Fox News Still Falsely Claiming Muslim Leaders Have Been Silent On Charlie Hebdo Attack

While French law enforcement was engaged in standoffs with the terrorists responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attack, ultimately killing three of them, Fox News decided to push the canard that Muslims leaders around the world have remained silent on the attacks and have not expressed any condemnation or outrage. During Friday morning’s broadcast of America’s Newsroom, host Bill Hemmer spoke to Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. During their conversation, Hemmer and Jasser both bemoaned the ‘fact’ that leaders of Muslim nations and organizations have not spoken out against the terrorist attacks in France.

Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Fox News:

Since the attacks occurred on Wednesday, Fox News has been pushing this narrative, with hosts and commentators on numerous programs asking, “Where’s the outrage? Why won’t the Muslim world speak out against this violence?” As anyone familiar with Fox would expect, a large number of Muslim leaders and groups actually have condemned the attacks and provided official statements to that effect. Of course, that doesn’t fit the narrative Fox News is trying to push, so they’d prefer to ignore those statements.

However, even though Fox would like to pretend Muslim leaders and organizations have not only been silent on these attacks, but are likely supportive of such actions, the reality is that dozens of state leaders, individuals and groups have spoken out against this heinous event. On Thursday, Raw Story aggregated 46 different examples of notable Muslim condemnations of the attack. Among those expressing outrage and anger were the Council of American-Islamic Relations, French Muslim Council and the Arab League. At the same time, leaders from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt and several other countries spoke out against the violent attacks.

Naturally, ignoring these official statements is the Fox way, because right now the objective is to gin up as much anger and fear towards Muslims as possible. Islamophobia is what’s selling, and Fox is pushing it by the barrel full. During the primetime hours, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly have been pressing the issue relentlessly. Thursday night, O’Reilly shouted down two Muslim guests he invited on his show because he didn’t want to hear a different opinion. The night of the attacks, Hannity insisted that Muslims should be forced to assimilate into our culture if they want to live in the United States.

Beyond that, Fox has used their contributors to pop up on their programs to dish out xenophobic statements by the pound. The day of the attacks, retired general Tom McInerney was brought on Fox & Friends to provide his ‘expert’ opinion on the horrific tragedy. McInerney used the act of terror to criticize President Obama’s weakness on radical Islam and claim “communist mayor” Bill de Blasio’s policies would lead to a similar strike in New York City. The following day, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani also appeared on Fox & Friends. During his appearance, Giuliani called for extensive police surveillance of all Muslim places of worship and gathering.

The thing is, this is just a small sampling of what has been going on at Fox these past couple of days. It has been relentless, and it is only going to get worse.

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Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site's (@PoliticusSports).

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