Anti-jihad expert Andrew Bostom, author of The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, appeared on Breitbart News Daily today to discuss his latest article, “Islam and the Global Epidemic of Muslim Jew-Hatred.”
In speaking of American leadership, Bostom said, “They’re really largely uninformed about basic Islamic doctrine and history. And they’re very uncomfortable with what is really the essential feature of Islam, which is that it’s as much a political ideology as it is a religion … perhaps more so.”
Bostom believes that fact impacts any open discussion of Islam. He cited the “religion of peace” comments from former President Bush, which were also supported by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to “Obama’s rather blatant Islamophilia” as having “warped the debate” around Islam to the point where openly anti-Semitic comments can be broadcast without question.
It was one such recent broadcast which inspired Bostom’s latest article.
Saturday, December 26, 2015, an audio statement (transcribed fully here) allegedly issued by Islamic State “Caliph”, al-Baghdadi, contained the following threat to the Jewish State of Israel, and Jews in general:
The Jews thought we forgot Palestine and that they had distracted us from it. Not at all, Jews. We did not forget Palestine for a moment. With the help of Allah, we will not forget it… The pioneers of the jihadist fighters will surround you on a day that you think is distant and we know is close. We are getting closer every day. You will never find comfort in Palestine, Jews. Palestine will not be your land or your home, but it will be a graveyard for you. Allah assembled you in Palestine so that the Muslims kill you, so that you may hide behind stones and trees (i.e., hiding behind “stones and trees,” explicitly references the canonical utterance [hadith] of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, Sahih Muslim Book 041, 6985; “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger [Muhammad] as saying: ‘The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;’”).
Bostom goes on to discuss in depth his defense of using the words “Jew hatred” versus anti-Semitism as a fundamental component of Islam, as well as how a less than candid discussion of Islam is impacting the current race for the Republican nomination. The full clip of the interview is available below.
Andrew Bostom’s website is here and his writings at Breitbart can be found here.