(AP) A Philadelphia city commission said Monday it’s investigating an event last month at which Muslim children were captured on video speaking in Arabic about beheadings and the liberation of Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site.
The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations launched a probe into the April 17 gathering at the Muslim American Society’s Philadelphia chapter. A video uploaded to the chapter’s Facebook page shows children moving to a revolutionary anthem often used by Islamist groups, and two young girls reading from a prepared text. One says, “We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The contested site, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The compound is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site for Jews. It has been a flashpoint of violence in the past.
