My guess is “Paul” is a Christian Arab, and, as such, probably has a very different “take” on the significance of this incidence.
Odds are, you're right.From his bio at North Star Writers Group:
Paul Ibrahim was born near Beirut, Lebanon. He became a U.S. citizen in the summer of 2005, but had long before expressed his love of American values through extensive writing, work, and activism.
Once detached from political activity, he was inadvertently launched into the conservative intellectual movement as a student at Cornell University, and has since refined his libertarian tendencies at the Law & Economics haven of the George Mason University School of Law.