Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BRUSSELS853
2009-06-19 16:11:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:
BELGIAN MUSLIMS REACT TO POTUS SPEECH
how-toVZCZCXRO7065 PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHBS #0853/01 1701611 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 191611Z JUN 09 ZDK FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9097 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 0710 RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 2377 RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 4191 RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHEFDHN/DIA DH WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000853
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE PASS EUR/WE FOR RMARCUS, EUR/PPD, EUR/PRESS, EUR/PGI,
AND EUR/ERA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV SOCI PHUM SCUL KISL KWMN MO TU BE
SUBJECT: BELGIAN MUSLIMS REACT TO POTUS SPEECH
BRUSSELS 00000853 001.2 OF 002
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000853
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE PASS EUR/WE FOR RMARCUS, EUR/PPD, EUR/PRESS, EUR/PGI,
AND EUR/ERA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV SOCI PHUM SCUL KISL KWMN MO TU BE
SUBJECT: BELGIAN MUSLIMS REACT TO POTUS SPEECH
BRUSSELS 00000853 001.2 OF 002
1. (U) This cable is a correction for deleted BRUSSELS 846.
Population figures for Muslims in para 2 have been revised
upwards.
2. (SBU) Summary: At a June 10 luncheon for Muslim community
leaders, activists, and academics, Charge elicited the
reaction to President Obama's June 4 speech. Belgium has one
of the highest concentrations of Muslims in Western Europe,
with estimates of the Muslim population ranging from 400,000
to 500,000. The speech was well received and widely viewed
and read. Three of the seven topics addressed in the speech
sparked in depth discussion: the Middle East Conflict,
women's issues, and economic development. The guests urged
the U.S. to balance its support for Israelis and Palestinians
and to take pains to avoid vetoes on Middle East resolutions
in the UN. On women's issues, the guests suggested that
education and women's empowerment were more important than
dwelling on the headscarf. Economic development was seen as
an important goal. End Summary.
INTRODUCTION
--------------
3. (SBU) Charge hosted on June 10 a luncheon for ten
influential Muslim contacts to gauge their reactions to
President Obama's June 4 speech to the Muslim world. Pol-Econ
Counselor, a Poloff, Polintern, and PAO and Cultural Affairs
Assistant attended. The lively discussion revealed that
President Obama's speech was well-received and a topic of
extensive conversation in the Belgian Muslim community. The
guests included: members of NGOs, the leader of a Brussels
organization for minority youth, radio and print journalists,
business and banking professionals, a university professor,
an analyst from the Belgian Threat Analysis Center, a
prominent lawyer, an Antwerp City Councilman, a female
Senator, and the chairwoman of the Belgian Association of
Muslim Professionals. The guests came from all three regions
of Belgium (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels) and represented
both linguistic communities. They had all watched, read, and
analyzed the speech and freely offered their opinions.
GENERAL REACTIONS
--------------
4. (SBU) Overall, the speech was very well received by the
guests, who said it was widely-viewed and read throughout the
Belgian Muslim community. One guest even remarked that
President Obama's speech was the first political issue ever
discussed at his extended family's weekly meal. Several
guests commented that they were waiting to see what concrete
steps the U.S. would take next to address the points the
President raised. One offered a speech writer's critique,
praising it as a classically crafted speech, dazzling in its
delivery and historic in its timing, which touched people
directly. Another cited POTUS' example and the American
experience of Muslim integration as one for European leaders
and countries to follow in terms of breaking down barriers
between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe. Those present
expressed a strong desire to be accepted as citizens, and not
viewed as immigrants or outsiders.
5. (SBU) The guests also expressed some general concerns
with the President's message. One noted the speech was being
delivered in what he termed a dictatorship, Egypt; many
Muslims he said, believe the U.S. was often overly
sympathetic to undemocratic Muslim countries. Another urged
the U.S. to take into account the diversity of the Muslim
world if it wants to open a new era of relations. Another
commented that the idea of a partnership between Islam and
the U.S.; i.e., "a partnership between a state and a religion
-- seemed irrational." Many think the U.S. always sees a
religious angle to everything in the Middle East.
ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
--------------
6. (SBU) President Obama's comments on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict engendered the most discussion.
The guests made clear that U.S. vetoes in the UN in favor of
Israel sent the wrong message to the Muslim world. Charge
cautioned the U.S. would continue to oppose one-sided
BRUSSELS 00000853 002.2 OF 002
resolutions that tend to blame Israel exclusively for
problems in the Middle East. Several guests replied that
regardless of the wording or justification, the U.S. is
perceived as one-sided and overly protective of Israel,
unwilling to hold Israel accountable, and oblivious to
Palestinian suffering. They urged the U.S. to work
diplomatically to ensure balanced resolutions and avoid use
of its veto, which reverberates negatively throughout the
Muslim world. They also noted that it appeared that
Palestinian lives were not "worth as much" to Americans as
Israeli or Western lives. The strongest statement was that
civil disobedience may change domestic policies, but rarely
works to end an occupation; fighting has been necessary for
people to achieve independence from "foreign occupation."
WOMEN'S ISSUES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
--------------
7. (SBU) The President's reference to the use of headscarves
sparked a lively discussion. A few expressed surprise that
the scarf was chosen as an example. They believed it was not
a good choice as an illustration of U.S. commitment to
women's rights. Our guests said that the headscarf is an
issue primarily outside majority Muslim countries and that it
would have been preferable to recognize the ways women are
oppressed in some Muslim countries, such as the inability to
drive a car in Saudi Arabia. One remarked that men focus
more on the headscarf than on the women themselves, and
access to education was a more important issue for women's
development, emancipation, and equality. Finally, they
concluded the headscarf issue had taken on symbolic
significance rather than a substantive one. They also
pointed to the economic underpinnings of any successful
strategy in the Muslim world for, as one of them pointed out,
the reasons Muslims are here in Belgium (and in Europe in
general),are the economic and democratic failures in their
countries of origin. They believed that economic development
and free trade agreements are crucial for the region, though
one guest cautioned trade agreements often exact a hefty
price in the short run on weaker Mediterranean economies.
COMMENT
--------------
8. (SBU) The willingness of our guests to join in a
free-form and lively discussion showed that President Obama's
Cairo speech had reached the Muslim community in Belgium.
They unanimously agreed that the speech was a topic of
conversation throughout all socio-economic levels of their
communities. The focus on the Israeli-Palestinian issue
during the lunch showed that the conflict was the major
hurdle, which the guests hoped the U.S. would address in a
new way, though they knew there would be many challenges.
The guests were happy the President had made this effort, but
hoped that real action on the Middle East would follow from
the President's words.
BUSH
.
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE PASS EUR/WE FOR RMARCUS, EUR/PPD, EUR/PRESS, EUR/PGI,
AND EUR/ERA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV SOCI PHUM SCUL KISL KWMN MO TU BE
SUBJECT: BELGIAN MUSLIMS REACT TO POTUS SPEECH
BRUSSELS 00000853 001.2 OF 002
1. (U) This cable is a correction for deleted BRUSSELS 846.
Population figures for Muslims in para 2 have been revised
upwards.
2. (SBU) Summary: At a June 10 luncheon for Muslim community
leaders, activists, and academics, Charge elicited the
reaction to President Obama's June 4 speech. Belgium has one
of the highest concentrations of Muslims in Western Europe,
with estimates of the Muslim population ranging from 400,000
to 500,000. The speech was well received and widely viewed
and read. Three of the seven topics addressed in the speech
sparked in depth discussion: the Middle East Conflict,
women's issues, and economic development. The guests urged
the U.S. to balance its support for Israelis and Palestinians
and to take pains to avoid vetoes on Middle East resolutions
in the UN. On women's issues, the guests suggested that
education and women's empowerment were more important than
dwelling on the headscarf. Economic development was seen as
an important goal. End Summary.
INTRODUCTION
--------------
3. (SBU) Charge hosted on June 10 a luncheon for ten
influential Muslim contacts to gauge their reactions to
President Obama's June 4 speech to the Muslim world. Pol-Econ
Counselor, a Poloff, Polintern, and PAO and Cultural Affairs
Assistant attended. The lively discussion revealed that
President Obama's speech was well-received and a topic of
extensive conversation in the Belgian Muslim community. The
guests included: members of NGOs, the leader of a Brussels
organization for minority youth, radio and print journalists,
business and banking professionals, a university professor,
an analyst from the Belgian Threat Analysis Center, a
prominent lawyer, an Antwerp City Councilman, a female
Senator, and the chairwoman of the Belgian Association of
Muslim Professionals. The guests came from all three regions
of Belgium (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels) and represented
both linguistic communities. They had all watched, read, and
analyzed the speech and freely offered their opinions.
GENERAL REACTIONS
--------------
4. (SBU) Overall, the speech was very well received by the
guests, who said it was widely-viewed and read throughout the
Belgian Muslim community. One guest even remarked that
President Obama's speech was the first political issue ever
discussed at his extended family's weekly meal. Several
guests commented that they were waiting to see what concrete
steps the U.S. would take next to address the points the
President raised. One offered a speech writer's critique,
praising it as a classically crafted speech, dazzling in its
delivery and historic in its timing, which touched people
directly. Another cited POTUS' example and the American
experience of Muslim integration as one for European leaders
and countries to follow in terms of breaking down barriers
between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe. Those present
expressed a strong desire to be accepted as citizens, and not
viewed as immigrants or outsiders.
5. (SBU) The guests also expressed some general concerns
with the President's message. One noted the speech was being
delivered in what he termed a dictatorship, Egypt; many
Muslims he said, believe the U.S. was often overly
sympathetic to undemocratic Muslim countries. Another urged
the U.S. to take into account the diversity of the Muslim
world if it wants to open a new era of relations. Another
commented that the idea of a partnership between Islam and
the U.S.; i.e., "a partnership between a state and a religion
-- seemed irrational." Many think the U.S. always sees a
religious angle to everything in the Middle East.
ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
--------------
6. (SBU) President Obama's comments on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict engendered the most discussion.
The guests made clear that U.S. vetoes in the UN in favor of
Israel sent the wrong message to the Muslim world. Charge
cautioned the U.S. would continue to oppose one-sided
BRUSSELS 00000853 002.2 OF 002
resolutions that tend to blame Israel exclusively for
problems in the Middle East. Several guests replied that
regardless of the wording or justification, the U.S. is
perceived as one-sided and overly protective of Israel,
unwilling to hold Israel accountable, and oblivious to
Palestinian suffering. They urged the U.S. to work
diplomatically to ensure balanced resolutions and avoid use
of its veto, which reverberates negatively throughout the
Muslim world. They also noted that it appeared that
Palestinian lives were not "worth as much" to Americans as
Israeli or Western lives. The strongest statement was that
civil disobedience may change domestic policies, but rarely
works to end an occupation; fighting has been necessary for
people to achieve independence from "foreign occupation."
WOMEN'S ISSUES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
--------------
7. (SBU) The President's reference to the use of headscarves
sparked a lively discussion. A few expressed surprise that
the scarf was chosen as an example. They believed it was not
a good choice as an illustration of U.S. commitment to
women's rights. Our guests said that the headscarf is an
issue primarily outside majority Muslim countries and that it
would have been preferable to recognize the ways women are
oppressed in some Muslim countries, such as the inability to
drive a car in Saudi Arabia. One remarked that men focus
more on the headscarf than on the women themselves, and
access to education was a more important issue for women's
development, emancipation, and equality. Finally, they
concluded the headscarf issue had taken on symbolic
significance rather than a substantive one. They also
pointed to the economic underpinnings of any successful
strategy in the Muslim world for, as one of them pointed out,
the reasons Muslims are here in Belgium (and in Europe in
general),are the economic and democratic failures in their
countries of origin. They believed that economic development
and free trade agreements are crucial for the region, though
one guest cautioned trade agreements often exact a hefty
price in the short run on weaker Mediterranean economies.
COMMENT
--------------
8. (SBU) The willingness of our guests to join in a
free-form and lively discussion showed that President Obama's
Cairo speech had reached the Muslim community in Belgium.
They unanimously agreed that the speech was a topic of
conversation throughout all socio-economic levels of their
communities. The focus on the Israeli-Palestinian issue
during the lunch showed that the conflict was the major
hurdle, which the guests hoped the U.S. would address in a
new way, though they knew there would be many challenges.
The guests were happy the President had made this effort, but
hoped that real action on the Middle East would follow from
the President's words.
BUSH
.