Mayor To Muslims: If You Don’t Like Freedom, Pack Your Bags And Leave

The mayor of Rotterdam has some advice for Muslims who don’t like freedom: Pack your bags and leave.

Ahmed Aboutaleb is a Labour politician and former government minister. He made the controversial remarks on the day that the Charlie Hebdo office was attacked by Islamic militants.

The world reacted in horror last week after armed terrorists stormed into the satirical newspaper’s office and killed 12 people. Eventually, the terrorists were trapped in a printing facility where they were killed.

The attack was in reaction to that magazine’s publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. It is a violation of Islamic law to publish any image of Mohammed. However, the images published by Charlie Hebdo actually poked fun of the prophet with its images, including some cartoons of Mohammed depicted in the nude.

Aboutaleb was uncompromising in his message to extremists: “It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom. But if you do not like freedom, in Heaven’s name pack your bag and leave,” he said.

The mayor also had a choice expletive for the freedom-haters.

“There may be a place in the world where you can be yourself,” he said. “Be honest with yourself and do not go and kill innocent journalists. And if you do not like it here because humorists you do not like make a newspaper, may I then say you can f**k off.”

Aboutaleb became the Dutch city’s mayor in 2008. He is known for having outspoken, sometimes controversial views, on the subject of immigration.

He has, however, earned praise from the mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

“[His] is the voice of the Enlightenment, of Voltaire,” he said. “We can and will protect this country against these jihadist thugs.”

Johnson added that Aboutaleb, who describes himself as a “secular Muslim,” leads by example.

“But if we are going to win the struggle for the minds of these young people, then that is the kind of voice we need to hear – and it needs above all to be a Muslim voice,” he said.

Aboutaleb is the son of an imam who was born in Morocco. He moved to the Netherlands in 1976 at age 15.

[Image credit: Wikipedia]

Mayor To Muslims: If You Don’t Like Freedom, Pack Your Bags And Leave