Ayaan Hirsi Ali Compares Burqa To ‘Very Big Swastika’
Honored Speaker: Ayaan Hirsi Ali lectures for the American Friends of the Open University Israel Image by karen leon
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the prominent critic of Islam and women’s rights activist, likened the burqa to a swastika and an Islamic state flag in an interview with Australian television, after she canceled a visit to the country due to security concerns.
“The burka that covers the face and that is really very much in your face, the kind of thing that stands out in the mall, that is just like the ISIS flag,” she told Australia’s Channel 7 News on Tuesday.
“These woman are coming out and declaring their political ideology and where they stand… it’s like wearing a very big swastika,” she added.
Hirsi Ali, an ex-Muslim who suffered female genital mutilation as a child in Somalia, has a controversial record of statements about Islam. She has said that the West is at “at war with Islam,” a fight in which it’s necessary to “crush your enemy.”
Her outspokenness has led to occasional security threats and three years ago spurred Brandeis University to disinvite her from giving a commencement speech there. She is a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for International Affairs.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
