Free Republic

BRUSSELS - The Belgian-Lebanese leader of the Arabic-European League, Dyab Abou Jahjah, sharply criticized the presence of Dutch troops in Iraq. "Every dead American, British or Dutch soldier I see as a victory", he says in an interview with the Flamish daily 'Het Laatste Nieuws'. Abou Jahjah, who is not as present in the news as he used to be since his political party didn't do well in the Belgium elections, however does not agree with the beheadings of hostages in Iraq. "Beheadings are wrong in an ethnic and religious sense. Muslims even don't slaughter a sheep that way." The...

'Belgian Malcolm X' seeks office Even as Europe's Islamic population rises, many Muslims feel marginalized and uncertain of their place in European society. To his supporters, Dyab Abou Jahjah is a hero, a champion of Europe's Muslim immigrant underclass. ABOU JAHJAH: 'I am not going to be docile.' But to many Belgians, the young, Lebanese-born activist embodies the Continent's growing fear of extremism within its Muslim population. Now, the man sometimes called the "Belgian Malcolm X" is trying to make the leap from activism to political office: He is running for a parliamentary seat in a heated election Sunday in...

ANTWERP, Belgium - A Lebanese refugee running for parliament is giving a confrontational twist to elections in this Belgian city, a center of anti-immigrant feelings in Europe. Dyab Abou Jahjah's demands for immigrant empowerment, his brief jailing on charges of incitement to riot and his portrayal as an enemy of democracy and integration have caught the eye of the nation, even though the publicity is unlikely to be reflected in success at the polls. The prime minister calls Dyab Abou Jahjah a threat who thrives on "confrontation and provocation." The interior minister wants to create a law just to keep...

If the Belgian government does not stop the American troop movements in Belgium, he will ask the Arabic European League (AEL) to block the harbor of Antwerp. AEL-leader Abou Jahjah said this Wednesday at a press-meeting in Kallo right before an action of the PvdA (extreme-left party, not directly connected to the Dutch PvdA) in the Waaslandhaven (the harbor). Jahjah said that Antwerp would be the symbloical place for action against the Belgian involvement with the American war against Iraq. "Sunday we will hold a protest march in Brussels. This will only be a first step to what is coming...