Well get back to us when we can build churches in Libya, Muammar. The arrogance of these people knows no boundaries.  They make demands and then threats, demands and threats one after the other  – all the while we keep on giving up our freedoms bit by bit.

by Roger Boyes

Muammar Gaddafi has appealed for jihad against Switzerland, long regarded as one of the most peaceful nations in the world.

The Libyan leader’s call for a holy war was, he said, a response to a Swiss referendum in November to ban the construction of minarets on mosques.

It is the low point in a relationship that has been deteriorating since 2008 when Colonel Gaddafi’s son Hannibal was briefly detained in Geneva after allegedly beating his servants.

“Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Muhammad, God and the Koran,” Colonel Gaddafi said at a rally broadcast on television.

He made the speech to mark the Prophet’s birthday, ensuring that many Arabs would take the call seriously.

It was not clear how he wanted Muslims to target Switzerland. “The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking,” he said, apparently unaware that Switzerland does not have a merchant navy, or coast.

He has been attempting to demonstrate to the West that he is not at the helm of a rogue state, that it has no nuclear ambitions or contacts with terrorism. He criticised al-Qaeda during his address, calling it a “a psychological disease”. He added: “There is a big difference between terrorism and jihad.”

He made clear that Switzerland, “an infidel, obscene state which is destroying mosques”, was at the very least an ideological enemy.

Read the rest here: Muammar Gaddafi calls for jihad on Swiss after ban on building minarets