The high-profile Islamic grievance theater attains new heights of sheer absurdity: Muslim leaders condemn CW Post video. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

A video by five students at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University depicting ski-masked “hostage-takers” speaking in cartoonish Middle Eastern accents has drawn condemnations from local Muslim leaders.

The university dismissed the students from their jobs as residence hall assistants in Brookville Hall, saying they had engaged in activity that violated their employment contract and that reflected “insensitivity.”

In the video, which mocks those aired by real-life terrorists, five figures speak in exaggerated accents as they threaten their captive, a rubber duck dubbed “Pete,” according to an account in the student newspaper that knowledgeable campus sources agreed was accurate. The subtext is understood to many on campus: The duck is the mascot for Brookville Hall.

While friends of those who created the film emphasized it was made in jest, Muslim leaders did not see the humor. They acknowledged students’ right to freedom of speech, BUT said that right carries responsibility.

“I think it’s not a prank,” said Ghazi Khankan of Long Beach, a member of the board of the American Muslim Alliance, which he described as a regional and national group that advocates for Muslim participation in the political process. “Campuses are for enlightenment and for teaching us to get along, to respect each other, to know how to live together.”

News of the video quickly went national. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., sent out Newsday’s Web article about the incident in an e-mail blast. Said Ibrahim Hooper, council president: “It’s something that needs to be addressed.”

Habeeb Ahmed, president of the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury, who said he was a C.W. Post alumnus, agreed. “People are testing the waters again and again, and the Muslim community is always at the receiving end.”

And the university is, of course, rushing to appease the radicals.

Back on campus, provost Joseph Shenker, said the five students involved would continue to receive free housing and the meal plan — but in exchange for working 10 hours per week in community service.