As we languish in the depths of an unusually cold winter, perhaps it will warm you up to know what our favorite self defeatist, Rabbi Jack Moline, did this past summer. Then again, perhaps it will chill you to the bone.
1) GAVE POLITICAL COVER TO HIS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD FRIENDS
When Mahdi Bray was accused of supporting terrorism and encouraging anti-Semitism his response was that, although he has “some strong opinions on Israel and its policies,” he is in no way an anti-Semite. In a quote in Washington Jewish Week (WJW) on July 8, 2009, he offered the following as proof:
"I've got people in the Jewish community who've known me for years." That includes, he said, Rabbi Jack Moline of Congregation Agudas Achim in Alexandria, who has worked together with him on interfaith projects.
And who, you might ask, is Mahdi Bray? Perhaps these will provide an answer:
http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/112
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOyRipFULNY
Contrast Bray’s rationalization of his own actions with this assessment by author, journalist and award-winning PBS documentarian Steven Emerson, from the same Washington Jewish Week article:
Bray has defended terrorists and those alleged to be supporting them…Bray and the Muslim American Society are the modern-day, Islamic equivalent of the Nazi party, except they haven't carried out mass killings, although their ideology calls for that.
Whether you accept Bray’s version or that of Emerson, the fact that a man who regularly engages in and enables white-hot vilification of Israel’s efforts to defend itself against an enemy that explicitly calls for its destruction can be seen by a rabbi as a partner for interfaith dialog is inexplicable. But Moline does indeed see Bray as a colleague in efforts to foster “understanding” between communities, as he himself stated in the WJW article:
Moline…and Bray served together on the board of the Interfaith Alliance and have combined forces on several domestic issues. "But we have assiduously avoided conversations on the Middle East," he added, "because I know that we disagree." [Emphasis added]
Were one somehow to find oneself working on a project in close quarters with a cannibal, would it be rational to focus on completing the project without discussing your cohort’s dietary preferences? That (non) conundrum aside, Moline’s unwillingness to sully his own vision of his own interfaith work is neatly summed up in his shockingly mild assessment of Bray’s position on Israel in the very next line:
Regarding Bray's stances on Israel and Zionism, Moline said, "I think it's fair to say that in certain areas, he is poorly informed."
2) MET WITH MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD FRONT GROUPS AND EXTREMIST ENABLERS
In a story dated July 3, 2009, the Washington Times Web site reported that the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) annual conference that weekend at the Washington Convention Center would constitute “an unprecedented outreach to Christians and Jews”, and would include the participation of none other than Rabbi Jack Moline.
ISNA, besides being named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the infamous Holy Land Foundation case, can be directly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that has been involved in or directed jihadist violence around the globe (most notably through their Palestinian wing, Hamas). Rather than an echo of a foreign conflict on American shores, figures closely associated with ISNA and its parent/affiliate organizations are active in the United States and working toward their anti Jewish and anti Western goals within the framework of American politics and culture.
One example is Virginia’s Dr. Esam Omeish. Former head of the Georgetown University Muslim Student Association (MSA), a precursor to ISNA, and former president of the Muslim American Society (MAS), an organization with even closer links to the Muslim Brotherhood, Omeish is yet another figure deeply involved in the interfaith dialog community who advocates the violent jihad of the Palestinians against Israel. He can be seen in action here and here. When the remarks and actions caught on these videos came to the attention of Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine, he asked for Omeish’s resignation from his position on the Virginia Commission on Immigration.
But despite this, Omeish has his supporters. And Jack Moline is prominent among them. In the face of Omeish’s fulmination, Moline still saw fit to offer his seemingly unconditional support. When Omeish ran for a seat in the Virginia General Assembly in 2009, Moline’s show of support appeared on his blog on the Organizing for America site.
Another spoke in ISNA’s wheel is Warith Deen Umar, a known radicalized imam who was dismissed from his position as Administrative Chaplain for the New York State Department of Corrections as a result of his preaching anti-American jihad to inmates. Umar was a featured speaker at the “unprecedented outreach” event Moline attended, where he delivered a caustically anti-Semitic speech.
Moline was evidently able to look past all of this, even participating in another ISNA-hosted event less than three weeks later. This four day program culminated in lunch at the embassy of Saudi Arabia, the homeland of Wahhabism, in Washington, D.C.
If any of this leaves any question as to the nature of ISNA and associated organizations, let the words of the Muslim Brotherhood itself [see page 12, “The Brotherhood in the West”], as well as those of Deputy Chairman Mohammed Habib, remove any lingering doubt:
SM: Is there a Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S.?
Mohamed Habib: I would say yes. There are Muslim Brotherhood members there.
SM: Then what are they doing there?
Mohamed Habib: No, there are already existing institutions; there are laws and a constitution that they operate under in order to have a role in serving the American society. They are part of the American society and they want to an active positive role in it, and a part of that is to spread a positive image of Islam along with its values, culture, history and teachings.
SM: This is naturally very important. Who represents you in the US?
Mohamed Habib: Well, there are there those who do represent us, who do that role.
SM: But it’s not CAIR, right? The Council for American Islamic Relations? Many people say that they are your front. Other people say that its (sic) ISNA……….
Mohamed Habib: Ehh, this is a sensitive subject, and it’s kind of problematic, especially after 9/11 …
3) TWEETED & DELETED—SHIELDING OBAMA FROM JEWISH CRITICISM
Like his questionable partners in the interfaith dialog world, Moline feels he can simply retract his words when doing so suits his PR goals.
As an invited participant in an August 2009 conference call with the Oval Office on the topic of Obama’s proposed program of health care reform, Moline saw fit to comment on the proceedings in real time via his Twitter stream. As he did so, Moline caused a minor storm of controversy by claiming that the president characterized his governmental and faith-based allies in the matter as “[G-d’s] partners in matters of life and death.”
Perhaps more disturbing, however, given Moline’s role as rabbi and self-professed Zionist, was his Tweet praising Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of Reform Judaism and another participant in the conference call, for not taking the opportunity to challenge Obama on some of his more provocative positions: namely, his administration’s stance on Israeli settlements (for which Yoffie has chided him in the past) and his selection of the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom after her questionable record as a U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
After the contents of Moline’s Twitter stream were picked up by Washington Jewish Week and Politico.com, among other outlets, all of the Tweets relating to the call—save for Obama’s closing wishes of “shanah tovah”—were deleted.
4) “I’M NOT DEVOTED TO THE CONTAINMENT OF IRAN”
In this November 2008 interview with the Philadelphia Jewish Voice, Moline rather eloquently digs himself a hole regarding his vision of interfaith dialog and its role (and religion’s in general) in American politics. Though never out and out contradictory, his statements call into question his understanding of just how and where—if, indeed, at all—religion and politics do and should meet, as well as his devotion to his role as a congregational clergyman, which he seems to see as a nine-to-five workaday job that loses its applicability to his personal conduct when he’s off the clock.
It is ¾ of the way down the page, though, where he lets slip another of his jaw-dropping statements. And though the general context of the whole remark can be seen as somewhat softening the intensity of this particular quote, the unmistakable implication is that Jack Moline simply does not see an anti-Semitic, ideologically motivated, nuclear armed Iran as a terribly pressing issue for a rabbi to address. Even Stephen Wise was prescient enough to protest Nazi Germany at the earliest signs of Hitler’s intentions.
[A more comprehensive examination of the discouraging similarities between Rabbis Wise and Moline, and their respective eras, is the subject of a forthcoming post.]
The remarks by Moline highlighted here, and a host of others, point to a number of trends in his public and professional conduct that are, at best, troubling. Though obviously not without a vision of ways he can contribute to interfaith dialog and cooperation, he appears to be more concerned with his image within that vision and less concerned with actual, substantial progress and results in bridging very real philosophical divides while still effectively advocating for and defending his own community.
When one of Moline’s congregants, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, spoke to the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America this past November, he offered up a quote that frames the situation perfectly:
Emanuel opened up his speech by jibing at his D.C.-area rabbi, Jack Moline. After it was announced over the weekend that he was pinch-hitting for President Obama at the GA, Emanuel received an e-mail with suggested "talking points" for his speech from Moline, the media-friendly rabbi at Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Va., and the Rabbinical Assembly's director of public policy.
The final talking point, he said, was "Don't forget to mention Jack Moline."
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