How can the Jewish Week support an imam who refuses to call the Hamas killers of hundreds of Israeli civilians terrorists, and who did not renounce his connection to major backers of the Hamas-aiding flotilla?
How can an imam who attributes blame to America for 9/11 and provides rationales for Osama Bin Laden lead a project so close to the massacre and be “genuinely embarrassed about evil committed by people of his religion”?
When Imam Rauf’s high-minded words — interfaith dialogue and integrating Islam with modern Western society (American Islam) — are measured against his actions in condemning radical Islam, they fall short.
Labeling Imam Rauf as a moderate does not make him moderate, any more than Jews for Jesus are Jews or the mosque project is a [method of] healing. There are moderate Muslims for whom America was not an “accessory” to 9/11, terrorism is not a “complex question” and Osama Bin Laden was “not made in the USA”.
But first, the identity of the donors.
Manhattan
