NEWSRAEL: There is a clear rift between generations of Arabs in America, between the elders and the young, who are much more extreme and refuse to understand why their parents and grandparents fled the Middle East.
"They are bending over backwards to prove their patriotism, but they themselves have been targeted by MEMRI for over 20 years"
Michigan activist and teacher Tarek Bazzi, who is associated with the Hadi Institute, issued a statement responding to the backlash from the MEMRITV clip of his speech from which was interrupted by chants of "death to America."
He condemned the Muslim community leaders in the United States' reaction to the video community leaders. Bazzi said that these leaders were "parroting" the labels of "extreme and violent" following the "slip" of a tongue of one person.
He added that these Muslim leaders "bent over backwards to prove our American-ness and patriotism" and that they are not extremists. He continued to say that they this "played right into the plot of those seeking to demonize our community."