Thursday, January 8, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
How Deep Is Muslim Radicalism?
Many commentators are assuring us this morning that sympathy in the Muslim world for the kind of terror attack that took place in Paris yesterday is incredibly small. But last year a Pew Research survey in Muslim countries found disturbingly high support justifying violence against civilian targets to defend Islam.
For example, 19% of Nigerian Muslims said violence against civilians to defend Islam is “often or sometimes justified.” In Bangladesh the figure was 47%. In Egypt, 24% of Muslims agreed that violence was justified to defend Islam. In Lebanon 29% agreed as did 18% in Turkey.
In real numbers, those percentages conservatively translate into approximately 118 million Muslims in just five countries who are willing to kill civilians in order to defend their faith.
Figures about Muslims living in non-Islamic countries are harder to come by. We do know that in a 2012 study done in the U.S., nearly half of Muslims surveyed said they believed that Americans who are critical of Islam or make fun of it should face criminal charges. And 40% believed that Muslims in the U.S. should be governed by Sharia law, not the Constitution or American law.
The New York Times Is Afraid
Twenty-four hours after Islamic jihadists brutally murdered journalists in Paris, the New York Times is deeply worried. . . about European conservatives.
In an analysis this morning, under the headline “Paris Attack Reflects A Dangerous Moment For Europe,” Times writers Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold made clear that the “dangerous moment” was not the escalation of Islamist attacks but that the Paris massacre will cause a swing to the right on a “continent already seething with anti-immigrant sentiments. . . feeding far-right nationalist parties.”
Meanwhile, a Paris policewoman was gunned down this morning in another likely jihadist attack.
Meanwhile At The White House
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest outlined for reporters what the U.S. must do to confront the growing Islamist threat. Earnest bemoaned that, “There are some individuals who are using a peaceful religion and grossly distorting it.”
Then he gave the remedy, which was that the U.S. must “be clear about what the tenets of Islam actually are. And we are going to redouble those efforts. . .”
So as Islamists kill us, the Obama Administration feels it is essential for the United States to tell the world how peaceful Islam is. That should work.
By the way, if you need more evidence of the left’s politically correct idiocy, check out this exchange on MSNBC comparing the Paris murders to the “extremism” of Jerry Falwell filing a lawsuit.
A Jewish Realignment?
As readers of this daily report know, I am not a fan of the administration’s foreign policy, especially when it comes to Israel. I have often noted in these reports that just like in Europe there is a growing hostility among America’s political left toward Israel.
That hostility burst into public view in dramatic fashion during the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Left-wing delegates voted to remove references to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from the DNC’s platform.
Realizing the potential PR nightmare, party leaders orchestrated a floor vote to reinstate the language. The ensuing debacle of repeated votes and loud boos turned into a PR nightmare.
American Jews have long been loyal to the Democratic Party. In some respects it makes sense: Harry Truman was president when the modern state of Israel was formed and he pledged America’s full support for the Jewish state. Old habits, including voting patterns, are hard to break.
But a new Gallup survey suggests that Jewish support for Truman’s party may be waning. Since 2008, there has been a 17-point swing in partisan loyalties among Jewish voters — Democrats have lost ten points, while Republicans gained seven.
The Washington Post notes, “In 2000, George W. Bush got 19 percent of the Jewish vote. In 2012, Mitt Romney got 30 percent.”
For issue-oriented voters, partisan loyalties are important, but ultimately they are secondary concerns. For example, if the Republican Party abandoned its positions on life and marriage, millions of values voters would walk away from the GOP.
Likewise, it appears that this administration’s constant pressure on Israel and repeated outreach to Iran has not been lost on Jewish voters who care about America’s and Israel’s safety and security.
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