The worst part of the ongoing controversy over cartoons of Muhammad is the readiness of so many in the West to capitulate, and the unwillingness of so many in the West to recognize the implications of that capitulation. All too many people in what are supposedly free countries abandon the freedom of speech eagerly in the face of jihadi threats or even the prospect of those threats, hiding their cowardice behind pious affirmations of “respect” for Muslims and Islam. This isn’t about respect, and the drawing of Muhammad is not about gratuitously insulting Muslims. It is about standing up against violent intimidation. Giving in to that intimidation only encourages more of it, and we have seen that in the West since the Muhammad cartoon controversy began back in 2005.
“Pakistani Migrant Male Gets 10 Years For Terror Plot to Kill Geert Wilders Over Mohammed Cartoons,” by Oliver JJ Lane, Breitbart, November 18, 2019:
A Pakistani migrant male has been jailed for ten years in the Netherlands for his plot to launch a terror attack against Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders in revenge for his organising a ‘draw Mohammad’ free speech event.
The ten-year sentence for the Pakistani male — identified in the trial only as ‘Junaid I.’ due to Dutch privacy laws — is significantly higher than the six years requested by the public prosecutor, the judges in the case noting a longer period of incarceration was required because of the seriousness of the crime.
The court had previously heard how Junaid had repeatedly said he wanted to kill Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom is the second largest in the Netherlands, that he beleived [sic] the death of Mr Wilders would be a good thing, and that the attention he was gaining from the trial was improving his public standing back home in Pakistan. For these reasons and because he believed Junaid still presented a terrorism risk, the judges in the case said a longer sentence was in order.
Junaid I. argued throughout the trial that he had not wanted to kill Mr Wilders, but rather had travelled to the Netherlands from Pakistan to protest against the lawmaker, reports Algemeen Dagblad. Despite the claims, the court had previously found the 27-year-old guilty of preparing a terror attack, and his intention to murder Mr Wilders.
The apparent flashpoint for Junaid was a draw Mohammed cartoon competition being organised by Mr Wilders in the Netherlands in 2018, which was cancelled for security reasons around the time of the arrest of the Pakistani migrant. The Pakistani government issued a statement celebrating the cancellation at the time, the nation’s senate having already passed a resolution to condemn the event.
Mr Wilders praised the court Monday afternoon after the judgement was read out….
Again in 2015, a free speech event in Garland, Texas featuring a draw Mohammed competition and attended by Geert Wilders was targeted by Muslim extremists who were killed by law enforcement…