ADL denounced by CNN anchor

Well this could be a career decision by a courageous CNN anchor, Fareed Zakaria.

I don't think any of us has written about the breathtaking hypocrisy of the misnamed Anti-Defamation League in opposing the construction of a mosque and Muslim community centre a good two blocks away from where the World Trade Centre once stood. Well, just quickly, there has been a proposal to construct a mosque about two blocks or so away from "ground zero". Lots of Tea Bag Types, or whatever they're called, have opposed the project that they are calling the "ground zero mosque". And the ADL has lent its weight to what is a nasty islamophobic campaign smearing all Muslims as having been involved in the twin towers attack known as 9//11. Here's the statement from the ADL:

Ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right," the ADL said in a statement. "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.

Now, the ADL give awards for this and that and this Farood Zakaria got the Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize. The what? Never mind what. It was a prize that this Farood Zakaria got and now he's returning it. This is from the Huffington Post:

Five years ago, the ADL honored me with its Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize," Zakaria writes in next week's Newsweek. "I was thrilled to get the award from an organization that I had long admired. But I cannot in good conscience keep it anymore. I have returned both the handsome plaque and the $10,000 honorarium that came with it. I urge the ADL to reverse its decision. Admitting an error is a small price to pay to regain a reputation.

This guy writes for Newsweek and is a CNN anchor. I hope we won't be placing ex- in front of those job titles he currently still has. Mind you, how did he ever admire the ADL?

But he is a plucky chap. Foxman is on the case:

"I am not only saddened but stunned and somewhat speechless by your decision to return the ADL Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize, you accepted in 2005," ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said in a letter to Zakaria. "As someone I greatly respect for engaging in discussion and dialogue with an open mind I would have expected you to reach out to me before coming to judgment."

Foxman added that the League "did not oppose the right for an Islamic Center or a mosque to be built" but rather "[made] an appeal based solely on the issues of location and sensitivity."

But the plucky chap responded:

Does Foxman believe that bigotry is OK if people think they're victims? Does the anguish of Palestinians, then, entitle them to be anti-Semitic?

Of course not! According to Foxman, the Palestinians don't even have the right to be anguished.