By Daniel Greenfield ——Bio and Archives--December 27, 2010
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"A flag bearing a crescent and star flies from a flagpole in front of the World Trade Center, next to a Christmas tree and a menorah." New York Times, 1997
New York may seem a little brighter this holiday season as the glowing Muslim crescent and star symbol nudges its way onto a seasonal landscape of Christmas trees, menorahs and Kwanzaa candles. Watch out, ho, ho, ho-ing Santas you might get drowned out by cheery folks yelling, "Allahu akbar!"Four years later, Muslims had indeed made things brighter in New York City with the flames of the attacks of September 11. The 9/11 hijackers left behind notes, which said among other things, "Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers". If there were any Santas on those planes, they were certainly drowned out by the cries of "Allah Akbar". And if that didn't drown them out, having their throats being slit by the cheery folks with box cutters surely would. On the Christmas of 2001, New York City was a city with an open wound. Muslims had finally made their impact on the holiday season in a truly unforgettable way. At Ground Zero, workers were still struggling to search through the remains, looking for bodies or parts of them. "It would be like a gift for somebody," a police officer said, who was spending his holiday searching through the debris. A gift for the non-believers on that holiday season from Islam. But while Muslims were stuffing their faces in November 2001, Americans were mourning for the dead. While Abdul and Mohammed and Raisa were picking through their lamb stew, Americans were picking up the pieces. And yet it was Americans who were repeatedly told to be sensitive to Muslim concerns. From Pakistan, Musharraf urged the US to suspend bombing his Taliban allies during Ramadan... in the name of sensitivity. New York City schools were making arrangements for Muslim prayers out of "heightened sensitivity to Muslim concerns after the Sept. 11 attack". As usual it was not Americans who were on the receiving end of "heightened sensitivity", but the people whose ideology had conspired to murder them. And on the 9th anniversary of 9/11, Islam had another gift for us. Having bought up a building damaged in their own attack, they plotted to set up a grand mosque near Ground Zero. Another gift to New Yorkers from the religion that keeps on giving. On the same date as the Battle of Vienna against the Muslim horde and the breaking of ground on the construction of the Pentagon, Muslims murdered 3,000 Americans. And on the 9th anniversary of that date, another Crescent and Star, another mocking reminder that Muslim atrocities represent a victory, rather than a defeat. And the same people who did not learn the lesson in 1997, and allowed the Crescent and Star to fly at the World Trade Center, are now eager to let the Ground Zero Mosque go forward. In the name of tolerance of course. Yet despite the Crescent and Star, and even the designs of the World Trade Center itself, which supposedly incorporated Islamic elements from Mecca, appeasement proved to be no defense. 3,000 people died on 9/11 because America preferred to appease, rather than confront. And we are still busy appeasing, like never before. Goodbye Gitmo. Farewell Ground Zero. While New Yorkers are struggling to make ends meet, Bloomberg is golfing with Obama. Every Islamic act of terrorism is met with worries about growing Islamophobia, as if the terrorists were Islamophobes, rather than Islamophiles. While the majority of New Yorkers and Americans want the mosque to move, the rich and the powerful want it where it is. How better to show Muslims how tolerant we are, than to show that we are willing to denigrate our own dead for a trade deal with Dubai. At Bloomberg's own Ramadan dinner, he praised his favorite Muslim slumlord and defender of terrorists. Bloomberg who had never heard of the word freedom, when it came to what ordinary New Yorkers can eat, drink, smoke or where they can drive, rediscovered the word as applied to the freedom of Muslims to give yet one more gift to New Yorkers in preparation for the holidays.Allahu Akbar and Ho, Ho, Ho.
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Daniel Greenfield is a New York City writer and columnist. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and his articles appears at its Front Page Magazine site.