cop, who was, in turn, according to the Washington Post, confronted by a “youth” who informed him that the police “had no business patrolling the neighborhood and accosting its predominantly Muslim residents.” Next thing you know, this tête-à-tête-à-tête erupted into a full-scale riot, requiring “carloads of police reinforcements,” in which no fewer than three gendermes sustained injuries. The only surprises in the whole story are (a) that a French cop was actually on patrol in a “predominantly Muslim” neighborhood to begin with and (b) that he dared to confront a woman in niqab. This time, thankfully, the cops managed to get things under control: but how long will it be before the numbers have tilted to a point where control is impossible?

September 5 was Flag Day in Denmark. Outside Christianborg Place in Copenhagen, a formal ceremony was held paying tribute to members of the Danish military, living and dead; meanwhile, across the canal, a sizable mob of Muslims gathered, holding up signs reading “To hell with Danish soldiers” and “Islam will dominate the whole world” and howling out “Allah akbar” and various anti-Danish, anti-Christian, and anti-Western slogans in an effort to disrupt the commemoration. In an impromptu response, hundreds of the Danish soldiers in attendance formed a “human shield” along the canal and drowned out the Muslims with shouts and applause. “The soldiers’ exemplary behavior and good humor turned the episode into an inspiration,” wrote one commentator. But what happens when the howling Muslims outnumber the soldiers?

Read the whole thing. If Turkey is ever admitted to the EU, it's all over.

Labels: Europe, Islam

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:18 PM