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At least 14 revelers celebrating New Year’s on Bourbon Street in New Orleans have died after 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar used a rented Ford pick-up truck to run over as many civilians as he could. The FBI is classifying this as a deliberate act of terrorism. The suspect, heavily armed and wearing body armor, was killed on sight by police officers responding to the scene. He had posted online to declare his support for ISIS just before the attack and was flying an ISIS flag on his rented vehicle.
The FBI does not currently believe that the suspect had any accomplices or belonged to any larger ISIS cell, but this is an ongoing investigation. Law enforcement also successfully neutralized two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) prior to their detonation, believed to have been planted by the suspect.
Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Ben Weingarten says that the United States has pivoted too far away from confronting Islamist supremacism and jihadist threats, and suggests that Trump should re-prioritize those threats when he returns to the White House later this month.
The following is an excerpt from the above video:
According to Pew, more than one-third of American Muslims have a favorable opinion of Hamas. Nearly 60% have a favorable opinion of the Hamas-light Palestinian Authority. Separate polling shows that 57% of American Muslims somewhat or strongly agree that Hamas was justified in attacking Israel as part of their struggle for a Palestinian state.
A 2017 ADL poll shows 34% of American Muslims held antisemitic views, more than two times the percentage of non-Muslims. Past polls have shown between 5% and 10% of American Muslims saying suicide bombings and other attacks against civilian targets are sometimes or often justified to defend Islam, and those such studies are few and far between.
One 2011 analysis indicated that of 100 mosques surveyed, 80% had texts severely or moderately advocating violence. In 84.5% of the mosques sampled, the imam recommended studying violence-positive texts. 58% of mosques invited guest imams known to promote violent jihad.
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