Beheading? Not EVERY Friday…
1st November 2014
Claudia Bandion-Ortner is a prominent Austrian politician and judicial official who also happens to be the Deputy Secretary General of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, a Vienna think tank funded in large part by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Thanks to the recent rise of the Islamic State, Austrians, like most Westerners, have become more aware of the “fundamentalist” brand of Islam as practiced by the mujahideen of ISIS. The more astute members of the Austrian public have noticed the essential similarity between the doctrines, habits, and customs of Saudi Arabia and those of the Islamic State.
Judge Bandion-Ortner’s role has come under public scrutiny as a result of this heightened awareness. She got herself into a bit of trouble last week after giving an interview to a major news outlet. Public outrage was aroused by her ill-considered remarks about public beheadings in Saudi Arabia, but that’s not really the most appalling thing about this interview; it’s simply the most sensational. Her more humdrum responses are even worse: they reveal someone who has moved far beyond the status of “useful idiot” and become an active collaborator with Islam.