Hi, and thanks for joining us on this busy news day.
We begin with the story of another teacher who was laid off in Pembroke Pines, Florida. This time for literally coming across a group of Muslims praying. NBC6’s Amanda Plasencia has the details.
The viral video was posted to TikTok on Wednesday and shows two Muslim students reciting a prayer in Arabic when they are interrupted by a female voice.
“Wait, this is my office and all of you are doing this magic,” the voice says. “I believe in Jesus, so I’m interrupting the floor, excuse me.”
A whistle is blown and the person, believed to be the teacher, appears to step over the praying students.
“And why are they in my office?” she says. “Who told you to come here?”
Amanda, has the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued any statement on the matter?
Wilfredo Ruiz, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, denounced what he saw in the video, saying that these situations can be prevented by educating teachers in different religions.
“Over 3 million views of a video showing a teacher’s intolerance towards students is not a good video to be around and trend with. The situation here is that just like in schools or where he works, he can request reasonable accommodations to practice his religious beliefs. And, most likely, these students asked for this space to pray in congregation as they were doing when, unbelievably, this teacher who was supposed to be there to protect the children became a bully for the children.” —Wilfredo Ruiz of CAIR-FL
Amanda, it looks like the teacher thought that was her office. In fact, this reminds me of another story from a few years ago. Has CAIR said something about the teacher’s rights to her office and Muslims secretly recording her? Hello? Can you hear us? Looks like we’ve lost our connection to Amanda.
Moving on to our next story: A Muslim City Council member got into an altercation on the streets of Melrose, Massachusetts, and was told to “go back to your country.”
Kimberly Bookman has that story for us.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations says the incident occurred at the Shell gas station on Lynn Fells Parkway on Saturday. The councilor was with her husband and her two children inflating the tires of their cars and thought that a nearby car seemed to be in danger.
“To the person who attacked us I wish he would listen to me and know why I was looking at him. I thought your car was going backwards and no one was controlling it. So, I was trying to help you.” – Melrose City Councilmember Maya Jamaleddine
The councilor affirms that a woman told her to return to her explanatory country. Police and the city’s district attorney’s office are now investigating whether these acts were criminal.
“These are, if nothing else, hate incidents that need to be published so we can talk about the fact that this kind of thing, you know, continues today even in Massachusetts.” –CAIR-MA, Barbara Dougan
The mayor of the city says that there is a video that shows when the husband intervened, the woman pushed him away.
The Councilor publicly explaining the pain this has caused him.
“Your Islamophobic and your racism caused a trauma to my little boy, and for that I will not forgive you.” – Melrose City Councilmember Maya Jamaleddine
Well, it seems that bumping into a Muslim, whether you started it or not, will get you on the six o’clock news faster than you can say Howdy Doody. But Kimberly, it looks like there are some loose ends here. Why didn’t the City Council member back down when the woman told him to mind her own business? It appears that she was escalating the incident by having her husband come within arm’s reach of her. Why hasn’t the media shown us any of the videos she recorded? And haven’t we seen this kind of thing before? Does CAIR have any comments on any of that? Oh, we apologize. Apparently we are still having technical difficulties.
Our latest story is an update, the eleventh, in fact, of the “hate truck” driving a digital billboard through the parking lots of various New Jersey Muslim centers.
WCBS shows more details of one of the images the truck showed; It doesn’t say anything anti-Muslim. Lisa Rozner is on the case. Lisa, what’s going on with this story?
Surveillance video captured a truck displaying anti-Muslim messages driving through the congregations.
A member of the congregation took pictures of the truck on Route 18 North. It comes as there is a rise in anti-Muslim incidents in New Jersey. The New Jersey Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, says there have been 150 incidents this year alone. That’s 40 more than last year.
We see CAIR’s executive director in New Jersey, Saladin Maksut, keep saying that he is intimidated by this incident. And we know that CAIR statistics are unreliable. When they share the alleged hate incidents, the incidents are things that the police, or even the people affected, do not consider hate crimes. Is there anyone else we can talk to?
Dr. Dalia Fahmy, a professor of political science, is also a member of one of the attacked mosques.
“Words lead to violence. The Middlesex County Muslim community has a very long history of community and interfaith outreach. So, it’s pretty amazing that it happens here.” –Dahlia Fahmy
But Lisa, maybe “it” didn’t happen there. So far, there is no evidence that anything anti-Muslim or illegal has happened. And isn’t Dalia Fahmy the wacky associate professor who defends the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and is a frequent speaker at MAS/ICNA events, claiming that Muslims are under attack using the insane Ecuadorian gang members Pastuizaca brothers as an example?
Looks like we lost Lisa.
We will keep you posted on any developments in this story, and can report that as of this time, police are still investigating and no charges have been filed.
That’s it for us tonight. We’ll be back with more news at 7 and 11. Until then, we’re all wishing you a good night and a Merry Christmas. Watch out for CAIR on TV.