CNN runs Islamophobic attack on Trump, omits Marwa Abdelghani’s activism with anti-Israel Muslim Public Affairs Council
The liberal media bias continues in the wake of the Donald Trump victory as CNN as Monday’s New Day focused on Marwa Abdelghani, a Muslim woman so fearful of a Trump presidency that she no longer wears the traditional headgear. What was left out was the woman’s role as an activist for the anti-Israel Muslim Public Affairs Council
“It was getting closer and closer to November 8. That’s when I decided that I just was going to take it off for a while,” Abdelghani explains about her decision.
“When you hold that kind of position, and you think it is okay to make these racist, Islamophobic, sexist statements, there are people — unfortunately, as crazy as they are — who look up to you. And they will follow you, and they will act out in response to what you’re saying.”
cover of a Quran photo by crystalina via wikimedia commons
Newsbusters outed Abdelghani’s role “as a facilitator of the Muslim Gamechangers Network of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, where she trained high school Muslims on social justice issues.”
The Muslim Public Affairs Council president, Salam al-Marayati blamed Israel for the 9-11 terrorist attack, has maintained a relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton since at least 1996, when he served as a delegate for the former president. He also served as a homeland security adviser for the Obama administration.
Full transcript:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Some Muslim women in America say that since the election, they dread what the future may hold. Some of them are fearful for their safety, and they’re taking matters into their own hands.
CNN’s Kyung Lah has that story from Los Angeles.
[CNN Graphic: “The Trump Transition: Fearful Muslim Women Takes Steps To Be Safe”]
KYUNG LAH (voice-over): In a crowd, you don’t notice Marwa Abdelghani.
MARWA ABDELGHANI, MUSLIM-AMERICAN: I went from expecting to be the center of attention, to nobody looking at me whatsoever.
LAH (on-camera): Did you feel relief?
ABDELGHANI: Yes, a huge sense of relief — I didn’t feel like a target anymore.
LAH (voice-over): A visible target — a Muslim woman in a head scarf. Since she was a senior in high school, Abdelghani wore the traditional scarf whenever she was in public — part of her Islamic faith, culture, and identity.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: We have to stop the Muslims—
LAH: This presidential election, that changed.
ABDELGHANI: I was walking on the street, and a driver drove by me and slowed down and rolled down his window and he just spit at me.
LAH (on-camera): He spit at you?
ABDELGHANI: Yeah. It was getting closer and closer to November 8. That’s when I decided that I just was going to take it off for a while.
LAH (voice-over): Since the election, the Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked more than 700 hate incidents. But Muslim women say a year ago, their sense of safety began to change after this picture of San Bernardino killer Tashfeen Malik went public.
SALMAR SALEM, SELF-DEFENSE STUDENT: After that, people started to see us differently.
LAH: Muslim women began taking self-defense classes, driven by fear. Now, post-election, sharing tips on social media and making a searing choice: their faith or personal safety.
ABDELGHANI: The head scarf has just become something that went from being a very spiritual element of a woman’s life, to being something where she had to be scared to wear it. I myself just didn’t feel like I wanted to continue with that fear.
LAH: The only places where Abdelghani feels free to express that part of Islam is in the privacy of her apartment and her mosque. To the incoming Trump administration, this young Muslim woman has this message.
ABDELGHANI: When you hold that kind of position, and you think it is okay to make these racist, Islamophobic, sexist statements, there are people — unfortunately, as crazy as they are — who look up to you. And they will follow you, and they will act out in response to what you’re saying.
LAH (on-camera): Do you think you will wear it again someday?
ABDELGHANI: Yeah, I hope so. I don’t — I hope I can wear it one day again. I hope I can feel safe enough to do so.
LAH (voice-over): To practice one of the founding principles of America: freedom of religion. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
CAMEROTA (live): It’s an interesting story. Maybe, there will be a movement where people wear the head scarf in solidarity — you know, even if you’re not Muslim, maybe. It’s the way people shave their heads — you know, sometimes, in solidarity with somebody who’s going through something. Maybe, you’ll see a wave of the opposite happening.
CUOMO: I think self-defense training is good for everybody.
CAMEROTA: Yes, I know you’re a big proponent of that.
CUOMO: I believe it—
CAMEROTA: I know—
CUOMO: Prepare yourself for whatever can come.
[…] CNN uses activist during attack on Trump […]