Thijs Niemantsverdriet writes from the Netherlands about European Muslims and 9-11:

"In Arabic, the usual meaning of the word ‘Islam’ is not ‘peace’, but ‘submission’. Submission to the ideas and values of Arab tribes from the seventh century." This is not a sentence from Norman Podhoretz’s latest book. It is the opening statement at a press conference that was held earlier today in The Hague, Holland. The heads of several European ex-Muslim Committees gathered to sign a ‘Declaration of Tolerance.’ A wave of so-called committees has swept over Western Europe in the past few months: first in Germany, then in Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Great Britain.

At first glance, the cause of the ex-Muslims sounds sympathetic and important. Muslims, they argue, should be free to renounce their faith without being repudiated by their families or receiving death threats from radical Islamists – something that, alas, happens all too often. In short, they should enjoy the same basic rights as European Christians.

Yet here something strange happens to these ex-Muslims. As soon as they go public on their fall from faith, they seem prone to an unstoppable process of radicalization – towards outspoken anti-Islamism, that is.