Jeers for Ground Zero mosque plan

By Sergey Kadinsky

Issue of June 4, 2010 / 22 Sivan 5770

At any other location, there wouldn’t be much controversy, but with only two blocks separating the World Trade Center site from the proposed Cordoba House Islamic center, some 9/11 families and local residents have expressed fierce opposition.

“I am not a bigot, and most of these people aren’t bigots,” said Lee Hanson. “I oppose this mosque because it is in poor taste.” Hanson’s son Peter, along with his wife and infant daughter, were killed when their hijacked airplane crashed into the South Tower on 9/11.

Hanson’s opposition to the mosque was relatively tame, in comparison to other speakers at the May 25 public hearing held by Community Board 1 in downtown Manhattan. Some opponents compared the building of an Islamic center so close to Ground Zero as equivalent to a German center on the site of Auschwitz, or a Japanese center at Pearl Harbor.

Among the critics, Upper West side resident Dr. Marvin Belsky, a leader in the Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam, wanted the community board to vet the center’s imam, Abdul Rauf, on his views towards Saudi Arabia, among other things. “It would be a crime for this particular board to approve anything until they know the imam’s views on civil rights,” said Belsky.

Imam Rauf was unapologetic about the location, arguing that it would foster peace and moderation. “About 300 Muslims died on 9/11, and for years I’ve had a dream that Muslims Americans would succeed in working together to heal the divide,” said Rauf.

While many opponents came from far and wide to jeer the Cordoba House, Rauf pointed out that he has been a part of the Tribeca neighborhood since 1983. The center enjoys strong support from local elected officials and Jewish organizations, he claimed. Among the supporters Rauf claims are Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, Sutton Place Synagogue, the UJA Federation of New York, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

“They said that Muslim-Jewish programming will be important to them,” said Walter Ruby, a journalist who spoke in support on behalf of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. “They’re deeply committed to nonviolence, and you couldn’t ask for more moderate Muslims.”

While the imam adheres to the nonviolent Sufi tradition of Islam, critic Pamela Geller said that the Cordoba house does not go far enough in condemning terrorism.

“We ask that Muslims be sensitive to our ideology,” said Geller, who runs the conservative Atlas Shrugs blog. “We would like an Islamic center dedicated to expunging the Quran of its violent texts.”

Alongside prayer space, the 13-story center would also include a swimming pool, cafeteria, fitness center, and an art gallery, open to the public. Rauf said that the full-service facility would be similar in content to the 92nd Street Y and the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side, with arts and culture alongside its religious component.

Geller vows to stop the stop the project with a June 6 rally across the street from Ground Zero. “This will not stand,” Pamela Geller wrote on her blog, speaking as executive director of Stop Islamization of America (SIOA).

The owner of Zucotti Park, the public plaza overlooking the World Trade Center site, denied SIOA permission to hold the rally, but Geller promises to crowd the sidewalk calling it a D-Day demonstration.

“There must be a public outcry,” said Geller. “Freedom of assembly is guaranteed under the Constitution.”

On the SIOA Facebook page, more than 500 people promise to attend the rally, which is co-sponsored by local affiliates of the Tea Party, and the pro-Israel groups Z Street and Unity Coalition for Israel.