March 18, 2006

The Strange Indifference of the New York Times

By Ed Lasky
The New York Times again reveals its indifference to anti—Semitism and the threat of radical Islam in America — as well as a healthy dose of hypocrisy. Last April, a prison Imam named Umar Abdul—Jalil (who has a $76,000 a year job counseling prisoners in the New York prison system) gave a speech which was surreptiously recorded. In the speech, he said that "the greatest terrorists in the world" occupy the White House, that Muslim inmates are "literally tortured" at the federal jail in Manhattan, and that "Zionists of the media" dictate "what Islam is to us". The anti—Semitic trope of "Zionists in the media" manipulating the news is one of the hoariest and most damaging of all the anti—Semitic myths and is, sadly, quite prevalent in the Muslim world. Mayor Bloomberg suspended the Imam for a mere two weeks. This slap on the wrist is a decision that the New York Times praises in itsopinion pages today . Even aside from the anti—Semitism, is...(Read Full Article)