Muslim Mishmash: Failed Paris Response, Duke Backs Down, Radical Islam Quickens In U.S., Stand With Israel

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author, Muslim Mishmash:
Failed Paris Response - The Obama Administration is still reeling from criticism over its failure to march in Paris with other world leaders in the aftermath of the jihadist attacks. Today, Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris with singer James Taylor in tow. Taylor serenaded his French audience with one of his 1970s hits, "You've Got A Friend." Get it? This is foreign policy in the Obama years.

Carol and I dated to that song, and both of us inevitably think back to those years when we hear its lyrics. "You just call out my name and you know wherever I am, I'll come running to see you again. . . .you've got a friend."

Of course the song doesn't work as a courting vehicle if you don't actually be a friend to whom you are singing. And there's the rub.

In the Obama years, the promise of friendship has been extended to some folks you don't want to bring home to meet Mom -- the ayatollah of Iran, the communists of Cuba and Putin's Russia. Meanwhile, old friends like Israel, Canada and Great Britain have been stood up.

Eventually word spreads that you can't be counted on, and you end up singing to yourself on a Saturday night.

Duke Backs Down - Congratulations, my friends! Duke University backed down late yesterday amid a tremendous backlash to its plans to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the university's chapel bell tower. Thank you to everyone who took the time to call and email Duke, and to Reverend Franklin Graham for speaking out so forcefully.

Of course, as it is with every victory by our side, we can't take anything for granted. Political correctness prevails in our elite institutions, especially in academia, and I fully expect Duke administrators to revisit the issue again.

Sadly, the reactions of some indoctrinated students demonstrate the struggle we are in. One Duke student angry with the reversal told a reporter, "We should have gotten over these things a long time ago. Prejudice and bigotry and Islamophobia should not exist now. . . . People can't separate Islam from terrorism."

She just doesn't get it. Radical Islamists are still living in the Dark Ages. They have no concept of equality, treat women as cattle and still practice slavery.

Go lecture the Taliban about prejudice. Go to the West Bank and Gaza and preach against bigotry. Tell the jihadists who scream "Allahu Akbar!" as they decapitate journalists, fly planes into buildings and slaughter Christians and Jews to separate Islam from terrorism.

As one reader emailed me, "When Christians and Jews can work and worship freely in the Mecca, then Duke can broadcast the Muslim call to prayer."

Yesterday, I noted prior to Dukes reversal of their decision to allow a Muslim call to prayer from the university's chapel bell tower the reaction of the Reverend Franklin Graham. Graham said: "Reverend Franklin Graham. Reacting to this announcement, Graham said: "As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering and beheading Christians, Jews and anyone who doesn't submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism."
Graham urged donors and alumni to withhold their support.

I know some might say, "Gary, this is America. We let a thousand flowers bloom." Well that's the point. We're not letting a thousand flowers bloom.

There is growing intolerance of Christianity at our institutions of higher learning. Last year, the California State University system "derecognized" InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Why? Because it required its officers to abide by Christian values that were deemed discriminatory by left-wing bureaucrats.

It's not happening just in California. Vanderbilt University, in the heart of the Bible Belt, is among the worst offenders.

Judeo-Christian values are being ground under foot and too many educational elites are promoting only Islam. I remind you again of the now ubiquitous use of the phrase "the Prophet Muhammad." It is spoken by self-righteous commentators who would never say "Jesus, the son of God."

Radical Islam Quickens In U.S. - Yesterday a recent convert to Islam was arrested outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. According to ABC News, Christopher Lee Cornell, "allegedly planned to detonate pipe bombs at the [U.S. Capitol] and open fire on any employees and officials fleeing after the explosions."

NBC News reported that a Delaware Air National Guard Base "raised its security level . . . two steps higher than normal" after "Mideastern" suspects attempted to "probe the base for security weaknesses."

Over the weekend, Abdalah Mohamed was arrested in Portland, Oregon, for threatening to blow up a kosher deli. According to one store employee, Mohamed yelled, "You Israeli . . . I'll blow up your store in the name of Allah!"

And a local news station in Washington, D.C., reported that a Jewish business in the nation's capital has received "a barrage of phone calls and internet postings" from self-described ISIS militants threatening mass murder.

These events are just more evidence of the times in which we live and the dangers we face. Taken individually, they may seem random and unrelated. But there is an obvious common thread.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham isn't likely to win any popularity contests among conservative activists. But when it comes to radical Islam, he gets it.

During an interview on Fox News this week, Graham said:

"We are in a religious war with radical Islamists who've embraced a religious doctrine that requires them, compelled by [Allah], to purify their religion, to kill all moderate Muslims or people who don't agree with them within the faith, to destroy every other religion.

"And here are our choices: We can fight them over there, or we can fight them at home. We can fight them by ourselves, or we can fight them with partners. I choose to fight them over there with partners. And when our president doesn't acknowledge that this is a religious-driven war, it's going to be very hard to win it."

Stand With Israel - Congratulations to Pastor John Hagee and Christians United for Israel! Last week, CUFI announced that its membership has swelled to more than two million people. That is incredible for a group that is not even ten years old.

I am honored to be a member of CUFI's Executive Board, and I whole-heartedly support its unyielding work in defense of the Jewish state. CUFI and I have some exciting announcements coming in the days ahead.

And Israel needs our support now more than ever. Radical Islam is on the march. Journalists are being beheaded in the Middle East and gunned down in Paris. Israel's enemies -- Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda, ISIS -- are America's enemies.

The next 24 months may be the most dangerous time for Israel. America's president is the most anti-Israel U.S. leader to ever occupy the Oval Office. The mullahs in Tehran don't take him seriously.

That's why I launched a new effort this weekend urging policy makers to stand with Israel. More than 10,000 people have already signed on, urging Barack Obama to honor America's alliance with Israel.

If you believe, as I do, that America must stand with Israel, sign our online petition at standwithIsraeltoday.com.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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