Hotbeds of Extremism Exposed
With few exceptions, the American media has tended to ignore the widespread Palestinian incitement to anti-Israel violence which has continued ever since the Palestinian Authority, along with Israel, committed under the Interim Agreements (aka Oslo II) to “foster mutual understanding and tolerance, and … abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda ….”
CAMERA conveyed to the former Public Editor of the New York Times, for example, that
the single greatest failure of the New York Times in its reporting since the beginning of Oslo has been the omission of anti-Israel hate-indoctrination purveyed via Palestinian schools, mosques, television, radio, newspapers, summer camps, public rallies, political pronouncements and more.
Now, with Hamas—whose charter is a prime example of such inciteful material—in power, the issue certainly continues to be relevant.
So it is commendable, as well as timely, that the German Der Spiegel published a report a couple of days ago entitled “What Muslims Hear at Friday Prayers.” The piece pointed out a number of examples of benign and commendable sermons, but did not shy away from describing and commenting on the toxic, hateful homilies that are unfortunately all too common in the Muslim world.
It notes:
Islam has many faces, and on the Friday before the Prophet’s birthday, SPIEGEL correspondents visited mosques from Nigeria to Indonesia to listen to the sermons of the imams. They were there in part to look into a suspicion that has taken hold in the West, especially since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Have the mosques been transformed from a place of prayer into a hotbed of extremism and center of Islamist indoctrination?
Some certainly have. At an April 14 sermon in the Gaza Strip, the magazine reports, Imam Talal al-Majdalawi had this to say to the faithful:
… your battle with the Jews is still a long way from coming to an end. It proves that the conflict is not taking place among us and between us, but with the infidel Jews.
(See here for another Gaza preacher’s comparison of Jews to AIDS.)
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