'Islamophobia' on the rise in Europe, report says

Not just in Europe by the way.

"Islamophobia" is on the rise across Europe, where many Muslims are menaced and misunderstood — some on a daily basis — the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia said Monday in a new report.

I don't know. Maybe it's the repeated rioting over cartoons or the threats of beheadings for a simple misunderstood statement but sometimes I wonder if Islam may just be a little to edgy for the rest of us. Perhaps that's why some of us have become a little "concerned" about those "misunderstood" bombers.

The Vienna-based center, which tracks ethnic and religious bias across the 25-country European Union, said Muslims routinely suffered problems ranging from physical attacks to discrimination in the job and housing markets.

Although I understand that not all Muslims are fanatical and many do not agree with the al-qaeda/Taliban version of Islam, you just don't hear from those Muslims enough. You so rarely hear them stand up and condemn jihad, speak out FOR the rights of women and AGAINST the traditional suicide bombing. Maybe then we could feel a little safer and until then, Muslims will have to deal with the few million bad apples making them look bad.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many of Europe's nearly 13 million Muslims feel "they have been put under a general suspicion of terrorism," Beate Winkler, director of the group said.

Don't think it was just the September 11th attacks. Maybe it had something to do with the hundreds of attacks after that.