[The following, by Charles Jacobs, appears in this week's The Jewish Advocate.]

We may have a breakthrough. For seven years now, a small group of activists has been trying to convince Boston's Jewish leaders that the Roxbury mega-mosque constitutes a danger to our community because it is funded and headed by people and organizations whose goal is to radicalize the Hub's historically moderate Muslim community. As part of this effort, Islamic anti-Semitic, anti- Christian, anti-gay and antiwomen teachings stemming from that mosque - in text and on video (see www.peaceandtolerance.org) - were shown to a specially convened Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) committee and to several Boston area rabbis.

The evidence is so clear that two weeks ago in the Advocate I risked writing: "Even Boston's progressive rabbis will some day be forced to say publicly that the MAS is a problem."

Well it was nice to see in the same edition of the Advocate that 51 Boston rabbis published a letter, the key quote being: "We are mindful that there are legitimate questions and concerns that need to be addressed regarding funding sources, leadership and positions taken by leaders in Islamic community centers and mosques." (Italics mine.)

Does this constitute a breakthrough? I'm not sure. The rabbis prefaced their "legitimate concerns" with the now obligatory "progressive" meme: that there is a wave of Islamophobia in the land and we Jews, who have been "the Other," must rush to the front lines against this sin of prejudice. It is in the context of this siege of hate against the Muslim community, the rabbis are saying, that Jews have to negotiate our concerns about Muslim teachings of hate and violence.

But this stipulated "wave of anti-Muslim bigotry" is a canard. FBI data show that Jews in America suffer 10 times the number of attacks that Muslims do. Indeed, Americans have been extraordinarily welcoming and forbearing toward Muslims in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the Fort Hood massacre, the Times Square bombing plot and many other terrorist plots (now Chicago synagogues, it seems) carried out in the name of Islam. Nor have Americans become hateful of Muslims in general because of the preaching in mosques and cultural centers against Jews, Christianity and America. Americans can tell the difference between Muslims and Muslim extremists. But progressives - and I think particularly progressives who are rabbis - cannot. In their minds, warnings about radical Islam become attacks on all Muslims. Why?

The "Islamophobia" myth is an Islamist political tool, made all the more powerful because it serves Jewish psychological needs. Attributing Jewish-Muslim conflict to our behavior makes us feel safer: All we have to do is approach the Muslim world with good hearts, and Islamic animus will melt. Second, the idea of "Islamophobia" - that "we" constitute a danger to Muslims - distracts from the real dangers the Jewish world faces from Islamic anti-Semitism. It's frightening for Jews to think Muslim antipathy stems from widely held interpretations of Islamic theology - or is an effective, and therefore permanent, weapon of Islamist politics. It is soothing for Jews to think Muslim antipathy is a natural reaction to our own prejudiced behavior. Finally, waving the "Islamophobia" flag (almost) ensures you won't get "Juan-Williamsed" out of your NPR-ish social circles.

"Islamophobia" is a narcotic, a soporific, a moral certification program for a people who (rightly) wants to champion underdogs. The denial of the obvious - that important elements of the Muslim world have a theological problem with Jews, infidels, gays, women, democracy - serves vital Jewish social and psychic needs. But not our interests.

Thankfully our rabbis tell us that there are legitimate concerns about mosques and Islamic centers. But what they propose - that we tone down the language, engage in "non polemical discourse about difficult issues" and meet with the Muslims - misses the mark. It evades the elephant in the room, the very question debated in Boston for seven years: Are there radical Islamic groups here who mean us harm, groups whose goals include convincing the Jews to accept and certify them as moderates? Getting approval from a city's Jews is a pass into the city - non-Jews would naturally assume Jews would have the most to lose by legitimizing anti-Semitic radicals, and would therefore be the best ones to do the vetting. The key question, ignored by the rabbis here, is which Muslims to engage with?

The Muslim American Society (MAS), Boston's most powerful Islamic group, runs the Saudi-funded Roxbury mega mosque. The MAS is, according to federal prosecutors, an "overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood." Those are the fellows that spawned the global jihad. In Israel, the Brotherhood branch is called Hamas. Throughout the United States, the Brotherhood founded dozens of MAS organizations. MAS then, is Hamas' brother. MAS here will not condemn Hamas there. MAS - and the Islamic Society of Boston, which built the mosque - are the gatekeepers to Boston's Muslim community. Jews did dialogue with them. Our rabbis and the JCRC were deceived - with smiling faces - while mosque leaders wrote anti-Jewish screeds in Arabic, hosted anti-Semitic preachers and organized campaigns against Israel. If the rabbis - or the JCRC - give them a "pass," by engaging them in more "dialogue," they will have betrayed not only Boston Jews, but all Boston citizens.

It's absolutely vital for us to build bridges to our Muslim neighbors, but it's equally vital for us not to validate their radical leadership. That is the challenge for our rabbis. It will take courage, wisdom and new approaches. It's not going to be easy, but then effective Jewish leadership has never been.