It's happened: the Anti-Defamation League has overplayed its hand (in this case, neoconservative Islamophobia) in such a glaring manner that it is being condemned at every quarter-- a statement from the group opposing the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. The statement openly abandons civil rights, standing for no principle at all except majoritarian intolerance:
Proponents of the Islamic Center may have every right to build at this site, and may even have chosen the site to send a positive message about Islam. The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong. But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain – unnecessarily – and that is not right.
MJ Rosenberg says that ADL has joined the bigots. Joshua Holland at AlterNet: "I guess the once-important ADL is admitting that it’s an organization dedicated not to combatting hatred and bigotry, but simply another organ pushing far-right, Islamophobic conspiracy theories." Krugman at the Times has also landed on the ADL: "One thing I thought Jews were supposed to understand is that they need to be advocates of universal rights, not just rights for their particular group."
The Economist blog nails it:
IN LIGHT of the Anti-Defamation League's recent statement opposing the construction of an Islamic centre near Ground Zero, they ought to no longer claim that their organisation fights "all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and supports civil rights for all." More accurate would be saying that the ADL fights some forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals except when it comes to Muslim Americans exercising their right to worship, and supports civil rights for all except when such support would bother some people.
Read that statement and tell me if you've ever seen anything so lily-livered and equivocating
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called on ADL to retract the statement:
"It is shocking that a group claiming to seek 'justice and fair treatment for all' would side with those engaged in one of the most egregious Islamophobic smear campaigns in recent memory," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "We ask the ADL to reconsider and retract this ill-considered and divisive statement. With its shameful statement, the ADL is exploiting and fueling the rising level of anti-Islam sentiment in our society." Awad urged ADL members to contact the Jewish group's leaders to express their opposition to the statement against the Islamic community center.
Alex Pareene at Salon:
Opposition to the Cordoba House was limited, initially, to right-wing populist kooks like the editorial board of the New York Post, and their rage-columnist Andrew Peyser. Then it went national, as people who know damn well what they're doing stoked ethnic resentments and encouraged plenty of otherwise decent people to give in to base fears of scary Arabs who want to kill you, all of you, because that is their nature.
Remember that Brian Lehrer, the progressive talk show host at WNYC, licensed this sort of intolerance with his show on which he grilled the wife of the mosque's imam for her views re Israel. Note too that the Krugman places the discussion in a very Jewish context. His headline is "Bad for the Jews" and he concludes "We can't afford to live in a tribal world." But he has also declared at the start, "Outside my usual beat," which is a lame effort to rationalize his abdication on an issue that could hurt his reputation, Israel/Palestine, which is truly important tribal politics that is hurting the U.S. and which he is just as implicated as he obviously feels himself to be by the ADL's grotesque statement.
Jeffrey Goldberg, although disdained by this blog, also came out against the ADL statement.
good
Wondering Jew,
Its good that he came out against it. That was the right thing to do. Now just because he took a stand for justice in this issue, why should be ignore his opinions on other things that we deem to be immoral and unjust?
Saleema, you are right. I was pointing out how widespread the rejection of the ADL’s statement was. I was not stating that therefore everything that J. Goldberg said or says is now kosher. Jonathan Chait in the New Republic also came out against the ADL. Again not vindicating everything that Chait ever wrote, but that the rejection of the ADL stance is quite widespread.
” is now kosher.”
Who made you head Rabbi?
Wondering Jew, when I suggested that a slight bit more hypocrisy, that waiting a few seconds before you went on a ziocaine jag, and possibly preserving a silence or even producing a temporising statement might be better hasbara, I never expected you to follow my advice. It wasn’t good advice. It will not attract the kind of people you want, and on you, it hardly looks good.
But of course, we all know the rules, one somewhat non-bigoted or moderate statement wipes out everything else you ever said.
The ADL abandoned any pretense of being a civil rights organization when it became an advocate for Zionism and its settler-state Israel. Ever since the ADL’s position on any issue depends upon how it views said position will effect the settler-state. The days when the ADL could be considered a civil rights organization are long gone, as its first consideration is whether or not the organizations struggling for a particular minority’s rights are supportive of Israel.
The emergence of the ADL in the first place seems rather shaky as it tried to lend support for a murderer who it claimed was railroaded for his ethnicity. The lynching was a response by locals convinced the murderer largely skated justice because of his ethnicity.
Today seems beset as well by factions with and without power using means legal and extralegal to try to get their way.
“Catch-22 means people have the right to do to you anything which you cannot prevent them from doing to you.” ~ Joseph Heller in interview with the “Great Books” series
Perhaps abe foxman and his sidekick wondering jew would like to explain this?
Here’s a settler stealing a sheep from a Palestinian. Such a sheep could easily be sold for $600 US.
link to youtube.com
Thou shall not steal, unless thou are stealing from Palestinians.
The day will come when these colonists will turn on Israelis, and the state will disintegrate from within. With such barbarism, something’s got to give. The system will not be able to sustain itself.
All the sheep in Eretz Israel are either Jewish-owned or wild, and thus can be taken by anyone.
Don’t forget that Israel invented sheep.
“Don’t forget that Israel invented sheep.”
They had to have some entertainment to pass the time during those warm summer evenings. There wasn’t fox television way back then, you know.
;D
I see what you did there. :)
Avi, let them elope already. Love erases all distinctions.
How does ape foxman think dancing Israelis and a prime minister saying that 9/11 is, “Good for Israel” supposed to make the victims feel?
And what of the Muslim victims in the towers? Does this ape foxman think that only Christians worked at the twin towers?
But, who am I kidding?! The ADL is yet another tentacle of octopus that is The Lobby, so this comes as no surprise.
respect. well said.
Only Jews worked in the WTC, and it was another installment of the Holocaust.
Jews own Ground Zero, and they own 9/11
Most of the mainstream media and politicians either know, suspect or fear that Israel had a hand in 9/11.
I think we’ve been hoodwinked all these years, being told adl stood for Anti Defamation League, when in reality it has always been an acronym for Arsewipes Devoid of Legitimacy.
Will Chaim Saban offer his opinion on an ADL apology — should there actually be an apology — much in the same way he did with Oliver Stone’s apology?
What CAIR should do, is refuse to accept an apology and say that it’s not enough.
Or if one is given (unlikely) claim that it is fake.
ADL, AIPAC, Simon Wiesenthal Center, J Street, etc. etc.
To me, they all function under the functional principle of:
” All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.
Fundamental philosophy behind them is racist, by definition.
The blog comments all over the web are reflecting a wave of revulsion against the far-right Israel-Firster/neocons. If the MSM were reporting this correctly, Israel would know that it’s losing the PR war in the USA. There is a deep disgust, and it includes American Jews who feel duped, and resent being taken advantage of.
I maintain that the situation is the tip of the iceberg. I think that what was hidden is now coming out. I don’t think this is anything new. I think this is what Danaa and I have noticed in the interstices of society, and commented on at various times during the past 18 months.
This strikes me as a little harsh on Krugman. His economic analyses are invaluable, and so brilliant that I buy the idea that he doesn’t have much energy to give to other issues.
And on this, I thought he made his point well. It’s an important point. Although Phil is right that the Jewish interest angle (perpetrator’s perspective) is way over-covered on these questions, as opposed to the primary “victim’s” angle. (We saw this with the flotilla, outrage not that people – Muslims after all – were being killed, but that Israel was damaging its own image.)
But people needn’t be surprised by this behavior from the ADL. Far from being some sort of anti-bigotry organization, they have long been a full-on hate group.
robin,
While you make a good point, I must disagree for the reasons that Phil already mentioned above.
Why can’t Krugman practice what he preaches? If he’s concerned with universal rights, then why frame the entire issue in terms of “Is this good for Jews?” He can’t have it both ways.
Avi, I think Krugman framed it the way he did both to protect his flank and to voice his own deep concerns about the dangerous undercurrents he no doubt notices among members of his tribe (epecially neocon central). He realizes that his words carry considerable weight and many many Jewish people are among his friends and fans, ssome of whom no doubt urged him to lend hi voice. If we, on Mondoweiss, can see gathering dark clouds on the horizon, flames fanned by the unpleasant triumphalism that we see now and then in the august page of the NYT, surely he does too. In the past he has alluded to page long comments made on his blog – typically from the mad right wing direction – that were clearly meant to sabotage (which is why there’s now a new rule limiting the length of the comments). But he has also referred to the anti-semitic comments that come his way, and has no doubt seen an uptick in those. I believe that he mut realize that an unfortuitous alliance between the Palin branch of crazy and the neoconutcases is bad enough. To have this “bond” cemented by ADL must surely have added to hi alarm. Nonetheless, seeing as he is venturing outside his own area of concern, he probably felt compelled to point out that on this matter he speaks as another person from within the circle.
I imagine the chosen words betray more than anything his extreme discomfort that people clearly identified as Jewish should so lend a hand to support religious bigotry directed at another group. It’ s a knife that once unsheathed can easily be turned around is something that bears a reminder now and then.
Now, how much do you think I should charge Krugman for this fine piece of apologetics?
I’m not sure. But, your post puts it succinctly. You’ve convinced me.
For another angle, see also pilgrimsoul’s comment below….
The big bluff is gradually getting called. If you read the rest of this you will see the most irrelevant nonsense about ‘age-old stereotypes’ being trotted out to supposedly explain why it is taboo to identify jewish campaign contributions:
Democratic congressman fires staffer for ‘Jewish money’ list
Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz, Jul 31 2010
link to haaretz.com
Despite the upcoming congressional elections November, Jewish Democrats and Republicans found themselves awkwardly united this week, following the embarrassing public relations lapse of Democratic congressman Mike McMahon’s reelection campaign, whose staff released on Thursday a list of 80 Jewish donors who contributed to the campaign of his Republican rival, Mike Grimm…
The big bluff being that these people have gotten away with not being called out that they are a special interest. Why is it OK to demonize “Big Oil” and “money from BP” and not look at these folks, who donate to politicians in order to get favors and money for a foreign country.
These people (as Bob Dole put it a long time ago) are “not just interested in good government.” Any reasonable person would surmise that the money going to politicians is part of the money that the politicians are giving to Israel. Its a totally corrupt scheme. The politicians take billions from the US treasury to give to Israel and then a small portion of it cycles back to campaign contributions to benefit Israel.
What I mean by the ‘big bluff’ here is specifically the assertion that to quantify or even mention jewish money is to resort to ‘age-old stereotypes’. It isn’t. It is simply factual data, just like arab money is.
Compare the Israel Lobby (or Zionist Lobby, your choice of appellation) to the China Lobby of Luce and Kai-Shek.
Truman was so nice to one, and so harsh to the other, and I believe, Roosevelt was the inverse?
rowan, someone posted that here yesterday and we talked about it in the thread. i can’t remember which thread it was..
Truman never had a Taiwan business partner, nor was Luce rude like the Zionists, so rude Truman swore not to see them again–but his old Jewish business partner pleaded with him and they were long time friends so he caved in; not to mention Truman needed Zionist money to defeat Dewey. Otherwise, Truman’s usual attitude was the one he gave regarding Hitler versus Stalin, which was if Hitler’s ahead, I support Stalin, and visa versa, and let’s hope in the mean time they kill each other off.
If this is an AIPAC campaign against McMahon, the fact that the donors are out-of-state Jews is most certainly newsworthy.
Whatever criticism and condemnation the ADL/Abe Foxman bigotry draws, it will nevertheless provide the cover New York City is seeking to kill the Islamic cultural center. City Council members, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and others will now feel ‘safe’ condemning the project.
And other projects, on Staten Island, in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn and elsewhere, will be (in the case of Staten Island, already have been) blocked with far less national awareness.
What next? The banning of head scarves within one mile of “Ground Zero”?
I don’t really want to think about what comes next. Logically, we have our blueprint for fanatical racial/religious intolerance and where that leads.
Do I have to spell it out explicitly? Open a history book.
Yep, because according to the ADL @ NYT:
Perfect cover.
Irrational feelings of the few legitimizing bigotry. And he phrases it this way: others.
In effect, he has just legitimized the actions of people who lose loved ones and decide to commit terrorist acts.
Foxman wasn’t so concerned about not hurting the feelings of survivors of genocides when he opposed a congressional resolution on the Armenian genocide.
how does foxman know how all the survivors feel? might there be many survivors who agree the mosque should be there?
“Survivors of the Holocaust are entitled to feelings that are irrational,” he said. Referring to the loved ones of Sept. 11 victims, he said, “Their anguish entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted.”
Entitled
In pepertutity
With total immunity
Forever and ever
Amen.
What are they on now ?..their third generation of entitlement?
Annie,
let’s assume he has some divine revelation regarding how these families felt, on which to base his statement
It still does not stand up to reason. It justifies anything and everything under the sun in the name of the “entitlement” resulting from “anguish”. Yet, by abrogating reason, he is using intimidation tactics.
Perfect example! What Jewish or democratic or institutional or any other process did Foxman go through to come up with the feelings of the Survivors on the Mosque issue? Did he even do a cursory poll?
All it takes is chutzpah and a microphone to be King of the Jews. Unbelievable.
>> Proponents of the Islamic Center may have every right to build at this site, and may even have chosen the site to send a positive message about Islam. The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong. But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain – unnecessarily – and that is not right.
That’s a very definitive statement! By contrast:
———————————
“ADL believes that a Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem can be an important institution for educating against bias and for respect and understanding. We trust that the same tenets that undergird the museum’s mission will be applied to finding a resolution to address the concerns of the Muslim community and the families of those whose graves have been discovered.”
“We encourage a temporary cessation of construction until the issue is resolved in a respectful way acceptable to all parties. To do less would weaken the foundation upon which a museum of tolerance stands.”
———————————
Causing “more pain – unnecessarily” doesn’t seem to matter so much in this case. I wonder why…
Foxman can’t spell. “Desecrated” is not spelled d-i-s-c-o-v-e-r-e-d
The ADL is a big promoter of Holocaust Museums all over the US. The main one has its board appointed by the president, and receives around $40 million a year of public funding.
Turnabout is fair play. Shouldn’t the ’9/11 Memorial Mosque’ have a presidentially-appointed board too, and its own $40 million annual subsidy to promote tolerance and universal values?
Abe Foxman protests that the mosque’s presence near the site of a massacre perpetrated by Muslims may disturb 9/11 victims. Perhaps, but survivors of the Jewish-perpetrated USS Liberty attack doubtless feel the same way about a Holocaust Museum provocatively situated in the shadow of the Capitol which denied them justice.
“Tenets that undergird”? Time to buy a new phrase-making machine, Abe, this one is showing signs of fatigue.
Good news. Foxman is helping the cause.
Nytimes article called him a holocaust survivor. Does that make me a WWII veteran since my grandfather fought in the war?
All Jews are honorary Holocaust survivors. It’s the entire point of the Holocaust idolatry.
potsherd, I would like you to retract that comment above. It’s hurtful and innacurate.
“potsherd, I would like you to retract that comment above. It’s hurtful and innacurate.”
And exactly what the fuck are you gonna do about it if he doesn’t macher? Weep, wail, moan and gnash your dentures?
It might help if you set the “Notepad” program to its largest type size and printed out the words “I do not control the discourse at Mondoweiss” and paste it over your screen.
But I ask you again, chump, exactly what do you plan to do, except look like a complete fool. How in the hell can you ask others to minimise their narrative? Oh, I forgot…ziocaine amnesia.
Sorry, shouldn’t jeer the disabled. What incredible hypocrisy you display, Max.
Maxila, I want to thank you for not wording that “I respectfully ask…” Laughing to hard this early might could cause me an embolism. I would laugh so hard I’d spit blood.
Mooser I want you to stop the personal attacks. They detract from the discourse and are not valid.
Weep me a river, Max. And put the blame on the high priests of Holocaust idolatry, Abe Foxman and his acolytes.
No it isn’t.
Israel long ago revised the definition of holocaust survivors..it includes ‘all’ Jews who ‘left’ Europe during WWII plus any Jews who lived in countries subject to German control. If a French Jew for instance moved to the US ‘prior’ to German occupation he is a ‘holocaust survivor’.
In fact several years ago Israel sued Germany for more money to ‘provide’ counseling for children and grandchildren of holocaust survivors becuase of their ‘distress” over the holocaust.
It just goes on and on.
I think though. the day is coming when they stick their hand in the cookie jar one too many times and someone cuts it off.
max,
You do not add much in the way of discourse.
>> In fact several years ago Israel sued Germany for more money to ‘provide’ counseling for children and grandchildren of holocaust survivors becuase of their ‘distress” over the holocaust. It just goes on and on.
This proves RW’s point perfectly: We shouldn’t attempt to correct past wrongs. Hmmm…wait a minute…
Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller are behind the attack on the mosque in question–there’s an anti-Muslim hate email going around with lots of pics of both of them at the protest; the doofus Christian
new agers in the ignorant heartland are buying right into it the hate-mongering. Of course they never bother to check out the
portrait of Spencer and Geller easily available in the internet. They are not exactly Barbie and Ken.
The main place I see this sort of anti-semitism and massive trivialization of the holocaust is exactly here on MondoWeiss. I’m asking for you to have some respect for the victims of the holocaust and focus on current issues rather than insults and bashing the survivors of the holocaust.
There is a reason why the comments section of this website is roundly condemned by outside observers, so much so, that it has been the topic of opinion pieces and articles.
Legitimate criticism is ok but for goodness sake, stop delegitimizing holocaust survivors!
Maximal – you are overplaying your hand, just as Foxman did. Who is “delegitimizing” anything? what does the word even mean in this context? what next? accusing us of “demonizing” the survivors?
The problem, maximalist, is not with potsherd or commenters here, who dare suggest that a holocaust is not a hallowed sacred ground to be carved into human memory for all time, but a historical fact, if a highly disturbing one – as were all holocausts. The problem is with self-appointed “guardians” of distress, using emotional language as a cynical ploy to push an agenda of power.
Alas, it is Foxman who is defaming muslims and cheapening the memory of the holocaust, by raising that spectre every chance he gets, whether appropriate or not, acting as the guardian of collective memory, appointed by default.
“Mooser I want you to stop the personal attacks. They detract from the discourse and are not valid.”
There’s an e-mail address for Phil Weiss, oh, somewhere around here. I think you should e-mail him and explain your objections, and tell him what you want done. I don’t see at all what you are talking about.
stop delegitimizing holocaust survivors!
And stop beating your respective wives and/or husbands!
Shmuel, thanks very much. I will relay your entreaty to the “Moosette”. Let’s hope she listens.
potsherd,
if that were the case…
link to normanfinkelstein.com
I hear Elton John is doing a musical of ‘Animal Farm’.
There are several roles I can think of that the racist wretch Abe Foxman could easily be cast as.
p.s. has anyone considered that having a mosque built on ground zero could actually stop crazed lone pyros from attacking the site again for fear of the wrath of their ‘god’?
Here we see another example of portraying Jews as animals which is the first step of delegitimazation devolving into things far worse…
And here we see yet again the holocaust violin inappropriately pulled out again, again, and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!………………………………..
p.s. I am American and have never accepted the legitimacy of zionism or the cucking state of israel – so there buster – wot you gonna do about it?!
Long live Free Palestine!
Now hold on a minute there buster-brown! As America’s largest ungulate, I take severe exception to that remark. There is nothing wrong with being an animal. Let’s see you grow palmate antlers seasonly! You just get a magnificent set going and click the damn things break off and you gotta do it all over again! And itch while they’re growing and the “velvet” is on? From such iorritation you shouldn’t know! Ah, Feh, I bet inter-species compassion and empathy is not among your meager stock of virtues, none of which, I might add (try and stop me!) have been displayed here in any very impressive measures, except your capacity lately for mewling out little punkish demands for apologies.
I’m so glad this isn’t personal. That there might actually be a person on the other end of this made up of the nasty bits you have shown me is a possibility I am trying hard not to consider. And about this I am adamant! If adamant is the word I want, of course. Do you know?
Mooser,
You got time to do a spoofing rhyme or two on Elton’s imminent new musical?
I for one would surely appreciate it!
MaxNar (works much better in Yiddish),
Do you really not understand the relevance of Orwell’s metaphor here, or are you just trying to be a pain in the ass?
Shmuel, he doesn’t have to try.
>> Taxi: I hear Elton John is doing a musical of ‘Animal Farm’. There are several roles I can think of that the racist wretch Abe Foxman could easily be cast as.
>> mN: Here we see another example of portraying Jews as animals which is the first step of delegitimazation devolving into things far worse…
Victimhood appears to make people stupid. Not only did Taxi not mention casting Mr. Foxman as one of the animals in the story (several of which are quite noble) but, from memory, I knew there were at least two human characters in the novel: Mr. Jones, the drunken and abusive farmer and Alfred Simmonds, the Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler. A quick Google confirmed a third: Mr. Frederick, the swindling neighbour. Mr. Foxman would do fine in any of these roles.
No need to wail about victimization. Just “Remember the Holocaust!”
Oliver Stone must be reading the NYT article and saying “WTF??”
Abe Foxman has outed himself as a bigot and he should step down immediately.
A few months back I warned that Shmuley Boteach, a popular rabbi cum commentator, was pushing the insane view that building this mosque was wrong.
They have simply removed their masks and come clean about the bigots they have always been.
Shmuley Boteach is the uncle of Efraim Diveroli.
link to miaminewtimes.com
Turnabout will be fair play.
Congressman releases opponent’s Jewish money list
Its coming. The American public knows that their government is dominated by and in thrall to the small Jewish-elite segment of the population, not the 1.4 percent that is the Jewish population, but maybe a tenth of that, very rich Jews who give politicians money. Its why Sessions kept going after Kagan about her Jewishness; he knows that a third of the Supreme Court being Jewish is preposterous without the money angle.
That’s the same story I was talking about, with my quote from Haaretz. But Annie says this already came up on another thread yesterday.
Rowan, I might have been the one who linked it OT, in a thread a…two days ago, from TPM. But I expect it’ll be popping up for a while as it plays out.
Think of it as white phosphorous Jews uniting with white phosphorous Christians.
Les,
You are wickedly good!
Couple of yeras ago , Iran was in the crosshairs of certain agitprop over “yellow ribbon” after the attempt to entangle Ahmednezad in hostage capture fizzled out.I know a lot of Jewish organizations in US and Cnada were trying to use that to demonize Iran and make an attack on Iran acceptable. I am sure ADL did not denounce these attack dogs but did it also accuse Iran of ” yellow ribbon”?
ADL denonuced Mary Robinson’s noble prize award.
ADL is not antidefamatory organization .It is a mouthpiece of Israel to advance the agenda under a nice name like “good governance for a county or Spread of democracy, or liberal causes for education” -just a throw a name which will resonate with the Western zeitgeist.
My head hurts…
ADL should drop the “A” perhaps?
ADL should drop the “A” perhaps?
Maybe replace it with a “J”?
That would make it a double entendre, no?
That would make it a double entendre, no?
That was the idea.
You too clever for me……
That’s just a nice way of saying unnecessarily vague ;-) Won’t happen again.
* waves her magic wand *
When Krugman writes, “Bad for the Jews,” he’s being deliberately self-deprecating. He’s playing off the tribalism inherent in that phrase to make the point that tribalism doesn’t work any more. It made sense in the past to ask, “If it good for the Jews?” Now, when Jews have some power, and we live in an interconnected world, that’s not enough. Human rights are indivisible.
Anyway, economics is a dismal gig, so I give Krugman that one.
As for Foxman, this is a big turning point, in which it is completely clear that he speaks for the Jabotinksy/Likudnik/neo-con/Lobby axis, and not even remotely for any kind of civil or human rights, much less religious liberty. And it WILL give cover to the city to go soft on the Cordoba Initiative, which is what it is designed to do, I believe. I would be very surprised is there wasn’t communication between Foxman and the Mayor’s office. A bunch of the old boys made a deal, and from now on it’s going to be hard sledding for Cordoba House.
Finally, being part of a victimized group DOES give you the right to be irrational. But not to make policy. If acts of evil gives the victim of that evil an illegitimate entitlement, the aggression of the victim is simply an extension of the original evil by other means.
If Cordoba House goes down, it will mean total victory for the terrorists who perpetuated the massacre of 9/11.
Foxman is not part of a victimised group. His “group” is an integral element of the “ruling elite”, unlike many other minorities, most of which are at least as sizeable if not larger than his “group”.
Next, to further demonstrate that it is a standard white hate group, the ADL will come out in favor of the rounding up of non-Jewish illegal aliens.
Foxman is apparently suggesting that building a mosque 2 “mere” blocks away is somehow “delegitimizing” the 9/11 victims. Interestingly, 1 mile away (say, 12-15 typical NYC blocks) would be OK – per his comments. So there’s even a numerical yardstick to measure the “emotional distress” of 9/11 families. Apparently it is quantifiable as something that diminishes with distance. I just wish he told us whether the relation is linear – or exponential. I mean – what about a mosque location 6 blocks away? and is the scale defined by blocks – normalized say to some hypothetical NYC average, or is it to be measured in miles or parsecs? doe it hold in other towns/cities/continents, or is it unique to NYC? ah…the questions…
Finally, I thought I’ll point out that seeing as Foxman has taken it upon himself to instruct us all in the partial differential mathematics of emotional distress (defined as that quantity which can be measured by distance from a “ground zero”), it is interesting to note that he treats the time dimension rather differently, at least for one particular holocaust. Because if such calamity happened to befall Jews, the distress apparently cannot diminish with time. Actually, not with distance either, from what I can tell, since the number of holocaust museums seems to have no particular relation to the distance from the places where the actual disturbing events took place. Perhaps, the holocaut hould be viewed kind of like the peed of light? an upper limit that can never be exceeded? But darn, that would seem to get us into Physics and that’s a real bag of worm(hole)s.
Maybe I should write a paper on Foxmanian mathematics, evidently a new branch of physical numerology, one that finally would allow us to tie emotion to its numerical essence. A most fertile branch of research, no doubt. Just hope it wouldn’t violate any copy right laws….