Allan Gale and the Hypocrisy of the JCRC

What does Pastor Terry Jones have to do with The Walk for Israel?  Personally, he has nothing to do with it and probably has no idea that the Walk even took place this Sunday.  However, there is a connection, and a somewhat unsavory one at that - not, certainly, on the part of Pastor Jones, but rather on the part of our very own Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).

Readers may remember a previous post on Richard Nodel, the volunteer president of Detroit’s (JCRC), and his unsavory alliance with Imam Al-Qazwini from the Islamic Center of America, the mega mosque in Dearborn.  We exposed how Nodel stood in solidarity with the imam against Reverend Jones’ right to free speech, a right that Jews in particular should hold dear considering how many times throughout history we have had that right denied to us.

As is seen in this video taken at the Pastor Jones' rally, those who Nodel stood in solidarity with, are Israel haters - jeering and booing at the Israeli AND American flag.

Now, Allan Gale the Associate Director of the JCRC, wrote a commentary this past Thursday for the Jewish News titled, Let The World See: We Walk For Israel. Gale espouses the merits of standing up for Israel and attending the Walk for Israel.  Unfortunately, what should be words of wisdom, end up only showing the duplicity that permeates the JCRC.

In his commentary Gale says:

There are threats that Israel and world Jewry need to remain vigilant against. Although Osama bin Laden is now gone, the Al Qaida terrorists are still out there, with their "soldiers" and sleeper cells, targeting Israel and Jews. The Hamas rulers in Gaza, the Hezbollah power brokers in Lebanon, the Holocaust-denying, Israel-threatening and nuclear bomb-pursuing Iranians, the Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad and the Palestinian terror organizations of Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -these are enemies of Israel that continue to operate daily and that celebrate the deaths of Jews. 

Wise words…but disingenuous at best.  After all, Gale works for and is in a position of importance at the JCRC as its associate director.  When Richard Nodel, the president of the organization, stood in solidarity with al-Qazwini, in Dearborn less than a month ago, did Gale speak out against this affront to the Detroit Jewish community, Israel, and Jews around the world?  After all,
al-Qazwini has made his opinions clear about Jews and Israel, and according to many articles is a Hamas supporter.

In an article in FrontPageMagazine.com in 2005, Joe Kaufman wrote about Qazwini:  

In an October 2004 speech to mark the beginning of Ramadhan, Al-Qazwini described how Judaism and Christianity are lower forms of humanity than Islam, Judaism being the lowest. He stated: “Generally, human being [sic] goes through his or her life through certain stages -- infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood -- as when you start your education, you go to an elementary school, then you move to high school, then you go to university, get your degree and find a job. This is how the entire humanity did. It was, in the beginning, preventive teachings. And then there was Judaism. And then, when the humanity advanced, there was Christianity. And now, when the humanity had advanced one more step, Islam came to be the universal, the university.”

In a news article that came out in The Boston Globe, dated October 23, 2000, it was reported that, during a lecture he was giving inside a university classroom, Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini had “expressed...hostility towards Jews.”

Provided all of the above statements, this hostility seems evident in much of the Al-Qazwini family. It exhibits a pattern of prejudice and bigotry aimed at those that are not of the Islamic faith, primarily those that are Jewish.

Why didn’t Gale take exception to Nodel discrediting the entire Detroit Jewish community let alone the organization that he has worked at for decades (28 years according to the JCRC website) by shilling for the local muslim imam who has no affinity, and in what it appears from his actions and words great disdain for Israel and Jews?  Why didn’t Gale stand up for freedom of speech, a deeply held liberty by both Americans and Israelis when Nodel stood in solidarity with Qazwini against Pastor Jones. Now he requests that all of us - the Jewish community -  stand up for Israel?

Gale goes onto say:

Media relations also are of key importance. Israel has English speaking, well-trained spokesmen and spokeswomen in its armed forces and government. They cater to the largest foreign media contingent in the world.


Now it is our turn to help Israel's public image by walking on May 15.

Seriously?

Just wondering, did you plan on inviting Imam al-Qazwini to be there standing in solidarity with the rest of the Jewish community, like your boss did with him?


Mr. Gale, the President of your organization has made our Jewish community look like a bunch of fools in the eyes of the rest of the world.  And you have the audacity to talk about public image, and helping Israel?

But perhaps most offensive was the final statement:

This Sunday, we can provide Israel with our personal solidarity and commitment by walking, gathering, singing and praying. Please come, to stand up, to pick up a banner and to shout it out -we love and support Israel.   

You see, you can’t have it both ways. Either live by your words or live by your actions. But choose one. Your organization, and by extension you, can’t cozy up to those who wish both our demise and the demise of Israel, and then expect us to believe the drivel that you write comes from your heart, telling the rest of us to stand up for Israel. That Mr. Gale, is the mark of a hypocrite.

And Pastor Jones’ connection? It’s as simple as this - thanks to his appearance here in Michigan, we were given an up front and personal depiction, once again, of the betrayal that the JCRC has perpetrated on the Detroit Jewish community. We owe him a debt of gratitude for exposing the truth about this two-faced organization and its leaders, and the dangers they present to us all.

-posted by Aerie