Fox Isn't Paying Attention: Muslims Across The World Have Condemned Kenya Attack

Fox News personalities have claimed that Muslims are refusing to speak out against the deadly terror attack on a Kenyan shopping mall, despite the fact that Muslim leaders in the United States and in Kenya have condemned the attack as “heinous” and an “outrageous act of violence” that is against the teachings of Islam.

Fox Claims Muslims Are Not Condemning Attack In Kenya

Bill Hemmer: “Where Are The Moderate Muslim Leaders Who Are Coming Out And Saying This Is Wrong?” During a segment on the attack in Kenya, America's Newsroom co-host Bill Hemmer said, “We wonder where the outrage is, especially from the Muslim world.” After playing a clip of Bill O'Reilly accusing Muslims of not condemning the attacks, Hemmer added, “The point is clear: Where are the moderate Muslim leaders who are coming out and saying this is wrong, we condemn it, we won't stand for it, we will not allow our religion to be defamed on behalf of these idiots?” [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 9/24/13]

Bill O'Reilly: “You Hear No Outcry From The Billion Muslims In The World About” Muslim Terrorism. On his Fox News show, Bill O'Reilly highlighted the Kenya attack and said the Muslim world is doing “nothing” to confront Muslim terrorism. He later added, “You hear no outcry from the billion Muslims in the world about this. They don't rise up and chase these guys out of town.” [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 9/23/13]

Bob Beckel: “The Time Has Come For” Moderate Muslims To “Stand Up And Say Something.” The Five co-host Bob Beckel said that no more mosques should be built in America until moderate Muslims “denounce” the attacks in Kenya:

ERIC BOLLING (co-host): They say Islam is the religion of peace, but they have to start proving it. And they are not proving it anywhere.

BECKEL: They are not the religion of peace. They are the religion of Islamic fund -- listen, if people who are supposedly peaceful, you moderate Muslims out there. Now listen, I know I have been on this thing for a long time, but the time has come for you stand up and say something.

And I will repeat what I said before: No Muslim students coming here with visas. No more mosques being built here until you stand up and denounce what's happened in the name of your prophet. It is not what your prophet meant [unintelligible]. I don't know his mother's name and I don't care. The point is, that the time has come for Muslims in this country and other people in the world to stand up and be counted, and if you can't, you're cowards. [Fox News, The Five, 9/23/13]

But Muslims Have Condemned The “Heinous Terror Attack”

CBS: Minnesota Muslim Leaders “Strongly Condemned” The Attack. Amid conflicting reports that two Minnesota men may have participated in the Kenya attack, CBS Minnesota reported that “the horrifying attack in Kenya was strongly condemned by Muslim leaders at a Minneapolis mosque this afternoon,” and quoted Imam Abdisalam Adam as saying, “This outrageous act of violence has no place in Islam the perpetrators of this barbaric act do not share our Islamic values.” [CBS Minnesota, 9/23/13]

Reuters: “Supreme Council Of Kenya Muslims Condemned The Raid On The Mall As A 'Heinous Terror Attack.' ” Reuters reported that “the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims condemned the raid on the mall as a 'heinous terror attack' and called for Kenyans not to divide along sectarian lines.” [Reuters, 9/22/13]

NBC News: Somali President Decried The Group Behind Attack As “A Threat To The Continent Of Africa, And The World At Large.” Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attacks during a speech at Ohio State University, as reported by NBC News:

Speaking from American soil, Somalia's president warned Monday that the al-Qaeda-linked extremist group that attacked an upscale mall in Kenya is not just a threat to Somalia and Africa, but the entire world. 

“Today, there are clear evidences that al Shabaab is not a threat to Somalia and Somali people only,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a speech at Ohio State University. “They are a threat to the continent of Africa, and the world at large.” 

Ohio is home to the second largest concentration of Somalis in America.

Mohamud added that his government is committed to uprooting al Shabaab. He said maintaining security is his top priority as Somalia rebuilds after decades of civil war and terrorist threats. But a relapse is a possibility, he warned. [NBC News, 9/23/13]

ABC Affiliate: “Muslims Across Minnesota” Are Condemning The Attack. ABC affiliate WXOW reported that the attack is being condemned by Muslims throughout Minnesota:

Muslims across Minnesota are condemning the actions of al-Shabab, saying there is no place for violence in their religion.

[...]

“The situation that's happening now in Kenya is a very sad and painful situation,” said Mohamed Sheik Nur from the Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association in Rochester.

al-Shabab, an extremist group from Somalia, has taken full responsibility for the attacks and claims they were carried out in the name of God.

“There is no way that Muslims allow to kill innocent people,” Sheik Nur added.

[...]

Khairia Abdulrahman, a Rochester resident from Somalia visiting the Islamic Center in Rochester, said al-Shabab has strayed from the teachings of Islam.

“They're killing people and they say 'we have to kill in religion' and that is not true. That is not true,” Abdulrahman said. [WXOW.com, 9/24/13]

To read about Fox News' history of Islamophobia, click here and here