Dr. Jamie Glazov had justifiable reason to state that Bill O'Reilly had "publicly promoted submitting to Sharia Law" in his article entitled: O'Reilly's Burqa Betrayal. He was referring to a debate that O'Reilly had with Laura Ingraham over the French ban of the burqa. In it O'Reilly portrayed himself as being tolerant and asserted that most Muslim women want to veil themselves.
In doing so he demonstrated a flippant and appalling disregard for his own culture, women's rights globally, and the threat of increasing Islamic Fundamentalism.
O'Reilly's comments were reminiscent of what Ahmed Rehab of CAIR told Megyn Kelly back in Dec, 2007 concerning the honor killing of 16-year-old Aqsa Pervez: Islam gives women the choice of wearing or not wearing the hijab.
Following the announcement of the French ban, it didn't take long for Islamic Fundamentalism to rear its menacing head: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb issued a statement vowing to "seek vengeance against France."
Let's get this straight. Vengeance against France? A democratic sovereign nation? All the more reason why this insanity must be challenged with a call for all Western nations to issue such a ban in protection of its cherished values, and in defense of women's human rights everywhere. It is this fundamental zeal that lead to the murder of 16-year old Aqsa Parvez for her refusal to wear the burqa.
France has more than ample reason to view the veil as a gateway to extremism, along with Belgium and Spain which are working on similar bans. How could Bill O'Reilly have missed the implications of the deep symbolism of the burqa, which is forced upon women globally to keep them in subjugation?
Well known Canadian Moderate Tarek Fatah had this to say when I asked him how he would respond to O'Reilly's statement:
Does a drug addict not want to take drugs? Would O'reilly defend the right of addicts to stay hooked to cocaine?
In an article, Fatah also had this to say about the burqa which should teach O'Reilly something about its symbolism:
The burka is not just a piece of clothing: It is a symbol of Islamofascism and a rejection of the West and its cherished value of gender equality. The cruel reality is that the burka implicitly castigates women as a source of evil ( a'wra), condemning them to a life of isolation away from the gaze of men.
Fatah was responding to a burqa ban (Bill 94) that Quebec introduced, which was opposed by leftist groups. Bill O'Reilly has traditionally been an admirable force to reckon with in chastening leftist ideologues, of which many were assigned to the category of "Pinheads." As Dr. Jamie Glazov pointed out in his article, O'Reilly made himself into a Pinhead. I only hope that O'Reilly will contemplate the harm that he has done to a critical cause and correct it so that he can return to the status of Patriot in this context. His defense of the burqa is particularly damaging to the battle faced in Multicultural Canada where according to the Multicultural Act all cultures are deemed equal, making it tougher to address destructive ideologies imported from abroad.
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