FROM ISREAL TODAY - Islam on the rise, compliments of Obama

Activist: Islam on the rise, compliments of Obama
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 7/9/2010 7:00:00 AM
A conservative political activist says President Obama's pro-Islamic leanings are to blame for radical Islamic groups becoming so emboldened that they are openly holding conferences on U.S. soil calling for the establishment of a global Islamic empire.

On July 11 the radical Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) will hold its second annual "Global Campaign for Khilafah" in a Chicago suburb to call for an end to capitalism and to hype the virtues of an Islamic state ruled by strict sharia law. Last year's gathering -- themed "Fall of Capitalism & Rise of Islam" -- drew about 500 people, but this year the group has reserved an 11,000-square-foot ballroom, hoping to draw more than a thousand participants. This year's event is billed "Emerging World Order: How the Khilafah Will Shape the World."

HTA is an extremist organization which wants to establish a global Khilafah. The group has been described by the president of American Islamic Forum for Democracy as "a conveyor belt to terror" and a former member as believing that "homosexuals should be thrown off the highest building." Among its alumni are 9/11 mastermind Kalid Sheik Mohammed and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the one-time leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. (See related article)

Robert Knight is a senior fellow at the American Civil Rights Union and a senior writer for Coral Ridge Ministries. He contends that radical Islamic groups such as HTA have become emboldened because of President Obama's snubbing of Israel and his outreach to Muslims.

"He's sent many signals that Islam is on the rise in America and that he's fine with it," Knight points out. "And I think these groups are feeling emboldened that they can step out of the shadows and proclaim that they are working for establishment of sharia law, which is entirely unconstitutional by our standards. But they feel so emboldened that they can hold public conferences and proclaim the fall of capitalism and the rise of Islam."

Knight says groups like HTA are confident knowing that the mainstream media likely will not take them on -- and certainly neither will the Obama administration.