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A.P. photo/ Frank Franklin, File -- mega-mosque would face Ground Zero
The controversy over the mosque being approved to face Ground Zero is growing. Polls find the issue resonating nationally and adversely. Republicans are turning it into a campaign issue. Democrats call it a non-issue that reflects a Republican lack of real issues. They accuse Republicans of anti-American views on the subject.
Responding to criticism for opposing the project, which he does as a matter of consideration for the families sensitized to it, Abe Foxman, national director of Anti-Defamation League said, “Two blocks away is basically in your face.”
Some critics accused him of bowing to anti-Muslim feelings. Mr. Foxman said that the concurrence with his stance by some bigots does not mean he is one. [Different people have different reasons for opposing the project.]
Republican leaders demand that New York State Attorney-General Cuomo investigate the funding for the mosque. State Democratic Party head Jay Jacobs contends that since the funds were not raised, there is no funding to investigate.
As evidence that the project is suspiciously backed by extremists and worth investigating, GOP candidate for Governor, Rick Lazio, cited the refusal by mosque Imam Rauf to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization and his having blamed U.S. foreign policy as partly responsible for 9/11.
Project spokesman Oz Sultan defended the Imam, by asserting that clergy should not be asked to make “blanket denunciations” (Jacob Gershman, Wall St. J., 8/1, A15).
To be accurate, the GOP has plenty of issues. Since this one is popular, they take it up, too.
If extremists are behind the project, then project spokesmen’s assurances become dubious and their purpose, rather than their critics, would be anti-American. Why was the project approved not conditional upon knowing the source of funding?
The challenge to purportedly moderate Muslims is to denounce specific terrorist organizations and show their followers that those organizations are not legitimate. If purportedly moderates refuse, why? Mr. Sultan’s contention that blanket denunciations are improper is not the position of U.S. law, which designates entire organizations as terrorist. Every part of the organization helps its overall purpose. (For more on the controversy, including radical statements by the project’s imam, click here and here, for first in consecutive series)
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