Liberal Jews Open Door to 9/11 Mosque

A plan to build a Muslim community center and mosque near the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks in Lower Manhattan has drawn fierce opposition, despite the moderate reputation of the imam spearheading the effort.

Community members voted to support the project, and Jewish leaders who have worked with Feisal Abdul Rauf speak highly of the imam’s commitment to interfaith dialogue. But some also advise respect for the objections to the center that have been raised by certain victims’ families, who view it as an affront to the memory of those who died nearly nine years ago.

“The families of the victims of 9/11 don’t have to make distinctions about who in the Muslim community they’re dealing with,” said Rabbi Michael Paley, scholar-in-residence at UJA-Federation of New York. “And so I’m openhearted. At the same time, I can’t think of anybody that’s been more present for interfaith dialogue, and particularly the needs of the Jewish community, than Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan.” Khan is Rauf’s wife, and the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, one of the groups spearheading the project.

Read it all here.

Rabbi Michael Paley has been criticised by Richard Silverstein, another liberal Jew for succumbing to pressure to "withdraw from interfaith dialogue projects. Rabbi Michael Paley was once a member of Debbie Almontaser’s support committee and listed as a keynote speaker at one of Rabbi Schneier’s conferences. He backed out of both projects mysteriously."

One would think that Silverstein would understand why people are upset, angry and fearful about a mosque at Ground Zero.  He has experienced terroristic threats first hand.  Here is what happened as reported at Richard Silverstein's blog:  

I was the western director of New Jewish Agenda in the 1980s during a time when Alex Odeh, then director of the Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee, was assassinated by a letter bomb probably orchestrated by members of the Jewish Defense League. I received a voice mail message from the JDL’s Earl Krugel threatening our group and reported this to the FBI and agreed to meet investigators in my office. I was excoriated by some Agenda members for doing so. My view is that when my life is threatened I’m going to have to trust somebody.

A chilld of the 60s, Silverstein doesn't get the reality of evil organizing against decent folks who want to worship according to their conscience.  That's not what Islamic Jihad intends for the free world.  Silverstein and Paley better wake up soon.  They and their liberal Jewish friends (even this moderate Imam) are being used and when Islamic extremists finish with them, they will be pushed aside or crushed.