PCHR’s response on October 7 avoided answering any of these tough questions. In fact, the statement merely mimicked and accepted at face value the public statements made by MAS. Specifically, they asserted that the video was a mistake; that Leaders Academy, the organization that taught the class and created the video was not affiliated with MAS; that the only person responsible, a “volunteer” was dismissed; and that CAIR-Philadelphia’s executive director was enlisted to conduct “anti-bias” workshops.
At a minimum, PCHR could have listened to Muslim scholar and member of the Council on Foreign Relations Qanta Ahmed, who provides commentary on numerous media outlets including CNN and BBC. Ahmed was interviewed on Fox News about the incident on May 3 and May 5, 2019 — before PCHR met with the leadership of MAS and the Leaders Academy on May 13. Ahmed called the Muslim Brotherhood “the mother ship of terrorism” and said that the video comes,
“right from the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist playbook for American youth in Pennsylvania where they are being taught to glorify and romanticize martyrdom, Jew hatred, death to Jews and delegitimization of Israel.”