Austrian political science professor Farid Hafez, who was a guest on the episode of the program "The Interview" (2023/5/21), believes that political leaders in some European countries adopt the far-right agenda regarding their dealings with Muslims.
Austria, for example, has been one of the most tolerant countries for Muslims and one of the few Western European countries to legally recognize Islam as a religion since 2012, but the political leadership under former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz specifically targeted Muslims and essentially adopted a far-right agenda, so the authorities there enforced the hijab ban and closed mosques.
He added that the security operation (Luxor), during which Austrian authorities stormed the homes of dozens of prominent Islamic figures, mosques and Islamic institutions in November 2020, is part of the targeting, repression and marginalization of Muslims.
The program "What is hidden is greater" broadcast an episode about the "Luxor" operation on 2022/1/7, and presented exclusive documents and testimonies that revealed the contradictions and gaps that marred the operation, as well as the Austrian security cooperation in this operation with the foreign intelligence services of countries, including Israel and Egypt.
The Supreme Court in the Austrian city of Graz later issued a judicial decision to close the terrorism charge against Hafez, based on the facts and exclusive documents presented by the investigation of the program "What is hidden is greater" entitled "The Night of the Storming".
Professor Hafez, who is of Egyptian origin, adds that the "Luxor" operation was not about violence or political views, but rather the questions asked to the Muslim people who were taken to police stations revolved: Do you allow your daughter to sing? And do you force your wife to wear the hijab? The police officers who carried out the operation were trained by people who believe that Islam itself is a problem, not Islamism, and that any form of Islam poses a threat to European society.
According to Hafez, dealing with Muslims differs between Eastern European and Western European countries, in the latter – especially in countries ruled by center-right parties and conservative Christian parties – there are strict measures against Muslims, such as Operation Luxor and raids and raids targeting them in France.
He pointed out that this situation is reflected at the level of the European Union, citing as an example that in the past the European Commission had a person responsible for combating hate crimes against Muslims, but this work stopped more than two and a half years ago.
As for the countries that are most aggressive in targeting Muslims in Europe, Hafez believes that France is the most violent, and in Germany conservatives remained in power for 16 years and carried out many measures against Muslims, but in a covert manner, targeting Islamic civil society organizations, but not in a noisy way as happened in Austria.
Secret agenda
Regarding the phenomenon of Islamophobia in Europe, the Austrian Muslim professor believes that there is a difference between the general public and policymakers, as the public image of Muslims is negative for the general public, as he considers Islam to be the oppression of women and violence, but decision-makers say that Muslims have a secret agenda and want European countries to Islamize, and talk about the conspiracy theory that is being hatched against them, which was what the "Luxor" operation in Austria was about.
Since 2015, Hafez has been overseeing the publication of the annual report on Islamophobia in Europe, and says that he began researching the phenomenon by focusing on the extreme right, and that he was then a celebrity and won awards, but things changed for him when the centrist parties in power adopted the far-right agenda.