Islam & Anti-Semitism

Written by Gary Bauer

Whenever the subject of Muslim immigration comes up, the debate often centers around whether we have an effective process to weed out potential jihadists. There is more than one example, more than one dead American, to suggest we do not.

Earlier this week, we reported that many Muslim immigrants are not assimilating into British culture and often reject the values of Western Civilization. There is no reason to assume that Muslims coming to America are much different. An extensive survey of Muslims in England found that:

• 20% refuse to enter a non-Muslim home.
• 31% support polygamy.
• 23% support Sharia law over laws passed by the British parliament.
• 8% of British Muslims sympathized with suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism.

But there was more disturbing information that the media initially left out. The same survey also found that Muslims were three times more likely to hold anti-Semitic attitudes and beliefs than the general British public. Two key findings in this analysis stood out:

• Muslims in Britain who were born aboard agreed with anti-Semitic statements they were given 40% of the time, versus 29% of the time for Muslims born in Britain.
• British Muslims who expressed sympathy for terror agreed with the anti-Semitic statements they were given 57% of the time, versus 36% of the time for British Muslims who condemn terror.

As the foreword to this new report warned, “Jews remain the ‘canary in the coal mine,’ as they have been throughout history: Those who harbor hatred of Jews also hate British society and sympathize with our most deadly enemies.”

I hear people all the time saying what wonderful neighbors their Muslim friends are. It is great to have a nice neighbor, but it does not tell us anything about what they believe and say to their children about Jews, Christians and religious liberty.

It would be foolish to assume that Muslims coming to America are significantly different than those going to Great Britain. So, again, I have to ask: Is it merely enough to screen out the killers?

Is anything being done to screen out the anti-Semites? What is the urgent public policy purpose that is being served by importing more haters?

These are serious questions and they deserve serious debate. Sadly, as several candidates have learned, you can’t even have a public conversation about this issue without leaders of both parties rushing to condemn you and shutdown the conversation.

Many politicians and pundits insist that Islam is a religion of peace. But I am having a hard time finding the majority Muslim nation that has anything to teach us about tolerance and progressive values.