I want to explain why I talk so much about Israel. And no, it’s not just because I care about antisemitism, though I do. The defining political event of my life was 9/11. I will never forget sitting there, sobbing as I watched the towers fall. Bush made massive mistakes in the aftermath, and those mistakes got friends of mine who served killed. I had two major takeaways from 9/11. A. Islamic terrorism is not a joke. They really do want to kill Americans. B. We all have a deep moral responsibility to think critically about the way we respond to it. I don’t know why America stopped paying attention to the Middle East the moment Obama took office. But I watched closely as he took on ISIS. Those years helped restore my faith in America’s ability to confront Middle Eastern terrorism. The liberation of Mosul made me proud to be an American. So did the elimination of Bin Laden. In parallel, I’ve watched European politics shift dramatically due to mass immigration from the Middle East, often involving people who see the West as oppressors and terrorists as freedom fighters. I believe in freedom of religion, but I also believe these ideas are toxic to a functioning democracy. From my point of view, October 7th was a wake-up call. The threat of Middle Eastern terrorism hasn’t changed since 9/11. What has changed is the rise of progressives who dismiss any concerns as racism. That’s frankly ridiculous. I’m unapologetic about standing for democracy. And I’m equally unapologetic in believing that Islamism, the theocratic and colonialist version of Islam, is a mind virus fundamentally at odds with Western values. You don’t have to agree with me. But this is what I believe, and I’ve come to these views in good faith. No one pays me to say anything. I’m just one of the few Americans who learned the right lesson from 9/11.
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