From FAIR (emphasis mine):
On NPR‘s Morning Edition (3/15/19), Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, was interviewed by host David Greene about the mass murder of 49 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Asked by Greene “how common” it is for online hate speech to turn into a “mass shooting this terrible,” Greenblatt responded:
Well, I think this act of violence really doesn’t have a precedent as far as we know, murdering people in a mosque like this, and the social media dimension is something new. However, hate speech online is an increasing problem.
No precedent? Seriously?
We realize, of course, that Mr. Greenblatt, who has devoted a significant portion of his life to stamping out bigotry against Jewish people and other groups, meant well. But surely this comment of his deserved at least a subtle rebuttal — which, unfortunately, was not forthcoming (again, emphasis mine):
Greene didn’t react on the air to Greenblatt’s claim that there’s never been a mass murder in a mosque before. But of course, this is far from the first Islamophobic murder to take place in a mosque.
A little more than two years ago, on January 29, 2017, six people were killed by a gunman at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City in Canada. Last year, covering the sentencing of murderer Alexandre Bissonnette, the New York Times (5/5/18) reported that
more than a year after the Jan. 29, 2017, rampage, Canada is still grappling with Mr. Bissonnette’s crime. It shocked the nation and underlined the perils of Islamophobia and the far right in a country that prides itself on its multiculturalism and tolerance.
FAIR is quick and correct to point out that, not only was the Quebec massacre only two years old, but that its assailant was motivated by the same breed of Trumpian racist, Islamophobic, and anti-immigrant hatred that motivated Christchurch’s gunman.
Similar to accounts of the Australian immigrant charged in the Christchurch murders, the Quebec City shooter was described by the Times as “drawn to far-right ideas, fueled by the election of Mr. Trump and fanned by fears that immigrants threatened Quebec’s identity.”
Furthermore, these two attacks are far from the only recent instances of Muslims’ houses of worship being turned into slaughterhouses by hateful bigots, as TRT World astutely notes.
The Christchurch terror attack on Muslim worshippers is not the only one in recent times. In the last decade, at least 806 people have been killed in anti-Muslim attacks and 733 of them were in the middle of their prayers.
1. On December 15, 2010, two suicide bombers from Sunni extremist group Jundullah blew themselves up outside a mosque in southeastern Iran, killing six Revolutionary Guard commanders.
2. On January 30, 2015, another Jundullah suicide bomber attacked a Shia mosque in the Pakistani town of Shikarpur and killed 71 people.
3. On March 20, 2015, 137 worshippers were killed when Daesh suicide bombers attacked two mosques in Yemen's capital city, Sanaa.
4. On September 24, 2015, as much of the world celebrated Eid al Adha, 25 worshippers were killed by a suicide bomber who struck a mosque in rebel-held Sanaa.
5. On November 12, 2016, a Daesh suicide bomber killed over 50 people at the shrine of Shah Noorani in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.
6. On January 29, 2017, 28-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, who espoused far-right views and studied at a Canadian university, opened fire on worshippers in a Quebec City mosque, killing at least six men.
7. On August 2, 2017, at least 29 people were killed in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in the western Afghan city of Herat.
8. On August 24, 2017, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a Shia mosque in Kabul as other attackers stormed the building. At least 30 people, including Friday prayer attendees, were killed. Daesh claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
9. On October 14, 2017, gunmen from the anti-Balaka rebel group, which is composed of Christians, killed at least 25 Muslims inside a mosque in the town of Kembe in Central African Republic.
10. On November 24, 2017, 311 worshippers were gunned down in a mosque attack in north Sinai, the deadliest terror attack in Egypt's modern history.
11. On March 15, 2019, a white terrorist with a hatred of Muslims and desire to invade Istanbul and free the iconic Hagia Sophia monument "of minarets" opened fire on Muslim worshippers in New Zealand's Christchurch mosque, killing 49 people and injuring several others.
And if one considers all attacks against Islamic worshippers (not just those that occurred in mosques), the numbers are even more staggering. I urge readers to check out this Wikipedia entry to get a true scope of the issue.
Again, let me be clear that I am not faulting the ADL or Mr. Greenblatt for what could have merely been a misstatement or temporary brain-fart. I think the issue lies with U.S. media personalities being too eager to play softball with interviewees and not ask the hard questions that reveal the underlying lack of sensitivity towards oppressed minorities. Had this been a shooting instigated by a Muslim extremist against a predominately-white Christian congregation (or perhaps an Orthodox Jewish Synagogue), I’m sure the coverage by corporate media (not to mention the lukewarm brush-off by our bigot-in-chief) would have taken on an entirely different tenor.