We face the fact that the threat from Islam is real. The reality is that the vast majority of Muslims around the world, quite consistent with their own convictions, do not want to join the civilizational project of the West, including the national project of the United States. Just in case you wonder, they say this out loud. Islam does not sit easily where Islam does not dominate, and that fits the pattern of the Islamic worldview.

The murderous and premeditated attack started at 6:45 p.m. this past Sunday, with two gunmen, now known to be a father and son, unleashing horror at the start of Sydney’s “Hanukkah by the Sea,” an annual event that had just begun on the city’s famous Bondi Beach. At least 15 people were killed, and several remain in critical condition. Victims ranged in age from 10 to 87—and included at least one Holocaust survivor.

Australian authorities soon reported that the shooters were a Pakistani father and son and stated the obvious—that this was a targeted act of anti-Semitic hatred and mass murder. The Australian government later said that Islamic State flags had been found in the suspects’ car. Australia’s prime minster, Anthony Albanese, declared: “This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy. An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.”

The prime minister said the right words of moral solidarity, but his comment did not make the true nature of the attack quite obvious. This was not just a targeted terrorist attack on Jewish Australians, though it surely was that. It was also a dagger thrust in the heart of Western civilization. Freedom of assembly means nothing if citizens are too afraid to assemble.

The pattern is all too clear. Just consider attacks on Christmas markets in Germany—with new arrests for conspiracy to commit further attacks announced just in recent days. The death toll mounts as the attacks in Western nations multiply. The murderous shooting on the campus of Brown University in the United States happened in a classroom where a Jewish scholar was professor. Coincidence?

There are two undeniable patterns here. The first is the pattern of anti-Semitic violence. The second is the larger pattern of terror tied to immigration and Islam.

Read More