First appeared in The Jewish Advocate
Written by Kenneth Jacobson, Deputy National Director of the ADL
Charles Jacobs is at it again (“ADL-addled in Michigan,” Dec. 2). His latest diatribe against the Anti- Defamation League follows his previous pattern – replete with distortions, inaccuracies, exaggerations, and hyperbolic attacks that shed more heat than light.
The subject this time is a closed public school building in Michigan being purchased by the Islamic Cultural Association of Michigan. Playing six degrees of separation, Jacobs seems prepared to allege – without evidence – that the school is going to be a front for the Muslim Brotherhood. The conclusion is far-fetched and irresponsible. We believe that the Farmington Hills School District thoroughly researched the proposed purchaser, and the opposition to the school at a recent school board meeting is mostly a sad and unfortunate manifestation of anti-Islamic prejudice.
Regarding Jacobs’ criticism that ADL has not taken the threat of Islamic extremism seriously enough, the “research” he conducted to support this conclusion is amateurish. Counting press releases and basing an assessment on that is like writing a movie review based on what someone who didn’t like the movie tells you.
Islamic extremism has been a priority for us since 1985, when we publicly joined forces with the Klinghoffer family in the aftermath of the Achille Lauro tragedy to raise awareness of the threat and develop counteraction strategies. In the past decade, our concerns have prompted us to significantly expand our Center on Extremism, adding Arabspeaking research analysts, increasing our extensive monitoring of publications, Web sites and social media, producing a new series of newsletters and major reports, and augmenting the training we provide for law enforcement officials.
If he had spent a little more time on his research, Jacobs might have found on ADL’s Web site copies of such recently issued reports as “American Muslim Extremists: A Growing Threat to Jews” and “Brotherhood of Hate: Muslim Brotherhood’s Hatred for Jews.”
Jacobs has a lot of energy and a lot of passion. It is unfortunate that he has not found a more constructive way to channel it.First appeared in The Jewish Advocate
Written by Kenneth Jacobson, Deputy National Director of the ADL
Charles Jacobs is at it again (“ADL-addled in Michigan,” Dec. 2). His latest diatribe against the Anti- Defamation League follows his previous pattern – replete with distortions, inaccuracies, exaggerations, and hyperbolic attacks that shed more heat than light.
The subject this time is a closed public school building in Michigan being purchased by the Islamic Cultural Association of Michigan. Playing six degrees of separation, Jacobs seems prepared to allege – without evidence – that the school is going to be a front for the Muslim Brotherhood. The conclusion is far-fetched and irresponsible. We believe that the Farmington Hills School District thoroughly researched the proposed purchaser, and the opposition to the school at a recent school board meeting is mostly a sad and unfortunate manifestation of anti-Islamic prejudice.
Regarding Jacobs’ criticism that ADL has not taken the threat of Islamic extremism seriously enough, the “research” he conducted to support this conclusion is amateurish. Counting press releases and basing an assessment on that is like writing a movie review based on what someone who didn’t like the movie tells you.
Islamic extremism has been a priority for us since 1985, when we publicly joined forces with the Klinghoffer family in the aftermath of the Achille Lauro tragedy to raise awareness of the threat and develop counteraction strategies. In the past decade, our concerns have prompted us to significantly expand our Center on Extremism, adding Arabspeaking research analysts, increasing our extensive monitoring of publications, Web sites and social media, producing a new series of newsletters and major reports, and augmenting the training we provide for law enforcement officials.
If he had spent a little more time on his research, Jacobs might have found on ADL’s Web site copies of such recently issued reports as “American Muslim Extremists: A Growing Threat to Jews” and “Brotherhood of Hate: Muslim Brotherhood’s Hatred for Jews.”
Jacobs has a lot of energy and a lot of passion. It is unfortunate that he has not found a more constructive way to channel it.
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