We’ve posted a number of pieces in the past featuring the refreshing statements by Czech President Miloš Zeman on the topics of immigration and Islam. The Council of Europe doesn’t find them to be so refreshing, however. From its point of view, the president is a hidebound “Islamophobe” who must learn the error of his ways.

President Zeman isn’t ready to get with the program just yet. According to him, the word “Islamophobia” remains undefined. Gates of Vienna and ICLA couldn’t agree more.

Many thanks to Xanthippa for translating this article from Parlamentní listy:

I wish that they did not cut your head off [while you are] alive. Miloš Zeman answered the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, which had called him an ‘Islamophobe’. October 14, 2015 Czech President Miloš Zeman is a big Islamophobe. At least, according to the commission from the Council of Europe which deals with “racism and intolerance”. The president himself addressed the accusation during his visit to the Zlín region. He is apparently surprised, because he has no idea, what it means to be an Islamophobe, nor how the term itself is actually defined. President Miloš Zeman, while visiting the Zlín region, reacted to the accusation that he is an Islamophobe. He is apparently surprised, because he himself does not know what that “Islamophobia” actually is. “The term Islamophobia has never been properly defined. I speak against Islamic radicalism,” he explained during a visit to the company Kovarna Viva in Zlín. “So, for the authors of this information, I have just one wish: that somebody will not cut their heads off [while they are] alive,” the President ended his speech. This was a reaction to the assertion, which was found in a report if a Commission of the Council of Europe. The full name of this [organization] is the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance and, on Wednesday, it released a report sharply critical of Czech politicians.

“ECRI was informed by numerous sources that political expressions of intolerance are not rare features, especially in times near elections. The most common targets are the Roma and immigrants. Lately, however, Muslims have become victims of increased Islamophobia,” is, among other things, written in the report. As the greatest Islamophobes in the Czech political arena, the report named Tomio Okamura and also President Miloš Zeman. Regarding them, the commission raised its eyebrows over some of their statements, including some older ones. “Even the President himself is considered to be an open holder of anti-Islamic views; in the year 2011, reportedly in an interview with a magazine, he stated that ‘moderate Muslim’ is contradicto in adjecto, or a self-contradiction, in the same way as ‘moderate Nazi’ is a contradicto in adjecto,” is an example of what is written in the report. “He also declared that Islam is not a religion of peace and much less so of tolerance, but a religion of hatred”, is written in the report. The report was brought to attention in Czech mainly by a non-profit organization Clovek v tisni [People in Need]. Photo (not shown here): President Miloš Zeman and Mayor of the Zlín region, Stanislav Mišák.

On a related note, our Czech correspondent Margita tells us that Bill Warner will be present at a conference on October 27 in the Senate of the Czech Parliament under the auspices of President Zeman. The title is: “Europe, Immigration and Islam”.

Hat tip for the article: Green Infidel.