CNN, MSNBC Don't Report on Muslim American Children Singing Violent Songs

Published: 5/6/2019, 11:44:47 AM EDT

CNN, MSNBC Don't Report on Muslim American Children Singing Violent Songs — The stage for the Republican presidential debate, hosted by CNN, at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., on Dec. 15, 2015. (L.E. Baskow/AFP/Getty Images)

Both CNN and MSNBC ignored video footage showing Muslim children at an event in Philadelphia singing violent songs, including the line, "We will chop off their heads" for Allah.

The networks failed to report on the story even after the Muslim American Society, which hosted the event, issued two statements acknowledging the footage was real.

‘We Will Chop Off Their Heads’ for Allah, Children in Philadelphia Muslim Society Say: Reports
Muslim American Society Says Children Singing 'We Will Chop Off Their Heads' for Allah Was an 'Oversight'

Searches on the CNN and MSNBC websites on May 6 for "Muslim American Society" returned no stories about the footage. The society issued statements on May 3 and May 4 about the videos, which were originally uploaded onto the Facebook page for the society's Philadelphia chapter.

The first 10 results for the search on CNN's website returned stories about Alex Jones, the conservative commentator who was recently banned from Facebook, ISIS, and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the two Muslims in Congress.

The Muslim American Society's Philadelphia chapter. (Google Maps) — The Muslim American Society's Philadelphia chapter. Google Maps

The top results for the search on MSNBC's website primarily featured positive stories about Muslims and negative stories about President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly warned about radical Islamic terrorism amid attacks by ISIS and other terror groups across the world in recent years.

Other legacy outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post didn't report on the issue either, but did post a story from the wire outlet The Associated Press.

The story focused on the defense of the videos by the society and included little information about the videos themselves or the analysis of the footage and the songs and poems sung by the young children in the clips. It didn't embed any of the videos.

The story also said that Ayman Hammous, executive director of the society, "emphasized that the Muslim American Society has no organizational link to international groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement whose supporters sometimes advocate for violence." The society states as much on its website.

According to a slew of documents and interviews obtained and conducted by the Chicago Tribune, however, the group was actually started by members of the Brotherhood in 1993.

The group always operated under a different name in the United States and some members decided to start the society during a meeting of members from across the nation in Illinois in 1993.

Former Brotherhood member Mustafa Saied told the Tribune that about 40 people gathered that day on the Alabama-Tennessee border. A vote established the society, according to Saied and documents the Tribune obtained. Leaders were instructed to tell people that they were an independent group.

"And if the topic of terrorism were raised, leaders were told to say that they were against terrorism but that jihad was among a Muslim's 'divine legal rights' to be used to defend himself and his people and to spread Islam," the Tribune stated.

Shaker Elsayed, a top society official, acknowledged that the organization was founded by Brotherhood members but said the group didn't have a connection with the Brotherhood. The group focuses on helping establishing Islamic governments in Muslim lands, he said. It also focuses on schools, teachers, and children, spending most of its money in the education arena and trying to convert youth or strengthen their Islamic faith.

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood gather during a protest to celebrate the "Gaza victory" in the war against Israel in Amman, Jordan, in a 2014 file photo. (KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/Getty Images) — Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood gather during a protest to celebrate the "Gaza victory" in the war against Israel in Amman, Jordan, in a 2014 file photo. KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/Getty Images

According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism (pdf), society officials have repeatedly espoused founders of the Brotherhood even as they try to distance themselves from the group.

Saied told the Tribune that the U.S. Brotherhood's plan for achieving Islamic rule in the United States centered around converting Americans to Islam and electing Muslims to political office.

"They're very smart. Everyone else is gullible," Saied said. "If the Brotherhood puts up somebody for an election, Muslims would vote for him not knowing he was with the Brotherhood."

He said he left the group because of its anti-American positions and its support for violence in the Middle East.

"With the extreme element," he said, "you never know when that ticking time bomb will go off."