Why My Travel Destinations Are Shrinking

Five years ago, we lost a friend to bowel cancer. Her name was Ellie, and she grew up in Indonesia as a Christian and immigrated to Australia. She got a job on radio with the Australian Broadcast Corporation and later became a beauty therapist. Growing up in Indonesia, she was surrounded by Muslims. She spoke of the madrasas and how they radicalized a number of young Muslims.

There is one thing I always remember: Ellie used to say, "We in the West are stupid." She was referring to the seemingly open immigration policy from Islamic nations, people who don't share our traditional Western values.

I don't know whether it is stupidity or naivete. Still, the West has been asleep, seduced by the DEI philosophy of inclusivity. With few exceptions, Western Europe doesn't realize the tyranny smouldering. The open-door policy to Islamic immigration and the lack of borders between the member states of the EU have been a demographic disaster.

Christianity is dying in Western Europe and, with it, its values. Churches in several countries are being converted intomosques. The Fatih Camii Mosque in Amsterdam once was the Saint Ignatius Church. This is also happening in Canada at a rapid pace. If the mosques were strictly places of peaceful worship, that would be one thing, but too often, they are centres where imams preach hateful, antisemitic messages. A few years ago, there was one 'delightful' fellow here in Perth, Western Australia, spewing Jew hatred.

Europe, along with America, should have learned about the lengths that Islamic terrorists will go with their radical fervour. We had 9/11, of course, and the recent October 7 attacks in Israel. Still, over the past 50 years, there have been tens of thousands of Islamic terrorist attacks. So much for a religion of peace.

In 2004, there were the Madrid train bombings, which killed 19. In 2016, in Nice, France, on Bastille Day, a large truck tore the city's promenade filled with hundreds of people, killing 86 and wounding hundreds. We had been at that exact location on Bastille Day in 2012. In 2016, there were the Brussels bombing attacks that killed dozens and injured hundreds. Yet, still, Europe hasn't woken up. A look at the surge in the Islamic population of Western Europe doesn't paint a rosy future.

Even closer home here in Australia, the Bali bombings in 2002 killed 200 people, some of them Australians on holiday.

If you look at the Islamist terrorist attacks from 1979 to 2021, the total figure of 48,035 is quite staggering. It has resulted in the deaths of 210,138. Point this out to people, and you're accused of Islamophobia. Unfortunately, this perpetuates the problem rather than addresses the issue.

My family legally immigrated to Canada in 1952. I grew up there, and it was a safe and sane place. What is going on today in Canada is shameful. I am glad my parents are no longer alive to see the descent of Canada into just another outpost for openly antisemitic expression on the streets. I was in Toronto earlier this year, and where I stayed was in an area where synagogues were attacked with gunfire. Is this what the country fought for in WW2? Montreal has similarly seen the Jew-hatred riots on its streets.

A look at the Muslim population of Western Europe shows that the rise of Islam is on the march. The map below is from 2016. Today, in 2024, there are 30 million Muslims.

I have travelled extensively over the past 50 years. Western Europe is off any future itinerary. As a Jew, I don't feel safe in those countries. It's the same for me regarding Canada. Though I am a Canadian citizen, I have no plans to return there, and I am seriously considering renouncing my Canadian citizenship.

In 2012, we travelled extensively through the Americas and Europe, and while in Patagonia, Chile, we met a gay couple at the country hotel where we were staying. They were from Switzerland, and in short order, they expressed their disdain for their country's open Islamic immigration policy, especially with the government providing free social services to the new immigrants who refused to work. I was a bit taken aback. Is this in Switzerland?

We would be in Switzerland in a couple of months, so we exchanged contact details. When we met up with them in Switzerland, they once again expressed their disfavour for the state of their country. Of course, being gay is an abomination in Islam. It's like trying to mix oil and water. They felt threatened by the direction of their country.

During our trip's Swiss portion, we went to Interlaken, a stunningly beautiful part of the world.

We stayed at the Berghof Hotel, a small, quaint lodge on the outskirts of the city. To our surprise, we were the only non-Muslims there. The women were wearing full burkas and staying in their rooms. The men wore regular Western clothes, and when I asked one of them about the cell phone coverage, I was ignored. Well, I felt out of place in that hotel.

We decided to drive into the downtown portion of the city and were shocked at the number of women with the full burkas. Was this Switzerland? If you look at the map, you can see that in 2016, 6.1% of the Swiss population was Islamic. I believe most of the Muslims in Switzerland come from the former Yugoslavia, so they are less radical in their thinking. Still, there is no way to know since Islam preaches Jihad in all its various iterations.

We had another experience in Toulouse, France. We stayed at a hotel in the suburbs and decided to drive to the city centre and take in the river that bisects the city. We followed the GPS, which gave us the most direct route, but unknown to us, it had us going through an Islamic no-go zone.

Women were nowhere to be seen, and men were on their front porches glaring at us as if we had entered some foreign territory. My wife told me to make sure the car door was locked securely.

It's also quite noticeable that most of the Eastern European nations, such as Romania, Hungary and Poland, have tiny Muslim populations. I believe that is by intent, and not unsurprisingly, they have had little to no terrorist attacks.

Books have been written on the demise of Western Europe:

While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within

This book was written by Bruce Bawer, a gay man who went to Europe, specifically Amsterdam. He went starry-eyed to get away from the excesses of America and be absorbed in the culture and history of Europe. What he got was an eye-opening introduction to how radicalized Islam had created enclaves in various countries with its attacks on the gay community and Jews, along with all other infidels. His illusion about Europe dissipated rapidly.

The Strange Death of Europe

Douglas Murray, the Oxford graduate who has eloquently spoken out on many issues of the day, outlined how Europe, in a suicidal way, is on the path to the demise of its inherent values and culture. While Christianity is on the wane and secularism rules, a void has been created, and Islamic immigration and its prodigious birth rate fill that void. This doesn't bode well for the future.

America Along: The End of The World as We Know It

This book, written by Canadian author Mark Steyn almost 20 years ago, predicted what we see today. He predicted that the Western World would not survive the 21st century. Even 20 years ago, the declining birth rate in the West was noticeable, while at the same time, Muslim immigrants, with their much higher birth rates, would increase their share of the populace. He also introduced us to the Muslim enclaves with their 'no go' zones, where even police enter with trepidation.

So, I have no reason to go back to Western Europe. I actually relate much better to Eastern Europeans. No doubt, part of the reason is that my parents were Romanian. Religion, specifically the Eastern Orthodox Church, is still important in that country. Though I'm not a Christian, that suits me fine.

So, my travel destinations are shrinking, but that's okay. I won't spend my time, energy, or money in places that empower radicalism. Unfortunately, that includes Canada, a country that has gone off the rails today.