Bobby Jindal Steps Up on Islam, No-Go Zones, and the Necessity for the Full Assimilation of Muslim Immigrants

(CNN) Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday stood by his criticism of so-called “no-go” zones in Europe, where sovereign nations allegedly cede authority to Muslim immigrants, a controversial idea that many critics say is overblown.

And he decried what he called immigrants’ insistence on “non-assimilation, the fact that “you’ve got people who want to come to our country but not adopt our values,” which he called “dangerous.”

Asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer whether he would walk back his comments on no-go zones, made in a speech to the Henry Jackson Society in London earlier that day, Jindal said, “not at all.”

“I think that the radical Left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem is not here. Pretending it’s not here won’t make it go away,” he told Foster.

Pressed for details, Jindal said only “I think your viewers know absolutely there are places where the police are less likely to go.”

And asked whether that feeling may be caused by high crime rates, rather than the Muslim population in the area, Jindal said, “this isn’t a question.”

“I know the left wants to make this into an attack on religion and that’s not what this is. What we are saying it’s absolutely an issue for the UK, absolutely is an issue for America and other European and Western nations,” he added.

But his “bigger point,” Jindal later told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, is that “radical Islam is absolutely a threat to our way of life,” and that the United States should “promote assimilation and integration” of immigrants by “insisting on English, insisting on adherence to our values.”

Earlier Monday, in an address to the Henry Jackson Society in London, Jindal said that “in the West, non-assimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Sharia law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home,” according to prepared remarks.

“It is startling to think that any country would allow, even unofficially, for a so called ‘no-go zone.’ The idea that a free country would allow for specific areas of its country to operate in an autonomous way that is not free and is in direct opposition to its laws is hard to fathom,” he added.

“And I’m also making a bigger and maybe even more controversial point,” he added, “that radical Islam is a grave threat, we need Muslim leaders to denounce the individuals, not just the acts of violence, and also that it is absolutely correct to insist on assimilation” of immigrants in the United States, he said.

But pressed for specific examples of such no-go zones, Jindal demurred, saying he had met with “elected officials and others” to discuss them and noted a report in UK tabloid the Daily Mail that purported to highlight the challenges facing law enforcement in such areas.

Earlier in the interview, Jindal acknowledged: “I knew by speaking the truth we were gonna make people upset.”

Jindal was also unable to offer examples during an earlier interview with CNN’s Max Foster, saying that he’s “heard from folks here that there are neighborhoods where women don’t feel comfortable going in without veils…We all know that there are neighborhoods where police are less likely to go into.”

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In the speech, Jindal suggests the rise of such no-go zones has contributed to growing anti-semitism throughout Europe, which has prompted many Jews to emigrate from their home countries.

“How does such evil rise again in democratic countries?” Jindal asks, according to the prepared remarks.

“I believe it is because radical Islamists have been given too wide a berth to establish their own nation within a nation,” he adds.

Earlier in the address, Jindal sets responsibility for the violence perpetrated by Islamic radicals in the name of their religion squarely on the shoulders of the nation of Islam, and Muslim practitioners.

He says “it is clear that far too many [Muslims]” agree with those radicals, and “they must be stopped.”

And he declares: “Islam has a problem.”

“If Islam does not support what is happening in the name of Islam, then they need to stand up and stop it. Many Islamic leaders argue that these are the acts of a radical few,” Jindal says.

“Ok, it is their problem, and they need to deal with it.”

The Louisiana governor goes on to call for Muslim leaders to “condemn anyone who commits these acts of violence, and clearly state that these people are evil and are enemies of Islam.”

“Muslim leaders must make clear that anyone who commits acts of terror in the name of Islam is in fact not practicing Islam at all,” he said. “If they refuse to say this, then they are condoning these acts of barbarism. There is no middle ground.”…