The global, U.S.-based publishing giant Random House has declined to release a new book that is critical of Islam, arguing it will stir up anti-Muslim hatred.
The German author, Thilo Sarrazin, will make his case in court Monday in Munich in a lawsuit against the publisher over its axing of his book "Hostile Takeover -- How Islam Hampers Progress and Threatens Society," Agence France-Presse reported, citing the German magazine Bild.
Sarrazin, 73, previously published the runaway bestseller "Germany Does Away With Itself" in 2010, which is now seen as having helped paved the way for the Alternative for Germany party, which entered parliament last year with nearly 100 deputies.
Sarrazin told Bild he had signed a contract with Random House in November 2016 on the basis of a 10-page expose and delivered the manuscript in February this year.
"After a lot of back and forth about the publishing date, the publisher said at the end of May that it would not put the book out at all," he was quoted as saying.
Random House declined to comment, AFP reported, but Bild cited sources at the publisher saying the new book could "seize on and amplify anti-Islam sentiments."
Robert Spencer, an author of many books about the threat Islam poses to Western civilization, noted on his Jihad Watch site how Islam is treated differently than other religions in the West.
"Would Random House hesitate for a nanosecond to publish a book that might seize on and amplify anti-Christian sentiments? Anti-Jewish sentiments? Of course not," he wrote.
"But in its cowardice — masked as respect — regarding Islam, Random House is not alone," he said.
Spencer said he knows from personal experience that most American publishers --notable exceptions, including Bombardier Books and Regnery Publishing -- will not publish books critical of Islam, "no matter how carefully argued and accurate they may be."
"Cowardice is the fundamental character trait of this age," he said.