Jihad Hiding In Plain Sight At Ground Zero

with Eli Clifton

Now look, nobody in America would object to the construction of an Islamic center — however the question is: Why here? Why in this spot? This is a spot that was for hours bathed in the ashes of the Twin Towers and the thousands of innocents who died in it.

It’s not just any other spot. It’s sacred ground.

Charles Krauthammer

As it happens, I was staying with a friend right around the corner from the site of the “Ground Zero Mosque” this past weekend, and I can second Krauthammer on the “sacred” feel of the area. From the Starbucks where young office workers grabbed their morning decaf venti mocha frappucinos to the dive bar where aging frat boys downed Jagerbombs, the whole neighborhood reflected Dan Senor’s injunction that the area “should be reserved for memorials to the event itself and to its victims.”

But as I was walking around the neighborhood, resting easy that its residents had resolved Never To Forget That We Were Attacked On 9/11, I suddenly saw something that stopped me short. In their zeal to halt the inexorable march of Islamofascism in Lower Manhattan, I realized that Krauthammer, Senor, and their comrades may have missed the real and more insidious threat that has been lurking in front of our very eyes.

This is the view from Park Place and Church Street, a few steps away from the planned mosque:


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Nothing here but 9/11 memorials, right? But not so fast — let’s take a closer look at the block:


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I couldn’t help but notice the Indian restaurant on the block. At first, I saw nothing openly alarming, naively believing that the Bengalis were Friendly Brown People rather than Islamofascists. But let’s take a closer look at this supposedly peaceful commercial establishment:


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Look carefully at the signs at the upper right of the restaurant’s awning. A vigilant observer will immediately notice that this supposedly innocuous commercial establishment proclaims, not once, but twice, that it serves “halal” food — that is, food in compliance with Islamic Sharia Law. As scholars of Islam such as Andy McCarthy have described, radical Muslims have joined forces with radical leftists such as Barack Obama to spawn “America-hating Islamic enclaves in our very midst, gradually foisting Islam’s repressive law, sharia, on American life.” It would be no exaggeration to regard this restaurant as a beachhead for the creeping Shariafication of America, mere steps from where We Were Attacked On 9/11 (which We Must Never Forget).

We should also note that the Google Maps photos above record only the stationary Sharia outposts in the neighborhood. They cannot tell us precisely how many Mobile Semi-Armored Jihad Wagons — of the kind pictured below — are operative in the area:

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Yet the lack of media attention paid to these terror-promoting Islamist outposts raises troubling questions about the entire Ground Zero Mosque debate. Lovers of the American way have naturally focused their energies on stopping the mosque — but what if the mosque itself is merely a red herring? What if the wily Islamists’ real intention is to distract America’s defenders with the high-profile mosque, while in reality working to foist Sharia on America through subtler — and tastier — means?

Daniel Luban

Daniel Luban is a postdoctoral associate at Yale University. He holds a PhD in politics from the University of Chicago and was formerly a correspondent in the Washington bureau of Inter Press Service.

SHOW 5 COMMENTS

5 Comments

  1. RE: …it serves “halal” food — that is, food in compliance with Islamic Sharia Law. – Luban & Clifton
    MY COMMENT: They serve halal, but not kosher? And in New York, no less! That’s downright un-American.
    P.S. That started me thinking (for a change). Might that whole kosher deal be just a ruse for foisting “repressive” Talmudic law on American life. OMG! No more kosher delis for me! I’m going to really miss the Snack ‘N Shop in Buckhead. Well, maybe I can at least do takeout. What the hell, “Reverend” Hagee prophesies that The Rapture™ will be here any day now.

  2. Satire is perhaps the best way to fight this rather absurd issue. I’m not sure though that the other side will get the intended point.

  3. Two points of fact. The Kosher food mark is an absurd “tax” that is put on all kinds of groups. So, corporations have to hire a Rabbi to go inspect some factory that may have nothing to do with the Kosher laws. Some have argued that there is a shake-down that occurs here. This isn’t really an animated issue for me, but I have a friend that can get ginned up over this.

    The other is that in fact, Muslims DO believe their faith is the best. And, they believe that by offering good food, a kind example that they may lead others to Islam.

    Sometimes, they will proselytize openly but Muslims are encouraged to provide a good example. I can also report that the Koran makes the argument that Sharia and Islamic rule is the best. They believe that if a majority of the population can be converted to Islam then, if the people want it, they should agitate for Sharia.

    This seems consistent with “consent of the Governed” but I don’t know. There are some/many viable aspects of Sharia, and our own “imagined” government could be “the best Islamic gov’t in the world.”

    The more I hear Krauthammer and Senor, the relatively moderate voices of Al Queda and the Taliban seem more sensible and peace seeking.

  4. If you object to the mosque/Park51 anywhere near Ground Zero, sign the petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/killcordoba/ and PASS THAT LINK ON TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. This proposal is a moral abomination in every respect, and so is anyone who can possibly forget the images of innocent people jumping to their deaths on that beautiful, sunny Tuesday morning, entirely because of –correctly interpreted or not– Muslim ideology.

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