Thread: No Break for Swedish Greens: Nazi Diners, 9/11 and Handshake Row

EUROPE 12:12 21.04.2016 (updated 12:48 21.04.2016)

Swedish Politician Yasri Khan has decided to withdraw his candidacy for the Green Party Board and quit politics altogether after his refusal to shake hands with a female TV4 reporter stirred a major media scandal.

Previously, Yasri Khan attracted media attention by voicing support for former Housing Minister and fellow Green Party member Mehmet Kaplan, who stepped down earlier this week after a media firestorm, following press revelations about his anti-Semitic comments and alleged neo-Nazi contacts, Swedish Radio reported.

During an interview with a female reporter from TV4 television channel, Khan, also the secretary general of the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, placed his hand over his heart instead of shaking her hand in greeting, on grounds that it violated his Muslim faith.

"The way I have been brought up, physical contact with the opposite sex is considered to be very, very intimate," Khan explained his faux pas.

Incidentally, it has come to light that the Khan-topped organization had in recent years received up to 7.4 million krona (close to 1 million dollars) in state support, tabloid Expressen revealed. The money was paid by the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society MUCF, which is a government organization that works to "ensure that young people have access to influence and welfare."Remarkably, the Green Party election committee was well aware of Khan's refusal to shake hands with a woman, but chose to nominate him anyway, Dagens Nyheter reported. The Green Party is otherwise renowned for its staunch feminist cause, and Khan's gaffe entailed harsh criticism from fellow party members.

"This is unacceptable. You can't have a man in the party who won't greet women in the same way you greet a man. I'm very upset," Stina Bergström, a Green Party parliamentarian, told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.

However, these were not the only Green Party misfortunes this week, described as "horrendous" by many analysts. On Tuesday the party's co-leader and deputy Prime Minister, Åsa Romson, landed herself in trouble after describing the September 11 terrorist attacks in the USA as "accident."

In the 2014 general election, the Greens received 6.9 percent of the vote and grabbed 25 seats, which made the party the fourth largest in the Riksdag. However, the public support of the party has been shrinking amid the controversies it had inspired. According to the April poll by Sentio, the public support of the Green Party dropped down to 4.6 percent, a record low since 2005, Nyheter Idag reported. According to Aftonbladet, the recent hullaballoo alone cost the party 30 percent of its voters.

No Break for Swedish Greens: Nazi Diners, 9/11 and Handshake Row

During an interview with a female reporter from TV4 television channel, Khan, also the secretary general of the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, placed his hand over his heart instead of shaking her hand in greeting, on grounds that it violated his Muslim faith.
"The way I have been brought up, physical contact with the opposite sex is considered to be very, very intimate," Khan explained his faux pas.

He is not living where he was brought up. A westerners demands would not be tolerated at all in their countries - no accommodating at all, quite the reverse of what they are demanding.

They are laughing at us & the ease of having their way for every little thing - no dogs allowed in 3 major cities of the Netherlands(dogs are considered unclean), allowing for multiple wives in EU only if you are muslim, no go zones allowed, & crimes unreported or no arrests made, etc, etc, RIDICULOUS! What a snow job.

The audacity to refuse, demand, ignore the rights of native populations is rude & asinine, should not be tolerated at all.
The muslims are very me, me - guess they need something to feel importance as they are very far down the ladder on contemporary living, therefore backwards & inferior.

Already a syrian influx in Nova Scotia has a school eliminating playground activity because the refugee boys slap the native little girls faces and beat up on all. Your children would be expelled for such behaviour. These people are from hell - believe it. Their centuries of inbreeding is rearing its ugly head and it has to be accepted???

Why don't they ALL just return to their countries and continue their archaic lifestyles and stop BOTHERING those involved in modern civilization.

The more women I see walking around with the forced submission of a head scarf, it makes me sick. It is in your face male domination. Take the scarf off ladies, you don't really have to do that for a man. No religion involved, just male domination to obtain/sustain superiority.