The leader of a Messianic Jewish ministry believes many Americans are growing tired of the way U.S. courts continue to accommodate the "twisted" demands of radical Muslims.
Amina Farah Ali of Rochester, Minnesota, is a Muslim immigrant from Somalia who was convicted last fall of funneling money to the Somalia-based terrorist group al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda. She currently awaits her sentencing on 13 terror-related counts.
A federal court recently reinstated 19 criminal contempt charges against Ali, who had cited Islamic religious beliefs when she refused to stand when a federal judge entered the courtroom 20 times during the high-profile proceedings last year.
But during that trial, authorities went out of their way to accommodate Ali and the large contingent of Somali spectators in the courtroom by providing signs in their language and a special room for them to pray.
Jan Markell, founder and director of the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries, believes cases like this one make local residents uncomfortable with the Somali community.
"We don't know which ones to trust and which ones are literally supporting terrorists because they channel funds into one prominent terror group," she contends.
The behavior of this defendant reminds Markell of the case of the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, who was able to delay the proceedings of his court-martial case because of his unwillingness to shave his beard.
"They were bending over backwards to cave into some of the demands of a man who had deliberately shot some Americans," the Olive Tree Ministries founder recalls. "We're tired of this caving to these twisted people."
Markell suggests this is political correctness gone amok.