Media Ignores NYC-based Muslim Cleric's Anti-Semitic Statements
In an article posted today on OpinionJournal.com, Seth Lipsky points out that the imam of the Islamic Cultural Center in New York City reportedly made a number of anti-semetic remarks in connection with the terrorist attacks of September 11. Among other things the imam, Sheik Muhammad Al-Gamei'a, is reported to have said, "All the signs indicate that the Jews have the most to gain from an explosion like that. They are the only ones capable of planning such acts.... Jews control decision making in the airports and sensitive centers in the White House and the Pentagon. {America presented} no proof incriminating Osama bin Laden and Al-Qa'ida."
Comments of this nature are reported to have been made in Arabic newspapers and over Arabic broadcast outlets based in London and the Middle East. In this case, however, OpinionJournal.com and the New York Times are both reporting that the comments were made by a Muslim cleric, in Arabic, while he was in the United States. Lipsky's column essentially asks why this cleric's comments have not been reported everywhere?
Another interesting development in this story is that the New York Times reported yesterday that Sheik Al-Gamei'a suddenly resigned from the mosque and moved his family back to Cairo, citing threats made against him and his family.