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Why the West
Should Listen to Hungary on Muslim Refugees
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Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been denounced by Western media as
"xenophobic" and "full of hate speech" for his
opposition to taking in Muslim refugees.
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Some central and east European countries are being criticized by more
"progressive" Western nations for not wanting to take in Muslim
refugees.
Chief among them is Hungary, specifically in the person of Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán. Western media are characterizing him as
"xenophobic," "full of hate speech," and Europe's
"creeping dictator." Sounding like the mafia boss of the Left,
the Guardian simply refers to him as a "problem" that
needs to be "solved."
Orbán's crime is that he wants to secure his nation against Muslims and
preserve its Christian identity. According to Hungary's prime minister:
Those arriving have been raised in
another religion, and represent a radically different culture. Most of them
are not Christians, but Muslims. This is an important question, because
Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity.... We don't want to
criticize France, Belgium, any other country, but we think all countries
have a right to decide whether they want to have a large number of Muslims
in their countries. If they want to live together with them, they can. We don't
want to and I think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large
number of Muslim people in our country. We do not like the consequences of
having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in other countries,
and I do not see any reason for anyone else to force us to create ways of
living together in Hungary that we do not want to see....
The prime minister went on to invoke history—and not in the politically
correct way, to condemn Christians and whitewash Muslims, but according to
reality:
I have to say that when it comes to
living together with Muslim communities, we are the only ones who have
experience because we had the possibility to go through that experience for
150 years.
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A
painting by Bertalan Székely commemorates a 1552 Hungarian victory
against Ottoman forces besieging Eger.
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Orbán is referring to Islam's conquest and occupation of Hungary from
1541 to 1699. Then, Islamic jihad, terrorism, and Christian persecution
were rampant.
Nor was Hungary alone. Much of southeastern Europe and portions of
modern day Russia were conquered, occupied, and terrorized by the
Turks—sometimes in ways that make Islamic State atrocities seem like
child's play. (Think of the beheadings, crucifixions, massacres, slave
markets, and rapes that have become IS trademarks—but on a much grander
scale, and for centuries.)
Still, to Western progressives, such distant memories are lost. In an
article titled "Hungary has been shamed by Viktor Orbán's
government," the Guardian mocks and trivializes the prime
minister's position:
Hungary has a history with the Ottoman
empire, and Orbán is busy conjuring it. The Ottoman empire is striking
back, he warns. They're taking over! Hungary will never be the same
again!... Hence the wire; hence the army; hence, as from today, the state
of emergency; hence the fierce, unrelenting rhetoric of hatred. Because
that is what it has been from the very start: sheer, crass hostility and
slander.
Similarly, the Washington Post, after acknowledging that Hungary
was once occupied by the Ottomans—though without any mention of the
atrocities it experienced—wondered how "it's somewhat bizarre to think
this rather distant past of warlords and rival empires ought to influence
how a 21st century nation addresses the needs of refugees."
Blended in among the thousands of
refugees are operatives from the Islamic State.
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So-called mainstream media ignore the fact that blended in among the
thousands of refugees are operatives from the Islamic State, which is
currently reliving the "Ottoman days" in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and
elsewhere, and which plans on reliving them in Hungary and southeastern
Europe. Already, Muslims trying to force their way into Hungary—and
Slovenia, which is also resistant to Muslim migrants—are shouting Islam's
ancient war cry, "Allah Akbar!"
As for the other, "regular" Muslim refugees, many of them will
never assimilate and some will abuse and exploit the weak—particularly
women and children—and enforce Islamic law in their enclaves. That's
exactly what Orbán was referring to when he said "We do not like the
consequences of having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in
other countries."
Many "regular" Muslim
refugees will never assimilate into their host countries.
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To be sure, those "other countries" are not limited to Europe.
For example, in Myanmar (Burma), non-indigenous Muslim minorities are
behind the same sort of anti-infidel mayhem, violence, and rape.
In response, anti-Muslim sentiment has grown among Buddhist majorities,
followed by the usual Western media criticism.
Thus popular Buddhist leader Ashin Wirathu, whom the media refer to as
the "Burmese bin Laden," staunchly opposes Muslim presence in
Myanmar: "You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep
next to a mad dog," says the monk in reference to Muslims: "I
call them troublemakers, because they are troublemakers."
Reminiscent of Hungary's Orbán, Wirathu also warns that: "If we are
weak, our land will become Muslim." The theme song of his party speaks
of people who "live in our land, drink our water, and are ungrateful
to us"—a reference to Muslims—and how "We will build a fence with
our bones if necessary" to keep them out.
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The
Western media has excoriated Burmese Buddhist leader Ashin Wirathu for
seeking to curtail his country's non-indigenous Muslim minority.
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Again, sounding like Hungary's Orbán, Wirathu's pamphlets say
"Myanmar is currently facing a most dangerous and fearful poison that
is severe enough to eradicate all civilization."
To this, the NYT scoffs, arguing that "Buddhism would seem to have
a secure place in Myanmar. Nine in 10 people are Buddhist... Estimates of
the Muslim minority range from 4 percent to 8 percent."
Justifying Muslim presence in non-Muslim nations on the basis that far
outnumbered Muslims can never be a problem is par for the course. After
expressing puzzlement at Orbán's stress on history, the Washington Post
stressed "the fact that Muslims comprise less than 1 percent of the
country's [Hungary's] population."
This media canard ignores Islam's unwavering Rule of Numbers: whenever
and wherever Muslims grow in numbers, the same "anti-infidel"
violence endemic to Muslim-majority nations grows with them.
Consider the words of Fr. Daniel Byantoro, a Muslim convert to
Christianity, discussing the ramifications of Islam's slow entry into what
was once a non-Muslim nation but today is the largest Muslim nation:
For thousands of years my country
(Indonesia) was a Hindu Buddhist kingdom. The last Hindu king was kind
enough to give a tax exempt property for the first Muslim missionary to
live and to preach his religion. Slowly the followers of the new religion
were growing, and after they became so strong the kingdom was attacked,
those who refused to become Muslims had to flee for their life... Slowly
from the Hindu Buddhist Kingdom, Indonesia became the largest Islamic
country in the world. If there is any lesson to be learnt by Americans at
all, the history of my country is worth pondering upon. We are not hate
mongering, bigoted people; rather, we are freedom loving, democracy loving
and human loving people. We just don't want this freedom and democracy to
be taken away from us by our ignorance and misguided "political
correctness", and the pretension of tolerance. (Facing Islam,
endorsement section).
Indeed. Nations as diverse as Hungary and Myanmar—and leaders as diverse
as the Christian Orbán and the Buddhist Wirathu—are well acquainted with
Islam. Accordingly, when it comes to the Islamic influx—whether by the
sword or in the guise of refugees—instead of judging them, Western nations
would do well to learn from their experiences.
Otherwise, they are destined to learn from their own personal
experiences—that is, the hard way.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Judith
Friedman Rosen fellow at the Middle East Forum and a Shillman fellow at the
David Horowitz Freedom Center.
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