http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/pro_mosque_mike_kos_compromise_SzQcRzaYlcIFVwJAfguV7K A defiant Mayor Bloomberg, saying there should be no compromise, insisted last night that a mosque be built near Ground Zero, declaring, "We must do what is right, not what is easy.
"And we must put our faith in the freedoms that have sustained our great country for more than 200 years," he told Muslim-American guests invited to Gracie Mansion for dinner to mark the breaking of their fast during the Islamic holiday of Ramadan.
Bloomberg said there is no middle ground when it comes to religious liberty, calling the plan to erect the mosque a litmus test for upholding "American values."
IN GOOD FAITH: Mayor Bloomberg receives a standing ovation after addressing Muslim-American guests at Gracie Mansion last night.
AP
IN GOOD FAITH: Mayor Bloomberg receives a standing ovation after addressing Muslim-American guests at Gracie Mansion last night.
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But the mayor -- who previously had said opponents of the project should be "ashamed of themselves" -- dramatically toned down his rhetoric toward critics.
He noted there are "people of good will on both sides" of the debate, and said the pain of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 is "too terrible to contemplate."
Speaking just hours after Gov. Paterson and Archbishop Timothy Dolan met to discuss finding a solution to the controversy, Bloomberg said he understood the "impulse" of many to find a compromise to put the mosque farther away from Ground Zero.
But that wouldn't end the debate, the mayor insisted.
"The question will then become, how big should the 'no-mosque zone' around the World Trade Center be? There is already a mosque four blocks away. Should it, too, be moved?" Bloomberg asked.
"There are people of every faith -- including, perhaps, some in this room -- who are hoping that a compromise will end the debate," he said. "But it won't."
With two key organizers of the mosque in the audience -- Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, and developer Sharif el-Gamal, of Soho Properties -- Bloomberg said moving ahead with the project would exercise the freedoms envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
"If we say that a mosque and community center should not be built near the perimeter of the World Trade Center site . . . we would undercut the values and principles that so many heroes died protecting," he said.
"We would send a signal around the world that Muslim-Americans may be equal in the eyes of the law, but separate in the eyes of their countrymen."
He added, "And we would hand a valuable propaganda tool to terrorist recruiters who spread the fallacy that America is at war with Islam." Bloomberg noted that innocent Muslims, too, were killed on 9/11 and recognized one of the guests, Talat Hamdani, whose paramedic-son, Salman, was killed at the World Trade Center.
Bloomberg said guests who may be "disturbed and dispirited" by the noisy controversy should remember how Catholics and Jews also had to overcome prejudice as newcomers to the United States.
He mentioned President John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, overcoming concerns that he would impose papal rule on the nation.
The mayor also praised Rauf -- acknowledging that the imam has made some controversial statements in the past, but recalling that Rauf spoke at the interfaith memorial service for Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, a Jew murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.
Rauf expressed solidarity with Pearl by declaring that he, too, was a Jew.
"In that spirit," Bloomberg said, "let me declare that we in New York are Jews and Christians and Muslims, and we always have been. And above all of that, we are Americans, each with an equal right to worship and pray where we choose.
"There is nowhere in the five boroughs that is off limits to any religion."
The mayor received a standing ovation from the crowd of nearly 100. Among those attending was Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Calling Bloomberg's talk "extremely important," Khan said afterward, "He delivered a passionate speech . . . in defense of our deep American values."
Gamal gushed, "[Bloomberg] touches my heart every time that I get to hear [him speak] on our rights as Americans and his brave and unwavering statements."
But the Muslim developer refused comment when asked if he would meet with families of 9/11 victims.
Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, of the Islamic Cultural Center of North America in The Bronx, said he and other guests "went crazy" over Bloomberg's speech.
"He's someone . . . who deserves to be president," Drammeh said.
Half a dozen demonstrators across the street protested the mosque's proposed location.
"We think this is sacred ground," protester Marion Dreyfus said. "They could choose someplace less provocative."
Meanwhile, the White House said yesterday that President Obama won't discuss the mosque issue anymore.
Archbishop Dolan, after meeting with Paterson, told reporters that he was concerned the debate had become too angry and polarizing.
Additional reporting by David Seifman and Jennifer Fermino
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