Like many Americans, I was horrified by the infamous video of little schoolchildren singing the Obama “mmm mmm mmm” song. And I would be, like many Americans, equally horrified to learn of a similar group of school children singing “mmm mmm mmm” songs about President Trump.
This type of thing just rubs most Americans the wrong way. The indoctrination of schoolchildren to a particular ideological belief goes beyond—even as it includes—our national unease with the historical echo of the Third Reich and other communist / totalitarian regimes that trot out little children to sing songs of adulation to a “Dear Leader.”
The outrage over and the backlash against this video were rooted in the very real sense that there is something deeply, disturbingly out-of-sync with the American psyche about teaching our children to sing songs of praise for a human being, let alone for a mere public servant, or for a specific ideology.
Likewise, when video surfaced of schoolchildren reciting Islamist ideology—of leading armies for Allah and chopping off heads—Americans are horrified not only by the radicalization of these children and by the content of their message but in their use as propaganda tools of jihadis . . . right here in America. In 2019.
Here’s the video (with subtitles):
We have numerous reports here at LI of Islamists using children as shields, of children being used as suicide bombers, of children celebrating—even participating in—the slaughter of Jews and other non-Muslims, of children being taught from their cradle to loathe Israel and the Jewish people, and we are deeply disturbed.
But we also have this idea that this only happens in cultures still clinging to an ancient, uncivilized past, a past left in the dust by centuries of modernization across first and second world nations. “That can’t happen here,” we confidently assert.
However, it is happening here. MEMRI alerted Fox News, this viral video is not an isolated incident in 2019 America.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a watchdog group, alerted Fox News to the video.”These are not isolated incidents; they are happening in major centers of the country – including in Pennsylvania,” MEMRI said in a statement.In the video, translated by MEMRI, kids can be heard singing: “The land of the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey is calling us. Our Palestine must return to us.”. . . . “We will defend the land of divine guidance with our bodies, and we will sacrifice our souls without hesitation,” a second girl says. “We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque. We will lead the army of Allah fulfilling His promise, and we will subject them to eternal torture.”MAS Philly belongs to the Muslim American Society (MAS), which has 42 chapters in the United States and one in the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Muslim American Society is reportedly investigating the “unintended mistake and an oversight” that resulted in this video’s release.
A national Muslim group says it will conduct an investigation into an event at a Philadelphia Islamic center last month during which a group of youngsters sang songs it said were not “properly vetted,” calling that “an unintended mistake and an oversight.”. . . . “While we celebrate the coming together of different cultures and languages, not all songs were properly vetted,” the Muslim American Society, based in Washington, said in a statement issued Friday. “This was an unintended mistake and an oversight in which the center and the students are remorseful. MAS will conduct an internal investigation to ensure this does not occur again.”. . . . “As a faith-based organization dedicated to moving people to strive for God-consciousness and a just and virtuous society, we affirm our long-standing position on our shared values of humanity. We stand resolutely in our condemnation of hate, bigotry, Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism and all the illnesses of hate that plague our society,” MAS said in its statement.
As Professor Jacobson astutely notes:
Unsurprisingly, the call to lop off the heads of American infidels doesn’t interest CNN nearly as much as the #FakeNews regarding Covington high school students did.
CNN covered the January controversy surrounding Nick Sandmann and his fellow Covington Catholic School students 23 times, yet thus far hasn’t covered footage of children at a Philadelphia Islamic center reading poetry about chopping off heads.Video from last month of kids at the Philadelphia Muslim American Society (MAS) Islamic Center showed them reading about chopping off heads and subjecting the enemies of Allah to “eternal torture.”
The ADL in Philly, however, found the video “extremely disturbing.”
The Anti-Defamation League in Philadelphia called the incident “extremely disturbing.”“Children should not be indoctrinated to hate. These young people should never have been asked to make speeches and dance and lip-sync to songs that glorify violence against Jews and the State of Israel. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is deeply complex and painful on all sides, and the only chance for a peaceful future is to teach our children to pursue peace,” the statement read.
Children, I think most of us agree, should not be indoctrinated to hate, but the reality appears to be that they are. Right here in America. Today. What now?
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