JAN 17 UPDATE:
New York Times Amends Piece
After initially refusing to correct the article, the New York Times appended an update that nudged the passage closer toward, but still fell far short of, the unadulterated truth. The update adds that the imam had been "a regularly featured speaker" at the mosque for years. The paper still refuses to inform readers what the imam and the mosque have openly acknowledged: He was the imam of the mosque. See below for a detailed update.
The terrorist who killed 14 people in a New Year's Day car-ramming attack in New Orleans lived near Houston's Masjid Bilal mosque, whose imam has spewed antisemitism.
Several media outlets, including the New York Times, reported on the proximity between attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar's trailer and Masjid Bilal. But the New York Times might be the only one to falsify the link between mosque and its imam, in an apparent attempt to downplay the degree of the antisemitism problem.
Imam Eiad Soudan speaks at Masjid Bilal's Youth Night.
According to a front-page story in the Times, the mosque "has drawn attention of its own, as on at least one occasion, it hosted a speaker who made inflammatory remarks denouncing Jews."
The inflammatory remark in question, spoken in 2023 and documented by MEMRI, was the bigoted charge that the Jews were persecuted and are despised because, wherever they go, they stop at nothing to take over the economy and spread corruption. The speaker behind those remarks — the man said to have been "hosted" by the mosque maybe on "one occasion," maybe more — is Eiad Soudan.
The New York Times, though, is aware that Soudan was no passing visitor. Editors have been informed, with copious documentation, that he was in fact the mosque's imam, who has preached there countless times.
They have refused to correct their misinformation.
Here is some of the overwhelming evidence, organized roughly in reverse hierarchical order:
A caption in the Houston Chronicle under a photo of the mosque refers to Soudan as imam.
The Youtube channel on which the antisemitic sermon was posted (but which seems to have since been emptied of content) is described as “the student-run youtube channel for Shaykh Eiad Soudan, the imam of Masjid Bilal in Houston, TX.”
A Facebook invitation to a 2015 guest appearance at an Austin mosque announces Soudan as the "Imam of Masjid Bilal, Houston."
A Texas mosque that, like Masjid Bilal, is part of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston explained in 2017 that "Imam Eiad is the imam of Masjid Bilal." So did the Islamic Arts Society, founded by Houstonians.
When Soudan was a panelist at a 2020 event held by the Al-Ansaar Islamic Center, another Islamic Society of Greater Houston mosque, he was introduced by the center's imam as "imam at ISGH Masjid Bilal."
He then introduced himself: "imam of Masjid Bilal for ISGH."
At a December 17, 2021 "family night" panel at Masjid Bilal, the man introducing the panel described Soudan as follows: "We also have our very own resident imam scholar of our Masjid, the host for today's program, tonight's program, Sheikh Eiad Soudan…."
In the Islamic Society of Greater Houston's 2018 and 2019 annual report, the section about Masjid Bilal speaks of "Our Imam, Sheikh Eiad Soudan." In a list of services provided by the mosque, the annual reports refer to "Halaqa with the Imam" held six days a week and "Led by Imam Eiad Soudan," and a "Counseling with the Imam," which is also "Led by Imam Eiad Soudan." The 2020 annual report described a "daily lecture series with our Imam Eiad."
The mosque's Facebook page is filled with sermons by Soudan. And then there is the Jan. 1, 2016, Facebook post that states: "Finally it would be a disservice if we didn’t acknowledge the work of our Imam Eiad Soudan who has been a great asset and leader for the community at large."
And archived copies of the mosque's home page over a span of years feature prominent references to just one person: Imam Eiad Soudan and his weekly schedule of classes.
Notably, the online version of the Times story links to MEMRI's transcription of Soudan's antisemitic sermon, the title of which begins: "Eiad Soudan, Imam Of Houston Mosque…" Despite having surely seen that title, the story's reporters chose to downgrade the relationship between the mosque and its imam.
The only (legitimate) reason to make such a change would be if the paper's research uncovered reason to do so. But if it did any research, it would have found ample proof of Soudan's role as imam of mosque. In other words, either the paper's journalists did no research and simply decided they didn't like the sound of the title Masjid Bilal Imam Eiad Soudan, or they did research and, nonetheless, really didn't like the sound of it. Neither option is flattering.
The piece was reported and written by four Times reporters: Edgar Sandoval, Eduardo Medina, Adam Goldman, and Rukmini Callimachi. Six other reporters are listed as contributed reporting, and another four as contributing research.
Worse yet, editors were informed of the misrepresentation and presented with links to the mosque's past home pages featuring "Imam Eiad" and his classes. They still refused to correct.
Update: New York Times amends language
After CAMERA brought the overwhelming evidence above to the attention of editors, the newspaper on Jan 16 added the following update to the passage:
After publication, research showed that the speaker, Imam Eiad Soudan, had been a regularly featured speaker at the mosque for several years.
It is an improvement over the prior language. But incredibly, despite Soudan's introduction of himself as imam of the mosque, and despite repeated, clear assertions by the mosque and its associates that Soudan was their imam, the New York Times still refuses to inform readers of his actual role at the mosque. In doing so, it falsely insinuates that he was not their imam.