Redouane Ahrouch, the founder and the president of Belgium’s “Islam” party, refused to look women in the eye during a TV debate. He also didn’t shake their hands. One of the women said she felt “humiliated” and “worthless” afterwards, Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen reports.
When the Islam party was created, one of its goals was to promote better integration of Belgium’s Muslim population. But, just after Ahrouch had been elected, he switched his position and recently said he wants to create an Islamic State in Belgium.
During a TV debate on Belgium’s RTL-TVI, the TV presenter revealed that M. Ahrouch did in fact shook hands with the men in the studio, but not with the women who were present. He also didn’t want the make-up artist to work with him, fearing that she might touch him.
When he was asked about his anti-social behaviour, M. Ahrouch justified it by saying that “shaking hands is an occidental habit”. He also said “there isn’t any law which obliges me to shake hands”, seemingly forgetting that he’d only refused to give women a handshake.
The debate got even more awkward when he was asked a question by female journalist, Emmanuelle Praet. Ahrouch simply refused to look at her. When asked about why he wouldn’t look at women, he just responded by saying that he was “perfectly hearing them”.
After the debate, “La Dernière Heure” spoke with Emmanuelle Praet. She said that the experience was very “shocking”, she felt “humiliated” and “worthless”. She also said that the scariest thing in M. Ahrouch’s behaviour was his “seriousness”, adding that “he wasn’t playing any game”.
Ahrouch was elected in the Molenbeek district of Brussels six years ago. Molenbeek has a reputation of being a “jihadist hotbed” and not without reason: Some of the terrorists responsible for Madrid’s bombings (193 deaths) and the attack on Paris (137 deaths) came directly from the migrant suburb.
