In a TV discussion about “media bias” toward Muslims, board members of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, engaged in a number of anti-Semitic themes. Early in the show (time 4:52), Dr. Akbar Ahmed posits yet another plot by “Zionists” to act against the interests of Muslims. The discussion had opened on so-called “honor killings” and the role of the media whom Aly Abuzaakuk, another CSID board member, thought was responsible for the idea that Islam rather than culture was responsible for such killings. Dr. Ahmed then said that journalist were only acting in a “context” that had been created for them by “policy-makers.” When asked who exactly was responsible for this context, Dr. Ahmed replied:
I am thinking of primarily of things like the neo-conservative movement; I am thinking of the Zionist movement, people who have certain policies they want to get in the United States especially but the Western world in general behind and in order to mobilize towards that they have a convenient tool in this stereotyping/ demonization of Muslims. For example, it is much easier for example to defend the war in Iraq if you take in assumption that all Muslims should be treated in a stereotypical movement.
Dr. Ahmed then went on to concoct the somewhat bizarre theory that one of the reasons the U.S. is still in Iraq is to “liberate” the Iraqi people and that a “mythology” about Islam and women has been created to justify a Muslim threat to the West, justifying such liberation. Within the global Muslim Brotherhood, attributing such conspiracies to “neo-conservatives” and/or “Zionists” is often used as a code for Jewish influence.
Later in the show (time 20:20), Aly Abuzaakuk encourages Muslims to join “mainstream media” outlet such as CBS and The Washington Post, citing a story he was told in which the first Jewish reporter joined the Christian Science Monitor which was allegedly followed by a new sensitivity to “his issues.” He also added that there had been a “deliberate attempt” to ignore Muslim condemnation of terrorism.
Towards the end of the show (time 29:37), Dr. Ahmed asserts that his “nuanced” view of issues such as the MIddle East crisis has resulted in not being invited back to TV show discussions. As an example of such a view, he states that he recognizes that Israelis have suffered from “violent acts by some Palestinians” and that their history makes them “sensitive to these kind of existential questions”.” He then added that “of course that doesn’t justify them perpetrating the same kind of violence on the Palestinians.” Comparing Israeli actions to Nazi crimes is another common tactic of the Muslim Brotherhood.