Ryanair-sjef Michael O’Leary under et pressetreff med Reuters i London den 1. oktober 2019. Foto: Peter Nicholls / Reuters / Scanpix.

Den frittalende Ryanair-sjefen Michael O’Leary tar til orde for en grundigere sikkerhetskontroll og profilering av muslimske menn som skal reise med fly. For 30 år siden ville det vært naturlig å dobbeltsjekke irer, sier han videre. Men i dag er man bare islamofob om man peker på kalde fakta.

«Hvem er det som sprenger bomber?» spør O’Leary retorisk i The Times, og svarer selv:

They are going to be single males travelling on their own. If you are travelling with a family of kids, on you go; the chances you are going to blow them all up is zero.

O’Leary ønsker en grundigere profilering og sikkerhetskontroll av muslimske menn fordi det er der trusselen kommer fra, sier han videre.

In an interview with The Times, the businessman said that if the tactic were deployed to prevent terrorism, it would “generally be males of a Muslim persuasion” who were flagged.

Mr O’Leary, 58, criticised existing airport security and said that checks for families should be less stringent as “the chances [they] are going to blow them all up is zero”.

“You can’t say stuff, because it’s racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion. Thirty years ago it was the Irish. If that is where the threat is coming from, deal with the threat.”

Som forventet blir uttalelsen møtt med en lavine av rasisme- og islamofobianklager.

Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, who is Muslim, said that the remarks were absurd. “If he can tell me what colour Muslims are then I’d be very happy to learn from him — you can’t judge a book by its cover,” he said.

“Security at airports is not an easy process but these comments do not contribute to the debate and are not the way to deal with it.

“He’s effectively saying ‘everyone is game — if they look like a Muslim then they must be a terrorist’. It doesn’t improve community relations; it gives succour to people of a fascist mindset. In Germany this week a white person killed eight people. Should we profile white people to see if they’re fascists? He’s being very blinkered and is actually encouraging racism.”

Da gjenstår det å se om vi får en eller annen beklagelse fra ham de nærmeste dagene eller ikke. Kanskje avhenger det av hvilken vei aksjekursen på Ryanair går på mandag når børsene åpner?

Kjøp Hege Storhaugs bok «Islam. Den 11. landeplage» fra Document Forlag her!