Fast Forward

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

By Daniel J. Solomon April 4, 2017

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 solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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