Denmark has become the latest European nation to counter the encroachment of radical Islam by proposing a bill to ban the funding of mosques by Muslim countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Soeren Kern, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, writes that Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland already have adopted “varying degrees of action to prevent foreign governments from financing the construction and upkeep of mosques.”
The Danish bill doesn’t actually identify Islam.
But it fines any entity that receives a donation exceeding $1,600 over 12 months from any group or government on a “public ban list” that seeks to “undermine democracy.”
Kern noted that Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates routinely have been funding mosques to promote “Islamic extremism,” donating hundreds of millions of dollars.
The new Danish law, Act 81, Proposal for a Law Prohibiting the Receipt of Donations from Certain Natural and Legal Persons, was adopted by the Danish Parliamnet in a 79-7 vote.
It was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Integration.
Foreign Minister Mattias Tesfaye said the bill “is an important step towards fighting attempts by Islamic extremists to gain ground in Denmark.”
“With this, we can take a targeted approach to the donations that undermine the values on which Danish society is based,” he said.
The move came about after a newspaper reported Saudi Arabia gave $780,000 to fund the Taiba Mosque, which “has been the base for a number of Islamists convicted of terrorism offenses,” Kern reported.
Kern noted the nation’s first “purpose-built mosque — the Grand Mosque of Copenhagen,” opened in 2014 after a donation of $36 million from a Qatari official.
“On September 2013, when the mosque was still under construction, the Copenhagen Post reported that the facility was planning to rebroadcast Al-Aqsa TV, a television broadcaster controlled by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. At the time, city councilman Lars Aslan Rasmussen, himself of Turkish background, said, ‘A few weeks ago, Dansk Islamisk Råd said that there would be no connection to Qatar and we can now see that is a lie. The mosque is a gift from Qatar but it’s not free. I have always said that they will expect something in return, and this shows that they are making some claims for their money,'” Kern reported.
Islamic nations already have funded dozens of mosques that teach an impose Islamic law, or Shariah.
In one situation, an imam forced a woman to sign a document giving up custody of her children if she filed for divorce.
Danish officials said Shariah has no place in Denmark.
Support for the bill was almost unanimous among the nation’s various political parties.
Pia Kjærsgaard, co-founder of the Danish People’s Party, explained: “Obviously, Middle Eastern regimes must not be able to send money to mosques or Quranic schools in Denmark to undermine Danish values. We therefore welcome this intervention and look forward to curbing the attacks on democracy that emanate from, among other things, radicalized mosques.”
Danish officials also are working to address immigration, aiming for “zero asylum seekers.” They’ve been told that in a “high immigration scenario,” Muslims would be 16% of the Danish population by 2050.
At the 5.5% current level, the nation already has been plagued by shootings, car burnings and gang violence, Kern said.
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