The true “black flag of Islam” is not the banner that Isis would raise over Buckingham Palace but the cloth shrouding women — the first edict of any Islamist revolution….
The veil is not only radicalising women but their brothers and sons. When they see female relatives stared at for covering their faces, it only confirms the messages from the mosques that Muslims are a separate and beleaguered people, justifying a righteous anger whose logical conclusion is jihad.
The veil is so much more than a garment or even a symbol of faith like the cross, yarmulke, turban or headscarf, whose British wearers live largely free from abuse. It is a Trojan horse for an extreme form of Wahhabi Islam that provokes western Muslims to rage against their non-Muslim compatriots rather than to co-exist in peace with them.
The veil is both a means to banish women from public life and a tool for provoking social unrest. It is horrifying that Shami Chakrabarti, of Liberty, argued against the European Court’s ruling.
Janice Turner offers her thoughts on the niqab.