There was a fair amount of surprise when ADL went on record opposing the construction of a progressive, moderate, multifaith dialogue-oriented Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan. Wait a minute, my (non-Jewish) boyfriend asked me, did they drop a letter from their name? Are they the Defamation League now?
The debate has focused on the new Muslim community center’s location in lower Manhattan, but the opposition (who refer to it as the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’) is driven by a deeper, reflexive antagonism. They stand against what proponents of the center are setting out to create: a space for American Islam.
Sasha Polakow-Suransky reported last month in The Guardian that he had found evidence that Israel planned to sell nuclear warheads to South Africa in 1975, prompting the Israeli government to issue an official denial. Polakow-Suransky’s new book, “The Unspoken Alliance” is a history of Israel’s military alliance with apartheid South Africa.
Doonesbury creator Gary Trudeau picks up an unfortunate thread in his latest cartoon, in which a character ponders the superiority of Jesus to the wrathful OT deity, and inferences are made regarding moneychangers and usury.
As its annual policy conference kicks off this weekend, AIPAC tamps down concerns about a U.S.-Israel rift, but still faces its worst fear in a challenge from U.S. military commanders: Will the link between destabilization in the rest of the Middle East and the crisis in Israel/Palestine become normalized in the minds of Americans?
