This is crazy. In a vote 29 to 1, New York has approved a request to build an Islamic mosque and Muslim center near Ground Zero in New York City.

The subtle message is as old as Islam. Muslims erect mosques over their places of conquest. History contains several notable examples:

• Muhammad built a mosque at the Ka’aba, a pagan pantheon, when he conquered Mecca.
• Muslims erected a mosque over the holiest site in Judaism (the Temple mount) when they conquered Jerusalem.
• When Muslims conquered the Christian city of Damascus they built their chief mosque (Ummayad Mosque) over the Church of Saint John.
• When the Muslims conquered Cordoba, they transformed the city’s cathedral into a mosque.
• Similarly, Muslims desecrated the Orthodox Cathedral of Constantinople (Hagia Sophia) when they conquered Constantinople. They transformed the city’s chief church into a mosque by painting over the images of Christ and writing verses from the Koran over them.
• Likewise, Muslims have built mosques over Hindu temples and shrines.

New York City, please wake up. A mosque at groud zero isn’t an ecumenical gesture (Islam doesn’t believe in ecumenism). Rather, a mosque at ground zero is a sign of triumph – just as the Muslim Dome of the Rock stands over the Jewish Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The West is still asleep.