Arab/ US Journalist Returns Prize to Jewish ADL
The Anti-Defamation League said it is "stunned" that Newsweek columnist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria is returning an award from the group in protest of its stance over the planned mosque near ground zero in New York City.
The Arab-American Zakaria returned the award, saying that the ADL's calls for the project to be relocated compromised its mission to fight discrimination.
"I am not only saddened but stunned and somewhat speechless by your decision," ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said in a letter on the group's website. "I would have expected you to reach out to me before coming to judgment."
The planned expansion of an Islamic community center, including a mosque, a few blocks from the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has led to bitter debate. Families of the victims say the center would be an insult to the memory of the dead who were murdered by Islamic fanatics. To them, building a Islamic Mosque in the ashes of the destruction would be akin to building a German shrine next to a former slave-labor camp. Left leaning figures like Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that forcing its relocation would be an un-American act of intolerance.
The ADL took a more nuanced position. It said that the project's leaders had the right to go ahead with the project as they saw fit. Still, the ADL argued that the center should be moved out of sensitivity towards the raw feelings of those affected by the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, which killed more than 2,700 people.
"We are ever mindful of the tragedy which befell our nation there, the pain we all still feel," the ADL said last month. "We believe the City of New York would be better served if an alternative location could be found."
Zakaria said this stance betrayed the ADL's principles. He applauded the Islamic center as an example of moderate Islam that is compatible with American ideals. Newsweek is one of the better known liberal magazines.
The 46-year-old returned the Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize that the ADL awarded him in 2005, along with the $10,000 prize that went with it.
"What is at stake here is the integrity of the ADL and its fidelity to its mission," Zakaria said in a letter to the group. "This decision will haunt the ADL for years if not decades to come." See Chick's WHO CARES?
The Arab-American Zakaria returned the award, saying that the ADL's calls for the project to be relocated compromised its mission to fight discrimination.
"I am not only saddened but stunned and somewhat speechless by your decision," ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said in a letter on the group's website. "I would have expected you to reach out to me before coming to judgment."
The planned expansion of an Islamic community center, including a mosque, a few blocks from the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has led to bitter debate. Families of the victims say the center would be an insult to the memory of the dead who were murdered by Islamic fanatics. To them, building a Islamic Mosque in the ashes of the destruction would be akin to building a German shrine next to a former slave-labor camp. Left leaning figures like Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that forcing its relocation would be an un-American act of intolerance.
The ADL took a more nuanced position. It said that the project's leaders had the right to go ahead with the project as they saw fit. Still, the ADL argued that the center should be moved out of sensitivity towards the raw feelings of those affected by the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, which killed more than 2,700 people.
"We are ever mindful of the tragedy which befell our nation there, the pain we all still feel," the ADL said last month. "We believe the City of New York would be better served if an alternative location could be found."
Zakaria said this stance betrayed the ADL's principles. He applauded the Islamic center as an example of moderate Islam that is compatible with American ideals. Newsweek is one of the better known liberal magazines.
The 46-year-old returned the Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize that the ADL awarded him in 2005, along with the $10,000 prize that went with it.
"What is at stake here is the integrity of the ADL and its fidelity to its mission," Zakaria said in a letter to the group. "This decision will haunt the ADL for years if not decades to come." See Chick's WHO CARES?
posted by chickcomics | 2:29 AM
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