Stunning turn for ADL
By Charles Jacobs

Hip, hip, hurray!

In a major shift, one that may alter the course of Jewish-Muslim relations in this country, the Anti-Defamation League announced on Monday that a much heralded effort by American Muslim organizations to root out radicalism in their communities was a "sham."

The ADL said that in response to the growing number of reports that American Muslims were involved in terror plots, national Muslim-American organizations had pledged to tackle the problem of "radicalization" in their communities.

National Islamic groups announced that specific efforts to deal with the issue had been initiated at a major Muslim convention last month. The chair of the conference, which was convened in Chicago by the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle of North America, called for Islam to be "clean and clear of all extremism."

But instead, according to the ADL, the convention "served as a forum for religious scholars and political activists to rail against Jews." Speakers described Jews as "the worst kind of people" and claimed that "Allah gave us the Jews" as the primary historical and religious example of those who "take the wrong path." Other speakers said America was at war with Islam and that it is a Muslim duty to "liberate [all of] Palestine" - a clear call for the annihilation of the Jewish state.

The ADL reported that books and CDs by radical anti-Semitic sheikhs such as Yusuf al- Qaradawi and Anwar al-Awlaki were on sale at this "anti-radicalism" conference. (The ADL has called al-Qaradawi a "theologian of hatred"; al-Awlaki was allegedly consulted by Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused Fort Hood killer.)

The ADL's direct, specific and public condemnation of these major American Muslim organizations marks a belated but welcome stunning turn of events that will reverberate around the country - and I hope here in Boston, where a multimilliondollar, Saudi-funded Islamic Center, built by the Islamic Society of Boston, is now run by the Muslim American Society. The society, according to federal authorities, is "the American face of the Muslim Brotherhood" - the ideological and operational center of the global jihad. Yusuf al-Qaradawi was for years listed on the sworn filings of the Islamic Society of Boston as a member of the mosque's board.

It is particularly meaningful that the ADL focused on the tactic of deception employed by mainstream Muslim groups. Around the country, Jews and others have entered into dialogues with Muslim groups, some directly linked to the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle. Jewish public acceptance is a chief goal of radical Islamist groups, which, in effect, get a key to the city when given a "pass" by its Jews.

We will be watching to see if this important ADL statement actually heralds a new direction for the organization, which I and others have criticized for being too "politically correct" on the issue of radical Islam. (See my last Advocate column, "Where is our Leadership," Jan. 1). It is hard to change the culture of such a large organization. Incredibly, just last week, when a Muslim man had to be physically removed from an airplane in Miami as he was ranting about wanting to "kill all the Jews," the ADL's Miami director told reporters that the incident showed "that anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews is still very much a part of society." Society!? That is precisely the sort of PC selfdeception that national director Abraham Foxman will have to squelch at the ADL.

We have high hopes that the ADL's pivot marks the start of a serious strategic effort to confront the most daunting threat our community faces. Leading Jewish organizations need to conduct conferences around the country on global Islamic anti-Semitism and Islamist penetration of American society. They need to focus attention on the Saudi lobby and its impact on silencing scrutiny and criticism of anything Islamic. They need to mobilize efforts to spur congressmen to address these issues, none more pressing than that of Muslim anti-Semitism in the universities, a large and growing problem that is being mostly ignored. They need to reach out to Christians, Hindus and moderate Muslims, who have - more than Jews, in many places - been targets of radical Islam.

Charles Jacobs is president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance.