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Dear Reader
Click here for the video of my talk at a conference on
"Reviewing the Muslim Claim to Jerusalem." Co-sponsored by the
Middle East Forum & the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, the event took
place in Jerusalem on March 14.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Pipes
Chris Christie's Islam Problem
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friends to like this.
A Quinnipiac
poll in April showed Chris Christie the most popular potential Republican
vice-presidential candidate, thanks to his budget cuts and standing up to
government employee unions. But the governor of New Jersey has a problem,
specifically an Islam problem, in the way of his possible ascent to higher
office. We regret to report that, time
and again, he has sided with Islamist forces against those safeguarding
American security and civilization.
Some examples:
2008: When serving as U.S. attorney for New
Jersey, Christie embraced
and kissed Mohammed
Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, and praised him as
"a man of great goodwill." He did this after Qatanani had publicly
ranted against Jews and in support of funding Hamas, a U.S.
government–designated terror organization, and on the eve of his deportation
hearing for not hiding an Israeli conviction for membership in Hamas. In
addition, Christie designated a top aide, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles
McKenna, to testify as a character witness for Qatanani.
2010: After Derek Fenton
burned three pages of a Koran at a 9/11 memorial ceremony, his employer, New
Jersey Transit, got Christie's approval to fire him. Christie vocally endorsed
Fenton's termination, even though this meant protecting Islam at the expense
of Fenton's constitutional right to free speech, declaring, "I don't
have any problem with him being fired." The American Civil Liberties
Union successfully represented Fenton to get
his job back.
2011: Christie appointed an Islamist,
Sohail Mohammed, to the New Jersey state superior court. Mohammed's record
includes serving as general counsel to the American Muslim
Union (which has stated that a "Zionist Commando Orchestrated The
9-11 Terrorist Attacks"), acting as spokesman for Muslim prisoners who
went on a hunger strike due to being jailed
during Ramadan, defending Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami
Al-Arian (whose indictment, Mohammed said, was "nothing but a
witch-hunt"), and helping Qatanani's legal defense. Mohammed is not a
lawyer for Islamists but one of them.
When members of New Jersey's Senate Judiciary
Committee asked Mohammed appropriately tough questions about his enthusiasm
for Islam's archaic law code, the Shari'a, Christie ridiculed the
lawmakers: "Shari'a law has nothing to do with this [appointment of
Mohammed] at all. It's crazy. It's crazy. … So, this Shari'a law business is
crap. It's just crazy. And I'm tired of dealing with the crazies. I mean, you
know, it's just unnecessary to be accusing this guy of things just because of
his religious background." Delighted by this outburst, the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) thanked and applauded Christie.
2012: Revelations that the New
York Police Department had conducted surveillance of Islamists in the New
Jersey towns of Newark and New Brunswick prompted not gratitude but outrage
from Christie, who termed the action arrogant and paranoid while mocking NYPD
Commissioner Raymond Kelly as "all knowing, all seeing."
In short, Christie has hugged a terrorist
organization member, abridged free-speech rights, scorned concern over
Islamization, and opposed law enforcement counterterrorism efforts. Whenever
an issue touching on Islam arises, Christie takes the Islamist side against
those –the DHS, state senators, the NYPD, even the ACLU – who worry about
lawful Islamism eroding the fabric of American life.
Two factors render this pattern especially
curious: First, soft-on-Islamism policies are common among Democrats but rare
among Republicans (Grover
Norquist being the major exception). Second, Christie has an
ostentatiously pro-Israel stance, as reflected by his speeches
and his recent "Jersey
to Jerusalem" trip; this makes him unusual, for pro-Israel views
typically go hand-in-hand with concern about Shari'a. How does one reconcile
the Christie contradiction?
It could be that, other than fiscally, he is not
a conservative but a moderate. It could be ego: the governor is just more
brilliant than the rest of us. Or, as several
analysts
suggest, it could be cynical double pandering: Muslims get what they want
most and Zionists what they want most, with each party ignoring what Christie
does for the other. Interestingly, Senator Joseph
Lieberman of Connecticut pursued this double track policy (soft on
Islamism, staunch on Israel) and became the Democrats' VP candidate in 2000.
Whatever the reason, we conclude that Chris
Christie lacks the moral compass, gravitas, and integrity needed to serve as
vice-president of the United States.
Mr. Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished
visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. Mr. Emerson is executive director
of the Investigative Project
on Terrorism. © 2012 by the authors. All rights reserved.
Related
Topics: Muslims
in the United States, US politics This
text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral
whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of
publication, and original URL.
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