Thank you Peter King

America is a nation that was born in religious freedom. As a community,  Jews have found safe harbor and true emancipation on these shores.  When my father came here, fleeing Nazi Germany, he cried when the ship passed the Statue of Liberty. He and his generation profoundly loved what this country stands for. He was Bar Mitvahed on the boat over. His parents decided to send him to public school so he could learn to be an “American”. Although they maintained their religious identities, they decided to cut off his “peyot”, (earlocks), and immerse themselves in the culture of this great nation, including democracy, pluralism, tolerance and the rule of law.

This is in keeping with the religious principles of Judaism. It says in the Talmud that “We are to respect the law of the land”. In our synagogue, as in most others throughout the United States, before we say the prayer for the survival of Israel, we say a prayer for the survival of the United States.

We would like to believe that all religions are equal, that they all want peace, and that no true believer wants religious hegemony, or would ever kill in the name of G-d.

However, the facts necessitate us to conclude differently.

Nina Shea, of the Center for Religious Freedom conducted a study in 2006,  replicated in 2008, where she went into fifteen randomly selected Islamic schools on our shores, stemming from New York to California, and found that they all had a Wahhabaist curriculum.

Among the alarming findings were that Jews are discussed in violent terms, blaming them for virtually all the “sedition” and wars of the modern world; the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is taught as historical fact, and all current events are related back to that as the root cause; the instruction selectively highlights violence against Jews, while the selections of the Koran and hadiths, (sections that explain Muhammad’s life) that counsel tolerance are ignored; the teaching that Jews and Christians are the enemies of “true”  believers.

Jihad is defined as a “religious obligation”, and as “wrestling with the infidels by calling them to faith and battling against them.”

It is no wonder that a Valedictorian of the Islamic Academy of Northern Virginia sent President George Bush a note, threatening his life.  He obviously had learned his lessons well.

Last May, Attorney General Holder was asked at a House Judiciary Committee about three recent terrorist attacks: The Fort Hood Shooting in November 2009, by Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army major of Palestinian descent who opened fire on his fellow serviceman , killing 13 and wounding 29 others;  the Underwear Bomber, Omar Farouk Abdulmattalub, a Nigerian who boarded a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit in 2009, attempting to blow it up by hiding explosives in his underwear, and the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shazad, who had attempted to detonate a bomb in the middle of Times Square,  in the middle of the Christmas season.

Unfortunately, we did not hear cries of outrage from imams across the world when these atrocities had been attempted. Why is that?

Moreover:  When asked if these actions night have been the result of incitement within radical Islam, Mr. Holder, replied, “There are a variety of reasons why I think these people have taken these actions.”

Obfuscating, whitewashing and sweeping the obvious under the rug will not keep American citizens safe. This is the very reason why we have a Homeland Security Committee, which was created shortly after September 11.

Chairman King is serving the American people well by holding hearings on this issue. We assume that all immigrant populations come here with respect for the values of this great nation.

Some, however use our constitutional freedoms as a smokescreen behind which to hide. They actually have contempt for American civilization, feel that our freedoms have made us an immoral and corrupt civilization. Many Islamist believers truly believe that they are here to help create a world-wide Islamic caliphate. They see their role here as “dawa”(conversion to Islam).

It is also extremely important for Westerners to understand the concept of “Takia”, within Islam, which means the ends justify the means. It is considered not only acceptable, but actually a good deed, within Islam to lie for the sake of Allah.

As Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “We in the West make a great mistake when we transpose our values onto the rest of the world.”

Thank You, Peter King.