On Sunday morning, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that children at an Islamic center in North Philadelphia ranted and sang songs that clearly called for Israel’s destruction.
I previously spotted photos from a video on Facebook and some websites in which one girl said, “We will chop off their heads” to “liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem. The Inquirer attributes this and other statements to the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Middle East monitoring organization. The video includes an English translation of the Arabic, but the newspaper and other media had not independently verified the translation.
In the photos I observed, the children looked to be between 13 to 16. When this kind of indoctrination happens in the Middle East, the Arabs mean business. These are not juvenile delinquents but warriors who will readily sacrifice their lives to kill perceived enemies. Doubtful that the children who performed in this video in Philadelphia were able to discard their characters and their lines when the show ended.
I checked for possible Islamic centers and/or mosques in Philadelphia and found one some blocks from the Erie-Torresdale El station, the fourth stop south of the northern El terminus. I have yet to be able to confirm if this is the place in question, but it would be no surprise if one of those children entered the train at Erie-Torresdale and attacked me or anyone they thought to be Jewish. Excuse me. Zionists.
A vision of an axe-wielding 13-year-old Arab-American boy, or girl, lunging at me on Philadelphia’s elevated train took shape in my mind Sunday morning as I waited to embark on a trip downtown.
In the vision, I would catch a bus to the Frankford El terminal to transfer to the train and, when it reaches the Erie-Torresdale stop, the youth enters the train, spots me and cries “infidel” and proceeds to swing the axe down on my head.
I did not, and still do not, peg every Muslim as a terrorist or even all Palestinians as enemies of Israel. But I do understand that there are numbers of Muslims who believe they are at war with Israel and every Jew in the world because, as Jews, we must all support Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.
It is impossible to distinguish between the number of Muslims and Arabs who would either slaughter Jews or live in peace with us. However, conditioning their children to become warriors for Allah is a common practice in the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East. Never in America, of course. Or, given Sunday’s article, maybe so in America, even five or six miles from my apartment in Northeast Philadelphia.
Even after my trip turned out to be uneventful, I was upset that such a performance would be held anywhere in America, and especially in the same city where I live.
Here’s an explanation from the Muslim American Society, which is based in Washington, as quoted in the Inquirer: “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.”
MAS’s response begs questions such as whether such an event was held previously and how extensive it might be.
Law enforcement authorities need to inquire about this program. Maybe this was a one-time incident, but the potential for danger is real and transparent.
MAS must debrief the children to ensure that they no longer take a violent approach to heart.
These children can learn from the example set by members of the Islamic Center of Naperville, Illinois, who gathered outside the neighboring Congregation Beth Shalom Synagogue Friday night to express their sympathy for the victims of the shooting rampage at the Chabad of Poway.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency quoted Atif Fakhruddin of the Islamic Center of Naperville, who said it best: “We want to respond to evil with good. This is our gesture of compassion and love to our Jewish neighbors after what happened in California.”
Republished from San Diego Jewish World