The controversy over Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ film on Islam, Fitna, is not hard to understand. It’s a crude, embarrassingly racist compilation of the most extreme Islamic statements and anti-Semitic rants. The clear attempt is to argue that all Muslims share the al-Qaeda view of the world and want to kill all non-Muslims. Please. It’s about as sophisticated as a weekly rant by a Murdoch columnist who’s just returned from an all-expenses paid trip to Israel.
The short film is worth watching, however (hence my posting of it below.) Wilders has the right to make his film and the right to compare Islam to Nazism. It’s defamatory, false and offensive – and conveniently ignores the many racist outbursts by Jews and Christians – and will only inflame racial tensions. But it’s vital to understand that this virulent strain of Islam-hatred is alive and well in the West: