Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter condemned the recent desecration of Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, a North Philadelphia mosque and school. The incident involved a pig's head being thrown at the door of the mosque and being left there for community members to discover. A surveillance tape shows a person throwing the head from a red pickup truck Sunday night, reported Philadelphia Media.
"Someone tried to desecrate the mosque and its peaceful people. That, of course, will not be tolerated," said Nutter Tuesday at City Hall, while announcing a $2,000 reward for information that can help officials convict "anyone engaged in a hate crime." Leaders of Philadelphia's communities gathered to hear Nutter speak, including imams, rabbis, priests and government officials.
Marwan Kreidie, of Philadelphia's Arab American Development Corp, said the perpetrators may have thought this action would be seen as an act against ISIS. "In fact, they are doing exactly what the radicals want them to do. They want America to appear to be anti-Muslim. This will help them in their recruiting; this will help them in their propaganda. We can't let the extremists win," said Kreidie, according to Philadelphia Media.
Since the attacks in Paris, Islamophobic statements have become more frequent in the media and, throughout November, mosques were also vandalized or attacked in Connecticut, Nebraska and Virginia, noted the Wall Street Journal.
