Op/ed: "Looking for Extremism in All the Wrong Places"

September 14, 2006

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-sokatch14sep14,0,7582733.story

On September 14, 2006 the Los Angeles Times published an opinion piece by Daniel Sokatch, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Progressive Jewish Alliance, "Moments after I heard about the shootings at the Seattle Jewish Federation building earlier this summer, my phone rang. It was Salam Al-Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, calling to express his profound sorrow and anger over this attack by a Muslim on the Jewish community. That Salam called me was not a surprise; during this summer of conflict in the Middle East, we spoke to each other almost daily, trying to keep lines of communication open and tensions down between Los Angeles' enormous Muslim and Jewish communities.

I am thus particularly pained by the recent efforts by some in our community to pressure the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission to reconsider honoring MPAC founder Maher Hathout with a prestigious human relations award, and a similar effort directed at the ACLU of Southern California for honoring Al-Marayati for his work protecting freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. Both of these attempts are part of a misguided campaign to marginalize and discredit MPAC.

As those of us dedicated to improving community relations in Los Angeles and to supporting the emergence of a moderate American Muslim voice know, undermining MPAC is exactly the wrong thing to do.

Opposition to Hathout and Al-Marayati is based largely on their positions on the Middle East conflict, something unconnected to either award. Critics accuse both men of being anti-Israel and of supporting and excusing terrorism. They are routinely described as extremists and radical Islamic leaders.

Although both men have made comments with which I strongly disagree, criticizing Israel is not the same as supporting that nation's destruction, nor should it be equated with supporting terrorism. Hathout and Al-Marayati have consistently opposed and condemned terrorism, and both are on the record as supporting Israel's right to exist. MPAC's board of directors has passed a resolution supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and MPAC has dedicated itself to improving relations between L.A. Muslims and Jews."