…If Florida courts accept provisions of Islamic Sharia law or other foreign laws and legal codes which are inconsistent with American laws it will undermine public policies enacted by our representative form of government and change our value system. …

- Florida Family Association

The dangers of Shariah should be self-evident and, thankfully, the good people of the Florida Family Association (FFA) are working against Islamism in their home state. The Obama administration, some other Western governments, and the Western mainstream media are generally soft-peddling the dangers of radical Islam, so people who value freedom and democracy should be ever vigilant. If the FFA can fluster Ahmed Rehab of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the terrorist-apologists and Shariah pushers du jour, the FFA must be doing something right.

What would Shariah mean? It would mean Islamists attempting to “destroy Western civilization from within.” It would mean misogyny and “honor killings” of innocent women. It would mean religiously-sanctioned lying (“taqiyya”) to advance the overriding of our Constitution with Islamic “law.” It would mean non-Muslims (”infidels”) living at best as third-class citizens (“dhimmitude”). It would mean Muslim cab drivers refusing blind customers with “unclean” seeing-eye-dogs. It would mean allowing the creation of autonomous Islamic “no-go zones” right here in the U.S. where American law would have no standing. Should I go on? Would you live under Shariah for fear of “inciting” Muslim anger rather than standing up for democracy? I won’t. Luckily, there are groups like the Florida Family Association fighting Shariah — and succeeding:

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A briefing by Mark Durie*

Mark Durie is a theologian, human rights activist and pastor of an Anglican church. He has published many articles and books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, Christian-Muslim relations and religious freedom. A graduate of the Australian National University and the Australian College of Theology, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, MIT, UCLA and Stanford, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992. On January 18, he spoke to the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia.

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By Andrew Whitehead

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an Islamist hate group founded by terrorists, has called GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich to task for Gingrich’s refusal to support a Muslim candidate for president if said candidate adhered to Sharia law.

According to CAIR’s National Legislative Director Corey Saylor:

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by Ann Snyder*

Over the past few months, a “mosque” in Toronto has inspired quite a hubbub in the blogosphere and Canadian press, even prompting demonstrations, including some in September. As in many mosques, the genders are segregated, with males sitting in the front and females in the back, but it is the location of the “mosque” — a public school — that initiated the controversy. The Valley Park Middle School basically converts its cafeteria to a temporary mosque in which Muslim students hold Friday (jum’ah) prayers.

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We live in ominous times. Our government embraces false “allies” while betraying true ones; our right to be armed is threatened; our religious freedoms are threatened by unethical political dogmas and nefarious foreign funding; our entertainment is dominated by a depraved group of money-hungry, unethical anthopomorphs; our primary and secondary schools are poisoned with political correctness that teaches that no one is responsible for his/her own actions; our academia is dominated by anti-Semitic, Islamo-philic bigots; and, our government is filled with self-serving, lying, unethical thieves. It is time to remember the sacred words penned by this great nation’s Founding Fathers, the American Declaration of Independence:

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by Bruce Maddy-Weitzman*

Where does Tunisia, the unlikely igniter of the Middle Eastern upheavals, stand on the democratic transition scale three months after the overthrow of the long reigning autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali? And can the country, which stood (mostly by choice) at the margins of Arab political life since achieving independence in 1956, serve as a democratizing exemplar for other Arab states?

Blazing the Democratic Path

The answer to the second question seems fairly clear. As early as 1991, Samuel Huntington identified what he termed one of the most important global political developments of the late twentieth century — a third wave of democratization among thirty previously nondemocratic states.[1] There was no Arab state on his list, yet he identified Tunisia as a prime candidate for future democratization owing to its pace of economic growth, educated middle class, and concurrent liberalization measures undertaken by the country’s new president, Ben Ali.

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By Gary Gerofsky

The video entitled, “Shariah Muslims Hate Free Speech,” filmed at an Israel “Apartheid” Week (IAW) hate-fest at the University of California (UC) at San Diego is a typical example of what is happening on North American campuses. This video is a microcosm of how some people, with a pathological need to appear to be fair-minded and even-handed, play into the hands of Islamists. This radical Muslim hate-speech goes unchallenged. These Islamists enjoy the right to free speech protected by the American constitution but, beyond that and for no good reason, are encouraged to spew the hate speech to which they feel entitled. People who should know better are abusing the Constitution by upholding local and campus rules and regulations in higher regard than the Constitution which has been effectively supplanted and undermined. Hate speech is being protected by bureaucrats, Islamist sympathizers, the peace-at-any-cost gang and the ignorant. Free speech is being challenged only when it comes from those who are seen to be interfering with hate as expressed by Islamists in venues such as IAW. Hate speech is seemingly being protected more than is the free speech to challenge the insidious hate.

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By Barry Rubin

The gap between dominant Western perceptions of the Middle East and the region’s reality is dangerously wide. While the “Arab Spring” is celebrated as an advance for moderation and democracy, in fact the advance is going to revolutionary Islamists. Developments in Turkey and Egypt especially threaten to plunge the Middle East back into an era of conflict, instability, and the worst threats to Western interests in decades.

There are several things very much predictable about the future of the Middle East area during the next year. First, on June 12, 2011, Turkey will have an election. That election will probably be won by the government, whether or not it gets a two-thirds majority. The current rulers will interpret this as a signal to take a much tougher line toward Israel and the United States. It is possible that the extent of the increase of Turkey’s enmity toward Israel after that election will astonish the world.

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By Thomas Drewing

The GOP still doesn’t get it. They think that people will be mollified by the appearance of taking the Constitution and “We The People” seriously. And they know that far more people will be satisfied by the “news” that they are going to actually read it aloud, than will actually tune in and listen to that very reading.

What is lost on many of them though is the fact that this will be the first time many, if not most, of the actual Congress Critters themselves, have actually heard the words our country is founded upon. And in their desire to appear as though they have gravity and thoughtfulness, they will sit there, and place themselves in a thoughtful appearing state to listen. And actually… that is enough to make the difference.

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A briefing by Daniel Huff*

Daniel Huff is director of the Middle East Forum’s Legal Project, which defends the free speech rights of authors and activists commenting on radical Islam and related issues. A graduate of Columbia Law School, he previously served as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee to then Ranking Member Arlen Specter, handling a host of national security, civil and criminal matters. On October 28, he addressed the Middle East Forum via conference call on the twin assault Islamists have launched against free speech rights.

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by Johanna Markind*

If you were arrested for speaking on public streets, where would you turn for help? These days, the answer may depend on what you were saying.

Suppose you were arrested for marching through the streets of Dearborn, Michigan, protesting Israeli policies against Palestinians. Unquestionably, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would support your rights, even filing suit on your behalf.

Suppose, instead, you were arrested for preaching Christianity on the streets of Dearborn. Would you ask the ACLU for help? Would it help you? Well, maybe.

Consider the four people arrested on June 18, 2010, for proselytizing passersby at Dearborn’s Arab International Festival. Certainly the ACLU agreed that the arrests had violated the missionaries’ constitutional rights. The state ACLU chapter’s legal director told the Michigan Messenger that “the man encouraging others to convert to Christianity was engaged in speech protected by the First Amendment.” But that is all. The organization did not issue any press releases to that effect, address the matter on its website, or reference it in listserv emails.

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By Barry Rubin

It is true that the passage of the referendum in Turkey with 58 percent of the vote can be seen as a victory for the AKP regime. But that point shouldn’t be exaggerated. The bad feature of the reforms–in terms of consolidating the Islamist government’s power–is to strengthen the regime’s control over the courts and to limit further the autonomy of the Turkish army.

At the same time, though, there were many other provisions that the overwhelming majority of Turks wanted, expanding freedoms and civil liberties, reining in the possibility of military coups which those left of center have opposed in the past. Moreover, it was sold as a step toward Turkish entry into the European Union, still a prime goal though something that’s never going to happen.

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By Stanley Renshon, CIS.org

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday on the latest Quinnipiac University national survey on American opinions about various immigration matters. The title of the article, “Immigration issues hurting Obama, poll finds,” reflects the finding that, “By a 60%-to-28% margin, respondents disapproved of the way Obama is handling illegal immigration.” What isn’t clear is whether the president is losing support because he hasn’t been able to sign a “comprehensive immigration bill” allowing the legalization of approximately 11 million illegal immigrants or whether it’s because he’s proved much less than serious about border control, workplace enforcement, and deportation. Probably both.

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by Daniel Pipes*

Pastor Terry Jones’ plan to burn copies of the Koran at his church in Gainesville, Florida, let it be emphasized, is a distasteful act that fits an ugly tradition. That said, two other points need be noted: Buying books and then burning them is an entirely legal act in the United States. Second, David Petraeus, Robert Gates, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama pressured Jones to cancel only because they feared Muslim violence against Americans if he proceeded. Indeed, despite Mr. Jones calling off the Koran burning, 5 Afghans and 14 Kashmiris died in protests against his plans.

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by Phyllis Chesler

Muslim groups have just called for “tolerance.” They “decry bigotry.” The Muslim leaders said: “We stand for the constitutional right of Muslims and Americans of all faiths to build houses of worship anywhere in our nation as allowed by local laws and regulations … Ground Zero belongs to all Americans.”

Technically, these words are both true and stop short of an outright endorsement. However, given the situation, these are also fighting words. Given the groups which attended the meeting and issued this statement, (e.g. Council on American Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, etc.), these are disingenuous words meant to falsely pacify, confuse, and disorient the infidel listener. They are words of “taqiyya.” This approach is but one example of how belligerent Islamists — not peaceful Muslims — use Western laws about tolerance in order to justify an era of anti-infidel intolerance. …Continue reading…

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