2008: When serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie embraced and kissed Mohammed Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, and praised him as "a man of great goodwill." He did this after Qatanani had publicly ranted against Jews and in support of funding Hamas, a U.S. government-designated terror organization, and on the eve of his deportation hearing for not hiding an Israeli conviction for membership in Hamas. In addition, Christie designated a top aide, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McKenna, to testify as a character witness for Qatanani. [...]If Christie's willing to side with an Islamist who supports Hamas, then he's no friend of Israel, and I definitely don't want to see him as a vice-presidential candidate. He can only make one choice, and if it's the Religion of Peace, then I don't support Christie. In fact, he really should be taken to task by political observers in Israel for doing something that contradicts his pro-Israel stance.
2011: Christie appointed an Islamist, Sohail Mohammed, to the New Jersey state superior court. Mohammed's record includes serving as general counsel to the American Muslim Union (which has stated that a "Zionist Commando Orchestrated The 9-11 Terrorist Attacks"), acting as spokesman for Muslim prisoners who went on a hunger strike after being jailed during Ramadan, defending Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian (his indictment, Mohammed said, was "nothing but a witch-hunt"), and helping Qatanani's legal defense. Mohammed established himself not just as the Islamists' lawyer but as one of them.
When members of New Jersey's Senate Judiciary Committee asked Mohammed appropriately tough questions about his enthusiasm for Islam's archaic law code, the Shari'a, Christie ridiculed the lawmakers: "Shari'a law has nothing to do with this [appointment of Mohammed] at all. It's crazy. It's crazy. . . . So, this Shari'a law business is crap. It's just crazy. And I'm tired of dealing with the crazies. I mean, you know, it's just unnecessary to be accusing this guy of things just because of his religious background." For this outburst, unsurprisingly, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) thanked and applauded Christie.
2012: The revelation that the New York Police Department had conducted surveillance of Islamists in the New Jersey towns of Newark and New Brunswick prompted not gratitude but outrage from Christie, who termed the action arrogant and paranoid while mocking NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly as "all knowing, all seeing." [...]
Two factors render this pattern especially curious: First, soft-on-Islamism policies are common among Democrats but rare among Republicans (Grover Norquist being the major exception). Second, Christie takes an ostentatiously pro-Israel stance, as reflected by his speeches and his recent "Jersey to Jerusalem" trip; this makes him unusual, for a pro-Israel stance typically goes hand-in-hand with concern about Shari'a. How does one reconcile the Christie contradiction?
It could be ego: The governor is more brilliant than we are. It could be that, other than fiscally, he is not a conservative. Or, as several analysts suggest, it could be cynical double pandering: Muslims get what they want most and Zionists get what they want most, with each side ignoring what Christie does for the other. Indeed, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut pursued this double-track policy (soft on Islamism, staunch on Israel) and he became the Democrats' vice-presidential candidate in 2000, when practically no one noticed the contradiction.
Christie would most definitely not be a good choice for a veep, and I'll be glad if the Romney campaign doesn't consider him.
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