A Muslim was murdered outside an Eid service in Minneapolis last week, and initially, it was a story made to order for the left’s victimhood industry. It even seemed to be a genuine example of “Islamophobia,” which is as rare in real life as Nancy Pelosi stock losses. The far left’s propaganda arm, also known as the mainstream media, swung into action, and leftist politicians chimed in with the requisite displays of outrage and sorrow.
There was just one catch: when all the details came to light, the media narrative came crashing to the ground. Not that anyone involved admitted that or backtracked one inch, of course. As Mark Twain said long ago, the lie goes halfway around the world before the truth has finished tying its shoes, and in this case, as always, the lie served its purpose.
CrimeWatchMpls reported on X on May 27 that “A shooting took place in the parking lot at Canterbury Park, a Muslim event was scheduled to take place in the Expo Center at Canterbury.” Even though nothing had yet been revealed about the shooter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Planned Parenthood), who is running for governor of Minnesota, hurried that evening to imply that the shooting was an instance of “Islamophobia”: “On this Eid al-Adha, I’m thinking of Minnesota’s Muslim community and all those gathered in prayer today, especially following today’s tragic shooting at an Eid prayer service at Canterbury Park. My thoughts are with the victim's family and the entire community.”
CBS Minnesota published a story on May 28 that ran hard with the “Islamophobia” angle. In its lead paragraph, CBS highlighted the identity of the victim and the setting of the crime: “A suspect is in custody in connection to Wednesday morning's shooting outside of a Twin Cities Eid al-Adha prayer service, which killed 26-year-old union leader Khalid Ibrahim Abdi.”
Driving its point home, CBS brought in Suleiman Adan, deputy executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). What Adan said — “This is not just a headline for another story across people's timelines, this is a family waking up to a reality no family should ever have to" — was innocuous enough, but just the fact that CAIR was invoked gave the strong impression that the murderer of Khalid Ibrahim Abdi was a racist, bigoted “Islamophobe.”
Aden reinforced that impression by saying that “people are paying close attention to the investigation," as if a great injustice had been done to the Muslim community that its friends and protectors did not want to see authorities make even worse by failing to track down the killer or killers with dispatch and punish them to the full extent of the law.
Likewise reinforcing that impression was Iman Yusuf Abdulle, executive director of the Islamic Association of North America, who stated, according to CBS, that “many of the service's attendees had left by the time a physical altercation between Abdi and another person led to gunfire.” Abdulle added: "It is a senseless killing and it's supposed to be a day of happiness, Eid. It's a major holiday for us as Muslims."
And then the whole house of cards came crashing down. On Monday, CBS had to report the truth: “A Shakopee, Minnesota, man is accused of shooting and killing 26-year-old Khalid Ibrahim Abdi outside of a Twin Cities Eid al-Adha prayer service on Wednesday. Mohamed Rage, 28, is facing one count of second-degree murder as well as an illegal weapons charge, according to the criminal complaint filed in Scott County on Monday.”
Mohamed Rage. Well, that’s embarrassing. Not only is his name deliciously apt, but young Mr. Rage has left the leftist narrative a smoking ruin. MN Conservative succinctly summed up the entire absurd affair: “Remember the fatal shooting during the Muslim Eid prayer gathering last week in Minnesota by a "masked gunman?" The one where @amyklobuchar and @Tim_Walz publicly condemned the violence against Muslims? Turns out the suspect is Mohamed Abdirizak Rage. Of course.”
Related: A Jihad Murderer Could Soon Be Free to Kill Again
Will Klobuchar and Walz and Hamas-linked CAIR and all the others who ran with the idea that this was an “Islamophobic” killing now apologize? Come on, man! For them, this story served its purpose: It gave them an opportunity to reinforce the bogus narrative that Muslims are particular targets of discrimination, harassment, and violence in the U.S., and they can be sure that many people who heard the initial reports will never hear about Mohamed Rage.
Mohamed Rage or no Mohamed Rage, meanwhile, the left will rage on about “Islamophobia.” But this story reinforces the cardinal rule: when you hear a story about “Islamophobia” being perpetrated, never, ever take it at face value.
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