Israeli in Denmark

Submitted by Another "Jew and Israeli"... (Denmark), Aug 24, 2005 at 10:25

. . . I am an Israeli citizen living in Denmark, and working here. I have met many Muslim people and never faced any hostility from them. They all work, or study, and have families and never preach any radicalism or hatred toward others.

Surely, there is a minority that does. But it is only a small minority of otherwise civilised people. The tabloid media in this country makes an issue out of it and blows it out of any proportion. ...More worrying than the role of a tiny minority in the Muslim community here, is the racism exhibited by all too many Danes. Reading some of the posts here is a reliable indicative.

I am shocked to read many of the posts here. Some lament the "high birth rate of Muslims", and even go further to suggest that the worrying statistics do not even include situations where "the mother is Danish and the father is Muslim". Surely, there are still people that adhere to racist theories that dictate that you cannot be part of the country if you have foreign blood. Others are kind enough to say that they should "go home" unless they "integrate" and "assimilate".

The terms "integrate" and "assimilate" have been repeated all too often by populist denouncements of foreigners (or Danish citizens of foreign origin) who live here. What do these terms mean? Change your name to a Danish one? Renounce all ties with your own homeland and culture? Convert to Christianity? Or bleach your hair? Those who use those terms are attempting to hypocritically mask their own racism and hatred of others.

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