by Baruch Green in VIN News
The local Houston mosque near the home of Shamsud-Din Jabba allegedly gave instructions to local residents, urging them not to speak directly with the media or law enforcement.
Hmmm.
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In a statement posted as a Facebook story, Jazak Allahu Khairun, who is identified as part of the Masjid Bilal mosque’s management, wrote that everyone is aware of the New Orleans “tragic events.”
“I want to emphasize the importance of everyone to stay very vigilant and aware of your surroundings. The safety of our community is the most important thing.”
“If anyone is contacted by the media, it is very important that you do not respond,” the post added. “If approached by the FBI and a response is necessary, please refer to CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) and ISGH. It is crucial that we stay united at this time as we condemn these terrible acts. Please stay safe.” (JNS sought comment from the mosque. ISGH appears to be a reference to the Islamic Society Greater Houston.)
A CAIR spokesperson told Newsweek that it was aware of the post but hadn’t talked about it with the mosque.
The post got a large amount of backlash on social media.
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, Executive VP of Coalition for Jewish Values, posted: “Opposing radical Islamic terror is not a phobia, because opposing dismemberment is common sense. When a mosque tells its members to refer to a terror propaganda organization for support if approached by the FBI, it needs to be shut down.”
Opposing radical Islamic terror is not a phobia, because opposing dismemberment is common sense. When a mosque tells its members to refer to a terror propaganda organization for support if approached by the FBI, it needs to be shut down. pic.twitter.com/S1XGLPzviF
— Rabbi Yaakov Menken (@ymenken) January 2, 2025
In addition, Rabbi Menken sent the following statement exclusively to VINnews: “Imagine it was the Westboro Baptist Church telling its members not to talk to the FBI, especially when it is investigating a murder. Would anyone hold back from demanding it be closed because it’s a religious institution? Why should a radical mosque be given special treatment?”
Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, told JNS that “the Muslim murderer’s mosque ordering its members to refuse to speak to U.S. authorities about a horrific anti-American, Islamist terrorist attack forces me to question this mosque’s loyalty to America and its concern about stopping anti-American Islamist terrorism.”
“Moreover, it is deeply troubling and wrong for this local Houston mosque to refer all questions to CAIR, a Jew-hating group, which praised other Islamist terrorist attacks such as the Oct. 7 Muslim Hamas atrocities against Jews,” Klein said. “CAIR’s history of supporting and showing sympathy for Islamist terrorism makes them wholly unqualified to give advice or information on any Islamist terrorist attack.”
Masjid Bilal’s “position of a deafening silence should be condemned by every American and every American political and religious leader,” Klein added. “For a mosque to refer all questions on a terrorist act to CAIR is like a black church referring all questions on an antisemitic act to Louis Farrakhan.”
“This letter from the mosque sounds like it was designed to protect the people who may have assisted the New Orleans terrorist rather than their next victims,” wrote Joel Petlin, superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District.
If your first reaction to a terrorist attack committed by a member of your religious institution is to tell your other congregants not to directly cooperate with the federal investigation, you may not be standing on the moral high ground demanded by your faith. pic.twitter.com/DMhEH9AfC4
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) January 2, 2025
Picture Credit: jossuppy on Flickr, with CC BY 2.0 license