In the coming days, tens of thousands of Israelis will be returning from their vacations abroad. After they unpack their suitcases and take out the perfumes they bought at the duty-free store, and after the kids go back to school, memories of their trip overseas will resurface.
And among other things, what they will remember is this: Veils. Plenty of veils. Black veils made of simple cloth, expensive veils made of silk, long veils, and short veils.
Tradition or Liberation?
Behind the veil / Efrat Shapira-Rosenberg
When religious Jewish and Muslim women cover themselves, are they succumbing to chauvinistic tradition or rather making a liberating decision?
Europe is putting on a veil over its face. For years now this has been the picture encountered by guests who arrive there for a brief moment (and who are more aware of these things) in the major streets of large cities, and also in small towns.
Yet it appears that an all-time record was broken this summer – but perhaps we are still far away from the record?
Money can buy almost anything
A common sight these days is a Filipino man following his veiled woman on the streets of Paris, London, Rome, and Berlin, while carrying her shopping bags. In large luxury stores, wealthy Muslim customers ask managers to keep other clients out of the store before proceeding to buy half of it, at times spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on one occasion. Muhammad is buying Europe.
Why should this be of interest to us and why is this important to us? We must internalize the realization that money can buy (almost) anything, and mostly Europe’s conscience. For how long will we be able to keep referring to our values, the morals of our prophets, our Bible, and the Holocaust?
Perhaps it will not happen in this generation, but in the next generation Europe may certainly become a branch of African and Middle Eastern countries. And so, a seemingly minor phenomenon that got under way in the wake of the economic miracle in Europe following World War II – the decline in birthrates and the shortage of workers – has become increasingly serious in the 1980s.
Today, the Muslim population is exerting pressure on Europe, and indirectly on us as well. Ladies and gentleman, Europe is veiled.
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