On the occasion of the release of Policy Exchange's recently published report, The Hijacking of British Islam: how extremist literature is subverting mosques in the UK, The Transatlantic Institute hosts a panel debate to discuss the challenge of radical Islam in Europe with author Dr. Denis MacEoin and discussant Alexander Ritzmann.
Bio
Dean Godson
Dean Godson is the Research Director for the Policy Exchange, a right-of-centre United Kingdom think-tank.
He is a graduate of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Between 1983 to 1984, he served as Secretary in the US Navy and in 1987-1989 as Special Assistant to John Lehman. Dean Godson also served as a Research Fellow in the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies in 1990-1992. His political career includes Joint Deputy Chairman of Kensington and Chelsea Conservative Association.
He is the author of Himself Alone: David Trimble and the Ordeal of Ulster Unionism. Mr Godson previously served as the Chief Editorial writer of the Daily Telegraph, the Associate Editor of the Spectator and Special Assistant to the convicted fraudster, Conrad Black. After his departure from Hollinger, he has been the Research Director of the Policy Exchange, a right-of-centre think tank.
Dr. Denis MacEoin
Denis MacEoin is the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He holds MA's from Trinity College, Dublin and Edinbourgh in English, Persian, Arabic and Islamic Studies and a Ph.D. in Persian [Islamic Studies] from Cambridge. From 1979 to 1980 he taught English and Islamic Civilization at the Mohammed V University in Fez, Morocco and was later lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. In 1980 he became an honorary fellow at the Centre for Middle East and Islamic Studies at Durham University.
Emanuele Ottolenghi
Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi is Executive Director at the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels. He previously taught Israel Studies at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and at the Middle East Centre of St. Antony's College, Oxford University.
He holds a degree in Political Science from University of Bologna, Italy, and a Ph.D. in political theory from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Since 1998 he is at Oxford.
His research focuses on Israeli domestic politics, specifically coalition and party politics, and elections, post-Zionism, the Arab-Israeli conflict (mainly the Oslo era), Europe's new anti-Semitism and European attitudes to the Middle East. He is currently finishing a book on Israel's electoral reforms in the 1990s.
Alexander Ritzmann
Alexander Ritzmann is a Senior Fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy and a former member of the Berlin's state parliament for the German Liberal Democrats (FDP). He is an expert in international and homegrown terrorism, and immigration policies in Europe and the United States. He received his masters' degree in political science from the Freie Universitaet Berlin.
He was previously a research fellow with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C. A frequently consulted terrorism expert, Mr Ritzmann has testified on Hezbollah before the US House of Representatives in the Foreign Affairs Committee, sub-committee on Europe.
His views appear in numerous publications from around the world, such as Die Welt, Financial Times Deutschland, Wall Street Journal, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and many others.
Major world religion founded by Muhammad in Arabia in the early 7th century AD. The Arabic word islam means “surrender”—specifically, surrender to the will of the one God, called Allah in Arabic. Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion, and its adherents, called Muslims, regard the Prophet Muhammad as the last and most perfect of God's messengers, who include Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others. The sacred scripture of Islam is the Qur'an, which contains God's revelations to Muhammad. The sayings and deeds of the Prophet recounted in the sunna are also an important source of belief and practice in Islam. The religious obligations of all Muslims are summed up in the Five Pillars of Islam, which include belief in God and his Prophet and obligations of prayer, charity, pilgrimage, and fasting. The fundamental concept in Islam is the Shari'ah, or Law, which embraces the total way of life commanded by God. Observant Muslims pray five times a day and join in community worship on Fridays at the mosque, where worship is led by an imam. Every believer is required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city, at least once in a lifetime, barring poverty or physical incapacity. The month of Ramadan is set aside for fasting. Alcohol and pork are always forbidden, as are gambling, usury, fraud, slander, and the making of images. In addition to celebrating the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate Muhammad's birthday (seemawlid) and his ascension into heaven (seemi'raj). The 'Id al-Adha festival inaugurates the season of pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims are enjoined to defend Islam against unbelievers through jihad. Divisions occurred early in Islam, brought about by disputes over the succession to the caliphate (seecaliph). About 90% of Muslims belong to the Sunnite branch. The Shi'ites broke away in the 7th century and later gave rise to other sects, including the Isma'ilis. Another significant element in Islam is the mysticism known as Sufism. Since the 19th century the concept of the Islamic community has inspired Muslim peoples to cast off Western colonial rule, and in the late 20th century fundamentalist movements (see Islamic fundamentalism) threatened or toppled a number of secular Middle Eastern governments. In the early 21st century, there were more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world.
Same old fear mongering and anti-Islam story. Had a German xpolitician talking about how Muslims are antisemitic. LOL..... may have been a show for Godson...
No real insight about any subject. Good to watch to see how these guys pass off as mainstream. Seems to be some EU officials in the audience.
The Doctor is funny especially when he tries to pronounce things in Arabic. A Turkish guy at the end put the Doc in his place when he discusses Vocab. Nice!
------------ Integration
Since the WWs Turkey changed its language, culture, politics and religion. Then they went to Europe and said please let us in we are now prepared to integrate.
Europe stuck the middle finger up.
Turkey is now turning East towards Iran and Syria..etc. Lets hope for a long a prosperous future!
"If Turkey doesnt join Europe then Europe will one day join Turkey"
member. 
