Are CNN And Newsday Sticking Up for Islamic Extremists?

In The New York Post, terrorism expert and journalist Steven Emerson protested that CNN and Newsday warped the views of Republican Congressman Peter King on an Islamic group, and how they want to blame 9/11 on a Zionist conspiracy instead of al-Qaeda:

THE media is engaged in a jihad against Rep. Peter King - a jihad in defense of Islamist extremists.

King, a Long Island Republican, has warned his constituents that some leaders of the Islamic Center of Long Island have "publicly stated that the CIA or the 'Zionists' may have been behind the attacks" of 9/11.

The record backs him up. Indeed, the center's leadership has a long history of extremism. But both Newsday and CNN chose to ignore the facts and smear King.

Last week's CNN report was one of the most dishonest pieces of reporting I have ever observed in my entire 27-year career. In attacking King, CNN reporter Jason Carroll claimed the congressman had said the members of the Long Island mosque were "part of an Islamic threat that could cause another 9/11."

King has said no such thing; the red herring simply distracts from the real issue -- the center's history of employing extremists and defending terrorists...

To bolster his attack on King, CNN's Carroll presented Nihad Awad as an aggrieved man of the cloth, lamenting that a "member of the U.S. Congress [would] exploit anti-Muslim prejudice . . . to get a few more votes and some money."

In fact, Awad is head of the Council on American Islamic Relations -- an "Islamic advocacy" group that has championed terrorists. At least three of its top officials have been convicted of terrorism-related offenses. It has sponsored events where jihadists have called Jews "the sons of pigs and monkeys."

The Islamic Center's history shows that the congressman is very much on target. Both Newsday and CNN owe Peter King an apology.