zo.,

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long history of pressing for a moderate,
engaged Islam.
"One of the ways to prevent future
Ground Zeroes is to encourage modera-
tion within Islam and to treat Muslim
moderates differently than we treat
Muslim extremists:' the Atlantic's
Jeffiey Goldberg wrote on his blog."The
campaign against this mosque treats all
Muslims as perpetrators."
Last week, the mosque project at
Ground Zero cleared what may have
been its final hurdle before construc-
tion could begin, winning unanimous
approval for the plan by New York City's
Landmarks Preservation Committee.
The Jewish hesitancy to ally formally
with Muslim groups is grounded in
alarms raised in the past about the sup-
posedly radical origins and alliances of
groups claiming to speak for moderate
Islam.
The Council on American Islamic
Relations, often cited in media reports
as the Muslim equivalent of Jewish
civil rights groups, had relations in the
1990s with groups and individuals sub-
sequently identified as close to Hamas,
a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
The council in recent years has
issued statements distancing itself from
such groups, but mainstream Jewish
organizations still keep away in part
because of the council's vigorous criti-
cism of Israeli actions. After Israel's raid
on a Turkish aid flotilla attempting to
breach Israel's embargo on the Hamas-
controlled Gaza Strip, the council
charged Israel with a "blatant disregard
for international law" and called for

ADL Spurned Over Mosque

New York/JTA — CNN host Fareed
Zakaria has returned an award to
the Anti-Defamation League over
the group's opposition to building
a mosque near Ground Zero.
Zakaria, also a Newsweek
columnist,
had received
the Hubert H.
Humphrey First
Amendment
Freedoms Prize in
2005.
In a public let-
ter to Abraham
Foxman, national
Fareed
director
of the
Zakaria
ADL, issued last
week, Zakaria said, "I cannot in
good conscience hold onto the
award or the honorarium that
came with it and am returning
both. I hope that it might add to

a reduction in military assistance to
Israel.
Jewish groups have differed over
associations with another Islamic
American group, the Islamic Society of
North America. The American Jewish
Committee has refused to work with
the group, citing government investiga-
tions of its alleged associations with
radical Muslims although the society
was never charged with any crime.
The ADL and the Reform movement
have worked with the society, noting
its overtures to Jewish groups and the
Holocaust education it has promoted
for its membership.
Abraham Foxman, the ADI's national
director, said he rejected the bigotry of
some of the critics of the Ground Zero
mosque, but that the sensibilities of the
families of the Sept. 11 victims should
be paramount. The Philadelphia-based
Shalom Center organized a statement
from 29 Jewish lay leaders and clerics
urging American Jews to press the ADL
to reverse its decision.
In an interview with JTA, Foxman
likened the sensibilities regarding
the mosque project to those that led
the Jewish establishment to oppose a
Carmelite nunnery at Auschwitz in the
1980s. The nuns had good intentions,
but Auschwitz wasn't the right place
for a nunnery. The Vatican ordered the
nuns to leave, and they did in 1993.
"We've been out there as often as
we can, as vociferous as we can, when
signs of Islamaphobia are on the
rise," Foxman said. "And we'll con-
tinue to be." ❑

the many voices that have urged
you to reconsider and reverse
your position on this issue. This
decision will haunt the ADL for
years, if not decades, to come.
"Whether or not the center is
built, what is at stake here is the
integrity of the ADL and its fidelity
to its mission. Admitting an error is
a small price to pay to regain your
reputation."
In a letter responding to
Zakaria, Foxman wrote, "I am not
only saddened, but stunned and
somewhat speechless by your
decision to return the ADL Hubert
H. Humphrey First Amendment
Freedoms Prize you accepted in
2005."
Foxman said he hoped that
Zakaria "will come to see that
ADL acted appropriately" and
would reclaim his award.

Walk4Friendship 2010 Power Walkers
Thank you for stepping up!

Elliot Baum
Stacey Bean
Marlowe Bechmann
Lisette Benyamin
Elana Berlin
Michelle Chekan
Tammy Dines
Matt Egrin
Joanna Eiwen
Susan Feber
Darryl Fink
William Flesher
Cathy Fogel
Danielle Glickfeld
Naomi & Michael Glickfeld
Jenna Goldstein
Marlee Goldstein
Gina Guereso
Cady Hadesman
Jennifer Hart
Claire Kahn
Gary Karp
------:: Rachel Karp
Cookie Koblin
Adva Kohn
Rebecca Klausner
Ed Krass
Lisa LaBelle
Jason Langwell
Stephanie Langwell
Jen Lovy
David Lubin
Eugene Neugebohr
, David Newman
Debbie Pearlman
Debby Portney
Tanja Rankl
Ellen Rothenberg
Sarah Shea
Lois Shulman
Harriett Silverman
Diane Swimmer
Lisa Wasserman
Neil Weissman
Emma Zerkel

IC

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August '12 • 2010

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