De Somalisch-Nederlandse ex-politica zou half mei een eredoctoraat uitgereikt krijgen van de prestigieuze universiteit vanwege haar werk als vrouwenrechtenactivisme.
Na ophef in het universiteitsblad, tumult op het internet, en een lobby van onder andere CAIR, de Council on American-Islamic Relations, vond het College van Bestuur van de universiteit dat bij nader inzien kennelijk toch niet zo’n geslaagd idee.
“We cannot overlook that certain of her past statements are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values,” the university said in a statement released eight days after it had announced that Ms. Hirsi Ali and four other people would be honored at its commencement on May 18.
Een van de uitlatingen waar de universiteit mogelijk mee verlegen zit, is dat de islam met alle noodzakelijke middelen, ideologisch en militair, vernietigd moet worden.
Reason: We have to crush the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims under our boot? In concrete terms, what does that mean, “defeat Islam”?
Hirsi Ali: I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle ground in wars. Islam can be defeated in many ways. For starters, you stop the spread of the ideology itself; at present, there are native Westerners converting to Islam, and they’re the most fanatical sometimes. There is infiltration of Islam in the schools and universities of the West. You stop that. You stop the symbol burning and the effigy burning, and you look them in the eye and flex your muscles and you say, “This is a warning. We won’t accept this anymore.” There comes a moment when you crush your enemy.
Reason: Militarily?
Hirsi Ali: In all forms, and if you don’t do that, then you have to live with the consequence of being crushed.