Counter-Terrorism: The Case For Keeping Moslems Out

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December 17, 2015: For many countries efforts to restrict Moslem migration is justified by past experience. Japan, for example, has virtually no Moslems and as a result has had no problems with Islamic terrorism. The Gulf Oil States severely restrict the movement of Moslem refugees (and migrants in general) into their territory. They say it is for security reasons. European countries that accept a lot of Moslems fleeing religious violence in their homelands report that the Moslem migrants end up committing a disproportionate number of crimes and often end up as a disproportionate fraction of the prison population. Thus in France, where ten percent of the population is Moslem, over 60 percent of the prison population is Moslem.

Moslems have not adapted well in Europe and have a lot more problems doing so than other immigrants. Europe has largely ignored the problem until it turned out to be a major factor in the domestic Islamic terrorism threat. In part this is because European nations have a much harder time accepting and integrating migrants than the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In part that’s because these four “colonial” nations are largely composed of migrants or descendants of migrants. There are still problems but as the saying goes in the U.S., “we’re all minorities here.” European nations are more wary about outsiders and citizenship is not automatically conferred on anyone born there. Ancestry counts for much more and as a result integration is much more difficult for immigrants, even those who speak the language like natives and have absorbed the local culture. Despite that, most migrants still want to be accepted.

Moslem migrants have an additional problem because their religion does not really accept being a religious minority in a non-Moslem nation. Moslem clerics tend to agree, and regularly preach that that non-Moslems must convert eventually and radical clergy sanction the use of force to make that happen sooner rather than later. To help this along radical clergy depict the non-Moslem majority as inherently hostile to Islam and constantly trying to get Moslems to abandon their religion. In Islamic theology this is not allowed and in some Moslem countries such conversions are forbidden, often under pain of death. This rebellious and militant attitude is particularly popular with many young Moslem men living in non-Moslem nations. This sense of victimhood makes it easier for young Moslem men to become criminals. Thus efforts by parents to keep their children from joining Islamic radial or terrorist organizations tend to fail. The wayward child can justify his criminal ways by referring to Islamic scripture and Islamic clerics who preach acceptance of radical Islam. This has been a problem with Islam, even in Moslem majority nations, for centuries. There is no easy solution except, as Japan and even some Moslem nations have found, to tightly control and restrict the entry of Moslems.