The Reality of Sharia

The biggest winner of Europe’s recent elections was the Islamist-leftist alliance. For those who still find an alliance between the left and homophobic, misogynistic Islamists incomprehensible, please keep in mind that the left globally is no longer liberal. Leftism has become a big tent for all varieties of illiberalism, including Islamism.

Post-election videos show Islamists celebrating leftist wins, praising Sharia Law, and bashing Western democracy, with signs like “Sharia will dominate the world.” Islamist activists were successful in using anti-Zionism and a cultural war against liberal democracy to mobilize Muslims to vote.

Polls in France indicate that 28% of Muslims — and 50% of younger Muslims — envision the country becoming a Muslim state. 

As the election results began to emerge, more than 2,000 Jewish families in France began the Aliyah process. And then, on cue, the Sharia/leftist backlash began: Critics of the election results were immediately labeled “anti-immigration” and of course “Islamophobic.” As with everything happening today, we were told: What you’re seeing is not what you’re seeing.

Calling Jews “anti-immigration” is of course particularly ironic. How can we be anti-immigration if we’re all, in one way or another,  immigrants?  True, many of our ancestors were forcibly brought to Rome as slaves. Not the typical immigrant experience, but the rest of us were fleeing the Spanish, the Russians, the Nazis, and/or the Islamists and arrived with nothing but hope. 

Most Jews are, needless to say, against any immigrants who want to kill us. More broadly, we’re against immigrants who want to replace Western laws with Sharia Law. A foundational principle of Western democracy is that one doesn’t need to lose one’s identity to live here and flourish. In fact, classical liberalism extols the beauty of living in a multicultural mosaic. Problems arise when people want to retain parts of their identity that are anti-Western, like honor killings, child marriage, beheading babies, and burning the elderly alive. 

If only there were things like universities where leftists/Islamists could learn stuff like this.

For many of us, the label of “Islamophobic” lost all significance after Oct. 7. Every poll of Muslims both in the West and in the Middle East has shown full support of Hamas and Oct. 7. The Hamas charter quotes verbatim from Hadith Sahih 2922: “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them.”

The Quran itself states in Surah 8: “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.” And in Surah 9: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day.” 

Many continue to argue that there is a huge difference between Islam and Islamism, the latter defined as the radicalization or politicization of Islam. I used to believe in this difference. I have Muslim friends who are more liberal than some leftist Jews. As an Israeli friend put it: “Israelis have to believe there is a difference. We would lose all hope if we didn’t.”

And yet, the IDF found 50 tunnels connecting Egypt to Gaza, tunnels that supplied the weaponry for Oct. 7. So even if Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi himself is not radical, he can’t do much when the Muslim Brotherhood builds tunnels, kills Egyptian Christians, and establishes terrorist cells throughout Egypt and the region.

On the other side, some argue that phobia means an “irrational fear,” and that fear of Islam’s radical past and present is rational. OK, so we ditch the word Islamophobia. But it is perfectly rational to have a fear of Sharia colonization. 

After 9/11, synagogues in New York City implemented metal detectors and enhanced security in general. Despite the fact that 9/11 was an act of anti-Western terrorism, nobody called the synagogues Islamophobic. Because 23 years ago, a measure of sanity still prevailed in the public discourse. And though Islam’s history of forcing Jews to convert, live in servitude as dhimmis, or be killed was not the main focus, it was also not dismissed.

What a difference two decades have made. Islamic propaganda has not only seeped into our schools and media, it has created a distortion of both history and reality.

Those of us living in reality — daily violent riots, death threats, an avalanche of lies — didn’t need Europe’s elections to know that the world has entered a new period of Sharia conquest. 

Those of us living in reality — daily violent riots, death threats, an avalanche of lies — didn’t need Europe’s elections to know that the world has entered a new period of Sharia conquest. What’s happening in Israel is just the beginning. Stating the obvious doesn’t make you a hater; it makes you a realist.

Karen Lehrman Bloch is editor in chief of White Rose Magazine.