Naming of L.A. Muslim to Panel Opposed

The appointment of a prominent Southern California Muslim to a national counter-terrorism commission is under attack by major Jewish organizations, which are questioning his commitment to oppose acts of violence by Islamic groups.

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, was recently named by House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) to the newly created congressional commission, which is charged with reviewing national policies against terrorism.

Despite the criticism, Gephardt does not intend to reconsider the appointment, his spokeswoman said. Al-Marayati, a naturalized American citizen and native of Iraq, is active in Muslim American politics, interfaith relations and human rights.

Muslim Americans nationwide are hailing Al-Marayati’s appointment as a sign that Washington is finally giving them a voice in policymaking, which they argue has long been monopolized by pro-Israeli groups.

“I hope to broaden the discussion on terrorism by looking at its root causes and enhance our effectiveness in combating this evil,” Al-Marayati said. Both extremism by Muslims and Israeli oppression of Palestinians and other Muslims should be viewed as causes of terrorism, he added.

But a host of Jewish organizations have independently challenged Al-Marayati’s appointment, arguing that it amounts to putting former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke on a civil rights commission, as the Zionist Organization of America put it. Al-Marayati’s desire to look for causes of terrorism “betrays an attitude that suggests an excuse” for the violence, said David Lehrer, Los Angeles regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

“If it’s a panel on counter-terrorism, you ought to be examining what tactics the U.S. government should be taking rather than looking for reasons why someone should put a bomb on an airplane,” Lehrer argued.

Al-Marayati’s critics also include the Jewish American community’s leading voice in Washington on Israel-related issues--the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, whose 55 members span the political and religious spectrum. Among the member groups are the American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith, Hadassah, Jewish Labor Committee, Orthodox Union and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said Al-Marayati would have a “chilling effect” on commission deliberations because of suspicions about his stance on terrorism.

“We support the inclusion of Muslims and Arab Americans, but not someone who has the kinds of views he has on issues the commission is to address,” Hoenlein said. “We are raising questions about it [the appointment] and think it is not a wise appointment.”

In addition, Forward, an influential national Jewish newspaper based in New York, and the New York Post have editorialized against the appointment.

Critics claim Al-Marayati has likened supporters of Israel to Nazis, compared American revolutionaries to terrorists and sought to blame Israeli leaders for terrorist actions.

Al-Marayati says he does believe that Israeli officials bear some responsibility for inciting terrorism. But he and his supporters say most of the accusations against him are wrong or based on quotes taken out of context.

A Jewish columnist at the New York Daily News, Sidney Zion, claimed that Al-Marayati supported Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But the Muslim official says his family fled to America to escape the regime’s political persecution after an uncle was shot to death in prison and his father spent years behind bars.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council has condemned the bombings of bus stations in Tel Aviv and U.S. embassies in East Africa, as well as the death sentence for novelist Salman Rushdie, according to Maher Hathout, the council’s senior advisor who heads the Islamic Center of Southern California. The group has urged a boycott against Israel but also denounced Muslim extremist Osama bin Laden’s call to kill Americans.

Although condemning the violent acts of organizations the U.S. government has classified as terrorist, such as Hezbollah, Al-Marayati views their actions against Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil as legitimate resistance.

More than 120 leading Muslim American individuals and organizations have rallied to Al-Marayati’s defense, saying the Jewish attacks are attempts to “marginalize” the community.

“Salam represents that voice which says there is no contradiction between being a good Muslim and a patriotic American--and being a good Muslim means being sensitive to Muslim suffering around the world,” Hathout said.

The skirmish over the commission appointment is the latest in a series of attempts by some Jewish organizations to isolate Al-Marayati and his associates. Last year, the Zionist Organization of America and others helped kill a code of ethics proposed by Al-Marayati and Hathout to govern Muslim-Jewish debate.

They have also opposed the appointment of Al-Marayati’s wife, Leila, to a national commission on international religious freedom and protested the couple’s invitations to White House events.

But not all Jewish organizations are opposing the appointment. The Zionist group’s campaign against those who criticize Israel--including leading Jewish journalist Thomas Friedman--has prompted at least one influential Los Angeles Jewish leader to support Al-Marayati’s appointment.

Jewish Journal editor Gene Lichtenstein, who likens the Zionist organization to “Jewish thought police,” said he disagrees with many of Al-Marayati’s positions, but does not believe that he condones terrorism.