A recent post by Frontpage Mag has targeted New York Jets offensive tackle and 2013 NFL Draft selection Oday Aboushi. Aboushi is accused of leading a double life and supporting terrorism, while the Jets are urged to cut their losses and rid themselves of the young offensive tackle. Of course, such accusations would surely be supported by some kind of legitimate evidence, not a loosely-held together mish-mash of associations and social media posts, right? Um, no.
The character assassination of Oday Aboushi is capped off with a call for the New York Jets to get rid of the rookie offensive tackle. Keep that in mind as we review the "evidence" of his extremist views. It's probably also worth keeping in mind that this is America, where people are allowed to speak their minds and hold their own beliefs, controversial or not. Tim Tebow can speak about his Christianity, players can be open about their sexuality and, yes, Oday Aboushi can retweet a picture.
The real meat of the article's attempt to tie Oday Aboushi to extremism is a Twitter conversation between him and Linda Sarsour, as well as two pictures of the two together. The Twitter conversation consists of Sarsour congratulating Oday Aboushi on being drafted by the Jets and teasing him about needing to change his Twitter bio. The pictures are of Oday Aboushi and Linda Sarsour standing together.
Linda Sarsour has posted some very controversial things on her Twitter account about Zionism and the Underwear Bomber. But is that any different than the clowns who posted about Sandy Hook being a hoax? Stupidity is not a crime. Having a friendly conversation with someone who posts dumb things, or taking a picture with that person, isn't a crime either.
As far as any actual postings by Oday Aboushi that "prove" his association with Muslim extremism? A retweeted picture of a woman which the original posts claims is being evicted from her home in Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. Retweeting a picture of what you perceive to be a social injustice now gets you labeled as a terrorist. Aboushi also wrote a tweet about a "beautiful fundraiser" to benefit children in Palestinian refugee camps.
Of course, there was no mention of actual actions made by Aboushi. That's because his actions tell a different story than the twisted narrative the article hopes to push. Back in December, Aboushi joined David Harris to distribute food to victims of Hurricane Sandy on Staten Island. Back in 2011, Aboushi was honored by the White House along with about a dozen other Muslim athletes.
This is one of the scary things about today's culture. This story has been posted all over social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and in a time when so many will likely just read the headline, Aboushi is being unfairly attacked. However, it's the site's right to publish the article. Just like people can go on social media sites and post about gun rights, claim crazy things about Barack Obama, or write just about anything they want. Aboushi can retweet a picture of a Palestinian woman being evicted without losing his job with the Jets.
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