This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4066
August 25, 2009
Faux Moderate Tariq Ramadan Fired As Lecturer And Integration Advisor
By BEILA RABINOWITZ
August 25, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Tariq Ramadan, grandson of the Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been fired from his positions as integration advisor and "bridge builder" for the municipality of Rotterdam.
Ramadan is touted as a moderate but in reality is a stealth Islamist.
The controversy arose over Ramadan's multiple appearances on Iran's Press TV for which he was paid by the Islamic fundamentalist Iranian government. The Rotterdam municipality claims that because of Ramadan's close association with Iran's repressive regime he has "lost all credibility as an integration advisor."
According to the Dutch news source NRC Handelsblad, "The city reportedly paid 1.79 million euros [$2.5 M] for Ramadan's activities in Rotterdam in 2007 and 2008, but only 55,000 [$79,000] euros went directly to Ramadan - the rest went towards organising debates and meetings in the framework of the 'citizenship, identity and feeling at home' project. Additionally the municipality pays 200,000 [$256,000] euros a year for Ramadan's professorship at Erasmus university, which includes travel and accommodations for him and his three research assistants." [source, http://www.nrc.nl/international/Features/article2207893.ece/Controversy_follows_Tariq_Ramadan_to_Rotterdam]
Ramadan is appealing the city's decision and taking the matter to court.
Press TV is widely understood to function as a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "Mr. Ramadan, who has managed to impress a predominantly leftist audience with his eloquent talk of a "European Islam," likes to talk about democracy and following the rule of law - but only as long as the law doesn't contradict an Islamic principle. He rejects terrorism and violence but thinks that blowing up eight-year-old Israeli children is 'contextually explicable.'" [source, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574360193435076088.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]
This is not the first time Ramadan has been the subject of controversy. In April his harsh comments regarding homosexuals and women sparked calls for his dismissal.
He has also been denied a visa to enter the United States for having contributed money to a terrorist "charity." Dr. Daniel Pipes has documented Ramadan's ongoing visa saga in his weblog, "Tariq Ramadan Gives Up - Then Tries Again." [see, http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2004/12/tariq-ramadan-gives-up-then-tries-again ]
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=ramadan8.25.09%2Ehtm
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4066