New York City’s Landmarks Commission has cleared the way for the construction of a controversial US$ 100 million mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero in Manhattan. The commission voted unanimously to deny landmark status to the building located on the site, clearing the way for the construction project. However, court challenges could still stall the construction two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood until the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
“To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is Jewish, said following the vote. Signs of protestors against the project were brandished at the commission meeting and read "This mosque celebrates our murders" and "Don't glorify murders of 3,000."
The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement opposing the construction of the 13-story Cordoba House. "The controversy which has emerged regarding the building of an Islamic Center at this location is counterproductive to the healing process. Therefore, under these unique circumstances, we believe the City of New York would be better served if an alternative location could be found."
In contrast, the American Jewish Committee issued a statement in support of the mosque, but urged the leaders of the proposed center “to fully reveal their sources of funding and to unconditionally condemn terrorism inspired by Islamist ideology.
Read here an op-ed on the issue written by Russell Simmons, chairman of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which appeared in the 'Huffington Post'.
