Jewish World Review Dec. 20, 2001 / 6 Teves, 5762

Jeff Jacoby

Jeff Jacoby
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

How to condemn terror

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com -- "FOR anyone who was not convinced of Osama bin Laden's complicity in the events of Sept. 11," says the message posted on the web site of the Council on American Islamic Relations, "the content of this videotape should remove all doubt."

It's a good, strong statement -- the kind of clear renunciation of Islamist terror one would expect from a moderate, mainstream Muslim-American organization. Except that CAIR is neither moderate nor mainstream -- and its criticism of bin Laden, posted after the airing of the tape in which the Al Qaeda mastermind laughs about the slaughter at the World Trade Center, marks the first time it has ever condemned him or any Islamist terrorist by name. Until last week, CAIR had stoutly refused even to concede that bin Laden is a terrorist. Its new stance may strike reasonable people as too little, too late.

Most American Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding, and they bristle at any suggestion that they condone Islamist terrorism. Their resentment is understandable -- but so is the skepticism of those who observe the reluctance of Muslim leaders to speak out strongly against those who commit or facilitate terror in the name of Islam.

Earlier this month the Bush adminstration froze the assets of the Holy Land Foundation, an Islamic charity that experts have long identified as a financial backer of the Hamas terror organization. One might have expected leading Muslim Americans to express outrage at Holy Land's deceit, or horror that money given to charity had been used to underwrite murder.

Instead, they blasted the government. Eight organizations, including CAIR, the American Muslim Alliance, and the Islamic Society of North America, signed a statement accusing the Bush administration of "succumbing" to "smear campaigns" by supporters of Israel and warning that the shutdown of Holy Land "can only damage America's credibility with Muslims."

From Muslim leaders nationwide came similar statements. "I personally am very outraged by the president's decision," said Kamal Koraitem, vice president of the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, Calif. In New Jersey, the president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County denounced the closure of Holy Land as "an attack on Islam and Muslims." The message it sends, declared Yousef al-Yousef, the founder of American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice, is "that they're really after us."

By contrast, consider the response of American Jews last week when the FBI arrested two officials of the Jewish Defense League. JDL Chairman Irv Rubin and West Coast coordinator Earl Krugel were charged with plotting to blow up a California mosque and an office of US Representative Darrell Issa, an Arab-American. The reaction from Jewish organizations and spokesmen was almost instantaneous:

  • On the day of the arrests, the Anti-Defamation League's Western regional director denounced Rubin and Krugel as "thugs and hooligans." On its web site, the ADL announced that it "commends the FBI for its diligence" and reviles "the contemptible activities of the JDL and its leadership."

  • The Simon Wiesenthal Center said the same day that it was "horrified" to learn of the JDL plot and noted that "our comunity has zero tolerance for those who commit hate crimes."

  • Six Jewish members of Congress joined Issa at a Capitol Hill news conference and condemned the JDL as a "terrorist group."

  • The American Jewish Committee slammed the JDL plot as "terrorism, plain and simple." In a letter to Issa, the AJC's president and executive director expressed "shock and disgust" at the alleged plot. "We are especially pained and horrified," they wrote, "that any of our fellow American Jews might plan or condone acts of terror -- for such wanton lawlessness is so clearly contrary to the fundamental tenets of our faith."

  • The Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America issued a joint statement stressing that nothing in "Jewish tradition or practice [can] legitimize terrorist bombings of innocent individuals, their homes, or their houses of worship."

  • The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, representing 900 congregations and more than 1,700 Reform rabbis, praised the FBI for its counterterrorism work and "unequivocally" censured any attack against Arab Americans. "Let us be clear: Hate crimes are anathema to Jewish values."

  • In a column JWR, Greg Crosby vilified the JDL: "With Jews like you, who needs Palestinian terrorists?"

  • Another one of our columnists, Jonah Goldberg, minced no words, recommending life in prison for "these incandescently idiotic thugs." Indeed, he wrote, "I'm hoping the United States will be extra tough on these guys -- because they're Jews."

All of these denunciations were made within 48 hours of the arrests -- and the list doesn't include the many individual rabbis and comunity leaders who also spoke out. There was no reluctance, no excuse making, no laments that Jews were being victimized. The Jewish community reacts to terrorism with open disgust and anger, all the more so on the rare occasions when the terrorists themselves are Jews. The Muslim community should learn to do likewise.


Jeff Jacoby is a Boston Globe columnist. Comment by clicking here.

12/18/01: Greenland once was
12/14/01: Parents who never said ''no''
12/11/01: Wit and (economic) wisdom
12/07/01: THE PALESTINIANS' MYTH
12/04/01: The war against Israel goes on
11/30/01: Tribunals, motorcycles -- and freedom
11/19/01: Friendship and the House of Saud
11/12/01: The Justice Department's unjust monopoly
11/09/01: Muslim, but not extremist
11/02/01: Too good for Oprah
10/29/01: Journalism and the 'neutrality fetish'
10/26/01: Derail these subsidies
10/22/01: Good and evil in the New York Times
10/15/01: Rush Limbaugh's ear
10/08/01: With allies like these
10/01/01: An unpardonable act
09/28/01: THE CENSORS ARE COMING! THE CENSORS ARE COMING!
09/25/01: Speaking out against terror
09/21/01: What the terrorists saw
09/17/01: Calling evil by its name
09/13/01: Our enemies mean what they say
09/04/01: The real bigots
08/31/01: Shrugging at genocide
08/28/01: Big Brother's privacy -- or ours?
08/24/01: The mufti's message of hate
08/21/01: Remembering the 'Wall of Shame'
08/16/01: If I were the editor ...
08/14/01: If I were the Transportation Czar ...
08/10/01: Import quotas 'steel' from us all
08/07/01: Is gay "marriage" a threat?
08/03/01: A colorblind nominee
07/27/01: Eminent-domain tortures
07/24/01: On protecting the flag ... and drivers ... and immigrants
07/20/01: Dying for better mileage
07/17/01: Why Americans would rather drive
07/13/01: Do these cabbies look like bigots?
07/10/01: 'Defeated in the bedroom'
07/06/01: Who's white? Who's Hispanic? Who cares?
07/02/01: Big(oted) man on campus
06/29/01: Still appeasing China's dictators
06/21/01: Cuban liberty: A test for Bush
06/19/01: The feeble 'arguments' against capital punishment
06/12/01: What energy crisis?
06/08/01: A jewel in the crown of self-government
05/31/01: The settlement myth
05/25/01: An award JFK would have liked
05/22/01: No Internet taxes? No problem
05/18/01: Heather has five mommies (and a daddy)
05/15/01: An execution, not a lynching
05/11/01: Losing the common tongue
05/08/01: Olympics 2008: Say no to Beijing
05/04/01: Do welfare mothers a kindness: Make them work
05/01/01: Another man's child
04/24/01: Sharon should have said no
04/02/01: The Inhumane Society
03/30/01: To have a friend, Caleb, be a friend
03/27/01: Is Chief Wahoo racist?
03/22/01: Ending the Clinton appeasement
03/20/01: They're coming for you
03/16/01: Kennedy v. Kennedy
03/13/01: We should see McVeigh die
03/09/01: The Taliban's wrecking job
03/07/01: The No. 1 reason to cut taxes
03/02/01: A Harvard candidate's silence on free speech
02/27/01: A lesson from Birmingham jail
02/20/01: How Jimmy Carter got his good name back
02/15/01: Cashing in on the presidency
02/09/01: The debt for slavery -- and for freedom
02/06/01: The reparations calculation
02/01/01: The freedom not to say 'amen'
01/29/01: Chavez's 'hypocrisy': Take a closer look
01/26/01: Good-bye, good riddance
01/23/01: When everything changed (mostly for the better)
01/19/01: The real zealots
01/16/01: Pardon Clinton?
01/11/01: The fanaticism of Linda Chavez
01/09/01: When Jerusalem was divided
01/05/01 THEY NEVER FORGOT THEE, O JERUSALEM
12/29/00 Liberal hate speech, 2000
12/15/00Does the Constitution expect poor children be condemned to lousy government schools?
12/08/00 Powell is wrong man to run State Department
12/05/00 The 'MCAS' teens give each other
12/01/00 Turning his back on the Vietnamese -- again
11/23/00 Why were the Pilgrims thankful?
11/21/00 The fruit of this 'peace process' is war
11/13/00 Unleashing the lawyers
11/17/00 Gore's mark on history
40 reasons to say NO to Gore

© 2001, Boston Globe