Is the Interfaith Conference anti-Semitic?

Rightwingers are blasting with both barrels at the Interfaith Council of Greater Milwaukee for having the temerity to ask (note, not demand as some have said) WTMJ to remove an image from Charlie Sykes' blog that equates Islam with Naziism.

Perhaps the most scurrilous attack is the insinuation that the Interfaith Conference is anti-Semitic as it includes the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, and its leader Zufiqir Ali Shah.

Leading this charge is, not surprisingly, Marquette University professor/Wal-Mart apologist John McAdams.

Here's what McAdams says:

Who is Anti-Semitic?

Perhaps the most bizarre thing about the Interfaith Conference statement is the claim that the parody bumper sticker is somehow anti-Semitic. Yet the actions of the Conference raise serious questions. For example:

When the Toledo charity KindHearts was shut down this past February, for raising millions of dollars for Hamas, the group’s leaders got off scott free. One of those leaders was KindHearts’ President, Khaled Smaili. Another was KindHearts’ South Asia Director, Zulfiqar Ali Shah. Unlike Smaili, who has remained virtually silent since the closure, Shah has continued to bask in the spotlight. He now sits in his new digs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Religious Director of a large Islamic institution and the toast of the media. Today, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee will be sponsoring a Shah talk, taking place at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church.

And further:

. . . Shah’s love for his fellow man was not manifest, when, just a few years prior, in June of 2001, he spoke of a wild conspiracy regarding Jews retaking the Saudi city of Medina. He said, “If we are unable to stop the Jews now, their next stop is Yathrib (The Prophet’s city of Medina), where the Jews used to live until their expulsion by Prophet Muhammad. That’s the pinnacle of their motives.”

You can find further information on Shah here. Local Milwaukee columnists Cary Spivak & Dan Bice raised a variety of questions about Shah in a 2006 article.

But Shah’s group, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, is a member of the Interfaith Conference!

The simple fact is that the Interfaith Conference lacks any credibility in attacking Sykes, or making any assertions about religious tolerance.

They are simply a bunch of liberals and leftists who dislike Sykes because they don’t like conservatives.

Sykes reprints the attack here.

Oddly, though, neither quote a letter to the Journal Sentinel after the Spice boys ran their hit piece that casts Shah -- who, let's remember, does not face any kind of charges -- in a different light:

Columnists engaged in character assassination

Congratulations to columnists Cary Spivak and Dan Bice for their character assassination of the new religious director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Dr. Zulfiqar Shah, through their use of guilt by association and providing quotes out of context ("Questions arise about Muslim scholar," May 19).

Spivak and Bice said that a Saudi imam who made offensive remarks about Jews in 2002 was Dr. Shah's "guest" in 2003. Unfortunately, they didn't clearly explain that Dr. Shah did not know about the offensive remarks before he invited the imam, he categorically condemned the remarks and the invitation was withdrawn.

Spivak and Bice also made reference to KindHearts, whose assets were frozen in February for alleged dealings with Hamas in Palestine. However, Dr. Shah's work with KindHearts related only to relief work in Pakistan for the October 2005 earthquake; neither he nor the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, which indicated that there was nothing of concern about KindHearts in December 2005, knew about KindHearts' alleged dealings with Hamas.

Spivak and Bice also provided inadequate context for Dr. Shah's remark about Jews going to Medina, saying only that "it was a joke in response to a question about Israel." In fact, this was a sarcastic remark by Dr. Shah regarding claims of an extremist Jewish group and its dreams of a Greater Israel between the Nile and Euphrates, which could include Medina.

Again, congratulations.

Ahmed Quereshi

Wauwatosa

(Quereshi is secretary for the Islamic Society)

Maybe Sykes and McAdams should ask Rabbi Jacob Herber, Interfaith board member and spiritual leader of the Congregation Beth Israel, whether he's anti-Semitic.

Comments

[iT]

Well, the professor can't wish that the Muslims and the Jews can, um, "coexist," can he? Because then he'd be just another smug little twerp.

[capper]

Hmm, I should've know you had it covered.