Anjem Choudary — the Islamic activist who asked
Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg if he is Jewish — may be an intolerant radical, but at least he tells the truth about the terrorist elements of Islam, says Brigitte Gabriel, president of ACT for America.
"At least Choudary is honest. He tells you Islam does not mean peace. Those who are telling you Islam means peace are lying to you. Islam means submission," Gabriel said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
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"As radical as he is or what we consider radical, he is at least honest and he is honest about the traditions of Islam. The Koran is, in our point of view, a radical book that is very intolerant of all other people.
"What we are facing today is the truth Choudary is talking about and that is the rise of authentic Islam … practiced in the days of Prophet Muhammad. That's what the West is dealing with today. It's not radical Islam, its Islam in its purest form."
Choudary made waves Thursday, when shortly before his interview on the Malzberg program, he asked whether Malzberg was Jewish, sparking a roiling, on-air debate.
Gabriel — whose non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots group promotes national security and the defeat of terrorism — said Wednesday's terror attack in Paris is tragic, but not unexpected thanks to Europe's long apathy on immigration.
"Because Europe ignored the Islamic cancer of terrorism and radicalism rising within its midst for the last 30 or 40 years, look at what they're dealing with today," Gabriel said.
"Europe could've dealt with the problem very early on in the 80s when the Islamists began organizing, especially after they brought in their family members … started multiplying … started using the government's welfare system to basically grow their families.
"The Europeans turned the blind eye thinking 'Well, we're uncomfortable with it, but we don't really care as long as we have cheap labor.' "
That has mushroomed into the huge problem Europe has today with radical Islamists springing up all over the continent, according to Gabriel.
"Today, we are dealing with a major problem. If Europe would've dealt with the problem while it was a stage two cancer, we would not be here today," she said.
"We, as Americans, are facing the same thing. America is at stage two Islamic cancer and unless we start speaking about the problem and unless we have a president identifying the problem as Islamic terrorism — not Buddhist terrorism, Jewish terrorism, Christian terrorism but Islamic terrorism — we don't have a chance of defeating it unless we identify it."