Yesterday we commented on a surreal essay by the Guardian’s Jonathan Steele which demonized Tunisian Muslims who supported a secular government as “Islamophobes” for opposing Islamist parties (in the Oct. 23rd election) such as the victorious Ennahda party (led by Rached Ghannouchi) – a quintessentially Guardian moral inversion.
We noted Ghannouchi’s quite illiberal support for the Iranian revolution, his support for violence against Americans, and that his politics was largely shaped by Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian whose ideology inspired Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda.
But, there is so much more:
Harry’s Place subsequently noted that Ghannouchi has been accused of incitement to kill a Tunisian author who wrote an “irreverent book” about Mohammed, has expressed explicit support for suicide bombing against Israeli civilians, and is an antisemite who believes in the “Franklin Prophecy“ – a notorious Nazi fraud which alleges that Benjamin Franklin warned Americans of the injurious influence of Jews.
Finally, Martin Kramer noted that Ghannouchi, several months ago, said the following:
“I bring glad tidings that the Arab region will get rid of the germ of Israel. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Hamas movement, once said that Israel would disappear before 2027. That date may be too far off; Israel may disappear before that.”
So, it seems that Jonathan Steele’s expansive definition of the term “Islamophobia” includes those reactionary curmudgeons who stand in stubborn opposition to Muslim proponents of genocide against Jews.
