By Lewis Loflin
This is Lewis Loflin. In 2001, Stephen Steinlight wrote a prescient warning in *The Jewish Stake in America's Changing Demography*, focusing on the risks of Muslim immigration and the rise of Islamism—a threat laid bare by 9/11 and later the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing by two Muslim immigrants. By 2025, the stakes have sharpened: progressive policies, still endorsed by some left-leaning Jews, have fueled a surge in anti-Jewish and anti-Western hate on college campuses and urban streets, tied to immigration and identity clashes I’ve explored in works like Immigration Policy and Identity Politics and Hispanic Anti-Semitism. Steinlight asked, “Can Islam soften here?” With assimilation faltering for most Muslims and anti-Western fervor thriving in academia, I see little hope for it. His analysis cuts deep into today’s reality—let’s unpack it.
Extract from The Jewish Stake in America's Changing Demography: Reconsidering a Misguided Immigration Policy by Stephen Steinlight, October 2001:
Beyond the political power shifts tied to America’s changing demographics, the biggest immediate threat to the American Jewish community comes from large-scale Muslim immigration. The September 11 attacks shattered our sense of safety and showed how current immigration policies—backed by many Jewish groups—might be reckless, even self-destructive.
The real issue with Muslim immigration isn’t just the numbers—it’s the global rise of Islamism, a hardcore political ideology with theocratic and fascistic vibes that’s gripping millions of Muslims worldwide, including here in the U.S. Islamism hates pluralism, religious tolerance, democracy, secular society, Jews, Zionism, Israel, and calls America “the Great Satan.” It thrives in poor, corrupt places, fueled by anger at local regimes, and spills out as violent populism, intolerance, misogyny, terrorism, and resentment of anything “foreign.”
Partly, it’s a reaction to Israel’s founding—a “catastrophe” to many Muslims—but it’s broader than that. It’s a cultural backlash to Islam’s historical losses to the West: colonialism, tech lag, and military defeats. While the West built prosperous democracies, much of the Islamic world got left behind, breeding a politics of despair.
Islamism started in places like Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood, but it’s gone global. Think suicide bombers from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, or Hezbollah targeting Israelis, or insurgents in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It rules Afghanistan, Sudan, and Iran—though Iran’s youth are cooling on it—and it’s growing in Pakistan, even turning inward after meddling in Afghanistan. Saudi aid’s pushing Bangladesh, once a secular hopeful, toward Islamism too. It’s a threat in Central Asia, Chechnya, Malaysia, Egypt, and Algeria, where it’s locked in a brutal power struggle.
Saudi Arabia’s a tricky player—officially “moderate” and a U.S. ally, but its oil billions fund this movement worldwide. Osama bin Laden’s $350 million fortune was just one piece; the regime itself backs it too. And then came 9/11: the World Trade Center destroyed, the Pentagon hit, a failed White House strike—over 6,000 dead. Likely Islamist terrorists from Afghanistan pulled it off, the worst attack on U.S. soil ever, and one of history’s deadliest religious assaults.
Islamism’s hatred for America is off the charts. A Pakistani anti-Islamist paper once showed extremists with rocket launchers and a sign: “America, we are coming.” They’re here now, and there’s no reason to think 9/11—or the Boston Marathon bombing—was the end.
Here’s where it gets messy: groups like the American Muslim Alliance, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, and American Muslim Council prop up Islamism in the U.S. They pose as rights advocates, but their real gig is keeping Muslims from assimilating, pushing extremist agendas—funding terror abroad, especially against Israel. Mostly Middle Eastern-led, often Palestinian-leaning, they cry “Islamophobia” to dodge criticism, even as they stereotype Muslims as intolerant themselves.
Jewish groups sticking to open-door immigration policies—letting in fundamentalists with no tracking—are playing a dangerous game. Many 9/11 suspects came legally from Saudi Arabia. Few American Muslims have challenged these groups publicly—it’s tough in tight-knit communities—but there’s hope. Anti-Islamist Muslims are starting to connect online, and freer thinkers, even Sufis, might shift things eventually. It’s a slow burn, though.
Classic Islam’s no picnic either. Its traditional teachings—literal Koran readings, rigid theology—carry anti-Jewish strains and contempt for non-Muslims. Monotheists get second-class status, but it’s not mutual respect. Unlike some Christian shifts post-Vatican II, Islam’s triumphalism hasn’t budged. Friends from Pakistan and Bangladesh say mainstream Muslims there can’t help but lean anti-Semitic.
Could Islam soften in America? Maybe—religions here often get more open—but it’ll take time and a break from old-world pull. Right now, pushing for reform makes you an apostate. Post-9/11, leaders urged against blaming all Muslims, which is fair, but claiming Islam’s all peace doesn’t hold up. The Koran’s got violent passages—war against unbelievers isn’t a distortion, it’s text. That’s a short hop to hate.
Steinlight says Jews have five jobs here: expose Islamism, back Muslim freethinkers, fight its political agendas, cut prejudice against Muslim immigrants, and push for fewer immigrants from Islamist hotspots—given their hostility to Jews, Israel, and the West. He flags asylum-seekers from places like Egypt or Turkey, where secular regimes battle fanatics. Some World Trade Center bombers got in as refugees—wild, right?
This isn’t about ditching legal immigration or picking favorites. It’s about nuance—scaling back numbers, integrating better, teaching American values. Immigrants suffer under the current mess too, and social cohesion’s fraying. As Jews, we’ve got legit worries about Islamism’s rise, and we shouldn’t shy away from saying so.
Steinlight was National Affairs Director at the American Jewish Committee for over five years, then a Senior Fellow there. He co-edited *Fractious Nation* (UC-Berkeley Press) and edited *South Asia: In Review*. These views were his own, not AJC’s official stance.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this article. The final edits and perspective are my own.
