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.
