Austria wants to “ban political Islam” (and the left is on board)

“When religion is used for political ends, we must oppose it with the utmost severity. A political interpretation of Islam is incompatible with democracy and Western values. Let me be clear: I am in favour of introducing a constitutional ban on political Islam.” So says the Austrian Chancellor, Christian Stocker, in an interview with the daily newspaper Heute. The Austrian People’s Party’s proposal to “ban political Islam” has been welcomed by its coalition partners in Vienna. Following the Neos liberals, the SPÖ Social Democrats have said they are ready to vote in favour of the bill. (Meotti continues on page three)

The Austrian State Secretary, Jörg Leichtfried, a member of the left, has stated that a democracy must defend itself against attacks. “A state governed by the rule of law, a democracy, must defend itself when a religion is exploited to attack that state and that democracy,” said Leichtfried.

The Minister for Integration, Claudia Bauer, has announced that she will present an initial draft for a “constitutional ban on political Islam” to her coalition partners. Bauer also stated that the government will combat “political Islam and its organisations in Austria and across Europe by all means”, describing it as “the greatest danger of our time”. This is not an impromptu move. Austria has already taken action.

In 2018, Vienna expelled sixty imams linked to Erdogan and closed numerous mosques. In 2021, Austria became the first European country to ban the Islamist brotherhood founded a century ago by the Egyptian Hassan al-Banna. The Muslim Brotherhood’s slogans and literature have been banned. Distributing them is punishable by a fine of four thousand euros and one month’s imprisonment.

A decision that is also intended to target Erdogan’s Turkey: in Austria, Turks control 58 out of 250 mosques. The government also funds the Dokumentationsstelle Politische Islam in Vienna, the centre set up to monitor political Islam. The Austrian left is part of the European group that has the clearest understanding of the Islamist threat. The Danish Minister for Immigration, also a member of the European left, has announced a ban on the Islamic call to prayer across the whole country, arguing that some parts of the country resemble “a suburb of Islamabad”. Morten Bodskov, a minister and leader of the Social Democrats, said: “The call to prayer must not be heard above Danish rooftops. It has no place in Denmark, and there should be no doubt as to whether one is in a suburb of Islamabad when walking through Denmark.”

The Scandinavian and Austrian left are part of that European minority which has ceased to confuse religious freedom with ideological immunity. Mosques funded by third-party regimes, transnational brotherhoods and armed cells are not inventions of the right. They are the subject of police and intelligence files.

An operation carried out by the Austrian secret and intelligence services in Vienna led to the discovery of a cache containing weapons and explosive devices belonging to Hamas. They belonged to Muhammad Naim, the son of Basem Naim, a senior official in Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza and a close associate of Khalil al Hayya, the leader of Hamas. As part of the investigation that revealed Naim’s role in setting up the terrorist cell in Vienna, further information has emerged regarding a meeting held in Qatar between him and his father in September this year. The timing of the meeting suggests possible involvement by the Hamas leadership in the advancement of terrorism in Europe, granting agents the authority and approval to carry out attacks.

This is not a Middle Eastern threat, but a global ideological movement whose shockwave has already penetrated the social fabric of the West.