Over the years, the GMBDW has found it striking that the New York Times, arguably the most important US newspaper, has utterly failed to do even the most minimal research regarding the organizations tied to the Muslim Brotherhood in the US. In the latest example, the NYT takes up the subject of whether not the Muslim American Society (MAS) has any current ties to the Brotherhood. Apparently the only evidence that could be found by the NYT on the subject was that the MAS “has been accused of links to the Brotherhood”:
Mr. Jacobs blames what he believes to be the radical leadership of area mosques, including the Islamic Society of Boston. He points to the fact that devotees of the Muslim Brotherhood, the conservative Islamist organization with branches and allies across the Middle East, were involved in founding the society more than three decades ago. The Muslim American Society, whose Boston branch operates Mr. Vali’s mosque, has been accused of links to the Brotherhood; it insists any ties are historical and have no relevance.
A Hudson Institute report authored by the GMBDW editor goes into great detail documenting the links between the MAS and the Muslim Brotherhood including its attempts to deny those links by claiming that they are no longer relevant. According to the report:
A strategy of denying connections to the MB began as part of the original 2004 Tribune article when MAS leader Shaker Elsayed issued a somewhat contradictory set of such denials, claiming that the MAS was not “Ikhwan” and at the same time “not your typical Ikhwan:”
Shaker Elsayed, a top MAS official, says the organization was founded by Brother-hood members but has evolved to include Muslims from various backgrounds and ideologies. “Ikhwan members founded MAS, but MAS went way beyond that point of conception,” he says. Now, he says, his group has no connection with the Brotherhood and disagrees with the international organization on many issues. But he says that MAS, like the Brotherhood, believes in the teachings of Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, which are “the closest reflection of how Islam should be in this life.” “I understand that some of our members may say, ‘Yes, we are Ikhwan,’“ Elsayed says. But, he says, MAS is not administered from Egypt. He adds, “We are not your typical Ikhwan.”
Since that time, the media has repeatedly focused on MAS and its ties to the MB, probably as a result of the Chicago Tribune investigation. MAS leaders have repeatedly denied any connection to the MB, disavowing connections to the Egyptian organization rather than focusing on the U.S. Brotherhood infrastructure.
Read the rest here.
Just last month,the GMBDW reported on the failure by the NYT to identify any of the relevant Brotherhood ties of four local Muslim leaders interviewed in connection with the Garland Texas shootings. As we said at that time:
We long ago gave up on any hope that the US mainstream media would even attempt to properly vet and identify the Muslim “leaders” it reports on but we found the above article a most egregious example of this failure, particularly in the light of the recent attacks.
The GMBDW would be happy to provide the NYT with any of our research but unlike other major publications around the world, we have never once been contacted by the paper.