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The Anti-Defamation League (ADL)http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/jewish-groups-bolster-support-for-u-s-muslims-1.313010Opposition to new mosques and plans to publicly burn copies of the Koran are cited as signs of increased Islamophobia.In recent days various Jewish organizations, communities and religious leaders have stepped up and denounced Islamophobia in the U.S. that is seemingly on the rise.
In recent days various Jewish organizations, communities and religious leaders have stepped up and denounced Islamophobia in the U.S. that is seemingly on the rise.
koran - AP - Sept 7 2010
Jeremy Sher, who is Jewish, attends a rally held in support of Muslim Americans at the Statehouse in Boston.
Photo by: AP
Their actions answer the call of U.S. Muslim communities, worried about provocations during Iftar holidays. This year, one of the three days of the Muslim holiday coincide with commemorations of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
Several Jewish leaders took part in an emergency interfaith summit in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday that called for an effort by followers of all faiths to reach out to the Muslim American community. The summit was organized by the Islamic Society of North America.
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) issued a statement on Wednesday that condemned the proposed September 11 "International Burn a Quran Day" by Reverend Terry Jones of The Dove World Outreach Center of Gainesville, Florida.
The organization that represents 2,000 Reform rabbis said that the planned event evokes “Talmud burnings in the 13th and 16th centuries and the burning of Jewish books in the 1930s by the Nazis."
“The burning of books is a powerfully symbolic act which condemns to the flames not only the words contained therein but those who would live by those words as well,” rabbis said in a statement.
“In the 20th century, we tragically witnessed the prophetic truth of Heinrich Heine's words, 'Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.' We call on all people of reason and good faith, to condemn this incendiary act and the blindness and hatred which motivate it," the rabbis' statement said.
Various U.S. government officials have spoken of their opposition to the plan to publicly burn copies of the Koran. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan General David Petraeus all condemned the planned action.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is launching its own initiative to monitor anti-Islamic bias in the U.S. Their proposed Interfaith Coalition on Mosques (ICOM) will be comprised of representatives of several different faiths.
The ADL proposal comes after the organization's national director, Abe Foxman, courted controversy with his comments on the construction of a proposed Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan, close to the site of the World Trade Center attacks.
Foxman publicly urged backers of the Cordoba House project to find an alternate location for the Islamic center. He cited the heightened sensitivities of families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center as the reason for his opposition to the plan.
“Not everyone at the new coalition agrees with our position on the mosque at Ground Zero, but they all understand the severity of the problem of anti-Muslim bigotry around the country,” ADL’s National Director Abe Foxman told Haaretz.
“It’s too early to tell whether we are witnessing a new wave of Islamophobia, or it’s simply the incidents that got attention following the Manhattan project debate," Foxman explained.
"If there is a complaint of bias against a Muslim community, or an effort to restrict its right to build or expand a mosque, we will check it and come with recommendations to the panel," Foxman said.
"We will say if the community needs our intervention or legal support, or if it’s just a local zoning dispute with no discrimination based on faith," Foxman added.
Topic: Jewish groups bolster support for U.S. Muslims (Read 2365 times)