During the trial of the Fort Dix Six, who conspired to attack U.S. military personnel at the base, Mohammed was quoted as stating, “If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But when the government says — ‘Islamic militants,’ it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous. Don’t equate actions with religion.”
But such statements are not a reasoned plea for objectivity and independent thought; rather, they are simply subterfuge and whitewashing of Islam. That’s because Koran-sanctioned terrorism or jihad is an integral, doctrinal part of Islam. In the name of Islam, more than 20,000 deadly terrorist attacks have been committed worldwide since 9/11, underscoring that it is not individuals, but the essence of Islamic militant beliefs that sparks terrorism.
In other disturbing actions, Mohammed had criticized the television series 24 for depicting Muslims as terrorists. In 2005, he called for a “bias crime” investigation of the Coptic community for its anti-Muslim sentiment following the slaying of a Coptic family in Jersey City. As an American lawyer no doubt familiar with the Constitution and the First Amendment, Mohammed doubtless knew that his request constituted a threat to the Coptic community’s freedom of speech by attempting to muffle their vocal suspicions of Muslim involvement in the crime.
Christie & Muslim Outreach Committee
In 2012, Gov. Christie called for an investigation into the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism procedures. He objected to their surveillance of mosques and a Muslim Brotherhood-sponsored student group, the Muslim Student Association (MSA). When the New Jersey attorney general concluded that the NYPD had acted lawfully in pursuing terrorist activities, Christie formed the Muslim Outreach Committee, an effort to mollify the outrage expressed by local Muslims. All the individuals chosen for the committee who were to act as liaisons between the Muslim community and state officials, including top security personnel, were associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, including the beleaguered Imam Qatanani.
Clearly, support for a known Hamas operative like Qatanani is a serious threat to national security. According to a report by the Investigative Project for Terrorism, Qatanani publicly supported payments to families of suicide bombers and condemned Christians to “eternal hellfire.” As a former prosecutor, Christie must have had access to this information.
That same year, Christie hosted a Ramadan dinner at the Governor’s Mansion and invited Imam Mohammed Qatanani, referring to him as a “friend,” “a force for good in his community,” and someone who has been helpful to New Jersey law enforcement. No mention was made of the imam’s extensive terrorist ties, radical sermonizing, and law-breaking activities.
In an interview with The Blaze in 2013, Qatanani called for limits on free speech to protect Islam from criticism. Expressing views in accordance with Islamic blasphemy laws or sharia, Qatanani stated that although Americans have freedom of speech, they “have no right to [talk about Muslim] holy issues” because to do so will incite “hatred or war among people.” He went on to explain that criticizing Islam poses a national security threat to the United States and recommended that those responsible be investigated by the DHS. He advocated Islamic blasphemy laws that criminalize criticism of Islam and maintained that mocking Jesus or Moses is acceptable for Americans, but it is forbidden to mock Mohammed.
Christie & Sharia
Besides actively seeking political and personal working relationships with Muslims linked to terrorism, Gov. Christie has ignored concerns about the application of sharia, or Islamic law, in the United States. In the face of findings by an in-depth 2011 study initiated by the Center for Security Policy to the effect that 23 states had already used sharia as a factor in their deliberations, and despite the fact that sharia contradicts the U.S. Constitution, requires gender and religious apartheid, denies freedom of speech and religion, and promotes cruel punishments, Christie has state that “[t]his sharia-law business is crap…and I’m tired of dealing with the crazies.”