Potential 2016 presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal caused a stir across the pond with a Monday speech in London about the rise of radical Islam and “no-go” zones for non-Muslims in Birmingham.
“How many Muslims in this world agree with these radicals? I have no idea, I hope it is a small minority,” the Louisiana governor told the Henry Jackson Society, according to prepared remarks. “But it is clear that far too many do, and it is clear that they must be stopped.”
“In the West, non-assimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Sharia law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home,” Jindal continued. “It is startling to think that any country would allow, even unofficially, for a so called ‘no-go zone.’ The idea that a free country would allow for specific areas of its country to operate in an autonomous way that is not free and is in direct opposition to its laws is hard to fathom.”
The director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, Corey Saylor, said in a statement that “it is sad that competition for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination is kicking off with Muslim bashing.”
“Governor Jindal’s decision to repeat the already discredited no-go zone allegation is embarrassing to our nation and to his potential presidential campaign,” Saylor said.
Jindal told CNN last night that “speaking the truth, we’re going to make people upset.”
“Here is the biggest point. Radical Islamists hate our values. They threaten our way of life. They don’t appreciate, they don’t condone, they don’t allow freedom of expression, self determination. Anybody that thinks you should be killed for drawing a cartoon is a terrorist, is somebody that we need to hunt down, that we need to get rid of in our societies,” he said.
“The huge issue, the big issue with non-assimilation, the fact that you have people who want to come to our country but not adopt our value, in some cases, not adopt our language, in some cases, want to set apart their own enclaves and continue to hold onto their own values. I think that’s dangerous. It’s dangerous in America and in Europe.”
Jindal said his comments referred to reports in British media that “there are neighborhoods where the police say they don’t go as frequently; there are neighborhoods where women do not comfortable walking without veils.”
“We don’t see that in America. We wouldn’t tolerate that in America. But in America, if we continue to allow people coming in without insisting on assimilation, on integration, this is what lies in our future,” he said. “What I worry about, in America, it’s become politically correct to say that that is a religious difference. This is not a religious difference. We need Muslim leaders to denounce these radical Islamists and say — not only condemning the violence, but condemning the individuals and saying they’re not martyrs, they will not be rewarded in the afterlife, rather they’re going straight to hell.”
Louisiana has passed a ban on sharia law. Jindal said he fears “political correctness is driving us to pretend like these differences don’t matter and it’s equally acceptable to adopt sharia law, it’s equally acceptable to reject these notions what — our Judeo-Christian heritage that has made us so unique, so successful, and continues to allow us to make our own decisions about how to lead our lives.”
“…Assimilation, that integration is so important if we want to prevent those lone wolves and to protect our society against this threat.”
On running for president, Jindal said, “I’ll continue to think and pray about it and we’ll make the decision in the next few months.”
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