Al Thani asserted that different German standards apply to football than to energy policy, he said "On the one hand, the German population is misinformed by government politicians. On the other hand, the government has no problem with Qatar when it comes to energy partnerships and investments, or the rescue of German citizens from Afghanistan."
There have been calls within German football to "Boycott Qatar 2022," with massive banners on display at Bundesliga matches recently.
Al Thani accused critics of Qatar of bigotry, and said "It seems difficult for some to accept that a small country, a small Arab country, should be allowed to host the World Cup."
"Racist stereotypes appear again and again. But that is not the case everywhere for a long time. There are fewer than ten countries from which such sharp criticism comes. The rest of the world is happy with us."
In April 2022, Right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen pledged to impose a total ban on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in all public places if elected President of France. She calls the hijab "Islamist clothing", and her party proposed an "anti-Islamist" bill last year.
Le Pen found an audience for her anti-Islamic political rhetoric and was accused in 2015 of inciting religious hatred after she equated Muslims praying in the streets of France to Nazi occupation during WWII.
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, the West equated Islam with terrorism. Western European society has a real problem dealing with Muslims who are now a very sizeable community across Europe, especially in France and Germany.
The ability of a state to dictate how a woman appears in public is all about communicating to the citizens the strength of the state.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
This article is originally published at Mideast Discourse
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