Ayaan Hirsi Ali to Jews: "I Used to Hate You"

Ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali of Netherlands wins "Moral Courage Award" from the American Jewish Committe. She lives under an international vigilante death penalty for daring to criticize such Islamic practices as forced female "circumcision" (which she suffered in her native Samalia), forced female marriage in family business deals (a horror dealt to her which she escaped), and female "honor killings". This death penalty successfully materialized as a dagger in the chest of her friend and countryman, Theo Van Gogh (for directing a film she wrote on this subject), pinning a note warning Ali of an impending similar fate for her. Ali in her acceptance speach reveals herself to be a humorous, tolerant, liberal intellectual of the genuine sort, the kind who used to head the world's leftist movement.

Listen to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's introduction and acceptance speech >

Also receiving the award, Shoaib Choudhury, a Bangladeshi Muslim journalist on trial facing execution row for advocating peace with Isreal, a capital offense in Bangladesh.

Listen to Shoaib Choudhury's introduction and speech >