In the realm of the impossible is the following statement from Abe Foxman upon learning that Fareed Zacharia, noted Newsweek columnist and Muslim-American, would be returning an ADL award and honorarium in protest of the ADL’s position opposing the Cordoba House Muslim Cultural Center near Ground Zero:
“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,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said in a letter to Zakaria. “As someone I greatly respect for engaging in discussion and dialogue with an open mind I would have expected you to reach out to me before coming to judgment.”
Foxman added that the League “did not oppose the right for an Islamic Center or a mosque to be built” but rather “[made] an appeal based solely on the issues of location and sensitivity.”
“Somewhat speechless?” Abe Foxman? Not on your life. He’s just nonplussed that as a master PR tactician, Zacharia has upstaged and embarrassed him. The leader I’ve called a “Jewish dinosaur” made political calculations that the Center could be killed and that he’d score points with Republican neocons by joining their crusade. But when Mayor Bloomberg and even New York Orthodox rabbis took him to task, he was left looking mighty foolish, not to mention like the Islamophobe he is.
Foxman is chagrined Zacharia didn’t “reach out” to him before returning the award–did Foxman reach out to Zacharia before insulting him and his co-religionists by taking his stand on behalf of bigotry? In claiming he supports the Center, just not the location, Foxman is trying to have it both ways. As Center supporters like Mayor Bloomberg have made clear, the location of the new building is part of the critical strength of its mission to bridge differences and encourage dialogue among religious traditions. Sure you could put the project in the middle of the East River or Governor’s Island so as not to offend anyone, but what would be the message you’d be imparting? That we respect Muslims as long as they don’t rock the boat and get in our way. As long as they retire someplace out-of-the-way they’re OK.
Zakaria has never been one of my favorite commentators, but BRAVO! to him for sticking the proverbial finger to ADL, Foxman, and their ilk, from one of their own (neocons).
I don’t consider Fareed to be part of that group. At worst he’s a Fukuyama neocon (i.e. believes in principles of neoconservatism doesn’t drink the kool-aid of the group)
I may have to reconsider my opinion of Farid following this.
“what would be the message you’d be imparting? That we respect Muslims as long as they don’t rock the boat and get in our way. As long as they retire someplace out-of-the-way they’re OK.”
That would be consistent with my experience with every Zionist-Arab dialog group I have ever been involved with which is “we Zionists will condescend to dialog with Arabs as if they were our equals as long as they don’t get too uppity”.
And many Islamic organizations are making themselves into passive, compliant co-conspirators in the wave of Islamophobia stealing across Europe and the US. They’re abandoning the Islamic principle of justice in exchange for a false doctrine of complacency, going along with being remade into peacenik apologists while bigots continue to burn Qurans, harass Muslims, and organize against allowing Muslims to live in their neighborhoods. A phrase from the past runs through my mind: “good ni**ers.” That’s what Americans want – a tepid, watered-down Islam that doesn’t rock the boat and keeps its collective mouth shut.
I voted against Mike Bloomberg in both of his mayoral races for any number of reasons and at best have considered him a so-so mayor, conveniently a sometime-Republican, a sometime-Democrat or Independent with loads of his own money to purchase elections. I suppose basically he’s more or less a conservative in the correct sense of the word; that is, not a reactionary. However, as I am pretty left-wing, his even honest conservatism was not for me. Then I watched him on YouTube as he delivered his speech on the mosque issue, and I do confess that at that moment I was proud to call him my mayor. Here was a short guy – he really is – standing very tall indeed and saying succinctly and powerfully some truly profound things without one iota of hedging in supporting without qualification the building of the mosque near ground-zero. A truly interesting, even remarkable and incredibly patriotic moment. He made such pompous bigots du jour as Foxman look very miniscule.
I hear neocon Jane Harman’s husband has bought Newsweek. Maybe Foxman can payback by persuading Harman to dump Zakaria.
Yes, Harman bought Newsweek & promised to keep 250 of the 325 employees. The question is whether Zakaria will be among them. He’d land on his feet no matter what happens. The guy is very smart, perhaps a bit glib. But sharp as a tack.
Zacharia is no hero. He is nothing but a panderer to the Zionists, otherwise he would have not accepted the $10K or the award, nor would he have issued a public statement at the time saying he “greatly admired” a criminal, Islamophobic organization like the ADL.
Sorry, but he’s already made it clear whose side he’s on.
when has the adl been charged or convicted of any crime?
as for the center…the founders did indeed wish to cause controversy
but as i have stated before, unless the nyc planning commission could find any zoning issues against the building of the center…there is nothing anyone can do to halt it.
as it stands now, i really dont see how it will increase positive dialogue
Being racist isn’t a crime. Stupid, hypocritical, shameful? Yes. Illegal? No.
I’m glad you’re not involved in the project as you’d be clueless. I have confidence though in those who are organizing it that they will make a far better contribution to interfaith dialogue than Abe Foxman & the ADL.
I’m sure you’re being facetious, unclejoe, but here’s something you might like to read about the ADL:
http://www.counterpunch.org/adlspying2.html
Positive dialogue? Who can have positive dialogue with hysterical bigots who blame all Muslims, or the religion of Islam itself, for 9/11?
I don’t espouse the view personally, but I know a lot of people who actually blame Jews for 9/11. That’s just as unfair, don’t you think? Or would you object to a synagogue being built on “ground zero”?
Fareed Zakria is a sell-out like Salman Rushde, Irshad Manji, Tarek Fateh, Ayaan Hirshi, Taslima Nasrin, etc.
Fareed’s rise from an obsecurity to CNN and then Newsweek – tells his loyalties towards anti-Islam Zionism.
By refusing to accept the ADL award (also given to Turkish prime minister Erdogan earlier) – Fareed is trying to be another Dr. Tariq Ramadan – “the Muslim Martin Luther King’.
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/the-muslim-martin-luther/
Rehmat, he did accept the award in 2005, now he’s returning it in a fit of remorse which is laughable. The ADL was just as odious then as it is now. But it took the clueless Zacharia five whole years to get bothered by his hypocrisy.
Come on, Salmad Rushdie is no Irshad Manjo or Ayaan Hirsi, nor is Farid Zakaria. Those two women are pathetic opportunists who have lept eagerly onto the anti-Islam bandwagon and found fame and fortune there. Farid Zakaria is not in their category, nor is Rushdie.
And Tariq Ramadan? Come on! Farid Zakaria will never be fit to clean his shoes no matter how many awards he returns.
Build all the Mosques, Synagogues, Churches, Temples, all the places of worship you want. Please just make sure that in these Temples, Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, etc etc etc…you teach peace, tolerance and love.
The bigots will probably disregard history (again) and dismiss Fareed as “one of them”. This calls for another Daily Show appearance.